What is the purpose of life?

Human life is the most wonderful creation on this planet. We are part of the whole chain of events. Life has been the center of the entire fabric of civilization and is more sublime and glorious than it was initially thought. Among all the creations, humans occupy the supreme position in the hierarchy due to their emotional, intellectual, innovative and adaptive prowess. This enormous capability and the relentless action and endeavor to think and constantly improvise upon their existing status, has made humans unique in the known universe. Therefore there is no denying the fact that we are unique, beautiful, intelligent beings with unlimited capacity to learn and evolve. But the eternal question keeps coming back to me all the time. Based on the assumption that we are here due to some grand design, what is the purpose of us being here in the first place? Why are we here? What is the purpose of life? It’s a very interesting as well as very perplexing question, and sometimes no one answer can be true or false. However there is not one answer that can be generalized for each and every individual. This curiosity has helped me identify some of the most profound questions of life by seeing and experiencing life around me. Of all the human emotions some of them are just outstanding and there in fact lies, some, if not all the answers to some of the questions. No matter who we are, where we live, and which culture we belong to, some of the basic human premise, e.g., love, pain, anger, happiness remain the same, irrespective of our geographical constraints. These emotions are in our DNA. So the answer to the basic and eternal question of the “purpose of life” should come from these unique attributes. If we all have the same emotions for love and hate, shouldn’t purpose of life be the same for entire human kind? I think this is where we have to pause, and think and reexamine our ‘purpose of life’.

The purpose of life.

Happiness:

Happiness is an emotion, universally shared by every breathing soul in this world. We share same joy when we are happy. Happiness is a byproduct of numerous complicated functionalities around us, or so, we have been made to believe. So what is happiness? It is inadvertently attached to our successes. We succeed we are happy and vice versa. However, after much investigation I have come to a conclusion that it is a state of mind, and a very important purpose. Happiness is a function of our socioeconomic, intellectual and financial state, for most of us. We always attach happiness to our achievements which can lead to mental agitation. My happiest days were those, when I had no clue about my socioeconomic, intellectual or financial status. Which necessarily means I would have been less than five years old. So if we remove these manmade status clutter from around us, the probability of happiness increases manifold. Happiness to me is the state or position which allows us to be in the harmony of self and the environment around us. In the absence of inner harmony, happiness cannot be achieved. We have to identify the elements which can make us happy instantaneously, in doing so we must disassociate from the vagaries of modern living. This philosophy, necessarily interprets two things. Firstly one can be happy even if he or she is not wealthy. Secondly happiness can be achieved only if you are in harmony with you inner being. And we must try to do what we do to get this feeling. All the good things of life are cause and effect of happiness. Happiness unites individuals and creates the opportunity for prosperity and workmanship. It is very consistent and a socialist. The feeling of happiness is same for everyone. It is apolitical and free from religious, cultural and racial biases. It is felt by all individuals in the same manner, although it can be expressed in a different manner by different individuals. Happiness is a positive reinforcement of the deeper understanding of one’s own consciousness at the same time manifestation of the same consciousness, which is in harmony with the self. For instance, two babies are born at the same time, one in very rich family and the other one in a poor family. Both the babies are completely unaware of their parent’s socioeconomic stature. Either cry or smile based on the surrounding that they are in. Their happiness is not attached to anything but their inner self and their environment in which they are in. But as these babies grow up they will become more and more aware of their socioeconomic stature, thus more agitation, antagonism and agony will creep in. Once we detach ourselves from socioeconomic measurements, the absolute happiness of mind can be achieved.

