“Can you teach me the purpose and goal of life?” asked the student.
“I cannot,” replied the master.
“Can you teach me what death is and what life is?”
“I cannot.”
“Can you at least tell me what happiness is and what sorrow is?”
“I cannot.”
Then the master turned to his other students and said, “What is the use of all theories of life and their meaning if you have never tasted life? I would rather eat the pudding than create a theory of pudding.”
Our goal should be service rather than success. Service without prayer is no service; prayer without service is no prayer. Prayer is the door to the Divine, the ultimate mystery, not grasped by logic but felt in the heart. We often try to understand prayer with the head, though it is the function of the heart. Man requests, and the Universe responds in mysterious ways, both within and without. Yet we remain unaware of the deeper, unconscious requests we make. Therefore, our goal should not be merely to earn money, but to harness its power to serve. True giving is the thermometer of our love.
There is a domain of ‘being’ and a domain of ‘wanting’. Most of us remain lost in wanting. Yet, to live from the space of ‘being’ is far more powerful than to be driven by ‘wanting’, which imprisons us. True success lies in seeking this liberation. Our very ‘being’ attracts life—this is a central teaching of spirituality. We unconsciously make a request to the Universe, and when it is fulfilled, we dislike it. People may be asking for trouble without being aware of it. We are mechanical. When we raise our awareness and make a wholehearted request to the Universe, it is fulfilled. But we must remain conscious of the unconscious requests we make as well. ‘Being’ can be powerful if one understands life as a series of events. Most often, the experience of life depends on our interpretations of these events. People rarely change unless they realise their mechanical reactions to them.
The boss screams at you, and you react mechanically, assuming he dislikes you. Scolding is one thing; your mechanical conclusion is another. It may simply reflect his hidden tensions or his way of letting off steam. Labelling this as personal dislike is like becoming a prisoner of your own conclusion. Such assumptions create a leakage of energy that weakens one’s 'being'.
To make one’s ‘being’ powerful, one must be fully conscious of one’s reactions. To remain unaware of them is to suffer needlessly. Greater consciousness reveals that while we often cannot change events, we can always change our interpretation of them.
Are we stuck in a mechanical life, or do we operate from a powerful, magnetic one? In mechanical life, events control us; in magnetic life, our commitment guides us. When we free ourselves from the mechanical and allow the magnetic to lead, we realise that life is neither dependent nor independent, but interdependent. Therefore, our life should be a field of service.
The Sun, Moon, stars, flora, and fauna are silently blessing us, and to serve the sources of these blessings is the true purpose of our earning. Our success lies in earning, which in turn should be used effectively for service.