Finding Life’S Purpose In The Indian Context

Finding one's life purpose and deepest life intentions can help one to move with greater focus and clarity every day of one's life. There are many ways to find and develop life purpose and intentions. The meaning of life constitutes a philosophical question concerning the purpose and significance of human existence. The concept can be expressed through a variety of related questions, such as Why are we here?, What's life all about? and What is the meaning of it all?. It has been the subject of much philosophical, scientific, and theological speculation throughout history and there have been a large number of answers from many different cultural and ideological backgrounds. This suggests the meaning of life is different for each person. Albert Camus observed, we humans are creatures who spend our lives trying to convince ourselves that our existence is not absurd.

The meaning of life is deeply mixed with the philosophical and religious conceptions of existence, consciousness, and happiness, and touches on many other issues, such as symbolic meaning, ontology, value, purpose, ethics, good and evil, free will, conceptions of God, the existence of God, the soul and the afterlife. Scientific contributions are more indirect; by describing the empirical facts about the universe, science provides some context and sets parameters for conversations on related topics. An alternative, human-centric, and not a cosmic/religious approach is the question "What is the meaning of my life?" The value of the question pertaining to the purpose of life may be considered to be coincidal with the achievement of ultimate reality, if that is believed by one to exist.

If we look around to seek the life's purpose or goals in the indian contexts, it would be better, we consider Mahabharata, the great epic, as an authentic source to know one's life purpose, considering its immense importance to culture in the Indian subcontinent. Its discussion of human goals or human's life purposes (ARTHA or PURPOSE, K?MA or PLEASURE, DHARMA or DUTY, and MOKSHA or LIBERATION) takes place in a long-standing tradition, attempting to explain the relationship of the individual to society and the world (the nature of the 'Self') and the workings of karma. Before we know the life's purpose we should know what are the goals the human shall have to achieve the ultimate goal or the life's purpose.

Since the dawn of human existence, four aims have brought purpose and meaning to our lives. These are the same aims that the poet Tulsidas wrote about in the Hanuman Chalisa centuries ago when he called them "The four-fold fruits of life." These are the four "Great Goals" or "Purusharthas" recognised by the ancient rishis and documented in the Mahabharata and the Bhagavad-Gita. These aims are:

Artha, Kama, Dharma & Moksha

The Hindu Sanathana dharma' outlines the four "Purushartha" as, Artha, Kama, Dharma and Moksha, which stand as four major quests in everyone's life. There are many explanations for the word 'Artha'. Artha means 'The Meaning' or 'Wealth'. Artha also means as 'The Objectives'. Life's Artha lies in "Artha", so says a commentator. Dharma precedes Artha, in other words, the generation of wealth must abide by the "Dharma-Way". The wealth yearned in this manner will be the means for leading a healthy life in all sense. The word 'Abyudhaya' connotes dharma. Artha and Kama in one. The Artha earned circumventing the 'Dharmic Way' will create anarchy only.

The war on Iraq can be cited as an example. More the wealth gathered in the wrong manner, more will be the dominating spirit over the downtrodden. There is a story about a king, Venon, who demanded from his citizeneries riches for his own selfishness and the people were put onto untold miseries. God incarnated, to end Venon's regime, this time as his son in the name 'Prethu'. The new King Prethu brought about the much wanted Renaissance and today the good Earth or Prithivi has been named after the King Prethu. The Sanathana Dharma quotes that the Almighty can become the wealth of living beings when they lead a spiritual life.

Artha (Purpose)

Artha is a Sanskrit term meaning "purpose, cause, motive, meaning, notion". It refers to the idea of material prosperity. In Hinduism, artha is one of the four goals of life, known as purusharthas. It is considered to be a noble goal as long as it follows the dictates of Vedic morality. The concept includes achieving widespread fame, garnering wealth and having an elevated social standing. It is the second lowest rung on the ladder of purusharthas, above kama (physical or emotional pleasure) but below dharma (righteousness) and moksha (liberation). Artha is one of the dharmas (duties) of a person in the third stage of life, the householder (Grihastha - The ideal householder life is spent in selflessly carrying out one's duties to family and society, serving the saints, and gainful labor.) stage, and during this period a person must accumulate as much wealth as possible, without being greedy, to help and support his family.

Conversely, Artha (wealth) stands for the means by which one's life may be maintained, in the lower sense, food, drink, money, house, land, and other property; and in the higher sense the means by which effect may be given to the higher desires, such as that of worship, for which artha may be necessary, aid given to others, and so forth. In short, it is all the necessary means by which all right desire, whether of the lower or higher kinds, may be fulfilled. As the desire must be a right desire, for man is subject to dharma, which regulates them, so also must be the means sought, which are equally so governed.

