What is the purpose of human life?
The purpose of human life, the reason we’re here, is to attain and experience Divinity, Self-realization, Self-awareness. We have been granted a human birth, so we can wake up and realize the Divine within ourselves. The purpose of life is to understand who we are and accept wholeheartedly the incredible invitation the universe has given us to fully embrace the spirit in ourselves and the world around us. With this mind and this brain, we have the power and the ability to achieve that consciousness.
This is why human birth is seen as the pinnacle of existence, for its ability to see itself, to be conscious of the self and witness the self.
However, judging by our actions, we cannot say that humans are at the ultimate stage of evolution. Animals harm other animals only for two reasons—either by virtue of being hungry carnivores or because they feel immediately threatened. If you are hiking and inadvertently come upon a mother bear with her cubs and she feels your presence is a threat to them, she will attack. Humans are the only species that harm others for reasons other than food or self-defence.
Humans are, it is believed, the only species capable of being conscious of the self, of being able to step back, witness and say: ‘I am not my body. I am a soul.’ There is a beautiful mantra that reminds us that both humans and animals eat, sleep and experience sensual pleasure and fear. The only difference is that as humans, we can wake up, see the Truth of who we really are and fulfil our true dharma.
What we have is the ability to witness ourselves and be conscious of our own consciousness. That is a crucial component of attaining enlightenment. If I’m unable to look beyond my identification of myself as this body and this personality, I’m not going to experience enlightenment. I have to be able to connect with the One within me who’s watching me act, who’s watching the drama, who says, ‘Oh yes, now there’s anger coming.’ If I only identify as, ‘I’m angry’, I’ll never get there.
So to make the best use of our human birth, we need to learn to step out of the role of the actor and be the One watching the drama. That’s why we’re here, to have that awareness.
So if we are not the bodies or our dramas or our identities, then what is the guiding principle we are supposed to live by? What are we supposed to do?
Once we know who we are, what we do comes very naturally. Our problem is we don’t know who we are, so we don’t know what to do. We look at the people around us, our friends, the people we see on TV, on Facebook, and we judge and identify ourselves accordingly. We think, ‘Oh, I want to do what he’s doing, oh, that looks really good, my brother did this, my neighbour did that.’ We judge ourselves based on what other people do: ‘Oh, I should also do this, oh, I’m also that.’ We flop around from thing to thing, like a fish out of water, doing what others are doing, because we have no idea who we are.
The minute we know who we are, living comes very naturally. You never see a bird perched on top of a building, debating whether to fly or not. But if you take a dog or cat up there and try to get them to jump, it’s not going to be so easy. They understand they’re not a bird. Even if they watch the bird jump, they’re not going to jump. Intuitively, they know that it’s not who they are. We don’t have that same level of self-awareness.
Through our meditation, our spiritual practice, our sadhana and purification of the self that we identify as, we start to see the Truth of who we are. It is like cleaning the dirt off our windows so that we can see the light that’s always shining. What we find is it’s not about what we do, it’s about who we are and how we do it. Everything in life becomes an opportunity to fulfil our dharma.
Most of us reason with ourselves: ‘OK, I’m just waiting and biding my time until I figure out what my dharma is and then I can fulfil it.’ But all scriptures, all teachings tell us the exact opposite—that our dharma is about every minute and every moment of how we live. It’s not about that one amazing high we experience, that remarkable, unprecedented, extraordinary thing we find. It’s about every minute and every moment, finding that integrity, that sincerity, that connection.
I was recently in Kolkata for an event, and on the morning we were leaving, we found that we had some extra time, so we went to the Dakshineshwar temple dedicated to Maha Kali, which is also where Paramhansa Ramakrishna lived. The priest in the temple said to us, ‘You know, it’s amazing. He was just like one of us, a priest in the temple, doing what we’re doing. But in doing it, he was so in love with the Mother, so in love with the Goddess, that the rest of the magic happened. Magic that now, a hundred years later, is still drawing people.’ And you can feel it, the magic is still there. That’s what it’s about—how you are in doing what you’re doing. Paramhansa Ramakrishna was so there, so present, so connected. That’s where the magic happens. Your dharma is right here in every minute and every moment. Make sure that, in whatever you do, you live as and manifest that Divinity, so that it all becomes sacred and it all becomes a means to your own unfolding, to your own awakening.
How do we gain direction in life when we feel lost? How do we harness our intuition and know that the voices we hear are pointing us in the right direction?
According to science, we have five senses. Science tells us that the only way we can really know the world is through that which we see, hear, smell, touch and taste. But we have another sense, and that’s our intuition. It’s not something that some people have and some others don’t. Most of us don’t tap into it, though, and sadly, don’t learn how to use it.
For example, if you ask a very young child to touch a spoon, the child won’t necessarily know what it is, because they haven’t had that type of experience yet. They can feel it, but they don’t know what to make of it.
In the same way, our intuition is there, but if we haven’t developed it, we don’t know what to make of it. We can’t make sense of the inner voice we hear, or a calling or a signal we may receive. This is why it’s so important to really cultivate the power of intuition through listening and trusting.
When it’s hot, you can feel the sun’s rays. You never doubt your brain. If you hear a tune, you know you’re listening to music. You trust those five senses, because they’re what you’ve become habituated to.
You don’t trust your intuition if you haven’t become attuned to it. You have to develop a relationship with it the same way that you have a relationship with your eyes, ears, tongue, nose and hands, so that you can learn to trust it.
To use it, you have to listen to it. Then, slowly, you’ll be able to understand the difference between the voices in your head—the voices of judgement, criticism, fear, ego—and the deep voice of intuition.
Of course, it doesn’t always present as a voice. Many times, it’s actually just a feeling. It can be finding places that feel really right or not, people we’re around who feel right or off, things we embark on that feel expansive—that’s intuition. We have to nurture and trust it just as we develop our sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch.
But I hear so many voices in my head. How do I know which one is intuition?
This is definitely a problem. Our fears, desires, the voice of society, the voice of our parents and many other voices shout very loudly inside of us, threatening to overpower the voice of intuition. So, I may feel the intuition, the pull, to be a musician, or to be an artist, or to live in an ashram, but the voice of society says, ‘Oh, no, no, that’s wrong, you know you’ve got too good an education and you shouldn’t waste it; you’ve got to make something of yourself.’ It’s as though you remain half-baked unless you become an engineer or doctor or financial analyst. The voice of fear tells us, ‘How will I feed myself? Artists and musicians don’t make any money. I have to do something sensible.’ We may end up with a good job, but having suppressed our intuition, we likely won’t feel deeply content or satisfied.
Pujya Swamiji often says that when you enter an address into your GPS device, there’s always one more step. There’s a button that says ‘Accept’ or ‘Start’. You’ve got to push that button in order for guidance to start. Most of us just haven’t pushed that button in our life. We’ve keyed in an address, we want to go there, or be this, or experience that, but we haven’t actually accepted the voice of our own intuition that would tell us how to get there.
So how do I focus and make decisions in my life then?
Let finding who you are be your focus. What to do will follow easily and naturally. And when it doesn’t, you’ll make a decision, and either way will be right. Wisdom very frequently comes not so much in the decision itself, but in how we live with the decisions that have been made. We don’t get to have all the experiences before we choose. In many cases, we have to make a choice.
When you visit an ice-cream shop for the very first time, you have no idea what strawberry, vanilla or chocolate tastes like, but you’ve got to make a choice regardless. In life, very frequently, we have to make decisions without having sampled all the options. And in many cases, the wisdom comes afterwards. So, the challenge is how to utilize our decisions. Wisdom comes from knowing how to turn our decision into the right decision.