Are you living with a purpose?

Let us have a look at a normal life of a person, one takes birth, grows up then learn to make money to survive then gets married and have kids then the kids grow up and one day the person dies. Now have a look at an animal’s life. They also take birth, they grow up, they also learn how to find their food, they also have kids and they also die. Don't you think that living without a spiritual progress is just like living as clothed animals? In my opinion everyone should ask this question to himself/herself.

The problem with the world is that we have forgotten how to keep a balance between the four pillars of life Dharm, Arth, Kaam and Moksh. Right now everyone wants a lot of money and a lot of sex. People have forgotten their duties and no one even thinks about salvation. This is the reason why there is so much moral corruption in today’s society. My advice is, try to find a balance in these four aspects of your lives and trust me, you’ll feel much more happy and contended.

Basically in order to understand the purpose of life, we first need to understand how life progresses? First of all life doesn't end with death. Death is just the end of a chance given to a soul to learn and correct itself in the form of a body. The soul will again be given many chances with every life form it’ll take. The journey of the soul goes on irrespective of the births we take and the deaths we face. With every life we experience few things and learn from those experiences. If we refuse to learn a particular lesson from a particular experience then we’ll again face the same circumstances in next life and this will continue to happen till the time we learn what we were supposed to learn from that particular experience.

Now for example, a common person who is not violent, is not violent only because he has been violent in some past life and has learned the lesson that it is not good to be a violent person unless circumstances compel you to do so. In the same manner if someone is very calm, it means that he has seen it all and has learned to be calm under trying circumstances. Once you have learned a lesson, you are done with that aspect of life. Then you’ll move to the next learning. Let me quote you two examples from my life, how I learned my lessons?

When I started my career in sales with one of the leading MNC corporate and soon I was lured into entrepreneurship by some like minded friends. Life was good and initially few years were full of struggle but when we started making good money one fine day my partners ditched me and I was left with almost nothing. Those were heavy days for me but I had this too big ‘I’ in me and I decided that I’ll create an even bigger empire for myself.

Then I started all over again, worked hard and in 2–3 years time created an even bigger business enterprise of my own. Everything kept on going smoothly then one fine day a big multinational I was working with got bust because of its internal corruption. Again I was left with almost nothing. Again the same ‘I’ in me compelled me to create another empire and I did created one again. But then after a while that also crashed, this time for no apparent reason.

This time of course, I took a back seat and went into some introspection. I realised that whenever I try to create something, it goes bust for no fault of mine. I asked my Guru for help, why? He just smiled and said, you need to learn to let the time flow. You need to learn, trying not to control the circumstances. You need to learn, how to align yourself with Nature. And I realised it then and there. I left this big ‘I’ of mine and surrendered myself at Guru’s lotus feet. And from that day onward I started realising the true purpose of my life which was actually much more than creating wealth for myself.

Therefore, always remember if you are getting caught in the same circumstances again and again, it means that nature is trying to tell you something which you are refusing to listen to. The moment you’ll learn your lesson, the circumstances will change and will never return to haunt you. I learned another lesson the hard way. And that is because I refused to learn initially. I was very attached to a person emotionally and that person’s life was sort of a hell created by that person only.

I got so attached to that person that for three years I kept on saving that person from facing the result of that person’s karma. I kept on pleading Guruji to delay the eventuality. Guruji told me so many times that this person is not worth it but I refused to part ways with that person. He even got angry with me but because of my deep attachment with that person, I refused to listen to him. Then one fine day that person backstabbed me. And it was so hard that my entire life came to a standstill. I couldn't take it.

Even after receiving such a deadly blow, my attachment refused to go. Then one fine night I asked Guruji again, why this person is doing these things with me, what is my fault? I have only helped this person for years. A tear fell down from my eye saying all this to Guruji and I slept. I woke up around 1:00 am that night and I heard a sound coming out of nowhere and saying again and again .. It was saying This was only Moh, Maya,Illusion, Illusion.. I kept on listening to that sound and after half an hour I slept again.

Then next morning I realised the meaning of that word. If all what I was going through was mere an illusion then why should I be sad about? I realised that Guruji wanted me to get out of each and every attachment I had. And that very day I came out of it. That person simply disappeared from my life and thoughts never to come back again. So life in my opinion is all about experiencing and learning.

Now coming back to the purpose of life, let me give you a key for it. It is originally given my Shiva to humankind. Let me try to explain it to you. Shiva said that there are four pillars of a human life, Dharm/Duty, Arth/Money, Kaam/Sex, Moksh/Salvation. An ideal human life should have a balance of these four aspects. Now understand, Dharm/Duty is very subjective. Every human has different duties to perform.

Like one being a king has to impart his duties as a king and one as a servant has to impart his duties as a servant. One may have duties as a father, mother, brother, child and so on. Then there are duties towards your Guru, towards your nation, towards your society and so on. So the first key is that one needs to impart whatever duties he/she has in the best manner one can.

Second is Arth/Money. Now as we have duties and we have our own bodies to take care of, we need to have an income to support all these affairs. And in order to make money, we need to work. See, making money is not something bad at all. We all need it. Giving yourself and your near and dear ones comfort using that money is also good. The problem starts when we want to create money to boost our egos, to prove others that we are better than them. Making money to live comfortably is perfectly fine.

Third is Kaam/Sex. Sex is again a necessity as it is the only way we can procreate. Sex for pleasure is also fine if it is done in a disciplined manner. But as they say Ati Sarvatra Varjayet/ excess of anything is bad.

Fourth is Moksh/Salvation: A soul’s utmost purpose is to return the very source it came from, ie. God. This is called salvation. Now salvation is a very long process. It goes on for many many lives. In every life we should keep on progressing a little towards that ultimate goal. Only then a human life is of any worth.

Now the first three aspects namely Dharm/Duty, Arth, Money and Kaam/Sex are all related to our current physical body only. You’ll have duties only because you are born this time in a particular body in a particular family, at a particular place or because of choices you have made while being in this body only. Same goes for money. You can buy yourself comforts only by the time this body lasts. Sex can also be performed till the time this particular body of yours allows it.

Now the point here is the first three aspects are there for you to have a comfortable life but it ends there. The moment you’ll leave this body none of the first three aspects will be of any use to you. The only thing that will continue with your soul is your spiritual journey. If one has not progressed spiritually a little in a lifetime then he/she has wasted one precious human life. Therefore please understand that spirituality is what gives you real peace! Cheers!