What is our ‘Purpose’ in Life?

We are all flowing in a river: the river of humanity and society. And every person in this river is trying to compete with every other person to move faster, to move better. We are conditioned to think that if we don’t want to compete with others, something must be wrong with us. Being social animals, humans are expected to move in a crowd, in a society. We are also expected to follow societal norms. If we choose to differ, we are made to feel that we are very different. But when we reach the end of that river in which we are flowing, we realize that it was no big deal.

It was never a big deal. Instead of realizing this when we reach the end of the river, or, in other words, our lives, it is better to realize this now. The problem is that we are conditioned to make it a big deal. We are full of ideas such as ‘I am going to change the world’; ‘I want to know my purpose in life’… What is that big purpose? The day we die, we would have fulfilled that purpose anyway!

We should do whatever needs to be done and is within our capacity. For example, if we see a hungry person, our purpose is to feed them. Or to clothe a person who is shivering from being exposed to the cold. Let’s not talk about what others are doing or not doing. Instead, let’s talk about whether we are doing what we should do.

Let’s also break down the pyramid of our identity: our friends, relatives, the town we come from, the country we belong to, our religious affiliation… Let’s break down all of this and see where we are. And if we find ourselves to be nowhere, then we are in the best place possible. Because to be nowhere is to be everywhere! Let’s make our ego so big that it engulfs the entire Universe and thereby ceases to exist. Let that be our only purpose in life.