By Sadhguru – Founder, Isha Foundation

I am often asked, ‘What is the purpose of life?’ If a person were blissful at this moment, he would never have this question. If just sitting here and breathing was ecstatic, it would never arise. Only when life has become burdensome do we have these ‘To be or not to be’ questions.

It is because human beings have not realised the immensity of their existence that they are constantly looking for ‘meaning’. Only someone who has paid no attention to life and has paid too much attention to his mind asks such a question. The problem with human beings is they are so full of themselves that they think there must be some grand hidden purpose.

What more grandeur do you need than the way life is right now? If you look a little deeper, you will see that every cell, every atom in the trees around you is a cosmos by itself. It is the grandest thing that’s happening. It is a fortune that you are given access to it; that you are allowed to live in its lap. It is so enormous, so intricate, so fantastic, it does not need any purpose.

Every human being has a thirst to be boundless. Something within you is longing to break boundaries. This thirst is not created by you; it is just life longing for itself. This is life’s purpose: it is trying to expand into its unboundedness. It wants to find its original nature. We’re just seeing how to find the way: this is all that spirituality is.

The purpose of existence is to exist. Right now human beings feel they have to go somewhere or do something to feel substantial. If we bring sufficient awareness into the world, a day can come when people can feel complete as they are. No education, no culture, no learning, no spirituality, no God, nothing is needed. If they just sit here they can feel blissful. Once people know the joy of their existence, they will not ask for anything more.

At present, if people have to be happy, they have to do a million things. Whatever they do — their education, career, business, marriage, family, everything — is in pursuit of happiness. This is simply because they are not in touch with existence.

If you want to find the purpose of your life, just learn to enhance this life to its maximum potential. Most people don’t even know what life is. In your experience, all you have is a body and mind. Start by making them as pleasant as you can. Only when your body and mind are in a state of pleasantness, everything in you works at its best. If you manage to remain in a continual state of blissfulness for twenty-four hours, even your intelligence will double. There is enough medical evidence to substantiate this. 

Have you spent a single day in your life without a moment of agitation, irritation, anger or anxiety? Almost everyone would say no. If you are not blissful one day, that’s understandable. But not having been blissful for a single day means that something very fundamental is wrong.

The problem is just this: without understanding the fundamentals of what this human mechanism is you are trying to operate it. It is like getting into a car without knowing what the three pedals are. If you just kicked any one of them, do you know what a jerky driver you would be? Right now your well-being is this jerky. You know moments of joy, love, bliss, ecstasy, but you are not able to sustain these. You are trying to operate your life without understanding the sophistication of the mechanism that you are handling.

If you could just sit here for one moment and experience the magnificent nature of your being, you’d know you don’t have to do anything. Just being alive is grand enough.