Skip to main content

Purpose of Life

I came back to NADT for the reunion. It's a wonderful feeling to see people grow in different directions. We all started with NADT around 20 years back, and all of us have grown in many different directions. When we were in NADT together 20 years back, most of us were unmarried. Now, almost all of us are married and have kids studying in different grades. All of us were different when we started our journey, though the differences were not that explicit. Now, after 20 years, each one of us has travelled a long distance with those differences, and the differences are quite explicit. 

Many of us tried to explore the meaning of life in quite different ways. A few got associated with a spiritual organization and are exploring the meaning of life with the help of the teachings of the Guru they follow, while a few are exploring different organizations. Everybody has interesting experiences to share. It's wonderful to listen to all these experiences. 

I feel that all of us are here, on this Earth, for the exploration of life. As I was discussing with a batchmate the day before yesterday, this cosmos is so wide that we can't fathom the depth and breadth of the same, and yet we explore whatever limited part thereof we have access to. Even that limited exploration is so fascinating. Imagine the joy of the astronaut who reaches the Moon. When he walks on the Moon and looks at Earth from a distance, in a terrain completely unknown, and even Google Baba has very little knowledge about the same, what an extraordinary feeling that would be. Exploration into the domain of the unknown is so wonderful and fulfilling. However, some of us become so certain of whatever is limited we know and sit on our Mount Stupid that no sane person in this world can shake us from that Mount Stupid and waste our lives in that stupidity. 

What creates that illusion in the minds of some people? They are reluctant to get down from their Mount Stupid despite so many life experiences. Flowing with truth needs a courage that not many of us have. It is quite comforting to make a mental story, repeat that in front of everybody, and live happily in that mental story. If that mental story is acceptable to the people with whom we generally interact, there is hardly any scope for challenge to such a mental story. For example, most of us make meaning of life around family, and making our family members and kids comfortable. That's a widely accepted story. This story is not challenged unless there is a crisis in the relationship or loss of a family member. In moments of crisis, people break down because we have repeated this story almost every moment in our minds, and that's why it has entered so deeply into our psyche that we can't handle the loss of a family member. That makes us deprived of the purpose of life.

There was an expert's lecture on positive thinking. He recommended thinking positively about the things we want to manifest in our lives. He gave an example of his brain and spine surgery, and his resilience and recovery. He also insisted on the purpose and passion. When a person confines his purpose of life to his family, is such a division created due to love? Or that's just a fixation on their own mental story of a picture-perfect family. Aren't love and compassion driven by an awareness of the oneness of consciousness? Till that awareness, we create that sense of separation between my family and the other family, the very same mind will separate within the family also. That's why many such relationships convert into classic cases of revenge during the proceedings of separation. You have shattered my dream of a perfect family, and now it's time for me to take revenge. When our lives are guided by awareness of oneness, we develop love and compassion for everybody. We connect to everybody. The purpose of our life, in that case, can't be restricted to a family. When we stay aware in any moment, we observe, explore, and connect with everything around us. Without this awareness, we just behave like a robot that is pre-programmed with one or the other mental story. So, positive thinking is not another mental story, but rather awareness of the wider reality and possibilities. 


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Comfortable Life full of Fears

 Why did Buddha reject the offer of a comfortable life as a prince from his father? Why do most people grab such an opportunity? Why do most people struggle all through their lives to get such a comfortable life? It is because most people can't see what Buddha could see. That is exactly why Buddha wanted to tell the secret to the entire world.  Buddha asked questions to his charioteer about disease and death. He could have closed his eyes to the suffering of the people and sat happily inside his palace. But he enquired into the nature of death and diseases, the old age and pains thereof. He asked whether anyone can avoid suffering, and came to know that it is not possible to avoid the sufferings of old age, diseases, and death. He was determined to find a solution and therefore delved deeper and deeper into the nature of suffering and its source. His inner journey revealed the secrets that he shared with the whole world. The real cause of suffering is ignorance.  We form ...
Post a Comment
Read more

A "home" decorated with "bonsai"

 Somebody gifted a plant sometime back. When I look at the plant on the Table, it appears to me as if the plant had the potential to grow into a big tree, but we confined the little plant within the limits of the pot, and it has grown strangely. It has a thick stem but has small leaves and branches. We have designed the plants to look the way we like. What "I" want is more important than what the "plant" is. The plant will grow the way "I" like it to grow. And then, "I" would also claim that "I" love the plant.  Yesterday, I went to a coaching institute to get some test series for a competitive exam for my daughter. The guide there spoke for around 40-45 minutes on the risks and chances of getting selected in different competitive examinations. So much competition. Fear is instilled into the minds of the students from the very beginning. Everything is around fear. If they are not able to get enrolment in a professional course , they wi...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kurukshetra Within Ourselves

I watched the Netflix series Kurukshetra today. It's a wonderfully made series and, in fact, made me recall my childhood series of the Mahabharata that used to be telecast on DD. Mahabharata is magical. The most magical thing about the Mahabharata is that it has no straitjacket definition of Dharma . The entire battle of Kurukshetra is for Dharma, and everybody feels that he is fighting the battle for Dharma.  When Bhishma realises that Vichitravirya needs to be married, he goes to the Swamvara of Amba, Ambika, and Ambalika and forcefully brings them to Hastinapur . Ambika and Ambalika are married to Vichitravirya, while Amba carries out penance to take revenge on Bhishma. Why did Bhishma bring these three girls against their wishes to Hastinapur? If Vichitravirya wanted to marry, he should have shown courage and participated in the Swamvara. After all, Swamvara meant that the girls wanted to marry the most courageous person. Bhishma deprived them of their rights for his attac...
Post a Comment
Read more