Goal of Life?

Life, as we know it, seems to be simple but at the same time exhibits variety of complications. One may think he is living a satisfactory life filled with all the riches in world and yet his inner conscience yearning for more. 

There is always an internal desire in every human being that keeps driving a person to achieve something in order to reach a stage of contentment. Every individual feels he lacks “that” in life which, if existed, could lead him to perpetual satisfaction. Have you experienced it?

Well, then at least for the moment achieving “that” would mean having led a life of accomplishment. In layman’s vocabulary, “that” is called a goal. 

It is the objective of one’s hard work and aspirations. Perhaps, yes, it is true that successful people in world have emerged victorious in something that they cherished in. 

But can it be said without any doubt that they have attained the “goal” in life?

Do you say it depends on the individual? Why not? As separate entities, all of us are different. We have our own lifestyles, carry disparate dreams, wish for various stuff in life. And when we obtain what we wish for as a result of our immense efforts, tough situations that we have endured the satisfaction that occurs is imminent. 

It obviously brings pleasure, happiness and gratification. Does this qualify to be considered as reaching the goal of life?

Maybe yes, if we are to confine ourselves within the context of individuals. But is life, in the context of universe, just a constitution of individuals? Is there anything binding the individuals that cannot be visualized? Is there something to be considered as a “common goal” of the entire human race?

In this context, Swami Vivekananda says “Pleasure is not the goal of man, but knowledge.” He opines that pleasure is not everlasting and suggests that it is a mistake to suppose that pleasure is the goal. 

He extends it even further by attributing such thinking to the physical and mental distress that world is witnessing. But he also indicates that sooner or later man will realize the truth. 

It is then, he advocates, the person who had been misled that his attainment of pleasure had fulfilled his goal would become aware that pleasure is only a milestone in the path but not a goal by itself.

In the same vein, philosopher Adi Shankaracharya notes in his composition Bhajagovindam as below:

He goes on to say that a person may go to the Ganges (revered because of its powers to destroy one’s sins and purify the person), observe rigorous fasts & ceremonies and donate money towards charity but yet cannot attain liberation even after a hundred births if the person does not possess knowledge. 

So, it is quite evident that there is a lot of emphasis on gaining “knowledge”. However the next obvious questions need to be answered, which are “what is this knowledge that great ones are talking about?” and “How do we gain this knowledge?”

Join us in our journey to explore answers to these questions. 

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Oh My Consciousness!

Well, something is not right. The familiar one is “Oh My God!” isn’t it? Is it deliberate? These are the questions that immediately show up in front of us and yes, of course, everything does not seem to be alright. 

So let us embark our journey to gain more insight on this topic and possibly get some directions for obtaining the right answers.

The plain definition of the word consciousness is “the state of being aware and responsive to one’s surroundings”. And, in general, that is pretty well understood you say? Hold on for a while. 

Is it that simple? Are we really “conscious” enough? Now that is a tricky question. To answer this, let us understand the source that can be attributed to satisfy the definition. Which entity is responsible for maintaining a state of awareness? 

Is it the body, mind or something else? Some amount of rational thinking will rule out that body is responsible. Nobody has “seen” mind, even though we associate many of our feats to its power. 

We talk of its capabilities but at present science has a limitation in understanding it entirely. It is something that can only be experienced. 

Having talked about body and mind, the subsequent question any sane person will ask is if there is something else that is not known to us yet which might be the source of holy-grail – consciousness.

The closest modern science can get in explaining mind is by exploring the powerhouse of a human being – brain. 

Neuroscientists enjoy their involvement in performing experiments with respect to human brain, monitoring its actions, measuring its performance in various situations and propose many theories that would look weird at the outset. 

One such theory propounded by neuroscientist Christof Koch in collaboration with researcher Giulio Tononi states that consciousness has a close relationship with various highly interconnected pieces of information. They have even figured out a measure for consciousness based on activity of human brain.

Possibly it would have been simple enough if the research had stopped there, but here comes the interesting bit. The theory says that consciousness is not a privilege of humans alone. 

