The Purpose of Life - Rationale behind Incarnation

In the words of Brian Weiss, ‘contemplation’ and ‘meditation’ are the two essential elements of spiritual evolution. So true! I would not hesitate in saying that the said elements are the two most important stepping stones in the journey of ‘Transformation’. Unless one, literally, shuts one’s eyes to the outside world (on regular basis) and focuses on the inside (turning inward), it is just not possible to understand the purpose of one’s life. Most of us, as I always say, spend our entire lives wondering why we were born in the first place and keep grumbling over our repeated failures, not being able to figure out why we were chosen to lead less fortunate lives than those around us. (Undoubtedly, some of us have already experienced the most horrifying and heart rending moments of our lives ). It won’t be far from being true if I say that we learn to surrender to the higher energy and accept whatever falls in our lap as we enter our middle age. I’m not sure if it’s because of our depleting energy levels, ageing, failing health, lack of enthusiasm, crumbling spirit, succumbing attitude or simply our wisdom (which comes with age) that helps us to accept our situation and lets us live the kind of life we are living without much disgruntlement. Is this ‘acceptance’ a result of  consistent badgering by our circumstances or is it result of the wisdom and awareness we achieve in our journey through life? This is what we got to contemplate. ‘Acceptance’ which results from (accepting) defeat, is not the real acceptance. It should rather come from ‘knowing’ who one is, ‘where’ does one belong and ‘what’ is the sole purpose of taking a human form on this earth....repeatedly.

We humans understand better with visuals, which is (perhaps) why we are so good at swaying imaginary paint brushes on our mind’s canvas. It might sound crazy but I do venture into such practice quite often. Although, I have countless (such) paintings adorning the walls of my (fictitious) gallery, yet, I find one such painting significantly important and worth sharing with you; it left an indelible impression on my mind and I hope you can relate to it too, in some way or the other.

I picture myself standing on top of a hill with my head held high in arrogance. I have a strong feeling that I rule the world and that no one is more powerful than me. Nothing seems to scare me, not even standing alone (on the edge). I am an epitome of power, greed and wickedness. It feels so good looking at the helpless, poor, miserable and impoverished people squatting at the foothill. Largely responsible for their predicament, I seem to feed on their fear and misfortune. I see them cursing and verbally abusing me for their state of affairs but that doesn’t seem to affect my demonic demeanor in the least. My lips broaden into a crooked smile as I watch my ominously dark shadow, growing bigger and bigger, till it finally overshadows all those powerless creatures, that appear to me like (nothing more than) roaches. I laugh out loud, and then….suddenly, out of nowhere, an eagle appears and hits me hard on the back of my head. Losing my balance, I fall off the cliff, crying for help at the same time. 

The scene below changes dramatically. I hit the bottom and see myself surrounded by vultures. They seem to be all set to devour me. Overcome with extreme fear …fear of losing myself to the darkness, I scream for help. Suddenly a bright light appears…. and in that electrifying light, I see the flashes of those horrible and shameful deeds I had committed while I was alive. With my head hung in shame, I beg for forgiveness and ask for one more chance to make things right. (Who would’ve wanted to be devoured by the dark spirit!). Tears roll down my eyes as I (for the first time) realize the amount of pain I had caused to my fellow human beings. I feel utterly ashamed of having treated them like trash. Caught up between the two worlds…Heaven and the Hell (I’m aware of the Cliché attached to the terms ‘heaven’ and ‘hell’ but I don’t want to find a replacement here), I keep waiting for an answer, under the fear of being sucked into Hell. I know my judgment day has arrived. Its judgment day in real sense as I don't get to justify my bad deeds. I've no option but to plead guilty, not because I'm forced to do so but simply because there is nothing I can say to cover up or justify my horrible actions. It's right there in front of my eyes and no matter how much I want those visuals to stop, they keep showing me my dark side, filling me to the core, with guilt and unspeakable shame.

Suddenly I hear a mesmerizing voice, granting me my wish on the condition that I pay for all my bad deeds and suffer the same way others suffered because of me. The voice further says that if I serve my sentence with grace, I might just be entitled to some good days, and, better still, freedom from rebirth as well. (I know instantly that my journey was going to be tougher than usual but then….I had still got a second chance. It was worth.) I see the vultures disappear. Heaving a sigh of relief, I close my eyes and the next moment… I find myself born in a completely dysfunctional family. Well, that’s just the beginning!!!!

I see the angels surrounding my crib and whispering to each other. They show me snippets from my future days and I know, for sure, that I just started a journey which was going to be worse than burning in Hell. Horrified and scared, I cry my heart out but no one seems to understand the pangs of fear in the pit of my stomach. I don't blame them. They didn't see what I did.

So what is the purpose of life, after all? It, most certainly, is to be useful and helpful and not just being happy and grateful, as advocated by the so-called pioneers of ‘life philosophy’. I totally agree with Brian Weiss when he says that all of us have the potential to become spiritual guides and render help and guidance from the other side, provided we qualify for that post. It isn’t easy, though. It seems we need to sweat out for succeeding, not only in this world, but in the other world as well. The more I contemplate, the more I become convinced that we keep coming back to this earth only for making ourselves worthy of His kingdom (pardon me using the conventional language). Imagine being trapped between the two worlds and not being able to cross over only for the reason of having committed some despicable acts, disqualifying us for gaining entry into His kingdom. What option would be left for the soul if the doors of eternal light do not open for it? Obviously …to go back from where it came so as to make things right and be able to walk into the eternal light with grace and pride. Long story short….I learnt that instead of brooding over our failures and miseries, we should be thankful to God for helping mitigating our bad karma through the pain we suffer, while in human form. The tears of helplessness and anguish which flow from our pain-stricken eyes purify the dark smudges on our soul and cleanse us of all the dirt we gather due to our bad deeds and thoughts. But for the agony which life offers to us, we would’ve never been able to learn our lessons and gain wisdom on the path of spiritual evolution. Does it make sense?