Purpose of this Human Form

What is the purpose of life? Why are we here? What is the reason for our existence? The mystics of all times have explained that the real purpose of our lives is “self- realization” and “God-realization”.

This precious human form that we have received is very valuable. It is this rare opportunity to realize God and merge or unite with him. Why is it so precious? After traveling for eons in this universe in one form or another, we have finally been blessed to incarnate in the human form, which is the top of the creation. This human body is the Temple of God – our portal, outlet, door or opening to unite with our Creator. We question and wonder why? Even the angels pine for this incarnation. Based on our karmic load, we have been blessed with this human form. Tulsidas describes this form as the ship that will take us to our destination.

We must realize that life is not permanent. No one can ensure or predict the day we will depart from here. One minute we may be enjoying a delicious meal and the next we are not around to even say goodbye to our loved ones. We only have a worldly relationship with them, till the cremation ground. We are so accustomed to measuring life cycles in seconds, minutes, hours, days, and years. The fact is that it is not time-based. We may agree or disagree, but it is based on the number of breaths. Once you breathe out, you cannot be assured that you will breathe back in. Just as the clock chimes, every tick tock keeps the hands moving, so the number of breaths keeps us going.

We are constantly under the illusion that everything around us is permanent. We cling to our youth, our health, to our relationships and to our possessions as though they can provide lasting happiness, as though they could last forever. We try our best to stop the aging process, dye our hair, use aesthetic means but in the end, we know that time can stop for no one.

Reality dawns or awakens us from our slumber when we are lying on our death bed, counting our last breath. We realize we have wasted our precious breaths, hoarding money, clothes, houses, and friends: and no one can come or help us at that moment. There is a feeling of regret, but alas we can’t do anything about it. Saints and Mystics remind us again and again that man can build empires, and positions but everything is limited to his grave. We are wasting our breaths and time is passing by very fast. We are like the Titanic ship sinking slowly. When we are on a sinking ship, death is inevitable, but here we are trying to powder our nose and comb our hair. Our human body is like the Titanic that is sinking, and we are still holding on to the hope that we will live on forever. Everything that has life will perish ultimately.

Keep death in front of you and then do your worldly work. We must fear with every breath if our next breath will come or not. There is a story that goes like this: A Muslim fakir found a skull and took it home. He kept it on the table. His family members were upset and told him there were children in the house and they would be frightened by the sight of this skull. He told them that it is a reminder to everyone that one day you will be like this skull. As the saying goes, “Hope for the best and prepare for the worst.” In Sant Mat, this can be translated as “prepare for your death while living.” Mystics describe dying as the end of suffering, as merging into the light, as uniting with the Beloved, the Lord, and becoming one with him.

A king, pleased with his subject, gave him a golden dagger as a gift. The man humbly accepted the gift, took it home and hung it on the wall. The next day his wife took it and started chopping vegetables. She could have used an ordinary knife. The point is that this golden dagger is our human life. We treat it like an ordinary knife and carry on our worldly duties rather than doing our real work.

In one of the satsangs it was explained that we are stuck in this worldly routine and are held captive in this cycle of birth and death. But there is an escape plan: you need to stay focused and do your meditation!

The purpose of attending satsang and doing meditation is not only limited to creating love for the Lord but also cleansing our mind and making our heart more receptive. Once we come into this peaceful atmosphere, it highlights our shortcomings or flaws; we become aware of our thinking and feel ashamed of what we have become, and we start changing slowly. We need to control our thought process and make sure we are focused on our primary goal. All our thoughts create difficulties in meditation and sway us away from our goal.

We have been so fortunate to be in the company of a living Master, but we take him for granted. He has initiated us, guided us, given us the gift of Nam. We say we love him, but very few of us do what he wants us to do.

