As a person grows up, he understands that there is death and he needs to face it when older people around him / his family dies. However, at that age, death is still an unexpected visitor and hence he neither goes towards it nor away from it. Hence, he is stationary.

As a person becomes old, he starts realizing that death is welcoming him and yet, his attachment to the world is so strong that he does not want to leave it. Hence he tries to move towards the world, while death is trying to draw him away. Hence he approaches it with his back turned. Also turning back is indicative of unwillingness and great fear of it.

The Bhagavad Gita says that “A wise man is one who is not afraid of death since he knows that the soul does not die and it is only the body that does – the soul simply casts off the body like a person would cast off an old shirt”

A very interesting question and one that has fascinated mankind for generations..

Somsram

http://www.gitaaonline.com/