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Perspective
Purpose of Life
by
J. Ajithkumar
 We carry out so many actions and indulge in so many activities. But what
exactly is the real purpose of our life? A lot of prophets and saints
have attempted an answer for this. But none have given a more logical
and satisfying answer than the Indian Rishis by way of their theoretical
exposition of soul, karma and rebirths in umpteen works of Sanatana
Dharma. The concepts of soul and rebirth form part of the core
ideology of Sanatana Dharma that stands on very solid
foundations. No other religion or ism has given a better answer as to
the purpose of life than Sanatana Dharma. Rishis in India have
never craved for political power and that is why their Dharma is
Sanatana (eternal) that could offer such an unquestionable answer
regarding purpose of life. Any ideology designed for seeking power and
conquering lands cannot provide answers to eternal questions.
Attaining paradise and redemption for sinners are the unquestioned
objectives of two contemporary isms dominating the world today. But a
mere pointer to the objective will not provide a satiable answer to our
questions about the purpose of everyday life. Voluntarily and
involuntarily we are carrying out so many activities in the entire span
of our lives. Many a time we do understand the immediate purpose only in
the case of our voluntary actions e.g. we walk or run when we want to
reach a destination. But why do you want to reach that particular
destination at all? For that matter, why do you want to reach any
destination? Why is our heart working tirelessly or shutting down
suddenly without our control? Why do we tend to love something and hate
something else? There is no end to such questions and no answer either.
Only Sanatana Dharma provides a simple satisfying answer as to the
overall purpose of life of each and every human being.
Insatiable Souls
Almost all religious isms accept the existence of a body and soul for
each human being and Sanatana Dharma is no exception. But the similarity
ends there. We are considered alive only until our body and soul are
together. When the soul decides to leave, it leaves behind a dead body.
But what is this soul and what is its role? Indian Rishis considered
these souls as nothing but indestructible microcosms (jeevatma)
of the larger universal force of Ishwar (paramatma). We know
Ishwar is present in everything, but what is special about the soul? If
Ishwar is present in everything, why is soul not present in everything?
The answer is simple and straight forward. It is true that Ishwar is
present in everything, but soul is present only in living beings. And
that is what differentiates between living and dead bodies. Each soul
comes with a partly defined purpose based on accumulated karma from
previous lives (which also determines when, where and how it is born),
but leaves with the karma accumulated by the actions of the body that
carried it.
Presence of life in it makes all souls inherently insatiable. The prime
purpose of bodies carrying them gets defined here. It is the solemn duty
of each living body to carry its soul to a more elevated plane in the
cycle of evolution. Refinement of the soul it carries is thus the solemn
duty of each living individual in this universe. And the only tool
available at our disposal for achieving this is our action. Each and
every one of our actions is important here. Each thought and each
movement is vital. Application of the dharma tool, another unique aspect
of Sanatana Dharma, becomes unavoidable in this regard. Each dharmic
action (including thoughts) refines our soul and each adharmic
action will taint it further. And finally when your body�s turn to carry
that soul is over, it leaves and may or may not be reborn depending upon
the accumulated karma so far. In a way it is the insatiability of the
soul inside us that force us through each moment of our life.
Moksha Deliverance
It is clear and evident that we are all born with souls of different
characteristics which in turn depend on the intensity of refinement they
have gone through in the past lives. Since none of us have any role in
our birth that carries along with it the associated fortunes (and
misfortunes), the vast differences that exist among us at birth is also
something beyond our control. All of us are uniquely different at birth
and our actions start to count only after we come of age. And beyond
that point whatever we think or say or act will definitely affect our
principal task of refining the souls in our custody. That is why it is
always stressed by various religious leaders that success or failure of
our births is largely in our own hands. One�s life is a success if he or
she has managed to refine the soul and it is a failure if it gets more
and more tainted in your custody.
And finally what happens after so many cycles of births and deaths.
Nature of accumulated karma would carry the soul forward. If the latest
one holding it has done well enough, the soul (jeevatma) shall
merge completely into Ishwar (paramatma) and shall be relieved of
further trials and tribulations associated with births and re-births.
Complete liberation or emancipation (moksha) of the soul happens
at this point. In rarest of rare cases we have also seen individuals
amongst us achieving emancipation (moksha) even during their
lifetimes. Ramana Mahirshi of yesteryears and Mata Amritanandamayi Devi
in contemporary times are cases of such jeevanmukta. Their
actions are so very noble that refinement of the souls they carried
outpaced their own lives. It will be a rare honor to interact and be
associated with such noble souls.
Purpose of our life and what we all should aim for in the course of our
lives is explicitly clear now. Reference material available in
Sanatana Dharma for finer clarifications and research on this topic
is literarily monumental. The logic of soul refinement and rebirths is
so unambiguous that all our doubts will evaporate when we dig deeper and
deeper into the works of Indian Rishis. No other religious ideology can
claim such a credible and convincing repertoire of coherent works and
their innumerable commentaries. Genuine followers of Sanatana Dharma
have no reasons to be in doubt as to the purpose of their lives. Perhaps
the days are not very far when the whole world would realize their
mistake of not noticing the truth of their lives that always existed in
the cradle of culture that is Sanatana Dharma.
May 3, 2009
Image under license with Gettyimages.com
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