Action:

Humans are born in this world to perform action through karma. All the actions with desire and attachment leads to sadness and gloom. If your actions are performed, without any attachment that action will lead to eternal peace and harmony. For example, as a mother I love my child dearly, which is an action, and I should not be worried, whether my child loves me back in return? As long as I don’t expect anything in return from my child, there will not be any pain and will make my action much easier to perform. The moment I attach an action, from my child, in return of my action, the same peace will not prevail. The attached action will be the cause of my agony. Only the unattached action will lead to peace and happiness. The moment we attach our action with returns and expectations it becomes transactional and that transactional relation causes pain and anxiety. Again the karma or action should be for greater good. We humans should always be able to execute and weigh as well as verify our actions. Sometimes “Diskarma”(inaction) is better than karma (action) that is harmful for the individuals in particular and mankind in general. The action should be rewarding and fulfilling rather than being punitive. Action is the wheel of society, in the absence of which the circle of life will cease to exist. Unattached action is the best way to fulfill our purpose of life. The karma is the ultimate goal and we all are here to claim part of our karma.

Heart over head:

It is said if heart is right you are always right. Listening to your heart is listening to your inner voice, which always tells the right thing. In modern society and with technological advancement most of our decisions are made monetarily and socially. This concept sometimes is far more challenging than we had initially thought. It does not necessarily give us the purpose and peace that we have been looking for since primordial times. I always say, there is something about ‘Heart’. No matter how ferociously I battle with my mind the heart always wins. The reason being, may be the mind gets influenced by numerous things and opinions, but the moment I talk to my heart the whole thing changes. My stance softens, and it appears less contaminated. If one truly questions ones heart the result will always be favorable. With few exceptions the heart is always the best guide and your true friend. The funny thing is when we fall in love with someone we give them our most precious thing, our heart, we don’t give them our mind. We lose our heart in love, and we are hailed, we lose our mind in love, most certainly, we will be declared ‘crazy’. When the child is born he or she enters the world with a beat and that is the happiest state of existence, pristine and unadulterated. Over the period we stop listening to that beat and bow in front of the jungle of reasoning, and attract numerous stress and disease condition. That can be put to an end if once in a while we take a pause and hear our beat from within.

Values:

A person with significant value system achieves greatness. Value is nothing but one’s judgment of what is important in life. It is a self-evaluation and assessment process. To succeed in any thing in life a person has to list and identify what is important and how is he going to achieve that. A sound value system enables an individual to carve a path which is right for her or him and achieve desired goals. Now the question is how do we know, what is important? The values in our lives and the system around it helps us identify them. And that identification is possible only if we know what is important and how badly we want to achieve it. For example my value teaches me that all humans are equal. This is my belief and value. If someone has this value embedded in their life, they will do anything and try to overcome any obstacle to achieve this goal of equality for all. Value system can again differ from one individual to another. The value system that we build around us depends on culture, education, environment and socioeconomic conditions. The purpose is to build the best value system based on those principals. Even if someone lacks one or more of those elements they should be fine building their own unique value system based on other purposes of life that we have already discussed. The values make us stronger as individuals, we just have to start believing in them. If we are able to achieve this purpose most of the toxicity will vanish and tranquility within will ensue.

Love:

Love is the most beautiful purpose of life. It is universal truth and felt by each and every living soul irrespective of race, religion, caste, color culture and country. It is well known to us all, that person who is loved is most capable of spreading love. It is a universal language and most of us have experienced it at some point in our lives. Love has different levels and intensities, however it can have different levels of deeper meaning to different individuals. Love for a parent or a child is different from love for a spouse or a partner, but basic emotions are almost identical. If we love somebody, we like to see them happy, safe and healthy, irrespective of what relationship we share with them. In my view this is the most significant purpose of life. If love is the purpose and cause of our existence then the effect can bring much harmony and balance in our lives. Love is the sweetest human emotion and is purely based on the understanding of self first and others later. To understand love we should be learn to love ourselves first. Only by doing so, we will know how beautiful it feels when someone is loved. Through our own experiences we will be able to develop love for others and the society in which we live. Love is very powerful. The most profound yet the most fragile emotion that any of us can think of. However if the purpose of our existence is to love, all other elements will follow without much effort.

