Purpose of Life - A Spiritual Perspective

March 16, 2008

We often hear people ask,” What is the meaning of life?” or “why are we born on

this Earth?” 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 which

define the purpose of our lives at the most basic level. They are:

To complete the give-and-take account we have with various people. To make

spiritual progress with the final aim of merging into God and therefore getting

out of the cycle of birth and death.

Completing our give-and-take account

Over many lifetimes, we accumulate many give and take accounts that are direct

result of our deeds and actions. The may be positive or negative, depending o

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 freewill. All major events

in our life e.g. birth, marriage, major illness, accidents, death etc. are by

and large destined. 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.

However, even our destiny in the current lifetime is just a fraction of the

accumulated give and take account that we amass over many lifetimes. While we do

complete our give and take account and destiny, for this particular lifetime of

ours, we also end up creating more accounts by using our willful action. This in

turn increases our overall give and take account known as the accumulated

account. Consequently, we have to be born again to settle these accounts and are

stuck in the cycle of birth and death.

Making spiritual progress

The ultimate in spiritual development in any spiritual path is merging with God,

which means experiencing God within us, and not identifying with our five

senses, mind and intellect. This happens at the 100% spiritual level. Most

people in today’s world are at the 20-25% spiritual level and are doing no

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.

Through spiritual practice when we achieve the 80% spiritual level, we are

liberated from the cycle of birth and death. After this, we can settle whatever

we have, from the higher subtle realms of Mahaloka ( refer What Happens to Life

After Death to know more ) and above. Sometimes however, people above the 80%

spiritual level may choose to be born on earth to guide humanity in

spirituality.

Spiritual development is only possible through spiritual practice which conforms

to the five basic principle of spiritual practice. They are:

There are many parts to God as there are people. Going from many to one.

Progressing from tangible( gross ) to subtle ( intangible ). Undertaking

spiritual practice as per spiritual level or spiritual capacity. Doing spiritual

practice relevant to the times.

Spiritual paths that do not conform to these 5 principles leads to stagnation in

an individual’s spiritual development.

The earth plane of existence is very important as it is the only plane of

existence where we can make rapid spiritual growth and settle our give and take

account in the shortest time. The main reason is that, with the help of the

physical body, we can do many things to enhance our spiritual growth and level

and reduce the basic, subtle Tama ( Bad ) component.

What does this mean in terms of our goals?

Most of us have our life goals. They may include becoming a doctor, being rich

and famous or representing one’s country in a certain field. Whatever the goal,

for the vast majority of us, it is predominantly a worldly one. Our entire

education system is set up to help us to pursue these worldly goals. As parents

too, we instill the same worldly purpose in our children by encouraging them to

study and enter professions that give them more benefits in monetary terms. One

may ask how do these worldly goals reconcile with the spiritual purpose of life

and the reasons for our birth on earth. The answer is quite simple. We strive

for worldly goals primarily to achieve satisfaction and happiness. However, even

after we accomplish them, the resultant happiness and satisfaction is short

lived. We then search for the next dream to chase. Superlative and lasting

happiness can only be attained through spiritual practice which conforms to 5

basic principles. The highest form of happiness, which is bliss, is an aspect of

God, which we experience when we merge with him. This does not mean that we have

to give up what we are doing, and just focus on spiritual practice. What it does

mean is that only by introducing spiritual practice, we are likely to experience

superlative and lasting happiness. In short, the more our life goals are in line

with the intent of spiritual development, the more rich our lives become, and

the less pain we experience from life.

What is wrong with born again and again?

Sometimes people think that what is wrong in being born again and again? As we

go deeper in Kaliyuga ( the era of strife ), the current era of the Universe,

life will be mostly riddled with pain and problems. Spiritual research has shown

that the average human being is happy only 30% of the time, unhappy 40% of the

time and the remaining 30% of the time he is in neutral state. The primary

reason for this is most people are at a lower spiritual level, give others pain

or end up increasing Raja and Tama ( bad components ) in the environments.

Consequently, we end up accumulating negative Karma. Hence for most of humanity,

our subsequent births will be more painful than our current one.

While the world has made giant steps in economic, scientific and technical

progress, we are poor in terms of happiness that previous generations.

Given that all of us want happiness, rebirth and future lives will not give us

the superlative and lasting happiness we desire. Only spiritual evolvement and

merging with God will provide us with it.

N.B.: This article is an excerpt from monthly publication ( Sanatan Prabhat )

release by Sanatan Sanstha.

Check out this article here at:

http://sharatthakur.com/?p=73

March 20, 2008

Dear sharatthakur,

Thank you for the information. I enjoyed it.

I just wanted to say that the purpose of life is creation. All the

beings on the earth are being created at every moment. This way,

since all creation is ONE, we are re-creating the Creator.

In addition, I do not believe in reincarnation any more. That is we

come to this wolrd just once. The reason is that we have all the

information of yesterday, today and tomorrow embedded in our DNAs

and we are creating the moment.

regards,

, " sharatthakur "

<sharatthakur wrote:

>

> We often hear people ask, " What is the meaning of life? " or " why

are we born on this Earth? " 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 which define the purpose of our lives

at the most basic level. They are:

>

> To complete the give-and-take account we have with various people.

