What is the purpose and meaning of life?

You are here to enable the divine purpose of the universe to unfold.

 That is how important you are!

Eckhart Tolle

                                                                  
He was exhausted and worn-out. Wild berries and bitter shrubberies failed to offer him enough nutrition. His stomach was empty for almost three days….. Slowly he raised, gathered up the residual strength and set out on another hunting excursion. Searching for the prey and wrestling with weather extremities he slinked through the width and breadth of the thick forest. Another day was passing by and sun was nearly setting. However, the great circle of life wanted to give him another chance…..A few feet ahead, a silhouette of a four legged creature emerged- it was an animal that could easily mollify his agonizing pangs. He knew it was his last chance to survive. Having this epiphany in mind, he soundlessly crept through the grass and fiercely attacked the animal with his strong hands and piercing claws; the animal resisted for a while but soon gave up. Audacity finally paid off and the ultimate feast was ready to be devoured! He quickly filled his ravenous stomach with warm and rare meat, drank fresh water from the running stream and lied down on the plush blanket of satin leaves next to the White Aspen tree. His eyes gazed upon the glorious sky and viewed the sparkling, twinkling and breath-taking stars…calmness and serenity of the starry night heightened his awareness and aroused the thoughtful, intellectual mind. A voice whispered in his mind.

Who am I?

What is the purpose of this vast Universe?

And what is my purpose in this infinite Universe??

     Quest for the self- identity and “life’s ultimate purpose” was primarily emerged in the primitive mind and continued its journey through the eras and eons of human evolutions. Philosophers and intellectuals have been searching for life’s big questions and have tried to answer the age-old conundrums in variety of different ways.

 Writer Henery Miller thought that

“The aim of life is to live and to live means aware, joyously,

drunkenly, divinely aware”.

Nobel Laureate Eli Wiesel writes,

 “If to be free is the most important goal of all than to help someone to be free or become free must be the most sublime and rewarding of human endeavors.”

When the same question was asked to Mr. Shunryu Suzuki- founder of Zen center of San Francisco, he answered “asking the question” is the purpose of life.

What is the purpose of life?

"What?” Is the purpose of life.

The purpose of life is to continue to ask questions. Each of us must find our own meaning by recasting the question over and over again, year by year, day by day, and moment by moment…..

How am I living my life?

Is there a conflict between who I am and who I want to be?

How do I envision myself ten/twenty years from now?

Is my family happy and contented? Are my children growing up as successful and satisfied individuals??

How is my spiritual life moving forward??

Am I evolving myself with each passing day??

Am I serving the creator and his creation the way it should be served??

Do I have a thirst of knowing the reality of things around me??

How can I attain a drop of wisdom from the infinite ocean of knowledge???

      Seeking for answers opens our hearts to the mysteries of life. Each of us must find our own meaning by keeping the inquiry alive every year, every day and every moment. Having a child-like wonder, awe and reverence keeps us truly alive and present in each moment.  According to one Zen master

 “Purpose of life is to live every day and every moment with hope and joy, simply appreciating the extraordinariness of the ordinary.”

   We must try to unlock the power of the “present moment” by breaking the old pattern of living in our minds. Past and future are not always required. We should make a habit to withdraw our attention from these two time-zones. Rightly said by Rumi,

 “Past and future veil God from our sight; burn up both of them with fire”.

Meister Eckhart, the thirteenth-century spiritual teacher is in complete harmony with Rumi

“Time is what keeps the light from reaching us. There is no greater obstacle to God than time.”

    By breaking our ties with not so wanted time-zones, staying in present moment and keeping the periodic self-inquiry alive we may come to see more clearly the meaning and purpose of life day by day and moment by moment.

 

   

Reflection (Taffakur) on Great Words from Great Religions

 

If you want to Draw Near to God

If you wish to draw near to God,

Seek him in the hearts of those around you.

Speak well of all, present or absent.

If you would be a light for others,

Be like a sun: show the same face to all.

  

This is the true lover of God,

Who lives with others,

Rises and eats and sleeps like others,

Gives and takes in the Bazaar,

Yet never forgets God even for a moment.

