The Right Age for Spirituality | Baktha Prahalada

What is the best time for the journey to God?

What is the best time for the journey to God? Childhood, youth, or old age?

This is what the offspring of demons asked young Prahlada.

Our minds are fickle in early childhood. Nothing of significance enters our heads; our ‘catching power’ is limited in this age. The wisdom of scriptures little interests small children. At the time of youth, a person has fully developed mental faculties and a disease-free body. But the young face a big problem - they are vain.

Once a god of heaven was very thirsty, and a young girl gave him water. His thirst quenched, he said, ‘I am a heavenly being, and I am highly pleased with you. Ask me for a boon. I will give you anything you want.’

The young girl, who was sixteen years old, demurred because she had no expectations of him. But she was hideous. The god pressed again, ‘Shall I make you beautiful?’

On hearing this, the girl gave him a resounding slap, ‘You scoundrel! What do you mean? Do I look ugly to you?’

Such is the vanity of the young! A young person considers himself to be invincible, immortal, and utterly beautiful.

Thoughts of death and