Senin, 10 September 2007

The purpose of life

Life is lived in the tension of want and inadequacy. You may think someone else is happy because he has comforts. This is because you have set a value for what he has. Nobody is really happy. The only difference between the "haves" and "have-nots" is that the "haves" are unhappy with comforts and the "have-nots" are unhappy without comforts. Everyone wants to be different from what he or she is. This is a problem common to every human being.

Solving this problem is the purpose of life. One cannot be indifferent to it. The experiences of life make one think. "What I want is not all these things. I want to be at ease with myself. How can I discover that?" When the problem is thus identified, one knows exactly what one should look for, and life becomes purposeful. Then alone it is worth living.

-- Swami Dayanand, The teaching of the Bhagavad Gita
http://www.supremecourtcaselaw.com/thoughts.htm