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The gift of giving:

It is always great to receive gifts but the greatest joys are brought about by giving to others. The gift of giving is the most fulfilling experience that I have gone through. By thinking and caring for those in need or just as a nice gesture has had a compelling effect on my life and has clearly redirected my purpose of life. Now I take some time out of my schedule to think about others who are not related to me in any possible way but do need help and kindness or both. It is great to get, but even greater to give. I have experienced that giving, has a chain reaction. If we give, it is not unusual, to get back from somewhere. It has always happened with me. There has been times, when I have shown kindness, or done something, for somebody, which has had a boomerang effect, almost immediately. I have been returned by the greater kindness by somebody, just out of the blue. This purpose of life has stood the test of time and it will be one of the most important purpose of life and the positivity it spreads across lives. My heroes are the ones who are relentlessly giving back, to the society, they have been the part of, and my salute goes to them, with the conviction of doing the same in future, however little.

Knowledge:

Knowledge of oneself and the surrounding is another important purpose of life. When people are aware of themselves and their situations they are more likely to have successful life, than those, who are unaware. Here when I talk about knowledge, I mean knowledge of life, and ability to acquire that knowledge, to live a better life, and inculcate better living style, to the future generations. This purpose can be learnt, and taught at the same time. Knowledge can come through your own experiences or through someone else. It is easily transferable and equally rewarding depending which way you look at it. Knowledge increases your ability to distinguish and decipher. In the absence of both life can be challenging. We human beings are more knowledgeable today than have ever been. The good question would be, are we better off? That is where we have to be aware of our consciousness, and our core value system. A knowledge based on our core value system will always be the beacon of our karma. A good karma. Contrarily, knowledge devoid of our consciousness will be a disservice to our existence and will lead to diskarma (inaction).There is no substitute for good karma based on knowledge driven consciousness. A bad and negative knowledge can ruin and cause enormous chaos and can endanger the civilization. So the purpose of knowledge should be dealt with carefully and responsibly. The knowledge that empowers people for better and more meaningful existence is the knowledge that civilization needs and has always thrived on, but a knowledge of destruction is for lesser good of the mankind and has doom written all over it. Knowledge is the soul of society, and we all should strive to keep that soul alive, so that it can flourish and enrich not only us, but the society at large.

Change:

Change is the most consistent purpose of all. If all of us whole heartedly embrace this purpose, we would have dealt with most drudgeries and toxicities of modern life. Nature is all for change, so are we. We have been designed for this purpose. From the time of conception, till we die, we are the assembly line of change. The idea is to change for the better consequences. If something is not working in your favor, change. Change to maintain the sanctity of you core being. No purpose will be fulfilled if we don’t change according to the changing times. As we all know change is the law of nature. No one can escape this fact and therefore this can be considered the rolling stone of human civilization. It’s a corner stone of all evolution and will continue to be the most dynamic purpose of our life. Change brings energy and renewal. We experience change taking place all around us, be it, weather, people, rules, cities, technology and so on. Some or the other kind of change is taking place each time we blink our eye. Change is a creator and a destroyer. Change has the ability to revolutionize the conflict of the self and the society simultaneously. The basic tenet of this purpose is, that nothing is constant, and we can always strive for better life, following the above purposes, through periodical changes and alterations in our lives. We are imperfect people living in this imperfect world. Without sounding sanctimonious, change you should, only if it ascertains greater gain for larger mass in this grandest of design. Conclusively this untethered dynamism should be embraced by all of us for the grandeur of life that lies ahead of us.

 In order to reinforce the purpose for which we are here in this world, I want to quote: Confucius,

“Life is really simple, but we insist on making it complicated.”

As Mark Twain had aptly said:

“Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”

The purpose of life is to accomplish what you have planned and the results will come. It is only a matter of time and patience.

Diskarma (Inaction). This is my take on the word which means ‘inaction’