Let us continue our contemplation on the Purpose of Life. We came to the conclusion that there is an outer purpose and there is an inner purpose. Inner purpose is permanent happiness and infinite knowledge. That is available to us in the form of light of the Self, Atma Jyoti, deep inside us. This is the inner journey.
This process is called realizing your Self, knowing your own Self. Don’t you know your Self now? There is a Self-knowledge, a Self-identity, which is actually, ‘I am so and so’, ‘I am a man’, ‘I am a woman’, ‘I am an officer’, ‘I am a husband’, ‘I am wife’, ‘I am worried’. So, all these identities are related to your body, mind and intellect.
There is a story. Somebody went to Heaven. The gatekeeper asked him, “Who are you?”. He proudly told, “Don’t you know? I am so and so”. The gatekeeper said, “I have never heard of that person. I asked you, who are you. You are telling some name. I don’t want to know your name. I want to know, who are you?”. He replies, “I am the greatest businessman”. The gatekeeper says, “I am not asking for your profession, I want to know, who you are?”
So, this man is in trouble. He says, “I am a very successful man”. The gatekeeper said, “I am not interested, whether you are successful, or not. I just want to know, who you are?” This man could not give an answer. The gatekeeper of Heaven said, “I am sorry, there is no entry into the Heaven, for those people, who don’t know, who they are. You better go back. Go back to earth. Take one more life. And learn about, who you are, and then, come back”.
Dear Atma Jyoti’s, we know a lot about ourselves. But we don’t know, about ourselves. There is a difference. You don’t know about yourself. But, you know a lot about what you have. You have a body, mind, a family, a job etc. So, you have a lot of knowledge about what you have. But you don’t know about you. This knowledge is called ‘Knowledge of the Self’.
Constantly, we are actually craving, deep inside, for that Self-knowledge, Self-realization, in the form of happiness, in the form of eternal happiness, in the form of knowledge. I told you earlier, it is called ‘Sachidananda’. So, you are craving for what is inside you.
There was a beggar sitting near the gateway of India in Mumbai. A poor man. For 25 years he was sitting there and begging. When he died, the Municipality people came. They had to shift the body. They didn’t want to take the trouble of taking the body to bury in another place. They thought of burying him, wherever he was sitting. They dug the earth there, and suddenly they discovered, a lot of money, lakhs and lakhs of money, buried underground, just right below, where he was sitting.
Probably, some robbers would have done a bank robbery, would have hidden the treasure of money there, below that seat. This fellow, the poor man, in spite of sitting on lakhs of Rupees, was ignorant of it. Similarly, all of us are. Deep inside us, there is permanent happiness, infinite wisdom, Sachidananda, in the form of Atma Jyoti, the Light of the Self. Because we don’t know, we are sitting on that, it is inside us, we keep on hankering after that, like beggars.
So, the purpose of life is to discover that wealth inside you, the Supreme light inside you. Sachidananda, inside you, the Light of the Self, inside you. This, our Rishis gave us a message, ‘Atmano Mokshartham’. Self-realization is the purpose of life. It is the primary purpose of life. Okay, Self-realization is the purpose of life, Atmano Mokshartham. Yes, this requires an inner journey. Is that the end of it?
Then, there is the purpose, ‘Jagat Hitaya Cha’. Whatever you discover inside, share with the world. Do service. Because the same light of the Self is in every heart. Everybody is suffering like you, without knowing the wealth inside. Help them to discover that wealth. Help them to discover that inner joy, inner peace. ‘Loka hitaya’ means serve the world, help people discover the inner bliss, the Divine inside them. ‘Atmano Mokshartham Jagat Hitaya Cha’. This Jagat Hitaya, is called Yajna or the service or the offering.
So, the purpose of life is, realize the inner Self, Atma Jyoti, and spread in that wisdom, share that joy, share that peace, with people, who need it. That’s what is ‘loka hitaya’.
Pranams
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Self Knowledge_T13_PurposeOfLife_Part3_07Apr2016