For quite some time this question has been troubling me as
to what is the ultimate purpose of universe and in that universe what is the
purpose of life and within it the biggest question intriguing me was what is
the objective of life. It took quite a while to articulate this question itself
for till about a decade back for me life had multiple objectives in different
situations, places and for different people. What could not be articulated was
one common denominations or one unique explanation which fitted all of us in
this universal ecosystem across nations, civilizations and people. With this burden
increasing every day with the increasing challenges of everyday life, there was
an underlying pressure to find an answer to this question which could be
questioned by anyone and could still stand the test of time, for anyone, all of
us and at all times. Carrying this baggage and a bag full of clothes, once I
landed up at a childhood friend’s place in Gurgaon. This friend of mine had no
jealously about anything, one who could cry at others sorrows but laugh at his
miseries, always. I always thought that I have had much higher education than
him and have travelled to many more places than him and met many more
successful guys than him and read many more books than him still while I search
for the answer, he lives happily always. This raised additional question in me as
to what keeps him Happy, “Always”. Anyways, parking that thought for a while, we
met, hugged, laughed, drank, sang Kishore Kumar songs and then cried together
that night.
Still the question persisted in mind till I guess, when an
alarm woke me up and I got up to go to the washroom. As I got up to open the
washroom there was a big poster of John Lennon on the door which read, “ When I
was 5 years old, my mom always told me that happiness was the key to life. When
I went to school, they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up. I wrote
down “HAPPY”. They told me I did not understand the assignment and I told them
they did not understand life” I became thoughtless and my mind with absolute
peace with myself as I started reading again. Yes, my mind said this was the
magical moment when I got the answer to my first question about life’s
objective. “Yes!”, my heart, mind and soul said in unison, that I have got the
answer and this answer is true for anyone, anywhere and anytime. When I asked
my friend as to why such an injustice to such a great though by putting it on
the door of the loo, he quipped, “that’s the first place I visit when I wake up
and that’s where I start my day and I want to remind myself the key to life
before I open my diary for the day.”
On my way back I kept thinking as to how can someone be
happy all the time and at all the places irrespective of the situations. Gradually
but steadily, some of my earlier thoughts started taking structure in my mind
and a hint came, “Karma”, yes by doing Karma I can be happy but how do I figure
out the direction of Karma as good or Bad? For bad karmas will end into
disaster, forget any trace of happiness. And the answer came “Follow Dharma”.
Yes, I thought I am getting there. Dharma means not doing anything to anybody,
anytime what one would not want anybody to do it to self, anytime, anywhere.
Having got three key words, Happiness, Karma & Dharma, I
started thinking of connecting them. They needed to be connected and having
discovered these three words it was easy to connect them. I got the answer, “The
objective of life is to be Happy and that happens only when one performs one’s Karma
as per the Dharma.” This clarity brought in another surge of questions on the multiple
dimensions all these three words can manifest individually and then the
infinite combinations amongst them when connected.
I thought, let’s start with unifying or defining Karma in a
way that it remains relevant for anyone, anytime and anywhere. Having
discovered the true meaning of Dharma, I knew if I could decode Karma and
Happiness I would get to the questions of universal purpose and objectives of
life. Now the word “Karma” is simply is very complex. On any given day anyone
performs innumerable karmas based on one’s situation and stage in life. This
variation varies infinitely with each additional individual and then how do I
get to the uniform definition of Karma. I decided to park this thought for it
started going beyond my mind could comprehend.
One day while reading a book, I was reminded of a fruit vendor
in Chembur, Mumbai, who would take a lot of pride in what he did. Every time he
saw me walking up to him he knew exactly how much I would normally buy and what
would be the mix and what denomination currency note I normally would give him.
And by the time, I would reach him my parcel would be ready with the exact
change to be returned to me. I asked him one day, How & why does he do this
and he replied that he needed to be the best in what he would do for his
customers for that was his duty. I thought that was exemplification of true
professionalism which is quite rare even in the corporate world. I liked it and
I got another answer to the question on how can someone command respect. By being
professional and respecting the profession of someone without comparison or
prejudice. Another day the same fellow told me that he was very happy with life
even though he sits on the footpath and sells fruits. And the secret behind it
was that he has never thought or done anything ill to anybody till date in his
life. “Wow” that is Dharma. The two thoughts connected immediately. And beyond
that, God’s there, he said, to take care
of him in bad times and he never forgot thanking god in good times.
Connecting both thoughts, I thought of redefining and
categorizing Karma once again and I do not quite remember how I got there but
finally came out with a hypothesis that is working for me till date. I realized
that for anybody, anytime and anywhere, there can be just three karmas to
perform, Professional Karma, Personal Karma and Spiritual Karma. And if someone
followed all these three karmas in accordance with Dharma, it will bring
perpetual Happiness. I realized that failure never disappoints people, it is
the lack of Karma that does.
Having reached this far, I mustered the courage to try and explain
the measurement and calibration for the three types of Karmas. To begin with, I took up defining the
objective of professional Karma. According to me the professional objective of
anybody, anytime and anywhere is to do the duties of one’s professions in such
a way that the profile (resume) of the person becomes as small as one’s name.
Till such time that we get there everybody takes the support of identifying by
trivial and tangible identities of being an Engineer or a doctor or an MBA from
the ivy league university or a DGM or GM or CEO. But the moment one reaches the
professional objective, the person on its own renounces all these identity
support infrastructure. And very soon I realised that this definition applied
aptly to me to Mahatma Gandhi, to JFK, to Vivekanand, to Abraham Lincoln to
Sachin Tendulkar to APJ Abdul Kalam and to all great achievers and other
mortals and immortals that we have known to would in all likelihood know in
future.
Objective of Personal Karma is to live a life in a way that
anyone from your past comes in front of you and says, “Hi!”, you do not have to
run away from him and can look into his eyes without blinking. And Objective of
Spiritual Karma is to reach a level of equanimity when the worldly affairs do
not affect your personal emotions.
With all these years of quest for finding answers to my
anxieties on objective of life and especially last five years journey of an
entrepreneur, I have come to realize that the purpose of life is to be Happy
and only Happy and one can be truly happy only if one carries on the professional,
personal and spiritual karmas treading the path of Dharma and when someone does
that, irrespective of the stage, place, situation and degree of achievements,
he shall be equally happy compared to anyone else anytime and anywhere for
Happiness has no unit of measurement.
