TALK 17 by Prabhuji
Let us continue the contemplation on the ‘purpose of life’.
We came to a conclusion that there is an outer purpose and inner purpose. The inner purpose, is permanence, happiness and infinite knowledge. And that is available to us in the form ‘Light of the Self’, ‘Atmajyothi’, and deep inside us. This is the inner journey. This process is called realization of the Self – Knowing your own Self.
Don’t you know yourself now? There is a Self-knowledge or Self-identity, which is actually, ‘I am so and so, I am an officer, I am a husband, I am a wife, and I am worried’ etc. So, all these identities are related to your body, mind and intellect.
There is a story, one person went to heaven. The gate keeper asked ‘who are you?’
The person proudly replied, ‘Don’t you know, I am so and so’.
The gate keeper replies, ‘I have never heard of such a person. I asked you who are you and you are telling me some name. I don’t want your name, tell me who are you?
‘I am the greatest business man’, the person replied
Again gate keeper asked, ‘I am not asking what is your profession, I want to who are you?’
Person said, ‘I am a very successful man’.
Gate keeper: ‘I am not interested in your success or failure, tell me who you are?
Person could not answer. The gate keeper said, ‘I am sorry, those who don’t know who they are have no entry into the heaven. You better go back to earth, take one more life and learn who you are and come back.’
Dear Atmajyothis, we know lot about ourselves, but we don’t know about us. There is a difference. You don’t know about you, but you know a lot about what you have. You have body, mind, job, family and others. You have a lot of knowledge about what you have, but you don’t know about you. This knowledge about who you are is called Self-Knowledge.
We are actually craving deep inside for that Self Realization in the form of eternal happiness, in the form of permanence, in the form of infinite knowledge, which is inside you, that is ‘Sat-Chit-Ananda’. So you are craving for what is inside you.
There was a beggar sitting near Gateway of India begging from 25 years. One day he dies, the municipality people came there, they have to shift the body and they did not want to take the trouble of taking the body and burying somewhere else. They thought they will bury wherever he was sitting. They started digging there and suddenly they discovered lot of money buried underground, lakhs and lakhs underneath, just right below where he was sitting. Probably some robbers would have done some bank robbery and to hide the money, they must have buried there. This fellow is a poor man in spite of sitting on lakhs of rupees.
Similarly all of us are beggars. Deep inside us there is a permanent happiness, infinite wisdom in the form of ‘Sat-Chit-Ananda’ the ‘Light of the Self’, and because we don’t know it is inside us, and we are sitting on that, we keep on hankering whole life after that like that beggars. So the purpose of life is to discover that wealth in you, the supreme light inside you, the ‘Sat-Chit-Ananda’ inside you, the ‘Light of the Self’ inside you.
And this our Rishis gave as a message called as ‘Atmanomokshartham’. Self-Realization is the primary purpose of our life and it requires a inner journey, but is that the end of it? Then there is the purpose Jagadhithayacaha. Whatever you discover inside share with the world, do service, because the same ‘Light of the Self’ is in everybody’s heart and everybody is suffering like you without knowing the wealth inside. ‘Lokahithaya’ means help them to discover that inner joy, inner peace. This our rishis called as ‘Jagadhithayacaha’ or Yajna or service or offering, working towards the welfare of others.
So the purpose of life is realize your inner Self – the Atmajyothi and spread that wisdom, share that joy and peace with people who need it and this is called ‘Atmanomokshartham Jagadhithayacaha’, ‘Self-Realization and service to others’.
Transcription by Atmajyothi Satyavathi
Light of The Self Foundation 