Question: I have been wondering about a lot of issues related to religion. I wonder if you can help me find some answers and direction. I sometimes feel confused. Knowing that we are going to die, what is the point of living?
Romapada Swami Answers: Thank you for your very thoughtful questions. In answering your questions, I will share with you the timeless wisdom as found in the Bhagavad-Gita, which systematically addresses all these vital questions about the meaning and purpose of our life.
According to Bhagavad-Gita's teachings, we are eternal living beings -- we are not this body but eternal spirit souls residing in this body. Our real self, the spirit soul, is never subject to death. The body is just like an outer garment, or a vehicle, and it is the soul only that animates the body. When the body becomes old or useless, the soul leaves that body and takes on a new body, just like a person changing his dress, or giving up an old car and getting a new one. Death, therefore, is not an end as it seems to us, but merely a changing of body.
This present life and body, of course, are temporary and will come to an end, and therefore too much absorption in accumulating material knowledge, wealth, position, or superficial bodily relations in one sense does not have any lasting value and thus are futile, because they will all be taken away at death. And yet, whatever we do in our present life *IS* quite important in another sense, because it decides what kind of future we are going to have. Therefore it behooves us to live our life responsibly and in proper knowledge.
At death, we acquire a new body based on our previous activities (karma) and desires, taking birth in any of 8.4 million species of life in any planet within the universe! This continues in repeated cycles of birth, death and transmigration. The human form of life is a very special opportunity in this cycle, because in this human body alone, unlike those of animals, we are endowed with intelligence to inquire into the purpose of this repeated cycle, just as you are inquiring now. Unless one comes to this point of inquiry, his human life is considered to be wasted, or lived in vain.
Because we are eternal, the prospect of death and changing bodies is very unnatural, unpleasant and depressing. But the reason we find ourselves subject to the unpleasantness of birth, death, diseases or old age or any other misery of this world is only due to our having forgotten our real spiritual nature and our relationship with God. Just like if you turn the lights off in your room one night, you would neither be able to see yourself, nor the objects around you, in the same way, God, Krishna is compared to the Sun and when we forget Him or turn away from Him, then we are subject to a type of darkness called ignorance or the illusory energy called Maya. Under its influence, people think themselves to be identical with the body and think life as having no ultimate goal or meaning, and abruptly ending in death. But as soon as we turn our attention back to God, this illusion is removed.
The real purpose of this life then is to understand our real spiritual nature and transfer our desires from matter to spirit, turn our attention back to God. When we start acting in our relation with God, then even the ordinary activities and relationships that we pursue in this life take on new meaning and significance, instead of being temporary and illusory. Moreover, ultimately it will put an end to this cycle of birth and death and enable us to go back to our eternal home, where we can eternally engage in blissful loving service to the Supreme Lord, without being subjected to the stringent laws of birth, death, old age, disease and suffering.
This message, in effect, is the essence of any true religious system. Bhagavad-Gita gives us very detailed, scientific descriptions of how we can understand God, ourselves and our place in this material world. It also teaches us the methods by which we can revive our forgotten relationship with God, the best process being bhakti yoga, or performing devotional service to God and calling upon His Holy Names, Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare/ Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama Hare Hare.
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