Meaning and Purpose of Life

Some people spend their life as if they have to somehow pass the time of their life by indulging in whatever work comes their way. They mindlessly run here and there without understanding the larger aim of life which underlies all our activities. They take up something, but after a while become tired of it and then take up another thing. Many of us go through life in a similar way. We wander about aimlessly in one direction or other, seeking as many adventures as possible. But after traveling through the uncountable variety of lands, homes, jobs, encounters, relationships and projects that life has to offer, we remain puzzled as to what it was all about. All too often in this journey of life we come to the end looking back, and wondering as to what was the purpose of all this running about.

We believe that by accumulating a lot of such experiences, we increase our awareness and consciousness but in reality the process is just the opposite. It is only by giving up and letting go that the consciousness expands. The expansion of consciousness doesn’t lie in the quantitative accumulation of experiences but in a qualitative change in one’s consciousness.

The reason for this aimless approach to life is that the consciousness of most human beings is not fully developed. Their consciousness usually has a limited range and focus due to which they are not able to see the things in their entirety. It (their consciousness) can be compared to a small light which illuminates only small portions here and there, but never knowing the full design and the meaning and purpose of what is being touched. In other words most human beings have only a partial awakening of their consciousness.

The growth of consciousness doesn’t consist in travelling with a small and uncertain light that illuminates only small segments of the vast unknown. It is the systematic expansion of one’s consciousness to the extent that everything can be understood and appreciated in its entirety in relation to the whole and there remain no scope for partial and distorted truth.

The underlying goal of our life is to attain this highest state of consciousness where consciousness is fully expanded and developed. In this state our identity is not narrowly confined but embraces all. Everything can now be known and understood properly in its true and unbiased state. In the process of growth, this underlying purpose of our lives should remain stable despite all the changes we undergo in life. This is what provides the meaning and purpose to our life.

One of the major changes which occur when consciousness expands is a movement from self centeredness to selflessness. When the life of consciousness is small, whatever is not included in its boundaries is alien to it. Thus an individual whose consciousness is not well developed will be unable to appreciate the concerns and viewpoints of others. There will be considerable conflict in this person’s life in relation to his environment. But as consciousness expands we become less self -centred and less preoccupied with trivial individual concerns.

As consciousness gradually expands, we keep on climbing to a higher vantage point from where we can see things from a larger perspective which allows us to be less concerned and anxious and enable us to see things as they really are and not as we imagined about them from a narrow perspective. One’s thinking, feeling, attitudes and self concept are systematically transformed as consciousness is expanded. The world and the people remain the same but our angle of vision towards them changes totally.

When consciousness remains at a low level, one’s identity remains totally confined and narrow. One’s life is always occupied with ‘I’, ‘Me’, and ‘Mine’. This creates for us a sense of separation from all that we define as ‘not I’. And this separation creates discomfort, disharmony and at times a feeling of loneliness and isolation. The experience of separateness arouses anxiety. It is indeed the source of all anxiety. The narrower is one’s concept of identity, the more insecure he will be, feeling small in the world which seems large and threatening. He looks himself as an isolated being struggling against the rest of the world. Such a person works primarily to achieve security and his chief concern is self protection.

Yoga and spirituality helps us transcend constricting identities to achieve a more encompassing awareness of who and what we are and finally establish ourselves in our true nature which is full of peace, happiness and bliss. Expanded identity involves less self preoccupation and more concern for others. When this happens, even in a minor way, there is a feeling of openness and lightness. We come to a greater awareness of the way in which all beings are interrelated. Our sense of separation between ourselves and others become less and less acute. We organize our lives to work for the common benefit, or all of us rather than for me and mine.

A person with a narrow identity can’t see a larger pattern of his life. In giving he feels that some part of him is being lost. But the person with an expanded identity views himself as intimately connected with the whole. Instead of acting from a sense of isolation and insecurity, he begins to act from a sense of fullness and interrelatedness. The idea of working and living only for himself seems quite absurd to him.

If we wish to grow, all the identification in terms of ‘me’ and ‘mine’ must slowly be abandoned and replaced. These identifications lead to conflict and unhappiness. Although each of the things in the world apparently has a separate identity, yet when we go to the very source, we find that there is an underlying unity in the apparent diversity. The aim of all Yoga and spirituality is a movement from separateness to unity.