Kama (Pleasure)

K?ma is pleasure, pleasure of the senses, desire, eros, the aesthetic enjoyment of life in Sanskrit. In Hinduism, k?ma is regarded as one of the four goals of life (purusharthas): the others are worldly status (artha), duty (dharma) and inner freedom (moksha), Kama-deva is the personification of this, a god equivalent to the Greek Eros and the Roman Cupid K?madeva is the Hindu deity of love. His other names include Ragavrinta (stalk of sassion), Ananga (incorporeal), Kandarpa ("inflamer even of a god"), Manmatha (churner of hearts), Manasija (he who is born of mind, a contraction of the Sanskrit phrase Sah Manasah j?ta), Madana (intoxicating), Ratik?nta (lord of Rati), Pushpav?n, Pushpadhanva (one with bow of flowers) or just K?ma ("longing"). Kamadeva, is son of Hindu goddess Sri and, additionally, is the incarnation of Pradyumna, Krishna's son. In his spiritual form he is believed to be Krishna, by Vaishnava followers in Hinduism.. Kama-rupa is a subtle body or aura composed of desire, while Kama-loka is the realm this inhabits, particularly in the afterlife.

Dharma (Duty)

The term  dharma is an Indian spiritual and religious term, that means one's righteous duty or any virtuous path in the common sense of the term. In Indian languages it contextually implies one's religion. Throughout Indian philosophy, Dharma is presented as a central concept that is used in order to explain the "higher truth" or ultimate reality of the universe.

The word dharma literally translates as that which upholds or supports, and is generally translated into English as law. The word "dharma" can also be translated as "the teachings of the Buddha". The various Indian religions and philosophy (Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, among others) have all accorded a central focus to Dharma and advocate its practice. Each of these religions emphasizes Dharma as the correct understanding of reality in its teachings. In these traditions, beings that live in accordance with Dharma proceed more quickly toward Dharma Yukam, Moksha or Nirvana (personal liberation). Dharma also refers to the teachings and doctrines of the founders of these traditions, such as those of Gautama Buddha and Mahavira. In traditional Hindu society with its caste structure, Dharma constituted the religious and moral doctrine of the rights and duties of each individual.. Dharma in its universal meaning shares much in common with the way of Tao or Taoism. The antonym of dharma is adharma meaning unnatural or immoral.

The purpose of dharma is not only to attain a union of the soul with the supreme reality, it also suggests a code of conduct that is intended to secure both worldly joys and supreme happiness. Rishi Kanda has defined dharma in Vaisesika as "that confers worldly joys and leads to supreme happiness". Hinduism is the religion that suggests methods for the attainment of the highest ideal and eternal bliss here and now on earth and not somewhere in heaven.

Moksha (Liberation)

In Indian religions, Moksha or Mukti, literally "release" (both from a root muc "to let loose, let go"), is the liberation from samsara, the cycle of death and rebirth or reincarnation and all of the suffering and limitation of worldly existence. In Hindu philosophy, it is seen as a transcendence of phenomenal being, a state of higher consciousness, in which matter, energy, time, space, causation (karma) and the other features of empirical reality are understood as maya.

Liberation is experienced in this very life as a dissolution of the sense of self as an egoistic personality by which the underlying, eternal, pure spirit is uncovered. This desireless state concludes the yogic path through which conditioned mentality-materiality or nama-roopa (lit. name-form) has been dissolved uncovering one's eternal identity prior to the mind/spirit's identification with material form. Liberation is achieved by (and accompanied with) the complete stilling of all passions - a state of being known as Nirvana. Advaita Vedantist thought differs slightly from the Buddhist reading of liberation.

Anything that helps human being to reach god is dharma and anything that hinders human being from reaching god is adharma. For instance, in the epic Mahabharata, the Pandavas represent dharma in life and the Kauravas represent adharma or we can say, the winning of good over evil. It is believed that Yudhistira, the elder pandava was the personification of Dharma (he often referred as Dharmaraja), who is not able to divert from the dharma or truth.

While these truths are indentified directly in Hindu texts, they are quite universal. A Hindu becomes a better Hindu by learning about these truths, but a Christian becomes a better Christian by living life in awareness of the right of each one of us to enjoy pleasure and earn success within the framework of virtue and duty. A Buddhist will recognise many of the facets of the Eight-Fold interweave with the study of the purusharthas. A Moslem might be liberated in communion and submission to Allah, knowing that pleasure, success and even everyday duty pale in comparision to a living relationship with the supreme divinity.

One can start to find and develop his own purpose and intentions by stopping for a moment and asking to self two questions: "What is most important to me in my life? What are my deepest values and beliefs?" Consider inviting divine guidance and one's own inner wisdom to help him with this. Give time to explore these questions and notice what comes up that touches and inspires one most deeply. Once one has some answers to these questions, use the answers to develop your life purpose and intentions.

Once he find and develop his life purpose and intentions, he should consider finding a good place to keep them and review them frequently upon rising in the morning to help one to move more effectively and powerfully through the days. In difficult situations, it can also be checked to see the life purpose or one of his intentions, or we can say goals, so that it can give him direction to navigate through the stormy waters and difficult situations. By frequently reminding self about one's purpose and intentions, one becomes more focused and effective in building a brighter future for himself and those near and around him.