The field of population ageing was dominated by demographers in the second half of the last century. This was followed by a vigorous debate on social and economic security particularly to the workers in the informal, unorganized and rural sector. The focus then shifted to health and medical research. Since then we have come a long way. The frontiers in this century focus on the following questions:

1. How to provide social and economic security to the unorganized sector.
    

2. What are the frontiers of health research particularly in the fields of M to A technology, MEM technology, therapeutic cloning, and specific drug research for diseases like Alzheimer? Is there an anti ageing medicine or is it the longevity medicine?
    

3. How do we deal with feminisation of ageing, casualisation of labour market, elderly abuse and crime?
    

4. Do we need an element of spirituality to make the evening of life happy and purposeful?

For years together science has been groping in the dark about the function of the human mind. We know about brain and its functions. We also know the functions of the mind but we have not fathomed the depth of human mind and its working. This results in not being able to answer the questions like when, what, how we age and why we age. The approach taken by the World Health Organization is “Life Course Approach”. The other approach developed by the Berlin University is of SOP i.e. Selection of activity, Optimization of remaining skills and Compensation for the loss.

We seem to be perplexed about the very nature of ageing. If we are unable to understand spirituality it will result in the crisis concerning the way we think about ageing. There has been an impact of the Renaissance on our mind. We have the dead weight of quantifiability as a criteria of truth. What we can measure, count or put in statistical frame is the only truth as suggested by the thinkers in the Renaissance period. On the other hand the Eastern philosophy and the thought highlights the relationship between the body and mind and seeks to understand what is not seen or which is not material. This is accepted even by WHO when it talks of hospitals without walls where the health of the patient is considered as a totality including his family and community.

The Indian thought of perpetuality has come through the teachings of Bhagwat Geeta and the technique of Yoga. This is probably the origin of Taoism and the Indian Buddhism has brought this metaphysics to China and Japan. Spirituality is not a flight from the ethical responsibility of the material world but it is a rhythm of withdrawal and return. It is a harmony in doing your duties and at the same time keeping oneself aloof from it. This new sense of spiritual reality will bring new understanding of ageing which is not restricted to biological or psychological implications but which directly relates to our understanding of the soul. To be spiritual is not to reject reason but to go beyond it.

In conclusion one can safely say that ageing can become a celebration if one comes to realize the true meaning of life in Karma Phala Tyaga or doing your duty without being attached to it. This will make all of us divinely happy. To accept it or not is an option. The choice is yours.