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THE PURPOSE OF OUR EXISTENCE
One day I asked the priest at my local temple "what is the meaning of life?" He replied-The life in you is not looking for meaning; it needs exuberance of experience. First, you create that, then all these questions will evaporate. I was puzzled, next morning I rose and googled "What is the meaning of life?", I found out that each religion has a different answer to this question, according to Hinduism, the meaning of life is four-fold: to achieve Dharma; which means to live life virtuously, the second meaning of life according to Hinduism is Artha; which refers to the pursuit of wealth and prosperity in one’s life, the third objective of a Hindu’s life is to seek the Kama, which means to obtain enjoyment from life, the fourth and final meaning of life according to Hinduism is Moksha; which refers to freedom from saṃsāra, the cycle of death and rebirth. It can take a whole life of an individual to attain Moksha, after attaining moksha, the soul loses its impermanent, gender-linked body and enters Vaikuntha or Moksha Loka or the liberated world. The next day I visited the local mosque, I asked the Imam (prayer leader of a mosque), "According to you, what is the meaning of life?". He answered- "Quran clearly states that the Muslim’s whole life purpose is nothing but to obey Allah and keep his love above everything." I was again perplexed, I thanked him for his time and left for the local church. I asked the priest the same question I asked the other two priests, "what is the meaning of life?", he said- "Life's purpose in Christianity is to seek divine salvation through the grace of God and intercession of Christ (John 11:26). The New Testament speaks of God wanting to have a relationship with humans both in this life and the life to come, which can happen only if one's sins are forgiven (John 3:16–21; 2 Peter 3:9)." This made me more bewildered, by the time I was leaving the church it had gotten late, as I was walking to my home I saw a group of people having tea together at a roadside tea stall, they all were smiling, having a great time. I got completely lost for a moment, as I kept on walking I saw an NGO feeding the stray dogs of my block, the canines looked pleased to have dinner. As I reached home, I was exhausted from the long day, I retired to bed quickly, I smiled, I finally knew what was the meaning of life. The meaning of life is to live to the fullest, life isn't about going to the temple or the church each day and praying to the gods, it's about making other people's life better, a doctor who can perform a life-saving surgery for millions of dollars isn't exactly the real hero instead of the doctor who helps to make the lives of the unfortunate better by providing them free healthcare is the real hero, going to an expensive, fancy restaurant will make you look cool on social media but using that money to feed the stray dogs will make you a hero in the society. The purpose of life is to make a difference in other people's life even by a small amount, be it surprising them with their favorite band's concert tickets or volunteering at your local NGO. However, “There is a theory which states that if ever anyone discovers exactly what the Universe is for and why it is here, it will instantly disappear and be replaced by something even more bizarre and inexplicable, so we will probably never know the true meaning of life.“Ultimately, man should not ask what the meaning of his life is, but rather must recognize that it is he who is asked. In a word, each man is questioned by life; and he can only answer to life by answering for his own life; to life, he can only respond by being responsible.”
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In this article I talk about what should be our purpose of life.