A disciple once asked his Guru, “Am I alive?” The Guru joyously replied, “Aha! You are indeed fortunate that this question has occurred to you! Because to an ignorant person, such a question does not even arise. He does not even doubt whether he is dead or alive. He is certain that just because he can breathe, eat, desire and toil to fulfil his desires, he has to be alive.”

Inquire into the Purpose of Life

If merely breathing is living, then what is the difference between you and a cabbage or a cauliflower? They too can breathe. And if you say, ‘but I harbour desires and also work towards fulfilling my desires’, then what is the difference between you and the animals? Desires arise in them too, they too attempt to fulfil their instincts and get satisfaction in their own way. Merely breathing and eating cannot be human life. It can be a plant or an animal life but certainly not a human life. Human life is much more than this. In recognising the essence, the Consciousness that existed before birth and will exist even after death, lies the fulfilment of human life.

“Can the life I am leading really be called a human life?” This is the beginning of spirituality. This is the first ray of light, without which the sun of enlightenment cannot arise in your life. Until this question arises, you are unconscious, or not even born. With this question you have taken a new birth. You have been blessed with a new life. This is your real birth. This is the beginning of your true life. Blessed is the one to whom this question occurs, for, once this question has arisen, he will not be able to remain in the slumber of ignorance for long.

Choice is Yours

Life is merely an opportunity. What you do with it is for you to decide. Life is neither purposeful nor purposeless. It is like a blank paper. You have the freedom, the choice to write on it what you want. You can write abusive words or you can write a beautiful song. If you write rudely, how can you expect happiness? Striving for wealth and fulfilment of desires, how can you expect peace? If you want to make your life melodious, you will have to write poetry on it, that is, give it a higher purpose. Purpose will not come on its own. If you want to spend life in happiness, you will have to write the Divine on it. The choice is yours. You say that life seems meaningless. It definitely will seem so if you write the wrong things. Most people either choose to write abusive words on the paper or do not write anything at all. Their lives remain meaningless. Only a few, the aspirants, write songs and make their lives meaningful.

Human birth is an opportunity that has been given to you, while death is when that opportunity is taken away. Between birth and death is this field called life. You alone must cultivate it. Even if you don’t grow anything, weeds will certainly grow. But if you want beauty and fragrance, then you will have to plant roses. Roses, however, do not grow by themselves. They require an effort; they require sadhana.

Dharma Adds Meaning to Life

If you want to harvest roses, you must bring supreme purpose to your life; you will have to take the path of meditation. If you are not interested in the roses, you have to do nothing for the weeds to grow because indulgence in the non-self has been your old habit. You spend life on acquiring wealth and status instead of meditation, because deep within, you believe that happiness lies in wealth and status. And all your strength and energy is expended there. Once meditation enters your life, your destination will no longer remain the tomb; it will be the everlasting Self. If you want to become happy, there is just one solution, go within. Happiness in wealth and status is merely your delusion.

This process of adding meaning to life is dharma. The science of discovering the essence of life is dharma. The purpose of dharma is to carve a beautiful idol out of an unpolished stone. If you do not add meaning to life, your life will inevitably move towards self-destruction; it will certainly end in misery.

Dharma is the meaning of life, and the absence of dharma makes life worthless. Without dharma, sooner or later, this question is bound to crop up – what do I do with this routine monotonous life? I wake up each morning, eat, go to work, come home and go back to sleep. Am I really alive?

Shape your Life

A farmer in Golkonda found a raw diamond. He gave it to the children to play with. Once his friend who was a jeweller visited him, and saw this raw diamond. Realising its value, he bought it and began to shape it. As he shaped the diamond, its weight kept reducing, but its value kept increasing. At the end, the weight was one third but its worth had multiplied.

Within you also is such a raw diamond, the Consciousness. Upon it are layers of anger, greed, etc. due to which its radiance is not seen. As the layers are removed, purity and shine increase. With a little effort, with love, patience, and understanding, the inner beauty will manifest, and the purpose of the human life will be fulfilled.

Give importance to dharma. The essence of dharma is meditation. Progress in meditation. Turn inwards to be free from thoughts, to dwell in a state beyond thoughts, to settle in silence, to awaken in the state that transcends words, to be established as a witness. Dive deep within and know your True Self. Do not keep wandering outside aimlessly. Your treasure is hidden within you and yet you keep wandering outside. Your kingdom lies within and yet you look for riches outside. Therefore life seems meaningless and futile. Just change the direction of your search, look within and your life will be revolutionised. Today, your life is a statement of bankruptcy. The arrival of meditation will enrich it and turn it into a festival of lights!