Enjoy Life While You Can
The purpose of life, as most people without basic spiritual understanding would think and like to believe, is to enjoy ourselves, gratify our senses, augment sensual pleasures, and to live in a carefree manner until we breathe our last: this, essentially, means watching movies, going on tours, clubbing, socialising, attending parties, chit-chatting, hobnobbing, mixing around with everyone, eating and drinking for their own sake, keeping late nights, gossiping, traducing, submitting to physical craving for sexual and carnal gratification, and, in a word, simply existing for the pleasures of one's ego and sense gratification.
No one could have summarised it even better than my friend, who latterly told me, "How long are we gonna be on earth: therefore, eat to your heart's content, enjoy your sleep, assert your rights to protect yourself, family and property from injury, and wherever it is possible, enjoy sex. What remains at the end of life is what we have enjoyed. What's beyond is every religion's contradictory speculations."
People who subscribe to this view need not necessarily be atheists; in faith, they could even be Hindus, Christians or Muslims --- the card-carrying ones --- the long-haired intellectual agnostics, who have but fragmentary knowledge of science, cursory information of religions and spirituality, but who pass themselves off as spiritual people of sorts.
Hedonism and epicureanism are their cherished ideologies of life!
In regard to their lifestyle. the Mahabarath says,
AhAra-nidrA-bhaya-maithunam cha
samAnam_etat_pashubhir_narANAm |
dharmo hi teShAm adhiko visheSho
dharmeNa hInAH pashubhiH samAnAH||
That is, acts of eating food (ahara), sleeping (nidra), feeling fear (bhaya), and mating (maithunah) are what animals generally do, too. If we eat to our heart's content, enjoy sleep and siesta, defend and protect ourselves, loved ones and our property, and engage in sex and sexual activities like any other living things, what then is the purpose of our birth and existence, and what essentially is the difference between us and animals?
Castigating such an attitude, Vyasa-Dev, the divine incarnation and the author of Srimad Bhagavatam says in Bhagavatam 1:2:10,
kāmasya nendriya-prītir
lābho jīveta yāvatā
jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā
nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ
We have come to earth not to find satisfaction (pritih) in getting our desires (kamasya) of the senses (indriya) fulfilled. That is not life's purpose. We have come to earth only for one objective, i.e., to inquire (jijnasa) about the Absolute Truth (tattva). Other than this, nothing else should ever be the goal of one’s sojourn on earth.
In short, Vyasa-Dev pronounces that the sole purpose of human birth is only to attain God, from whom we have departed to wallow in His maya.
The same exhortation can be seen in Narada Muni's advice in Srimad Bhagavatam 1:5:18 where he says that one should endeavour (prayateta) to find out one's purpose on earth, and not just squander the precious gift of human life that cannot be obtained easily.
But when should this inquiry begin? Oftentimes, people nourish the hedonistic and thoroughly egregious notion that one ought to begin the search for the meaning of life when one has retired, or at old age, or when one has fulfilled one's so-called bounden duties.
Addressing this question, Sri Prahlada Maharaj warns us in Srimad Bhagavatam 7:6:1 that it ought to begin, not retirement or old age but, at childhood:
śrī-prahrāda uvāca
kaumāra ācaret prājño
dharmān bhāgavatān iha
durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma
tad apy adhruvam arthadam
At "kaumāraḥ" (at childhood), one ought to begin practising (ācaret) the tasks of surrendering to God, slowly giving up other engagements extraneous to one's search for the meaning of life on earth. Sri Prahlada reminds us that "manusam janma" (human birth), although "adhruvam" (impermanent), is rather "durlabham" (rarely obtained). It is, thus, the most meaningful birth (arthadam) because it helps in procuring for us the deliverance from the cycle of births and deaths.
Commenting on the purpose of life, Swami Sivananda, adjures us to, "Ascend the ladder of Truth and reach the summit of Truth Absolute. Light the candle of Love and behold the Supreme Lord of Love, Who resides in every heart. Wear the garment of purity and enter the Kingdom of the Ever-pure Atman. Breathe the air of unity and attain union with the Supreme One, the All-pervading Brahman. That is the purpose of your life on earth. That is the purpose for which you have taken this human birth; not to eat, drink and make merry. Every moment is precious. Every moment rolls silently by and drops into the ocean of eternity; you cannot recall it. Live well. Love all." (pg. 125, How to Cultivate Virtues and Eradicate Vices).
People who subscribe to this view need not necessarily be atheists; in faith, they could even be Hindus, Christians or Muslims --- the card-carrying ones --- the long-haired intellectual agnostics, who have but fragmentary knowledge of science, cursory information of religions and spirituality, but who pass themselves off as spiritual people of sorts.
In regard to their lifestyle. the Mahabarath says,
AhAra-nidrA-bhaya-maithunam cha
samAnam_etat_pashubhir_narANAm |
dharmo hi teShAm adhiko visheSho
dharmeNa hInAH pashubhiH samAnAH||
That is, acts of eating food (ahara), sleeping (nidra), feeling fear (bhaya), and mating (maithunah) are what animals generally do, too. If we eat to our heart's content, enjoy sleep and siesta, defend and protect ourselves, loved ones and our property, and engage in sex and sexual activities like any other living things, what then is the purpose of our birth and existence, and what essentially is the difference between us and animals?
Castigating such an attitude, Vyasa-Dev, the divine incarnation and the author of Srimad Bhagavatam says in Bhagavatam 1:2:10,
kāmasya nendriya-prītir
lābho jīveta yāvatā
jīvasya tattva-jijñāsā
nārtho yaś ceha karmabhiḥ
We have come to earth not to find satisfaction (pritih) in getting our desires (kamasya) of the senses (indriya) fulfilled. That is not life's purpose. We have come to earth only for one objective, i.e., to inquire (jijnasa) about the Absolute Truth (tattva). Other than this, nothing else should ever be the goal of one’s sojourn on earth.
The same exhortation can be seen in Narada Muni's advice in Srimad Bhagavatam 1:5:18 where he says that one should endeavour (prayateta) to find out one's purpose on earth, and not just squander the precious gift of human life that cannot be obtained easily.
But when should this inquiry begin? Oftentimes, people nourish the hedonistic and thoroughly egregious notion that one ought to begin the search for the meaning of life when one has retired, or at old age, or when one has fulfilled one's so-called bounden duties.
Addressing this question, Sri Prahlada Maharaj warns us in Srimad Bhagavatam 7:6:1 that it ought to begin, not retirement or old age but, at childhood:
śrī-prahrāda uvāca
kaumāra ācaret prājño
dharmān bhāgavatān iha
durlabhaṁ mānuṣaṁ janma
tad apy adhruvam arthadam
At "kaumāraḥ" (at childhood), one ought to begin practising (ācaret) the tasks of surrendering to God, slowly giving up other engagements extraneous to one's search for the meaning of life on earth. Sri Prahlada reminds us that "manusam janma" (human birth), although "adhruvam" (impermanent), is rather "durlabham" (rarely obtained). It is, thus, the most meaningful birth (arthadam) because it helps in procuring for us the deliverance from the cycle of births and deaths.
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