(Abu Sa’id)

-----------------------------

  

Let me walk in the beauty

Let me walk in the beauty

And let my eyes ever behold the red and purple sunset.

Make my hands respect the things you have made

And my ears grow sharp to hear your voice.

  

Make me wise so that I may understand the things

You have taught my people.

Let me learn the lesson you have hidden

in every leaf and rock.

I seek strength not to be greater than my brother or sister

but to fight my greatest enemy, myself.

  

Make me always ready

To come to you with clean hands and straight eyes

So when the life fades as the fading sunset

My spirit may come to you without shame.

(Native American Tradition)

 

 

Reflection (Taffakur) on Great  Words from Great Religions

Finding Unity

Those who know do not speak;

Those who speak do not know.

Stop up the opening,

Close down the doors,

Rub off the sharp edges.

Unravel all confusion.

Harmonize the light,

Give up contention:

This is called finding the unity of life.

  

When love an d hatred cannot affect you,

Profit and loss cannot touch you,

Praise and blame cannot ruffle you,

You are honored by all the world.

(LAO TZU)

---------------------------------

 Let Nothing Upset You

Let nothing upset you;

Let nothing frightened you.

Everything is changing;

God alone is changeless.

Patience attains the goal.

Who has God lacks nothing;

God alone suffice you

(Saint Teresa of Avila)

Tafakkur (Contemplation)

Taffakur (Contemplation)

Know
yourself

and

you

Will know

Your

 Lord

       Tafakkur literally means to think on a subject deeply and in great detail, to admire and appreciate every aspect of a given thought. Contemplation is the heart’s lamp; a light that illuminates the inner as well as the outer surroundings and enables the light bearer to fathom the reality and true nature of things. It’s the golden key to unlock the secrets hidden inside our hearts and outside in the ever-expending universe

     ” It is through reflection that the universe becomes a book to study, and the verses of Quran disclose their deeper meanings and secrets more clearly. Without reflection, the heart is darkened, the spirit is exasperated, and religion is lived at such a superficial level that it is devoid of meaning and profundity".

 

M. Fethullah Gulen, “Key concepts in the practice of Sufism”

 

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us" Ralph Waldo Emerson

     

  Tafakkur occurs when we turn the eye of our awareness inward, towards the heart, knowing that this is where Allah the most high dwells. Prophet Mohammad (SAW) described reflection as the most worthy of all the acts.

 

“No act of worship is as meritorious as reflection, so reflect on the God’s bounties and works of his power”

Another verse in Quran invites us to reflect upon the creation of the universe,

 

They reflect on the creation of the heavens and Earth (3:190)

By drawing our attention to the creation and calling us to reflect on the book of the Universe, Quran offers one of the most profound ways to discover the divine mysteries and gain true knowledge of the self—a way to become a perfect universal human being.

“Wherever you turn, there is the radiantly beautiful Face of Allah (Holy Quran, 2:115).”

 

    Quran grants numerous opportunities for those who contemplate. Here are some of the verses to be reflected in our still and serene moments.

Reflection on the verses of Light:

 “Allah is the Light of the heavens and the earth (Holy Qur’an, 24:35

 

Reflection on Nature:

Lo! In the creation of the heavens and the earth and in the difference of night and day are tokens of His Sovereignty for men of understanding.

Quran 3:190

Reflection on the Power of Allah:

 "When He wills a certain thing, He commands it 'Be!' and it is" (36:82)

          The entire Quran calls us to contemplate on the countless manifestations of Allah's majesty and our fragility.  Every day we observe that someone is dying while other is surviving; someone is succeeding while other is failing and someone is healing while other is ailing. Human life is unpredictable and fragile, every minute and every second of the day we are dependent on His will and mercy to survive.

         Consequently, we are also invited to reflect upon our “place” in this colossal universe. The vast ever-expending universe with billions of heavenly bodies and in the midst of the massively gigantic universe, exists an insignificantly small planet Earth—an abode for innumerable life-forms. Among them one life form is called "Human".  Human who considers himself the most powerful and the most intelligent of all creations—alas, in reality he is unable to guarantee the next living moment on planet earth- This is how insignificant and vulnerable He is!!!

