To make our life fulfilled, we have to live a meaningful
life, an ideal life, going beyond the sense-bound existence.
If life loses its meaning we waste it in so many ways, as we
waste valueless objects.
There are several ways of wasting one’s life. Aimless wandering
without apparent purpose is one such thing. Taking some work as a pretext, that
may not be unavoidable, people move about. Some people undertake travelling in
the name of pilgrimage. Some waste their life by extravagant talk. Some remain
always busy with some work being unable to sit quiet. And yet others waste their
life being addicted to something. Nowadays, because of the television, the
Internet, mobile phones, and the like; there are a number of alluring
opportunities to waste one’s life. There are some people who, finding no
fulfilment in spiritual life, spend their time in preaching others what they
could not accomplish themselves.
The search for meaning is the most important urge in man,
says Victor E Frankl. And he avers that if this urge is not given a right
expression, it gets perverted into lust for power, pleasure, or wealth.
It is from this perspective that Sri Ramakrishna repeatedly tells us that the very purpose of human existence is to realise God.
As an illustration he tells the story of some friends going to the mango orchard and counting the trees, branches, and leaves, except the one among them who started eating the mangoes. He says: ‘You have come to the orchard to eat mangoes. Do that and be happy.’ As mango is the very essence of the tree and for the sake of that alone the trees are reared, so also God or divinity is the very essence of our personality, and the very purpose of human life is to attain that, which alone, in fact, makes life meaningful. A sincere attempt to attain that also makes life worth living.
It is from this perspective that Sri Ramakrishna repeatedly tells us that the very purpose of human existence is to realise God.
As an illustration he tells the story of some friends going to the mango orchard and counting the trees, branches, and leaves, except the one among them who started eating the mangoes. He says: ‘You have come to the orchard to eat mangoes. Do that and be happy.’ As mango is the very essence of the tree and for the sake of that alone the trees are reared, so also God or divinity is the very essence of our personality, and the very purpose of human life is to attain that, which alone, in fact, makes life meaningful. A sincere attempt to attain that also makes life worth living.
Source - The Psychological Aspects of Spiritual
Life by Swami Nityasthananda – From Prabuddha Bharata Feb 2016