A healthy society is one that brings the awareness of this divine nature to more and more of its young and old. There are two major problems plaguing modern civilization. One is the problem of old age, the other is the problem of leisure. Vedanta, with its message of the divine in the heart of man, and its further message that the object of life is to realise this divine, contains a gospel of hope for modern man. Vedanta would not have asked man to de­sire to live the full span of a hundred years if such life were to be lived by him in ennui and frustration. Nothing else can be ex­pected of a philosophy in which life and leisure mean only a round of three ‘e’s, namely, entertainment, excitement, and exhaustion!

Vedanta holds before man another ideal: growth, development, and realisation, in the light of which both labour and leisure become creative and educative. ‘Enjoy through renunciation’, says this Isha Upanishad ; and adds, ‘that is the only way by which our actions may not pile more bonds on us, by which we become truly free.’ Given this spiritual purpose and direction, life gains in richness with every passing year. And leisure becomes the means of deepening life and giving it purer joys and delights.

Reference: The Message of the Upanishads by Swami Ranganathananda (p.88)