To make spiritual progress with the final aim of merging into God

and therefore getting out of the cycle of birth and death.

>

> Completing our give-and-take account

>

> Over many lifetimes, we accumulate many give and take accounts

that are direct result of our deeds and actions. The may be positive

or negative, depending o 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 freewill. All major events in our life

e.g. birth, marriage, major illness, accidents, death etc. are by

and large destined. 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.

>

> However, even our destiny in the current lifetime is just a

fraction of the accumulated give and take account that we amass over

many lifetimes. While we do complete our give and take account and

destiny, for this particular lifetime of ours, we also end up

creating more accounts by using our willful action. This in turn

increases our overall give and take account known as the accumulated

account. Consequently, we have to be born again to settle these

accounts and are stuck in the cycle of birth and death.

>

> Making spiritual progress

>

> The ultimate in spiritual development in any spiritual path is

merging with God, which means experiencing God within us, and not

identifying with our five senses, mind and intellect. This happens

at the 100% spiritual level. Most people in today's world are at the

20-25% spiritual level and are doing no 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.

>

> Through spiritual practice when we achieve the 80% spiritual

level, we are liberated from the cycle of birth and death. After

this, we can settle whatever we have, from the higher subtle realms

of Mahaloka ( refer What Happens to Life After Death to know more )

and above. Sometimes however, people above the 80% spiritual level

may choose to be born on earth to guide humanity in spirituality.

>

> Spiritual development is only possible through spiritual practice

which conforms to the five basic principle of spiritual practice.

They are:

>

> There are many parts to God as there are people. Going from many

to one. Progressing from tangible( gross ) to subtle ( intangible ).

Undertaking spiritual practice as per spiritual level or spiritual

capacity. Doing spiritual practice relevant to the times.

>

> Spiritual paths that do not conform to these 5 principles leads to

stagnation in an individual's spiritual development.

>

> The earth plane of existence is very important as it is the only

plane of existence where we can make rapid spiritual growth and

settle our give and take account in the shortest time. The main

reason is that, with the help of the physical body, we can do many

things to enhance our spiritual growth and level and reduce the

basic, subtle Tama ( Bad ) component.

>

> What does this mean in terms of our goals?

>

> Most of us have our life goals. They may include becoming a

doctor, being rich and famous or representing one's country in a

certain field. Whatever the goal, for the vast majority of us, it is

predominantly a worldly one. Our entire education system is set up

to help us to pursue these worldly goals. As parents too, we instill

the same worldly purpose in our children by encouraging them to

study and enter professions that give them more benefits in monetary

terms. One may ask how do these worldly goals reconcile with the

spiritual purpose of life and the reasons for our birth on earth.

The answer is quite simple. We strive for worldly goals primarily to

achieve satisfaction and happiness. However, even after we

accomplish them, the resultant happiness and satisfaction is short

lived. We then search for the next dream to chase. Superlative and

lasting happiness can only be attained through spiritual practice

which conforms to 5 basic principles. The highest form of happiness,

which is bliss, is an aspect of God, which we experience when we

merge with him. This does not mean that we have to give up what we

are doing, and just focus on spiritual practice. What it does mean

is that only by introducing spiritual practice, we are likely to

experience superlative and lasting happiness. In short, the more our

life goals are in line with the intent of spiritual development, the

more rich our lives become, and the less pain we experience from

life.

>

> What is wrong with born again and again?

>

> Sometimes people think that what is wrong in being born again and

again? As we go deeper in Kaliyuga ( the era of strife ), the

current era of the Universe, life will be mostly riddled with pain

and problems. Spiritual research has shown that the average human

being is happy only 30% of the time, unhappy 40% of the time and the

remaining 30% of the time he is in neutral state. The primary reason

for this is most people are at a lower spiritual level, give others

pain or end up increasing Raja and Tama ( bad components ) in the

environments. Consequently, we end up accumulating negative Karma.

Hence for most of humanity, our subsequent births will be more

painful than our current one.

>

> While the world has made giant steps in economic, scientific and

technical progress, we are poor in terms of happiness that previous

generations.

>

> Given that all of us want happiness, rebirth and future lives will

not give us the superlative and lasting happiness we desire. Only

spiritual evolvement and merging with God will provide us with it.

>

> N.B.: This article is an excerpt from monthly publication (

Sanatan Prabhat ) release by Sanatan Sanstha.

>

> Check out this article here at:

>

> http://sharatthakur.com/?p=73

>

March 20, 2008

dear blessed one,

blessed love,

life ! it has no meaning as such . u have to create life . u have to create

meaning. and the only creation is to transcend beyond this life. to experience

higher life, hidden underneath this visible one.meditate on ur breath.

gradually u will start experiencing stillness, silence within. and in this inner

silence visions of real life start appearing on ur inner consciosness.

in the service of godliness,

with blessed love,

shree swami maa , india

baharumur <baharumur wrote: