The reason for which something is done or created or for which something exists.
The purpose of life isn’t all about happiness, it’s usefulness.
For the past few years, I was made to believe that there is only one purpose of life and that is to be happy. So if the purpose of life is to be happy then why all this suffering, why all this hardship? And I’m not the only person who believed that. In fact, if you look around you, most people are pursuing happiness in their lives.
Every now and again, we hear the clichéd question, ‘What is the meaning of life?’ or ‘What is the purpose of life?’ or ‘Why are we born?’. In most cases, we have our own agenda on what our purpose in life is. However, from a spiritual perspective, there are two generic reasons why we are born. These reasons define the purpose of our lives at the most basic level. Which are;
1. To complete the give-and-take account we have with various people, the relationship between individuals.
Over many lifetimes, we accumulate many give-and-take accounts that are a direct result of our deeds and actions. The accounts may be positive or negative depending on the positive or negative nature of our actions. As a rule of thumb, in the current era, approximately 65% of our lives are destined (not within our control) and 35% of our lives are governed by our own free will.
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All major events in our life are by and large destined. These events include our birth, the family we are born into, the person (or persons) we marry, the children we have, serious illnesses and the time of our death. The happiness and pain that we give and receive from loved ones and acquaintances are by and large simply a case of prior give-and-take accounts directing the way relationships unravel and play out.
In our lifetime, while we do complete our give-and-take account and destiny earmarked for this particular lifetime of ours, we also end up creating more accounts by using our willful action. This in turn finally adds up to our overall give-and-take account known as the accumulated account. As a result, we have to be born again after death to settle further give-and-take accounts and are stuck in the cycle of birth and death.
Happiness begins from the moment you do something for others.
2. To make spiritual progress with the final aim of merging into God and therefore getting out of the cycle of birth and death.
The ultimate in spiritual development in any Spiritual path is merging with God. ‘Merging with God’ means experiencing God within us and all around us and not identifying with our five senses, mind and intellect. This happens at the 100% spiritual level.
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Most people in today’s world are at the 20-25% spiritual level and are disinclined to any spiritual practice for spiritual development. They also heavily identify with their 5 senses, mind and intellect. This is reflected in our lives when we focus mainly on our looks or are arrogant about our intelligence or success.
God created mankind as a special species, above the other animals, and having at least some of the qualities of God, Himself. God appointed us as stewards of all His creation. People who learn to put their trust in God, instead of in worldly things. Find a deep sense of peace and serenity that overshadows the evils, anxieties, and disappointments of life and the fear of death. We live in the world but we must put our hopes and trust in God.
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Most people miss out because they never discover the simple truth: we can find peace and fulfillment only in trusting God and serving others. Ironically, we cannot find personal fulfillment by trying to please ourselves. Self-centered pursuits leave us unsatisfied and craving even more wealth, power, pleasure, beauty, status, etc. in a vain attempt to find security and fulfillment.
Many of us seek security and fulfillment in one or more of the worldly enticements in the list below. We live in the world, and many worldly activities are worthwhile, necessary and good in their proper place. However, they are not the things that give peace, satisfaction, and meaning to our lives.
Take charge of your world, make it meaningful and invest everything into it, live the way you wish the world would be.
