Why We Should Try to Live

For at Least 100 Years

(or more!)

JMD

Why did we take birth in the human form? Is there a divine purpose for our living, or do we live simply to eat, drink, sleep, copulate and die? Surely, every deep thinking human being knows that life is more than what meets the eye (or the tongue, ears, or other organs!). When a person says "there is something missing from my life", are they referring to some ‘thing’. No, it is not something material, it is not something you can 'put your finger on.' The ‘something missing’ is something invisible, but very, very real. It is that invisible (formless) Reality that everyone knowingly or unknowingly longs for. It is only after securing That that we become real.

To be certain, to be absolutely certain, the curtain of ignorance must be removed from the mind. The curtain of ignorance is woven of impressions, attitudes, and tendencies. It is our own actions (karmas) that keep the curtain of ignorance pulled over the mind. It is also only our own actions that can cause the curtain to be removed.

We were not born to hide behind the curtain on the stage of human existence. This human life is the highest level of embodied consciousness, and it is only from this stage of life that we can fully act out the deepest desire of our soul—Moksha, or liberation. In other words, everyone knows, deep down inside, that something is missing. As living human beings, we can find the answers, we can know the Truth, we can realize the Greatest Love, the highest state of Consciousness. So long as we are living, it is within our grasp, but the moment we lose consciousness and fall into the long sleep of death, then we are unable to realize the dreams of our soul. We need to be awake and alert and aware to distinguish the real from the unreal, the truth from the untruth, the relevant from the irrelevant, and the Absolute from the relative.

When an ordinary person dies, he dies forever, he is finished, there is nothing left of him. It is only the high souls, the extraordinary persons, who retain their consciousness after leaving the body. High people work for Consciousness, and they attain that Consciousness which is permanent, undivided, and uninterrupted even by death. But ordinary persons who labor for their own petty pleasures and greed, such persons live in ignorance and self-delusion. They are unaware of the consequences of their actions. In fact, such persons are not really conscious at all—they are unconscientious and live in their mental hallucinations, images, false identity (ego), and make-believe world of friends, relations, and material achievements—and all of this is lost at the time of death.

There is a lot of work to be done in this human incarnation. We cannot afford to become complacent, careless, or reckless. To attain Pure Awareness, all the impurities of the mind must be removed. Until that is done, our perception will remain distorted and unclear. Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking we are so pure and holy. We may be pure in our own eyes, but are we pure in the eyes of God? To get the answer to that question we need to have His audience, we need to go before Him, to present ourselves to Him, to have his Darshan (vision). But we can never have His audience so long as we are looking for name, fame, recognition, and appreciation. We can never go before Him so long as we are chasing after the world. We cannot present ourselves to Him if we are holding onto our self-image, or our images of Him, and we can never have His vision unless we give up our ego.

We have a lot of work to do. This is why we were born. We were not born to die—we were born to realize our deathless state. Our purpose is a divine one, because the all-pervading Supreme Being also desires for us to be free—and only for that purpose has this life been given to us. The all-loving Supreme Being created this Universe for our sake only, so that we might realize His Presence.

The choice is ours. Our own choices have led us to this point, and only by our own free choice can we attain the highest freedom, Moksha. The Ultimate Truth, the all-pervading Supreme Consciousness is called VARUNA, the Most-Worthy of being chosen. When we make the right choices, again and again, our mind is transformed into the instrument of that Supreme Self. When everything is given to the Supreme then there is no ego left, no self-identity—there is only the identity with the Absolute—and this is Moksha, this is Liberation.

Liberation is not child's play. Liberation is hard work, it is an uphill battle. Liberation requires tremendous courage, fortitude, immense energy, sharp focus (mental clarity and concentration), persistence, patience, and humility. Without these (and other) divine traits, liberation is impossible. To attain these sterling qualities requires lots of practice and testing. Again and again we must learn and re-learn the lessons of life and apply our knowledge and understanding in facing everyday challenges. The more we can practice, the better. The longer we can live to practice, the better. This is why we should make every effort to prolong our life for at least 100 years or more, so that we might come closer to realizing our full potential in this very incarnation.

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