When we are initiated, we start to differentiate and uplift ourselves from the five thieves (attachment, greed, lust, anger, and ego) we start to see goodness in everything that the Almighty has created. If we hold grudges or ill feelings towards other fellow beings, our heart cannot be receptive to his love. Unless we learn to forgive others, we cannot expect the Lord to forgive us.

Every morning when we wake up and decide to push off our meditation, we are losing the opportunity to connect with the Lord. Just as we all keep a to-do list for daily activities. Meditation should be on the top of our list.

Anyone who has persisted on this path will admit there are ups and downs; doubts will come from time to time, it is normal. An amateur runner hoping to complete a marathon will start full of energy and enthusiasm. Halfway through, when the initial enthusiasm has worn off and he feels nothing but hard work and pain, he may think “Why am I doing this?” And maybe even give up.

That is when he needs a word of encouragement and a reminder of his goal. A professional runner, however, has trained and trained vigorously, so he understands what is happening to the body and mind at every stage. Similarly, someone who has devoted time to regular meditation over many years will recognize the ups and downs that come during practice, and he knows that with faith and trust in the spiritual teacher, he can overcome everything.

Many of us think from time to time that we are just not good at meditation and will never be. Maybe the Master made a mistake in initiating us? Maybe this whole thing is just a fairy tale? Maybe we would be happier just by taking a break from meditation? Practice is built on failure after failure. We think that failure is negative, but that is a great misunderstanding. All these failures are part of our ultimate success. We should go on making attempt after attempt. The Master is always there to help us, always encouraging, always supportive, and he leads us by being an example. He always says that we are stronger than we think, and we can do it.

Procrastination is a thief of time. One should not leave aside our meditation and think that when I am older, I will be at peace and then start meditation. Can we be sure of that? What if we do not keep good health?

A construction supervisor from the 16th floor of a building was calling his junior, who was on the ground floor. Because of the noise, he didn’t hear his call. To draw his attention, he threw a coin down in front of the junior, who picked it up and kept it in his pocket. Again, to draw his attention, the supervisor this time threw a 10-dollar bill. The worker did the same and kept the bill without looking up. Now the supervisor got upset and picked up a small stone and threw it on the worker. This time the worker immediately looked up.

In our lifetime, the Lord wants to communicate with us, but we are so busy with our worldly work. Many times, he gives us small gifts and then big ones too, we just keep them without wondering where we got them from. We just keep the gifts without even thanking him; we just think we have been lucky. And then when we are hit by a small stone, which we call “problems,” then only do we look up and complain to him, why He has given us problems? That’s why it is said, He gives, gives, and forgives, and we get, get, and forget.

There is nothing wrong with being successful or living a comfortable life. Contentment is an inner quality. We can have nothing and be contented, or have everything and not have contentment. Saints tell us that our worrying about worldly things won’t change our destinies but it surely will take away our chance to make spiritual progress.

Just think, could we live life without the gift of initiation and a Master to guide and protect us in this world of pain and suffering? Imagine what our lives would have been if we did not have a Master, if there were no simran, no satsangs to go to, or no seva… Dare we think what direction our lives would have taken? Therefore, we should be grateful to the Master for what he has given us.

Effort is our duty, but the results are not in our hands, this is how we should live our lives. This is also a test for us, and we should not lose our mental balance, but instead realize that this is the will of the Lord, and we should accept it in all humility. Who knows that things could have been worse!

To recap: The trouble is that we forget that the main reason we have been given this body is to meditate. We forget very easily, Due to our worldly duties we get influenced by our minds. We need to meditate as our Master has guided us, to understand that the soul and the Lord are the same energy, they are within us, and the Lord is pulling the soul towards him, we must make the effort, which is a part of the divine design for our return journey, and He will do the rest.

The Master repeatedly tells us, “What are you waiting for?” And when he asks us “What are your priorities,” he is really telling us “Come on, hurry up!” As soon as we do what we are told, we realize and experience THE SOUL, THE MASTER, AND THE LORD in their true forms. Then we merge into Him and become ONE with Him forever.