Aging spiritually: Pitamaha Sadans in India

Abstract

Based on a study of 544 older adults living in Pitamaha Sadans (old age homes) under the aegis of Chinmaya Mission, a spiritual organization in India, this article attempts to understand how religiosity and spirituality contribute to their aging process, life satisfaction and happiness. Five scales have been used to study aspects of spirituality and spiritual experiences, religiosity, life satisfaction and happiness. Findings have been compared to a control group of 493 respondents from other paid old age institutions of secular nature. For majority of the Pitamaha Sadan residents, aging was a state of mind, something that could be modified with, and was contingent on, the quality of one’s thought processes and thinking, and death was a process that led to God proximity. Results of the analysis of variance and t-tests showed that older adults from the Pitamaha Sadans scored better on spirituality and religiosity parameters, vis-à-vis the control group. These were in turn linked to their better scores on the life satisfaction and happiness scale scores. The case for spirituality and religiosity as protector variables as well as aspects promoting wellness and transcendence for older adults is thus substantiated.

Keywords

• aging
• spirituality
• old age homes