Our goal keeps changing.
The purpose in life keeps changing
as we advance in spirituality.
The path is infinite, the goal is infinite.
So I cannot say at any given moment
that, “I am happy with this.”
The purpose of life, we do not see in the beginning.
But it unfolds as we move on and on.
Small example I can give you.
When I started meditation
sometime in 1976, when I was studying in Pharmacy College.
What was my purpose in life then?
To become a good pharmacist, a successful businessman
and to attain at the same time some level of
samadhi (original state), like Swami Vivekananda.
That was the purpose of my life.
At that time, of course I was doing very well as a student.
But the other side was lacking. How to meditate?
I did not even know how to meditate.
And even today, there are no books on ‘How to meditate.”
People say, “It is good to attain a balanced state of mind.”
People say, “It is good to have a Sthitapragnya state.”
Lord Krishna talks about Sthithapragnya in the Gita.
Kabir Saab says,
“Attain a state where rain the drops become the ocean.”
Like when the rain drops fall in the ocean,
it becomes the ocean.
Patanjali talks about Samadhi,
that in order to fulfil the purpose of life,
you have got to attain Samadhi.
Jainism talks of Kaivalya (detachment).
Buddhism talks of Nirvana (enlightenment).
Christianity speaks of Heaven.
Islam also talks of Heaven.
No one says, “How to.”
There are books and books of descriptions on
what should be the goal.
But the means are missing, how to attain those lofty states.
Is there a place like Heaven that I can go,
where my soul can go?
If I cannot enjoy that heavenly state during my lifetime,
how am I going to enjoy the Heavens later?
It is like a poor man,
who has been struggling all his life and all of a sudden he is
kept in a palace.
He will not be able to sleep in a palace.
He will find it so unfit for the palace.
He will run away from the palace
and will say, “I was better off on the streets.”
So unless we are prepared for it, it cannot happen.
Many people who came to Sahaj Marg,
our Heartfulness Way of meditation,
they come with a simple purpose.
“Sir, my life is so stressed,” one.
Second, “I like to have peace.” But both are the same,
getting rid of stress and another person saying
I like to have peace of mind.
Most of the people who come for such meditations
are largely falling in these two categories.
Very rarely a person comes for God realisation, or liberation,
or some higher goals like that,
very rarely, one in millions perhaps.
But Babuji Maharaj, if I may quote Him again,
He used to say, “It really, really does not matter why
people come to Sahaj Marg to meditate.
It is my duty as a guide to teach them, to tell them,
to steer them into some direction so that
they should also know from their own heart that, “Yes,
my stress is gone, now what next?
I have peace of mind, what next? I have experienced samadhi,
what next?” So our goal keeps changing.
The purpose in life keeps changing as
we advance in spirituality.
The path is infinite, the goal is infinite.
So I cannot say at any given moment
that, “I am happy with this.”
You will be content, no doubt.
You will not be unhappy.
But still some inner craving will linger on,
“Oh I can still do better.
I can still move on. I can still refine myself.”
So the goal is ever receding.
The purpose of life
unfolds as we develop more and more
understanding within us.
And that is realisation that, “Yes, this is not enough.
I need to move on to the next level.”