We set different goals at different stages of life. In high school, we strive to score well in exams to secure admission to a good college or university for higher education. Later, we aim to secure a high-paying job or start a business. New goals then arise — buying a car, purchasing a house, and acquiring other material possessions. At some point, we aspire to get married and have children. And so it continues.
Then, one day, life ends. Our gross (physical) body is reduced to ashes or decomposes into the earth. According to our vasanas — the unmanifested desires imprinted in our subtle body or antahkaran over innumerable lifetimes — we take birth again, and the cycle continues.
If we observe our life carefully, we notice that all of our actions are directed toward acquiring material objects and enjoying them. Yet, at the time of death, we cannot take even a single possession with us. We cannot extend our lifespan by even a fraction of a second in exchange for all the wealth we have accumulated.
This leads to a fundamental question:
“If everything we strive for will one day be left behind, what is truly worth pursuing? What is the ultimate goal of human life?”
We believe that fulfilling desires will bring happiness. But what happens when a desire is fulfilled? The desire disappears. Therefore, happiness does not arise from the fulfillment of desires but from their absence.
Swami Parthasarathy beautifully expresses this idea in an equation:
Happiness = Number of desires fulfilled / Number of desires entertained
If the denominator approaches zero, happiness approaches infinity — the state of pure bliss. Our original Self is pure bliss. God is pure bliss.
The ultimate goal of human life, therefore, is Self-realization or attaining God. Until we reach this goal, we continue to undergo the endless cycle of birth and death. Being born as a human is a necessary condition for achieving this goal, but it is not a sufficient condition.
The universe operates under the Law of Karma. We are born as human beings or other creatures according to our past karmas. In simple terms, karma means action. Karma can be classified into three categories:
1. Sanchit Karma
These are the accumulated karmas (good and bad) from past lives that have not yet borne fruit. Think of them as unvested stocks or a fixed deposit that has not yet matured.
2. Kriyaman Karma
These are actions whose results are experienced immediately. For example, you drink water and your thirst is quenched. You insult someone and they react instantly. Such karmas are exhausted immediately and do not accumulate.
3. Prarabdha Karma
From the accumulated karmas of past lives, a portion ripens and manifests as prarabdha for the present life. We must take birth to experience these karmas, and we cannot leave the body until this allotted prarabdha is exhausted. The happiness (sukh) and sorrow (dukh) we experience are the results of good and bad prarabdha karmas, respectively.
All creatures except human beings live according to their prarabdha. A cow cannot choose to eat meat. A tiger cannot choose to stop eating meat. They live according to their inherent nature until their prarabdha is exhausted, after which they take birth again in the same or a different species.
Only human beings are endowed with free will (purushartha) — the ability to consciously strive for Self-realization in this very life.
So how do we free ourselves from the cycle of birth and death? The path involves:
- Burning the accumulated Sanchit karma of past lives
- Enduring the prarabdha of the present life
- Preventing new karmas from accumulating as Sanchit while living through prarabdha
In Kaliyuga, the most powerful means to burn Sanchit karma is Naam Jap — chanting the name of God.
“कलियुग केवल नाम अधारा, सुमिर सुमिर नर उतरहिं पारा।”
— Ramcharitmanas
Prarabdha, however, can only be exhausted through experience. The challenge is that while enduring prarabdha, we often create new karmas, which again accumulate and bind us to the cycle.
Therefore, we must perform actions skillfully.
“योगः कर्मसु कौशलम्”
— Bhagavad Gita 2.50
(Yoga is skill in action.)
Actions do not accumulate as Sanchit when they are:
- Performed without attachment, likes, or dislikes
- Performed without ego or the sense of doership
- Performed for the welfare of society at large with noble intent
- Performed selflessly as an offering to God
In essence, the path to Self-realization involves burning past Sanchit karma through Naam Jap, enduring prarabdha with equanimity, and performing present actions skillfully so that no new karmas accumulate.
When prarabdha is exhausted and no Sanchit karma remains, the cycle of birth and death ends.
This liberation is possible only in human life.
A human life not directed toward Self-realization is a wasted opportunity.
Reference:
- “Theory of Karma” by Sri Hirabhai Thakkar, published by Kusum Prakashan (book available on https://kusumprakashan.in/)
- The Fall of the Human Intellect by A Parthasarathy