THE PURPOSE OF LIFE
Answers to Your Questions
MAN 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
It is as though, God is addressing man saying ‘O man, you are in this state because you failed to understand My creation plan. Had you discovered that I have prepared for you an unending reward, instead of giving in to despair, you would have paid your full attention towards making yourself a deserving candidate for this eternal reward.’
Humans are referred to as social beings or thinking beings. A more suitable reference would be to call them, Paradise-seeking beings. As perfection is only in Paradise, we can conclude that all the other living creatures find fulfilment in the pre-death period in their present habitat, but man will find this fulfilment in the post-death period in his eternal abode.
The pre-death period of life is like a temporary nursery and the post-death period is like a permanent garden.
If he were to discover this fact and engage himself in becoming a deserving candidate for the permanent abode of Paradise, then certainly he would attain peace of mind.
When one ponders over creation, one realises that it is perfect in all aspects. It is highly meaningful. The present phase of creation is the first phase of creation, and if the first phase is meaningful, then its second phase—the ending phase—must also be meaningful.
It is this aspect of creation that necessitates the belief that, if the beginning is good, then the end must also be good. If man’s creation is in the ‘best mould’, then the final result of this should also be the best. The Quran gives us an explanation to this aspect of creation. According to the Quran, man’s life has two different periods: pre-death and post-death. The pre-death period is the period of preparation and the post-death period is the period for receiving the reward. In short, the pre-death period of life is like a temporary nursery and the post-death period is like a permanent garden.
The necessary price of great success
is long-time endeavour.