From Loneliness to Aloneness - Surendra Narayan

I imagine we all know what loneliness is, for we have experienced it at different stages, on different occasions and situations in the course of our lives in this world. A child feels lonely when the mother goes out to work; also when there is no brother or sister, or neighbors’ children of the same age to play with. Similarly, a mother feels lonely when her child begins to go to school and is away from home for several hours. Loneliness comes when, being in school or college, one is unable to make friends, and later also when one is not able to find a long-term partner in life. One feels lonely when one loses one’s husband or wife, or even a dear friend.

The experience of loneliness in old age is a common feature with most people, when the children one loved and tended with such care have grown, got married and begun to live their own separate lives. Often they shun the company of the parents because they have nothing of common interest with them. The old also, unfortunately, often start talking only about their own old-ag  e ailments or about the ‘good old days’, in which the young have now no interest.

© "The Theosophist" (September, 2000) published by The Theosophical Publishing House, Adyar, Chennai 600 020, India. Website: www.ts-adyar.org. Reprinted with permission.
* Mr. Surendra Narayan was for many years International Vice-President of the TS.

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