       Being a reflective entity, we are required to derive lessons from the countless occurrences and contemplate upon our insignificance and Allah’s magnificence.  Without His blessings and bounties our existence is absolutely impossible. Those who drive their lessons through introspection progress towards submission and ultimately attain the infinite tranquility.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEEaI1mMphI&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0NbBjNiw4tk&feature=related

 

 

What is self-actualization?

What is self-actualization?

 

Self-actualization as described by Maslow,

“The impulse to convert oneself into what one is capable of being”

“What a man can be, he must be”

 

Abraham Maslow and Carl Rogers, leaders in the Humanistic psychology

movement of 20th century, developed the concept of self-actualization.

"Self-actualization refers to a complete understanding of the self".

Carl Rogers believed that humans have one basic motive that is the tendency to self-actualize – it is the desire to fulfill one's potential and achieve the highest level of “human-beingness”. Rogers believed that people are inherently good and creative and to achieve self-actualization they must be in a state of congruence. It means that self-actualization occurs when a person’s “ideal self” (who he or she wants to be) is in congruent with his or her "actual self" (self-image). Rogers describes an individual who is actualizing as a fully functioning human being. 

 Self-realization

Who am I?

What is my place in the universe? 

What is the purpose of my insignificant presence in this vast Universe?

        These questions have occupied human mind since the origin of its presence on planet Earth. Quest for the true identity, its rightful place in the Universe and the genuine purpose of existence has set the human mind on a journey to self-realization. Intellectuals from the revolutionary Axil age to the modern-day 21st Century intelligentsia have been trying to find the answers of enigmatic quests.

       Search for the self-realization or an “authentic self” began with the evolution of human mind.  Axil age, from 800 BC to 200 BC, is considered the prime era to embark on a journey of self-finding. During this period revolutionary thinkers were emerging all over the world, particularly in Greece, India, Persia, China and Occident. 

Nosce te ipsum (Know thyself)

       This aphorism was uttered by Greeks of Axil age, about twenty-five hundred years ago and was written on the forecourt of Apollo at Delphi (a town in the south Central part of Greece).

 Greek philosopher Plato claimed,

 ”The essence of knowledge is self-knowledge,”

   About the same time in the farthest corner of India, a spiritual sage named Siddhatta Gotama set on a spiritual journey to seek enlightenment. He pointed to the inherent possibility of attaining awakening and explained that

 “Reality is an undivided whole; awakening is the realization to this whole".

     Gotama believed that he had woken up to a truth that was engraved in the deepest structure of our existence. By discovering this truth, he had become enlightened and awakened one.

      In the Gospel of Judas Jesus proclaimed "salvation through knowledge, the self-knowledge of divine light within". In the Gospel of Judas, the word gnosis is used twice (50, 54).  “The knowledge claimed by these people (Gnostics) is not worldly knowledge but mystical knowledge, knowledge of God and self and the relationship between God and self".

               About five hundred years later, in the vastness of Meccan desert, a merchant named Mohammad (PBUH) became blessed with the divine revelation and was chosen to spread the message to the humanity. He once again drew our attention to the self-knowledge and nearness to the creator. In one of the tradition prophet Mohammad (PBUH) explained,

“Man Arafa nafsahu arafa rabbahu”

(Whosoever knows himself knows his lord).

   Sufism, an inner mystical dimension of Islam, places great emphasis on the word Ma’rifa (gnosis) which means cognition. In this context, Ma'rifa means self-knowledge that leads to the knowing of ultimate reality.

Sufism defines self-realization,

“Self-realization means to know one’s true being, to know the purpose of one’s life, and to know how to accomplish that purpose” 

   Sheikh-al-Akbar, Ibn-al Arabi, in his prolific work "Fosus al hekam", discusses the important concept of Insan-e Kamil or a perfect human being.

“A perfect human being is a person who has pure consciousness and has achieved his/her true identity”.

            Guru Nanak (1469-1539), Spiritual thinker and the founder of the Sikh religion, expressed his thoughts on self-realization,

"Those who realize their self get immersed into the Lord Himself".

       Search for the true-self is ingrained in our essence and will continue to grow with the evolution of human mind. Though it originated in the primitive brain but has continued to cultivate and breed in the thoughts and beliefs of the modern scientific man.