The purpose of living refers to the thing that brings meaning
and fulfillment to our life. Living refers to the process of earning a
livelihood.
Frequently, what starts off as earning a livelihood often
morphs into a pursuit of prestige – all the more so in today’s status-driven
materialistic culture. The culture makes us believe that if we are not
indulging in the activities that it deems trendy, we are not living at all. But
indulgence in such activities doesn’t provide fulfillment – it provides at best
some titillation for the ego. And even that titillation is short-lived because
soon someone usurps the prestige we thought was our own. Or our present level
of prestige no longer titillates enough, and we start craving and slaving for
more. Thus, we end up doing scores of trendy things that don’t truly matter to
us – that, in fact, keep us from doing the things that matter to us. The
Bhagavad-gita (16.16) indicates that such consumption of our consciousness in
multiple things entraps us in a network of illusion.
The problem is not seeking a respectable living. The problem
is becoming so obsessed with the culture’s fickle notion of prestige as to
neglect our purpose of living.
What is our purpose of living? At a material level, our
purpose will naturally vary according to our specific God-given talents and
resources. But we are not just our talents and resources – we are at our core
souls, parts of Krishna. And e can find the deepest fulfillment in loving and
serving him. So, our ultimate purpose is to nourish our love for him firstly by
engaging in direct devotional activities, and secondly by using our talents and
resources in a mood of service to him. Such devotional utilization of our
assets will grant us life’s supreme fulfillment
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