The purpose of life

It has been some time since a posting has been made in this blog. Perhaps it is too much to expect people to take time off to write, take time off from this grinding treadmill of samsara (phenomenal world). Mary, my dear friend had this opinion about the postings made so far. She said they did not reflect the true character or persona of the writers or something to this effect. I grudgingly agree with her. At least it could be true of my writing.

I am more of a dreamer than a practical worldly-wise person. That may be the reason my writings reflect the kind of person I wish to be rather than what I truly am. Can’t help it guys that’s how I am.

My understanding of the phenomenal world comes from my own experiences and what little I have read. This whole world is like a dream and all that appears is the product of our own Mind or Manas. All relations such as Mother, Father, siblings, Guru, sishya, friends, relatives, acquaintances and everything we see, feel and experience are the product of our Manas and hence ephemeral. For when there is no Mind or Manas; nothing exists, not even the world. This is experienced by all in the state of deep sleep. This is verily the truth.

Then a question arises. If it be the truth, how do we explain this world? If it is a product of one’s mind then how is it that other people too experience the same world we experience? This experience of the world by all is attributed to the cosmic will. So strong is the cosmic will that we all are inextricably bound by it and believe it to be true. This is akin to our dream state where we are not aware of it being a dream; we never doubt its veracity. It is only after we wake up from the dream do we realize its transient nature. So too is this phenomenal world a dream of the supreme consciousness. When we wake up (know our true self) we realize its falsity.

Our entire life is practically wasted either in dwelling on the past or pondering the future; rarely do we live in the present. In the process we fail to contemplate on our true nature resulting in delusion and an unending cycle of births.

The main impediment to realizing our true nature is the ‘Ego’ which ascribes individuality to us. The goal of our life then is to reach the egoless state, which is the most difficult to achieve. The deep rooted vasanas (impressions of past lives) are very difficult to erase although not impossible. Many are the pitfalls in this path. But eventually the journey is to be made, for that is the purpose of life.