Purpose of Existence

Everyday we get up in the morning anxious to begin our day in time, to make sure we complete the tasks which we set ourselves and at the same time create some space for ourselves for personal needs. As soon as the alarm bell rings depending on the adequacy or lack of sleep, more often the latter we get up refreshed and raring to g or tired hoping to catch a few extra winks. Snooze!!! get up Snooze! get up is the sequence till there is no choice left. Then after basic needs, a few minutes of introspection meditation and the race begins, and ends after all the daily duties, rounds, clinics, surgeries, opd's family chores, entertainment reading, browsing etc etc etc.

The question is "Is this the purpose of existence?" The answer to this is an obvious and resounding "No". But then there is no clear answer to the next question "What is the purpose of existence?"
I wish to attempt an answer to this question, fully knowing that the answer I give today may not be my final answer for all times to come. I live in this world, to contribute to it and make it a better place than before. When I pause to think of this, I feel that the biggest error in the statement is that word "I" as in my identity as Dr. Vispi Jokhi a human being with a name and some fame conferred on me by my relationships with my immediate family, kin, friends, countrymen and fellow earth dwellers. All these are illusory and temporary attributes which exist while I live in a finite state. While the world with its objects of gratification pull me down by association with these sense objects something within me tells me to aspire for a different goal. It tells me to swim against the tide so that I discover the purpose of my existence. So is my aim to make the world a better place a false aim? It is false as long as I think of the egocentric "I", but when I subsume that I into the divine Self and make myself an instrument in the hands of the divine Lord, my aim to improve the world becomes a true purpose of existence.

Therefore, in all humility I submit that the main purpose of my existence is to unshackle myself from the clutches of relationships and sense objects and yoke myself to the universal divine consciousness call it by any name. But this is not achievable by me instantaneously, but is a step wise process. For this I need to introspect daily and remind myself that I am not the finite Dr. Vispi Jokhi but I am one with the universal consciousness consisting of nature and all of God's creation inanimate and animate. Therefore, I need to respect all of God's creation and live in harmony and moderation, using only what I need. All my actions must be ethical and aimed towards this divine purpose. Like all things in nature living for the whole I must live and serve others at all times. My smallest of efforts in this direction are like the efforts of a sculptor little by little to shape the stone that I am today and discover the divinity within me.

A practical guide for realizing this aim of existence is provided by the Eight point programme of Eknath Easwaran. Meditate daily and remind yourself of your oneness with divine consciousness, chant a mantram to remind me to maintain equanimity at all times, slow down to reflect and pause in this fast life and establish connection with the divine, do one thing at a time with single pointed attention, control the senses and not allow them to pull you on the downward spiral, live in harmony with nature by living and serving others, read the divine scriptures and follow them truly and lastly keep the company of fellow divine souls to help all of us to discover the one universal purpose of existence.

Dr. Vispi Jokhi

Comments

Anonymous said…
Dear Vispi,

very true , but yoga and mediataion self less service and gratitude is the way where we can be one with the divine consuiness which again cannot be defined as it is beyound any measure and can be experianced only

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