Teachers' Training - Aim of Life - III

Aim of Life - III

Everyone should explore what is human life, what is the quality of life and what is the aim of life. You take any philosophy, materialism, vitalism, idealism and religion, they can all be summed up in four categories which in the Indian terminology is the pursuit of Kama, Artha, dharma Moksha.

A look at the whole history of mankind reveals that all the aims of life can be summarized into four categories, the supracosmic, cosmic-terrestrial, supraterrestrial and the integral view. Let us define these four aims of life.   

1. The Isha Upanishad presents a comprehensive view of life both for India and the world. This Upanishad has only 18 verses which give the integral aim of life. How to integrate all aspects of life, the supracosmic, cosmic terrestrial, supraterrestrial and integral all the four are integrated. If you want to know the integral view of life, read only the eighteen verses of this Upanishad.
2. Next is a view of life which is entirely supracosmic. This is the search for utter transcendence. In the teachings of Buddha this world can be transcended totally.  You can arrive at a consciousness which takes you altogether away from this world, that is, a reality which has nothing to do with this world at all. Such a possibility exists for man.
3. Apology is one of the greatest dialogues written by Plato in which Socrates says that the greatest thing that man should do, is to examine life.  He says if you do not examine life, you have not lived life.  It is cosmic-terrestrial view of life; that is to say, when you are in the world, if you want to do the best in the cosmos itself, don’t go to utter transcendence.
4. Alexandra the Great. If you examine the aim of life of Alexandra the Great, it is also a cosmic-terrestrial view of life, adventure and ambition to unite the world. He tried to achieve the best and the highest, that one can achieve with relentless adventure. What did he find in life ultimately?
5. Here is another view, exactly the opposite of ambition, be meek, be humble and be like a child — Kingdom of Heaven, is the aim of life.  This is what is called supra-terrestrial; heaven is not terrestrial, it is not here, but if you do a right thing here, you will get a passport to heaven. This is the message that Christ has given.
6. In India, Bhartrihari has written hundred verses to describe goodness in Niti Shatkam.  It is also cosmic-terrestrial view of life, that life in this world is the pursuit of goodness then only, you will get satisfaction and fulfillment.    
7. This is the message of Islam.  It is also supra-terrestrial view.  Paradise is the aim of Islam.  Here, the condition is different; in the case of Christ the condition was love and compassion. Here, it is a submission to the Will of God. 
8. Shankaracharya is a great philosopher of India. He said the world is a lie, Brahman is real – Brahman Satyam, Jagat Mithyat – world is a lie. The cosmos is a falsehood? Reality is elsewhere, can you go beyond cosmos? This is called again supracosmic aim of life.

Supracosmic, that is to say, according to this view, an individual should be able to go above the cosmos, not only world, not only earth, whole cosmos and beyond that there is a reality and that reality you should be able to realize. This is the supra cosmic aim, that every individual according to this view, should aim at crossing the borders of the universe.

It is said that supracosmic view of life can be understood with one word:

atha brahma jigyasa

Jigyasa is a burning jigyasa. I must know. Then you go to your teachers. That is the Upanishadic state, atha brahma jigyasa is the starting point.

9. Be perfect like Leonardo Da Vinci, a man of excellence.  This is a cosmic-terrestrial aim of life, but of a different kind, not only to be good, not only to be heroic his aim of life was excellence and perfection.  He was a painter, sculptor, engineer, an anatomist and biologist.
10. There is another dimension of life. Neither the way of Christ, nor the way of Mohammed, it is supra-terrestrial but different. The love of Radha for Krishna that love embodied in Shri Chaitanya. From the life of Shri Chaitanya, you get the secrets of the highest delight that human soul can experience; when it meets the supreme Divine as a friend and lover. This love is the message of Shri Chaitanya.
11. The modern man today is intellectual and he constantly asks the question, ‘can the intellect prove the existence of God’? Here was one man called Descartes, and he asked this question; can God’s existence be proved intellectually? He has written an intellectual proof of the existence of God.  Even today if you read it and if you are truly rational, you would be obliged to accept his argument as final.
12. The Indian approach is even higher. You may intellectually prove the existence of God but the question is, have you seen God? Swami Vivekananda was a great intellectual of his time at the age of 18, he had mastered logic, but he was not satisfied. He wanted somebody who could say, ‘I have seen God’. Therefore every student should study this question, have you seen God?  If you read Descartes for intellectual satisfaction and if you read Vivekananda for your spiritual satisfaction and experience, you have a very good ground for search of God. This is a cosmic-terrestrial aim of life. 
13.  ‘The world as I see it’, by Einstein. We all see the world but difference between us and Einstein lies in what he can see and what I cannot see.  The world that he saw that the world is not only three dimensional space but it is four dimensional — time being the fourth dimension. Therefore, even in a cosmic-terrestrial aim of life try to see the world as Einstein has seen it.  It is a great example of how to see the world properly and truly. 
14. This is also an example of cosmic-terrestrial aim of life. Nehru is not regarded as a philosopher, not many people know that he wrote a beautiful article called ‘Life’s Philosophy’. He says, ‘there is too much to do in this life’.  It is a cosmic-terrestrial aim of life, paradise may exist or not exist, God may exist or may not exist, does not matter. 
15.  Similar to Nehru, but much more stringent is the view of Bertrand Russell.  He also pursues the cosmic-terrestrial aim of life.  He got the Nobel Prize for his book called ‘Conquest of Happiness’. He wrote a short article called “A Free man’s Worship”. A thorough atheist, who did not believe in God, he believed only in this life and that too only material life. He says just as a religious man becomes a worshipper, even when you reach the highest goal of your life, you will be a worshipper.
    The cosmic aims of life can be of three types — materialistic, vital and idealistic.Nehru’s cosmic aim of life can be called an idealistic cosmic aim of life.In the case of Bertrand Russell, it is the materialistic cosmic aim of life.Material alone is the cosmos, nothing else. Yet he came to the conclusion that man should be free man and if you live life as a free man, a time will come when you will become a worshipper.Even if you think the world has no meaning, when you reach the highest goal of your life, the highest point of your life, you will become a worshipper.
16. Our aim is to discover that Divine Will and work for its manifestation in physical life.  It is an integral view of life; the union of the Divine on one hand and the supracosmic, supraterrestrial, and the cosmic and physical matter, is the highest aim of life.

17. This is one of the shortest of the greatest exposition of the aim of life it is called ‘Ascent to the Truth’. It is written by the Mother in the form of a drama. She has shown how different individuals have approached life. It shows the philanthropist, one who lives the life of serving others. He says, I would have no business of life if everybody becomes happy in this world, so he leaves searching for the truth altogether. Then there are the artists, lovers and other aspirants.  According to the Mother, you should not be any one of these; you should be a real seeker, searching for the highest only for the sake of highest truth. Then the highest secret will be revealed. 

The message that the Mother has given is that there is a Divine Will that wants to manifest in physical life.Our aim is to discover that Divine Will and work for its manifestation in physical life.It is an integral view of life, the Divine on the one hand the supra-cosmic and supra-terrestrial on one hand and the cosmic-terrestrial and the physical matter on the other, the union of the two is the highest aim of life.