We stride through life as if we will live forever. We treat time as a cheap commodity that we blindly waste. And before we know it, the sands of our hourglass run out, and we face the end of our brief existence on this planet unfulfilled and regretful
There's a book called 'A Million Miles in a Thousand Years' about an author who is being interviewed to make a movie about his life. And he realises his life is boring. There is almost nothing worth talking about. In writing the screen play and editing the book events into interesting movie dialogue, Miller learns a little more about the elements of a good story and through those things learns more about the story that he is living as well as the story he wants to be living. “Good stories don't happen by accident, I learned. They are planned,” he says in the book.
My friends, let us ask ourselves, "What kind of story am I living? What kind of story do I want to be living?"
An Iranian king summoned a philosopher and said to him, "I would like you to sum up human life in a few simple words."
"Just give me a week's time," requested the philosopher. The week passed by quickly. The philosopher returned to the king's court, “I have thought over your question carefully," he said "I believe I have the answer now.” “Give it to me at once” pleaded the king eagerly. “The lives of most people can be summed up in these few words, O king,” said the philosopher. “He was born, he grew up in years, he married, he begot children, he died!” Is this going to be my story? Is this all there is to human life? These words also sum up the life of every animal. Is not a human being's life meant for higher things?
Have you ever asked yourself, "What is the purpose of my life?" Have you ever thought, "I race and I chase, all so that I can make more money, have more success, become more powerful, acquire more and more. All this chasing for what?” We stride through life as if we will live forever. We treat time as a cheap commodity that we blindly waste. And before we know it, the sands of our hourglass run out, and we face the end of our brief existence on this planet unfulfilled and regretful. Little do we realise that the human birth has been given to us for a specific purpose. We are like the astronaut on a Space Shuttle Mission sent to explore life on Mars. We are given vital supplies and are equipped with the latest hi- tech gadgetry. However, we are so fascinated by the beauty and splendour around that we forget our real purpose, which was to report our findings back to earth. Similarly in life, we are busy doing so many things, we are so wrapped up in worldly pursuits that we have forgotten our true purpose. We have forgotten why we are here because we have forgotten who we are.
“Man is a combination us, have identified you would immediately of three things, the physical body, the mind and the soul. Most of ourselves as the body that we wear. If I were to ask you who are you, point to your body. We think we are the bodies that we wear”
Man is a combination of three things, the physical body, the mind and the soul. Most of us, have identified ourselves as the body that we wear. If I were to ask you who are you, you would immediately point to your body. We think we are the bodies that we wear. But the body, as has been told us in the great scripture of India, the Bhagwad Gita, is only a garment which we have worn during our present incarnation. We have worn many such bodies. We have put away many such bodies. We are not the bodies which we wear. Neither are we the body-mind complex. Man is essentially a soul who has worn the garment of the body and who has brought with himself the instrument of the mind to be able to do his work on the physical plain. Each one of us is an immortal spirit.
My friend, this priceless human birth has been bestowed upon each one of us for a specific purpose – that we may realise what we are, whence we came, and whither we are to return. We are not the bodies that we wear. We are immortal spirits. We are not this; we are that! Weapons cannot cleave us and fires cannot burn us, and winds cannot dry us and the waters cannot drench us. We are that, we are not this.
We have received the golden opportunity of the human birth, let us not leave the world with empty hearts. While all of us need to work and earn our livelihood, we must not forget our true purpose, we must not neglect the Treasure Imperishable, the treasure of true love. Let us fill our hearts with Love - love for the Lord and love for his suffering children. It is to gather this treasure that we have come to this earth. Alas, how few of us realise the value of human life! How many of us fritter away this precious gift in trivial pursuits
By Dada J.P. Vaswani
