WHY WE EXIST?

Why we exist is a question- a question that has been haunting man through centuries. Aristotle, Plateau and even Socrates have put these questions to their contemporary erudite. Alexander went towards the East in order to conquer the world. What happened to him? He died while returning. He was buried somewhere in the Middle East. It is said that he was showing his empty hands telling the onlookers or his mourners that he was carrying nothing while being buried. In other words he didn't understand the purpose of life! He realized that his life was a waste!

Hiranyakasyap a great character in the epic of Mahabhagavat, proclaimed that he was God and even his son, considered as his enemy, warned him that he was boasting that he had conquered the entire world and even the other places beyond the boundaries of this planet but he could not conquer his own Self.

Great religious teachers have entered this world to teach people the purpose of living. Even the Bible taught in simplest terms that life has to be realized and good things are to be practised in order to know why we exist! Life has become a prison from where we are unable to extricate ourselves because we have succumbed to temptations, seeking sensual pleasures.

We live in different geographical conditions and made up of the same mettle. We are made to realize that in times of calamities we cling to each other for help because we need each other's company to exist. The togetherness and mutual respect and love is what life is and its meaning.

It is interesting to learn about God's creation as narrated by a Goodman from India and I was myself one of the audience:

God created man and wondered at his own creation! He looked strikingly similar to Himself and therefore decided to make him divine too. He paused. He decided to call a meeting of the celestials. A circular was sent to all those living with God- the celestials.. The scheduled time was announced. There was a great assembly of the Celestials. God arrived to the deafening applause of those present.

God was the presiding deity. He announced the only item of the agenda. It was to find out where to hide the divinity from the eye of man. One of the celestials known for his eloquence suggested hiding the divinity in the bowels of the earth and man would not be able find it. Another suggested hiding it in the depths of the deepest oceans. Yet another suggested hiding it on the topmost part of the tallest mountain.

God paused and said that man would soon learn the science of geology and find the divinity sooner or later. Same is the case when we hide it in the seas. He will learn the science of oceanography and dive into the depths. He will soon climb the tallest of the mountain peaks and find it out. I would like to hide the divinity in man himself so that he will struggle all his life in searching everywhere and not in himself and make him realize why he exists? There was thunderous applause.

He will soon learn that he exists to find out this secret that he is divine. He should begin his search right from the beginning. He will start from temples, mosques and churches and in every tabernacle not trying to look within his self.

So it can be concluded that the very purpose of life is to find out why we exist! To begin an enquiry Who am I? From where I have come? Where I am going?

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