Goals, Purpose of Life, Growth etc.
Mystic miracle, daughter of Delight,
Life, thou ecstasy,
Let the radius of thy flight
Be eternity… (Life: Sri Aurobindo)
The world is growing too fast since the invention of
wheel till the use of smart phones. This process of growth will never end. We
all want growth in our life. Being a common man I too dream for my growth. But
due to lack of spiritual knowledge and wisdom, we are often in illusion thinking
that possessing wealth, name, fame and all the material comforts are all about
growth. We set goals and always a constant effort is going on to achieve these
throughout the journey of life. Soon we get confused and think that our goals
are our purpose of life!
I still remember when I was in high school standard; we
had to write essays on some given topics. One very common topic was ‘Aim in
Life’ which now I consider it as the ‘Purpose of Life’. We used to write our
respective aim in life to be an Engineer, Doctor, Professor and so on.
After some years when I became an Engineer, I thought
that life would much happier as I have achieved my aim in life. But soon I
realize that I am searching other things in life. Then I understood that to be an
Engineer cannot be my purpose of life. But the big questions arise in my mind are….
What are the goals? What is the purpose of life? And how Growth can be achieved
through it?
Goals are merely our targets. Goals may vary from time
to time. During school days our goals were different but as the time fly our
goals change. Some of our goals we achieved and some of them cannot but
irrespective of that, time and moments of life go on.
But the purpose of life is something different which we
cannot achieve but to explore as we already have it. Sri Chinmoy rightly said…” Life is given to each human being for a
very special purpose. This secret each human being must discover for himself.” It can be well explained with a chain of
pearls. Pearls in the chain are like our goals which come one after another and
the thin thread which holds the beautiful pearls is nothing but like our
purpose of life.
Purpose of life is the exploring of divinity within our
self. It is the consciousness that we have the energy full of love, peace,
bliss, power and knowledge which make us contented and happy. So it is very
important to maintain our purpose throughout the journey while achieving our
goals in every walk of life. Unless we care about the thread, the pearls will
be scattered. If we care we will enjoy this beautiful journey of life and
achieving goals will be much easier too. And if somehow we fail to achieve one
goal, our conscience will help us to flow forward just like a river crossing
all barriers and finally meet the ocean in the horizon.
But possessing merely wealth, name, fame etc ... is
that a growth? Certainly not! Because after possessing all those things, yet
our search for happiness will never end. Then what Growth is all about?
Nature
always inspires and teaches us in many ways. We can get the real meaning of Growth
from nature. In our environment, a plant gives oxygen (O2) and takes
carbon-di-oxide (CO2) and human takes oxygen and gives carbon-di-oxide. With this Give and Take policy a balance is established in the ecosystems
and thus how growth is possible for both trees as well as humans. In contrast,
if plant stops giving oxygen, it is too obvious to know that existence of
living being is not possible in our beautiful earth.
….Even in rags I am a god;
Fallen, I am divine;
High I triumph when down-trod,
Long I live when slain. (Life: Sri Aurobindo)