The researchers extend it to “any” object for which their experiments are able to “detect” consciousness. You guessed it right – it includes the entire world – animals, plants, cells, etc. 

The possibilities are endless. We may not be able to differentiate if consciousness is within us or we are engulfed within consciousness!

Koch has debated his thoughts with the Buddhist spiritual leader Dalai Lama and concluded that in many ways his research agrees with that of Buddhist philosophy. 

And that is what makes the researchers say, “consciousness as an intrinsic, fundamental property of reality.”

Currently it is a theory. Pure rationalists might just dismiss it as it is. 

However, if we happen to get an evidence in favor of the researchers, there might open new avenues to understand the scheme of universe, ultimate truth, no assumptions – only pure reality.

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Self-realization – What does it truly mean?

Before any attempt can be made to provide an explanation, it must be understood that everything in this world can be thought of problems and solutions to those problems. As many intellectuals have already noted, “to solve a problem, one needs to have a clear & thorough understanding of the problem itself”. 

So what is the problem here? The quest for getting to know the truth would obviously direct us to the problem – what is the real meaning of self-realization? So let us start by analyzing the problem. 

The term self-realization seems to be self-explanatory and we get a rough idea that it has something to do with becoming aware of one’s own self. Easy, isn’t it? Yes, but is the definition complete? What does one’s own self mean? 

Is it the body that moves, eats, drinks & takes a nap? Is it the mind that thinks, prompts one to act, and visualizes the different fantasies of the world? Is it both of these, neither of these, or a combination of these with something else? 

One of the simplest definitions is “Self-realization means becoming aware of this universal, cosmic power, available at all times. ”

Ah! Now what is this all non-sense stuff about cosmic power? It may sound absurd, however when one thinks about it in depth, it has to be acknowledged. We are surrounded by it all the time. 

Its only sad and disappointing that we have lost our intelligent faculties to identify it, be in harmony with it and grow along with it. Of course all the different cultures on this earth have duly noted this. 

Its only that they have named it according to their convenience. You have surely heard of “Chi”, “Tao”, “Prana” right? And the list continues. Ever wondered what do they mean? As Confucius narrates the parable of a baby fish and its mother, we must realize that every one of us is engulfed with the same cosmic entity.

Ok, hang on…It is not a surprise that by reading the above lines many of you may have dismissed it outright. Yes, it does not bring any excitement and sounds just as if someone is pointing to the clouds overhead and say “look at that, there is water in there!”. 

Of course everyone knows the principle, sea water evaporates and form clouds. One would say that after science has proved this by performing experiments and we have been trained by means of education to accept things that are rational to us, that make sense to us.

Unfortunately, the topic that we are dealing with is not something that can be perceived by everyone in the same intensity of light. Some need more and others can manage to grasp the truth with less. 

And the interesting part lies in the control of intensity - who controls this? It is the individual who has the control!

Yes, we do have the ownership of controlling this intensity in order to bring ourselves into the path of truth, to understand our own self. 

Science has not yet been able to provide a step-by-step approach to direct us towards the control. Maybe it will happen soon. 

Let us see what we can do in the meantime to help ourselves to realize the truth.

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Welcoming another new year

As we step into another new year, there is a lot of stuff going on in the back of our minds. Of these, some are conscious enough to get converted into resolutions and some others quite abstract, thus remain hidden beneath the pile of thoughts. 

At a time when we look back at the happenings of an entire year gone by and introspect, it is important for us to think of the year ahead.

During this exercise, we realize that while one cycle has culminated, another one has begun its journey. 

Inevitably, being part of these, there is an urge from within all of us to break out from such a routine and be free forever. 

Is it possible to gain this freedom? The answer lies within ourselves.

It depends on the intensity of desire to destroy the shackles of such bondage. The more will one puts into this effort, the more success the person would taste. 

The accompanying pain one endures might eat away the current lifestyle but prepares the same person for a better livelihood in due course of time. 

This is the reason why Benjamin Franklin aptly commented - 

Be at war with your vices, at peace with your neighbors, and let every new year find you a better man.

Let us strive to become better in the new year. 

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