The Meaning of Life

chillibreeze writer — Kumud Ghosal

Since time immemorial, man has grappled with the most fundamental question about life and living - why are we born? What, after all, is the meaning of our existence in this world?

Many learned men and women have tried to get to the answer of this question. There has been much debate and speculation on this question and I have done a fair bit of reading on the subject. However, I have realized through experience that the answer that works best for a person is the one that he arrives at after assimilating all the differing perspectives on this subject. So do I have an answer?

Well, I have a half-baked answer, an answer that at times I am convinced about and other times not so sure about. I will nevertheless, share it with you. For me the most fundamental aspect of oneself is the soul and I do believe what our Hindu religion suggests that there is life after death....that the soul lives on and keeps coming back. Why does the soul need to come back again and again?

I think that the soul has some unfinished business here on earth which necessitates revisits. It could be yearning to be with another soul or it could be unfulfilled desires for fame and fortune or even a desire to settle scores with someone. There is something that has not got closure. It is this incompleteness of the story and the residual emotions thereof which results in the soul coming back again and again. If in a particular lifetime the soul finds closure and feels that there is nothing else that is there to have, the soul finds freedom from the cycle of birth and rebirth and becomes an Angel.

The big perk of being an Angel is that you have God for company. So the big question that looms large is how does one conquer all desires? Is it possible?

Maybe, lifetimes are finite and some people manage to be desire free earlier than others because they manage to be in touch with their soul. They know what is it that would actually satisfy the soul and single-mindedly work towards it. They may manage to fulfill the desires of their soul sooner and get release from the cycle of birth and rebirth.

Then there would be some people, who are so engrossed in the worldly world that they fail to be in touch with what their soul desires. They are so blinded by the glitter and the drama of the world outside that they just don’t get to pay any attention to what their soul wants. They probably would have to spend more number of lifetimes figuring the same out.

So for me, the meaning of life is to realize that the soul is who I am, the body is a temporary abode but which serves the purpose of helping me, the soul, realize the soul’s desires. For me life is meaningful when I know what my soul wants and I go for it regardless of whether it fits with the conventional sense of living a life.

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Chillibreeze's disclaimer: This is a contributed article and was published on Chillibreeze in June, 2011. The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not reflect the views of Chillibreeze as a company. Chillibreeze has a strict anti-plagiarism policy. Please contact us to report any copyright issues related to this article. The relevance of the facts and figures cited (if any) could change after a period of time.

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—About our writer:

Kumud Ghosal is a post graduate in Applied Psychology from Delhi University. She has a keen interest in understanding consumer behavior and has pursued this interest through out her career as a market researcher and later as a brand planner. She has written articles on women related concerns and she loves writing stories for children.

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