THE PURPOSE OF LIFE — Answers to Your Questions

THE PURPOSE OF LIFE Answers to Your Questions M AN is in constant search of answers to many questions. Who am I? Where did I come from? What is the purpose of my life? Why do I have so many unfulfilled desires? What happens to me after death? The questions are many but answers can only be found with the realization of God. Realization of God (ma'arifat) has the greatest importance in religion. Realization is not like a stone, rather it is like a ‘tree’ that keeps growing continuously. The Quran says: “Their faith grows stronger as they listen to His revelations” (THE QURAN 8: 2). It is creative thinking, which is the source of this ever-growing realization of God. With this deeper sense of realization, a person can draw sustenance or food for ma'arifat from every incident and from every experience. Creative thinking is the source of an ever-growing realization of God. All-India Radio broadcasts news every hour. In between there are other programs. As the radio was switched on for the news, a line from a song could be heard. Barbaad main yahan hoon, aabaad tu kahan hai. A simple translation of these words would be, Here, I am in peril and where are you free of all peril? To a creative mind, these words can be food for God-realization. These heart-rending words of the song appear to be the voice of every human soul; the voice of man in a state of constant pain calling out to his Lord, ‘You created me and put me into a world which is not my eternal habitat.’ Why does man feel he is in peril? Unlike animals who are contented in their habitat, man experiences a feeling of deprivation. Right from birth he lives in a sense of deprivation and leaves the world in this very state of unfulfilment. The Quran explains this in the following words: We have created man in the best of mould, then We cast him down as the lowest of the low, except for those who believe and do good works — theirs shall be an unending reward. What then after this, can make you deny the Last Judgement? Is not God the greatest of the judges? THE QURAN 95: 4-8