Why Am I here?

At some time in everyone’s life, the question, “why am I here?” may surface in one’s awareness.

Life is a multi-faceted display of various possibilities and many times we are called to choose which direction to take in our lives. The path we choose depends on our inner awareness of the purpose of our lives. Are we here to just increase our material prosperity, to purchase more property, to impress others with our academic achievements or our job title? Or is there a more fundamental reason we have been born?

The ultimate purpose of life is to expand our vision of life…to EXPAND OUR AWARENESS to infinite dimensions, to experience the farthest regions of spacetime and to know who we really are. According to the ancient Vedic teachings, we are not this body. We are not the mind. We are the Atman, the soul of the universe. We are one undivided wholeness of life: eternal, infinite, immortal and unchanging. We are the imperishable essence behind all names and forms. There is no place where we do not exist. We exist everywhere like the ocean which exists in the form of a multitude of waves. There is only One wholeness of life. That I Am.

This realization may takes many years to understand and experience. But it does not diminish its veracity. Our life emerges in order to teach us what we need to know on the path to unbounded awareness. Everyone’s path is structured in accordance with the route one has to take to self-awareness. Each path is unique to the individual. However the goal is ONE. There is the view from the plains and the view from the height of the mountaintop. As we ascend, our awareness becomes broader. With expansion of perception, the view dazzles us with its breathtaking beauty. There is so much more to life than we had anticipated, more silence, more light, more joy, more peace, and more love.

This experience heralds the homecoming of our soul. This is the sign of the river merging with the ocean, the individuality merging with universality. This is the timeless whisper of eternity, the answer to the unspoken question. This is the solution to the riddle of the Delphic oracle: Know Thyself.

We are here to become all we are capable of being. Every human being has the innate ability to reach the state of full enlightenment and to radiate the fullness of love, light and bliss into the farthest regions of the universe. We have only to claim our birthright, dedicate ourselves to unfold it, and use it for the good of all living beings.

“Let yourself be possessed by your Self. Once you are possessed by your Self, the purpose of all wisdom has been achieved. There the Vedas end. That is the end of the journey of life, that is the state of fulfillment.” —Maharishi Mahesh Yogi