Blog: 3 Purposes in Life

                          

             

When we are born, we are not born with a purpose. As we move through the various stages of life, over time we begin to find our purpose in life and start to live with a purpose. The goals in life that we set for each stage of life become clear when we have a clear purposes. There is no single purpose prescribed for all humans, our religions do prescribe the purposes that we should follow to become accepted in society

In one scheme, purposes are defined in two clear ways: a) Living for ourselves and its opposite b) living for others. Of course, they are not sharp categories but admit a large grey area in which a person may define a purpose which is a mix of both in some proportion.

How do most of us define our purpose in life. We could perhaps, define our purpose, predominantly centred in our selves, such as our money, our health, our safety, our happiness  and our enjoyment , etc , to the exclusion of the others. We see others’ achieving their purposes as following from our own pursuits.

In contrast, there are others who find their own purpose in living for others.  In doing so, they find wealth, health, safety, enjoyment and happiness; their own purposes  following from the well being of others.

Finding a purpose is important to all of us. Purpose gives a meaning to our lives. As we move from one stage of life to the next our purposes change also. At first we choose self- centred purposes and later in life we choose others- centred purposes.  Each person lives life according to the purpose that is felt to be appropriate for that stage of life. There is no single way for finding our purpose. A casual meeting could influence a person, the work of another person may inspire another, a book an event, a sight, a poem. Anything may be handy for a person to define a purpose.

We have mentioned that religions tell us to define our purpose that is morally right and socially acceptable. Our Hindu heritage tells us that there are just four key purposes that a person follows and they are: Dharma (the path of righteousness and duty), Artha ( the collection of wealth),  Kama ( the enjoyment of sense pleasures) and Moksha ( liberation from earthly bonds). It is also said that a person should strive to attain these purposes in his life to lead a contented and fulfilled life.

There are some interesting insights to the four purposes. They are intertwined and are achieved at various times in a person’s life. It is said that ‘Dharma’ is the only purpose that one must follow for a lifetime. Dharma is a constant companion. In a tale from the Mahabharata, Yudhishthir, the eldest Pandava attains Moksha or liberation with Dharma his companion visualized as a faithful dog. On attaining Moksha, ‘Dharma’ disappears and Yudhishthir stands fully liberated. The moral from this episode is that Dharma should be a constant companion during the entire life of a person.

Another interesting insight is that Artha and Kama are not long lasting. They are to be attained in the stage of life called as Grihastashram . It is period in which a person works for a living, marries, has children and pursues a successful career.  Our Hindu heritage says that in pursuing these purposes they will lead to fulfilment when following our ‘Dharma’ since it prescribes our rightful duties during this period. It is interesting that we involve other people in attaining the goals of Artha and Kama

As we attain the purposes of Artha and Kama, we have only a single purpose left in our lives- that of attaining Moksha or liberation from earthly bonds. An enlightened person attains Moksha while being alive but for most us it is death that finally liberates us. However, when we pursue Moksha, we lose the fear of death and follow what naturally happens to us. It is also interesting that we have to pursue Moksha alone.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------(18/9/2020)