Goal of Life

   The aim of life is to live a happy and successful life and this requires food, clothing, and shelter- the basic necessities and not all are lucky in this respect.The entire life of a person is spent in earning a livelihood. The life of ordinary persons is full of woes- hunger, poverty, unemployment and diseases. Moreover, half of life is spent in sleep, that is as good as death! Nobody is happy. However, there are a few lucky persons who are not bothered about these trivialities, but, still they are worried about finding new venues of entertainment. Even those who are having their basic necessities fulfilled by grace of God spend all their time in entertainment and sleep. As almost all are addicted to Television, cinema and sports, no one is concerned with 'the higher aspects of life' and do not bother to know the real meaning of life.

  The main aim of some persons is to earn wealth, attain social status, and show off! There are some who are idealistic and want to serve the poor, serve society in whatever way possible. There are some who want to know the real purpose of life and take recourse to scriptural studies and take the help of teachers in yoga. All these, to some extent, depend on the role models who impress on young minds. Some persons are guided by their intuition as though it were the result of carry over of karma of the previous lives! 

  Broadly speaking, it is necessary to get good education and vocational training before one is 20 years of age and become strong physically and mentally fit before 30; then on, it is necessary to earn well and lead a family life. By the time one is 50 it is necessary to give a second look at life and make necessary corrections, if things are not going to one's liking. Normally, it is time to have atma avalokana, look at one's self, analyse the way the life oe lived and come to a conclusion. This conclusion, of course, may not be forthcoming since it depends on higher knowledge (jnyan) and wisdom (viveka). One should join the company of learned persons (jnyanis) in satsang; think of the Self (atma chintana) and take to svadhyaya (study of scriptures). By the age of sixty, a person should be wise enough to develop wisdom (viveka) and a sense of renunciation (vairagya) and give up sensuous way of life. The experience gained in life thus far should logically lead to this! However, this is not possible for all.

  The scriptures advocate play and study in childhood (balya), youthful stage (yauvana) is for seeking a good avocation and  householder's (grihastha) life after education and job, By the age of sixty, one should take to renunciation (vairagya), not necessarily sanyasa since it is not advocated for all. The vanaprasthashram is in a way advocated to get into a secluded life and practise yoga under a good teacher. There is no well laid path of renunciation, sanyas; sanyas is sat nyas- the search for truth. Life becomes miserable if one continues to live sensuously since the physical strength declines with age. Desires lead a person astray and the consequences will be disastrous. 

   The scriptures advocate dharma, artha, kaama and moksha as "purushartha sadhanam"- the goal of life. This is some what misinterpreted as: purusha meaning person, artha meaning material wealth, and sadhanam is attainment. Moksha and dharma are literally missing in this context! This is not the goal of life. Actually, it should be "parameshvara darshanameva purushartha sadhanam" meaning, God realization, or visualising the Creator  according to Sri Ramakrishna paramahansa. One should know the 'true nature of the self'. This aspect has been discussed at length in the previous blogs.  However, a brief account of "God realization' and "Realization of the Self" as the main goal of life will be discussed in the following.