THE PURPOSE OF LIFE

means of this system, after about every ten years our entire body is changed. With new cells our body is replaced by a new body. It is as if our body repeatedly experiences death. Yet we find that man’s consciousness remains intact. It does not die. It is a known fact that man’s real existence is his mental existence. This mental existence remains inviolate and survives despite repeated physical deaths. It is a clue which tells us that man, according to his origin, is an eternal creature. A part of this eternal existence is placed in the stage of life before death, while the major part of it is placed in the stage of life after death. Similarly, another clue in this matter is that man possesses —exceptionally — the concept of justice. Man by his nature wants justice to prevail in the world. That is, the doers of good should be rewarded for their good deeds and the evil-doers should be made to suffer the consequences of their bad deeds. Keeping this clue before us, the human mind comes to discover that the ideal world, which could not be achieved in the pre-death stage of life due to all kinds of limitations, will be attainable in the post-death period in its perfect form, as desired by man. Similarly, another clue in this matter is that man is the creature who exclusively has the concept of tomorrow. No animal or non-animal has this concept of the future. When we give deeper thought to this clue, we discover the reality that the desired world which man fails to find in the present limited world, will be found in the post-death period, which is the unlimited stage of life. This will be a world where man will experience fulfillment in the full sense. The coming into existence of an ideal world after death is as established a fact as other established facts are. However, in the ideal world of the future, one will not automatically find a place. Only those men and women will find a place in that ideal world who have proved their worthiness in the world before death. It is the law of nature that all rewards are given to those who deserve them, while those who are not held deserving can never have any kind of reward. The question is: What is the formula for being held deserving of this ideal world? The formula is only one, and that is purification of the soul. One who wants to find a place in this ideal world of the future has to prove in this world that he saw the unseen world with his insight while living in the seen world; that he discovered the truth in the jungle of confusion; that he adhered to a positive attitude in the midst of negative experiences; that he raised himself above the animal level and elevated himself to the highest level of humanity; that he distanced himself from such base qualities as ingratitude, dishonesty, selfishness and egoism; that he was a seeker of paradise with all his heart and soul. In short, he was one who wholeheartedly chose the God-oriented life. Men and women with such qualities are the gems of humanity. These are the people who will inhabit the ideal world of the future. Those who do not come up to this standard will be rejected and cast into the universal dustbin, where they will be condemned to live a life of eternal regret. They will never be delivered from this life of humiliation and penance.