The Miracle Is You: [02.01] Purpose Of Life (1)

Dear Ones-Today we are meditating on what is the purpose of human life and how we fulfill that purpose. People involve themselves in many activities, read countless books, and work in varied directions to explore what is the searcher's ultimate aim of this human life.

Man is at the stage of evolution. Man is capable to attain excellence. To be human is to be capable of self-awareness. Now, from here, where do we go? There are two directions: one is ascendance to Higher Self or descendance to lower form. From here we must either ascend or descend. We can neither stop, nor stay in the center of the road. Let us say your car stalls in the middle of the highway. The policeman comes and either pulls you over to the side or tows the car away. No one would allow you to leave your car in the middle of the highway blocking the traffic. So you must go either forward or backward, one or the other. In life, people go either on the animal level or on the divine ascent. We meet here for one purpose and that is to know our potential and our freedom to choose what we want to choose.

After Mahavira had attained enlightenment his disciple bowed down to him and asked "Sir what is the purpose of all our human affairs?" Mahavira answered, "To realize our true Self - as the tree is in a seed so is God [*] in you."

He meditated for twelve and a half years and the fruit of his meditation was to "realize the true Self and that life is God." In His meditation he realized that whatever perfection he was searching for was already in Him. When we realize this, even though it is very difficult it is not impossible to experience, to fulfill and to express it. You must ask yourself, "Do I see Life as God or sin?" If you see other things and not true Self, then nothing is fulfilled because anything other than god is transient.

Until now, day and night, we have been trying to get ephemeral things, forgetting the permanent. Once when I was a child, I was with my father and I caught sight of a beautiful toy camel. I started crying that I wanted this camel. My father asked, "Why do you want to spend so much money?” “I want it," I said, "I'm not going to come with you unless.." Ultimately, my father bought that camel. One day, about ten years later, we were talking together and I threw the camel away. "Now you are throwing it away," my father said, "but once you were crying for this camel." At that time it was my need to have the camel. In youth, we need certain things, but when we are mature, the need changes. All these needs are relevant to a certain stage. But there is something, which is not periodical, which is not transient, but is permanent. In order to realize God - Paramatma - inlife, we have first to distinguish between the permanent and the transient.

For this we will need to use those gifts, which are inherent in us. An aware person can use his gifts for this upliftment. However, if he is unaware, if he has no guide, if he keeps the wrong company, then his gifts may take him down instead. Watch what happens to a rich man's son. If he keeps the wrong company, then his friends, the society he travels with will spoil his life; his money will take him down. But, if he has good guidance, with his money and time, he can lift himself and others as well. In the same way, you are blessed with your senses, a beautiful reasoning mind, and the enthusiasm to seek the truth. These are all gifts. You are well equipped; nothing is lacking in you. Whatever you need is stored in your laboratory. You have to just discover it. When an astronaut goes to the moon, everything is arranged for him in the space ship. You are like the space ship. Everything you need is there; you only have to know where it is. Don't doubt yourself. Don't say, "Nothing is in me." Why do we have so much faith in a space ship and so little in ourselves? Life has provided us with everything we need. So we go with faith in ourselves - not in anything outside.

If you have this kind of confidence, then all you need is a guide; someone who can point out that whatever you need is within you. Sometimes we make mistakes and need someone to help us. Once I came upon my great uncle who was exhausting himself searching the whole house for something. I asked him what he was looking for. He answered, "My glasses." I said, "It is on your forehead!" "Oh," he said, "I forgot." In life also you need someone to point towards the thing for which you are searching, to remind you that what you seek is within.

Without the proper guidance, we might misuse our gifts and channel our energies downward. To focus our energy upward, it is essential to find a positive, enlightened, and sincere guide, someone ' without the smallest trace of negativity, one who does not believe in anything destructive. His affirmative thinking, his balanced life and experience help his friends move in positive direction. When we get that kind of guidance, we are very fortunate. It is easy to follow any teacher but very difficult to find a Master - a guide or guru who is enlightened. When we find one, we are truly a blessed disciple because there is no fear of failing or losing the track. The Master will always lift the student up again, help him to rethink, to come to the right thinking. This is important because the thought process, which we use, is an instrument for transcending. You see, you behave, you live according to your thought. You need positive, right thinking for what you want to become. Thought is not a cause for being, but it is instrumental to becoming.

Many people say there is no need to think. They are confused rather; there are two phases to thinking. When you are in deep meditation, you leave your thoughts on the surface; but when you return to the surface, you use the energy and power of meditation to enlighten your thought. You throw a light on that thought so the thought will shine.

You might have noticed on the highway a kind of paint, which reflects the light of the headlights of passing cars. It is not actually light, it has no power of its own. It simply receives and reflects light. Our thoughts are like paint. They don't have their own light but they need light. When you throw light on them, they reflect, they shine, they become bright. But when there is no light, they are in a guideless position.

Meditation is a kind of power or light. Used properly, there is nothing you cannot touch, nothing you cannot solve. Meditation is a very precise way of using your thought to solve the problems of daily life. Without it, your thoughts will become fantasy or will jump from one subject to another. Like Hamlet, you will be unable to come to a decision. Many people pass their whole life in the process of "to be or not to be" and before they decide, their time is over. But through meditation, your thoughts will become stronger and stronger and you will have confidence in yourself. You need this confidence. If a surgeon is trembling while he is operating, he will kill the patient. If he has confidence in his ability, his hand does not tremble, and he ultimately helps the patient. With confidence, the artist can draw a straight line in a single stroke. If a singer has fear in his breath, there will be no music. A spiritual man, who harbours fear, negativity and uncertainty, will be unable to reach his highest potential. So you need confidence and to obtain this confidence, you must use your own energy.

Whenever you have any problem, don't wallow in it. Sit in a relaxed position - select any position in which you feel comfortable; sitting in a chair or on the floor or lying down. Then say to yourself, "I have freedom to choose. I choose peace, not tension." Easing yourself of all tension, you feel completely relaxed so that you forget your identity also. I mean the identity of name, of social class, of sex, of body, and you feel that the gravitation of your senses and body are no longer dragging you down, then you are able to enjoy the higher level of harmony and bliss.