Purpose of life

Today, after a gap of a week, I am back to posting an article to this site. For one week, I worked on some technical aspects of this and my other blogs. I tried to write a post two to three times in between, but could not post as I did not find myself congruent with what I wanted to say.

I face difficulties in finding words and phrases that appropriately convey my intentions and meanings. I am sure that this shall also pass as I am presently living my life more congruently than before, so I shall also learn about more congruent ways of expressing my ideas. It has been a common experience with me ( I hope I am not alone!) that I write a paragraph and realize that this is not actually what I want to say. So, I have to rewrite it again. Now, I have decided that I need to keep on posting more articles and in the process, it shall improve.

Today’s topic has always been in mind since I first decided to write about personal development.I believe that for most of us, the journey of personal growth begins when we seriously consider this question: What is the purpose of my life? When I asked myself this for the first time, a second curious question popped up inside my mind- What is life? I intend to share my insights about this issue in this post.

An event that made me think

Once when I went with my wife to her hospital, as she had to attend a case of spontaneuous abortion, I got a lift in my journey of spiritual growth. I had attended child birth processes during my medical college years. However, when I saw the abortus on that day, it made me think on this topic- the pupose of my life. Now I believe that if we are not ready from within to walk a path of personal growth, no event or experience can make you realize its importance. I say this because I attended and assisted these procedures before also as a medical student, but I never thought that they can help me learn about life in such a big way!

On that day, the insight I gained was:

“Oh…. once I was also like that abortus! Everything went well for me from that point onwards and so today, I am physically alive! So, what is life by the way?  Why am I here in first place? I have come in to my present physical self from a single cell. What if my fate would also have been like that of an abortus? The thoughts did not stop even for a moment that night. I felt connected with that abortus! Out of that brainstorming I gained a new perspective of life.

I learned that:

  • One day, it is for sure that, I will not exist as this physical self. I do not know when that day will come for me. My physical self will cease to exist and I will not again be same as what I am right now. This moment can come anytime. May be today, may be tomorrow or may be after many years! No one can tell me the exact time for that. So the purpose of my life should be to live every moment that I get to live to its fullest. I have some years left for me on this planet with this physical self to create my own life experiences. I have two options:
  1. I continue to live life as I am currently living. It is fine. No major issues. I have studied and aquired a post grauduate medical degree. I have my private consulting practice. My wife also runs her hospital. Son is studying in a very good school of the city. My parents are also doctors and have earned and invested enough money so that I do not have their financial liabilities. A very well settled life as per social expectations. But I feel that it is not what I really really want!
  2. I take an another path of exploring and growing. I accept and respect what has been taught to me about life till today by the conditioners in different forms (parents, teachers, care givers, well wishers, relatives and all others). However, I commit to myself from this point onwards that If something from that conditoning is not working for me, I will search for alternative options, experiment with them, create my own experiences and integrate them into my mental framework. I can choose to live this way because this is my life! I have got it for few years. I shall be living every moment of this existence resourcefully!
  • My true existnece can not just be this body that i have learned to identify with. My true essence should be something that had been with me even when I was in my mother’s womb; the time when i was not properly figured out into this physical self. My true essence was there in my parents’ germ cells. But from where that got inside those cells! I kept on stretching my mind’s limits. I went on to think about my ancestors and their ancestors and explored the history of universe and I could not reach to an end with any logical answers. I then realized that my life should not only be what I can perceive with my physical senses but beyond that. That means the purpose of my life should not only be living for my physical self’s needs but also taking care and working for the non-physical needs of myself and others.
  • I am a very fortunate person. I could also have left this planet inside my mother’s womb! I realized that I am living right now, as this physical self, is the biggest reason and proof for me to feel grateful.
  • My other fellow human beings are also fortunate like me. I think that all who have come into this physcial existence are fortunate enough to get a chance to create their lives. We should remember that many could not manage to even come into this physical plane.
  • I do not know where I will go after I leave this physical self. I do not know whether I will be having any control over myself when I will leave this world. When I considered this point, It become obvious to me that there are many things I know I have a control over in this world! I am not that much victimized as I thought before! I am actually lucky and in control of many things about my life.
  • We all have same destination in the end and that, right now in my understanding, is to die and leave this world. This is same for all! In the end we shall get  the same outcome. So actually, the purpose of life can not only be the outcomes that we desire but should be the process that we go through in our lives.

I think that the window of self realization has opened for me after that incidence. I still continue to find new insights and wisdom when ever I get connected to that abortus. I owe to it for my learing! I feel that now I have realized how to find purpose in anything I do. It is like I have found a stream of endless awareness and insights. I can dive into it anytime to find the purpose of my being.

10 thoughts on “Purpose of life”

  1. Sudeep, I genuinely like and appreciate this effort of yours. I have already subscribed and look forward to reading your future posts.
    Best,
    Hemal

  2. Dear Dr, Very Good Blog -Purpose of life !! Still need your help – Why we all are living ! For What ? Aim of Life ?

  3. Hi Dipen,Thanks for your appreciation. I hope that I shall be able to answer your questions, in my comming posts in this category.So do subscribe to my RSS feeds or drop your email at the ‘subscribe by email’ widget in the sidebar2 of the same page. Have a resourceful life!

  4. hi sudeep,
    nice approach to spirituality!
    we had no control on our birth neither do we have on our death.the funny part is that we do not have complete control on the period in between! it is affected by so many parameters ranging from whole spectrum of emotional to physical.
    so when we discuss the aim of life we must understand that we are among those fortunate ones who have the time to think over it! and there in lies the seed of our approach to the question. if we believe that we should be happy because we have more than 95% of the world population then we must also think what next! should we dedicate the life to climbing the ladder further up where the atmosphere is rarified? and the fact remains there will always be someone ahead of us !
    must we then help others to climb up?
    either way it amounts the same! as you climb up youleave space for others to occupy the place you had been and if you help others to climb up you must vacate the space for them! so it is progress all the way.
    thus the basic aim as i believe is progress and progress all the way to death.the moment that efort is stopped you are dead anyway and do not figure the the scheme of things.
    now comes the question of the type of progress.
    well must be back to my patients!
    will pen in latter.
    bye ,
    regards ,
    dharmesh

  5. Hi
    Thanks for taking time out of your day to read this post.
    I appreciate your deep thinking.

    Frankly, I am not able to work more on this blog right now; so you may not find updated posts. However, I again affirm my committment to continue this work further. Hopefully, as it is my intention to do so, I shall be back on path soon.

    After reading your comment, I feel like you must be investing lots of thoughts in exploring this area of life and I look forward to meet you personally to learn your point of view in this regard.

  6. hi,
    well as an ophthalmologist we sure have more time on hand to think about the impractcal but relevant things in life!!! hahahaha.
    i certainly will learn a lot from you.
    thank you,
    regards to uncle aunty and mona,

    dharmesh

  7. There is no control on our birth nor on our death..But a definite control on the way we lead our life.. I have been always a free spritited soul n hence bore lot of consequences for my freedom n wish to live life my way. There was a time when i was absolutely down n someone made me did a very small exercise. I was told to close my eyes for 10 mins & i was lying on my deathbed. Those 10 mins were the minutes of my life when i realsied who all meant a lot to me, what all i still wanted to do & who all did i need to apologise.. well from that day on i have been living life as if today is my last day on ths planet.. It helped me & m sure helps all.. We remain cheerful , act most gracefully to all, do lil act of kndness to make a differenec in the society & the most imp, be happy ourselves…

Comments are closed.