What is the Purpose of Our Existence?

“In human life alone, one can experience the Soul [i.e. our real Self]. There is no other life form, not even that of the celestial beings, wherefrom we can attain the experience of the Self [Self-Realization]”These are the words of Param Pujya Dadabhagwan, an enlightened being. The purpose of our existence, therefore, is to seek our true identity; and as a result, attain liberation. Liberation means freedom from the worldly sorrows and the endless cycle of birth and deaths. Every living being has to traverse through countless of life forms before it can acquire a human life. The benefits of human birth are enormous. It is only in human birth that: •We can bind merit karmas which help us find and get onto the path of liberation. •We can realize, really ‘Who am l’?’. •We can attain liberation exclusively from a human form. Who am I? Due to the closeness of the body and Soul, a third entity i.e. the ego, naturally transpires on its own. We are really a Pure Soul. However, we wrongly believe our self to be our body and name. This wrong belief is called ego. Due to this wrong understanding of believing ourselves to be what we are not, our vision becomes deluded and we lose sight of the pure Soul that we really are. We think, feel and believe that, ‘I am this body, I am so and so (the reader may insert his own name here), I am her Aunty, I am a daughter, I am a wife, I am suffering, I am jealous.’ Believing so, we take over the pain, suffering and happiness, which in reality, is happening to the body, not the Soul. Further, whatever the body does, we assume that ‘I am doing it’; whatever our mind thinks, we feel, ‘I am thinking’. Hence, owing to our ignorance of the Self i.e. not knowing ‘Who am I?, the wrong beliefs of ownership and doership come into existence. And thinking ourself to be so and so, we harness good and bad intentions internally, which in turn bind merit and demerit karmas. We bind karmas in this life, which will come into fruition in the next life. Based on our karmas, our rebirth happens in one of the following life forms: •Celestial, •Human, •Animal, or •Hell. Presently, we have taken birth in human form. Therefore, now, our earnest desire ought to be only one i.e. to meet Gnani, the Liberated One, who can grace us with Self-Realization!!! Eventually, we will surely find Him one day, and shall also seek His divine grace. However, until that happens, our immediate purpose of this life should be to try and make a difference in the lives of living beings around us, in a positive way. For this: •We shall maintain a pure inner intent of, ‘I do not want to hurt any living being through my mind, speech or actions.’ •Further, we will spend our life with an intention to help others, in whatever way possible. •And if we ever happen to harm or hurt others or make someone unhappy, we will immediately do pratikraman. I.e. apologize before God, with sincere repentance in our heart, and a vow to not repeat the same mistake in life. When you have such inner intents imbibed into your being, and you do instant pratikraman if you hurt the other being, you bind enormous merit karmas, which will help you rise and make you meet Gnani, so that you reach your ultimate goal in life!! Self-Realization is our purpose of existence, and it is verily our ultimate goal in this lifernSoul is our real Self; it is our true identity. However, the veils of ignorance have all along kept us in complete darkness. But just like a lit lamp can enlighten other lamps; similarly Gnani, the Enlightened being, can awaken our Soul and bestow upon us the light of knowledge of the Self that, ‘Indeed, I am the Pure Soul!’ Thus,rnOur sole purpose of existence is to meet Gnani and attain Self-Realization; and following His teachings, progress on the path of liberation to set our Self free from all worldly sorrows and the cycle of birth and death, that follows.. Please visit https://www.dadabhagwan.org/self-realization/