What is your purpose in life?
Duke Orsino* once said "Some men are born to greatness, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them". (*A duke from one of Bill Shakespeare’s plays ‘The Twelfth Night’)
Quite true really, Some people are born into rich or poor families, some have enriched and raised themselves from poverty, others squandered the family fortunes. It all depends on the individual and his* outlook in life. This is all brought about by your karma from previous incarnations. (*throughout the rest of my story i will not be gender specific, i say ‘his’ but really i mean ‘his/her’ and ’she/he’)
I have lived a very interesting life experience, and throughout its entirety, i have learned a lot about myself, i am still learning a great deal more. At one point, i believed that I had a purpose in life… One thing that I am good at than anybody else in this world, the one thing that i must do to fulfill my destiny… That when i meet my creator and i look up at the book, it would say my name and next to it my purpose in life… (i.e, Alex - Interplanetary Police)
I would rack my brains out trying to figure out what i was supposed to do, i felt that i should be doing something important and that i am not doing it… being unable to figure it out was making me unhappy. (at one point in my life i felt that i should be in the desert somewhere preaching to hundreds.. that in my service i was lucky enough to be able to do albeit in a different kind of way) That i should be changing the world somehow. But in a constantly changing universe, and living inside a constantly transforming body, and having ever changing karmic dispositions i finally and slowly realize that this is not the way for me… Instead of carrying out my dharma in the best and the easiest way i can, my dharma has become a burden to me and life has become hell on earth.
"You are not a god…" for some reason this phrase keeps popping up in my mind ever since I was a little kid and now i understand what it is telling me… It is not my job to drastically change the universe, it is not my career to go against the flow of time, there is suffering all around me (caused by wars, hunger and poverty) and even though it sucks and it hurts, everything is perfect. Yes, you heard me… everything in the world is perfect as it is.
My job is to live a happy life and to be a vessel of love and acceptance for those around me, my main purpose in this life is be content and have a quiet and peaceful mind despite the suffering in the universe. It is a beginning. From a solid a foundation of peacefulness of heart and strong will then we can start to change the realities around us. We cannot heal the sickness in this world if we do not have the strength and are not healthy ourselves.
So you think and feel that you are weak and poor? Well, you have to start somewhere.
Helping others even though you do not have the means can make you stronger. A life of service enriches us. Greediness and thinking evil thoughts destroys our bodies.
Every little change that we do can make a big difference in this life and the lives of those around us, but the most important thing is ‘Love". When you truly love someone, the feelings of jealousy and hate disappears. Love must be practiced at all times, not just to people that are close to us or family. We must truly love our enemies. (sounds familiar?)
Baba Ram Dass has a good technique of practicing "Loving Meditation" or some would call "Bhakti Yoga" (well, devotional meditation is more complex and more involved than this, but i show this example because it is very practical exercise):
- Before you sleep for the day, think about all the people that you’ve met along the way, from the moment you have awaken.
- starting with the first face that you see (it doesn’t matter if you know the person of not)
- close your eyes and visualize their face and personality, and slowly say "i love you"
- chant this and keep repeating until, you believe that you truly love the person (I’m not talking about romantic love here, I’m talking about caring for the person, being truly and honestly concerned for their well being)
- when you truly believe and feel that you do, then move to the next being
- the time that you spent on each individual will be based on whether you already care for that person or not. It takes me more time to get through people that annoy me 
- do this until you have gone through everyone that you have come across that day.
If you do this, you will notice that your heart will be lighter and you will feel better, you will have less enemies and will be more concerned about each individual’s well being. What your feelings that you send out to the outside will be reflected back unto you. You truly "reap what you sow". One master once said that we should "Love our neighbors as we love ourselves". To be able to do this we must really forgive ourselves, respect our body, and still our minds. We must inventory our life and be thankful for what we receive and have received, show gratitude and love one another honestly. Namaste…
*Baba Ram Dass’ photo borrowed without permission from http://www.altmanphoto.com/Baba.Ram.Das.html
