Goal of human life
I had been to Bangalore ISKCON during last week and after the graceful darshan , towards the exit , in a book shop , I purchased a small handbook titled “ Goal of human life “ , published by Friends of Lord Krishna ( FOLK ), contains few excerpts from the teachings of Srila Prabhupada. I read it again and again and I understood the meaning of the title , which was totally different from my understanding of goal of human life .
As for I am concerned , now aged 61 plus , had a common thought on the subject as below till I read the book “ Goals of human life” , and many others may too have the same thing in their minds, I believe , with exceptions of few.
Physical Goals
These are the goals that are related to your physical well being and health. If you need to loose weight, or improve your physical condition and health in some way, you will need to set these goals.
Career Goals
Where do you want to be in your career five years from now, ten years from! In what position you see yourself and what you will do to reach there, what kind of value addition you will do to your skills, both hard and soft, will fall under career goals.
Financial Goals
When are you planning your retirement, what kind of house you want to live in, what kind of car you want to drive, where you want to go for vacation, what kind of education do you want to afford for your children? Answer to all these will depend on you financial planning, and achievement of your financial Goal Setting.
Relationships & Family Goals
Relationships and your family are one of the biggest assets that you may have. How will you improve your old friendships, and make new ones? What will you do for your spouse, children, parents, greater family, so as to take these relationships to a greater depth? It is worth it to set goals in this area to have a fulfilled life.
Self Development & Spiritual Goals
A person is like a fruit. As long as you are green you are growing. If you stop growing you ripen and fall to ground. One of the greatest blessings of human life is the lifelong ability to learn. So, keep learning, keep growing internally. Set goals for improving your attitude, self image, faith etc. People those who are spiritually higher enjoy better self image, better relationships, and more financial success as they have stronger faith. Spiritual upliftment is an important purpose of all human life and one should set goals in this area of self development.
Pleasure Goals
As the children of God it is your right to enjoy and have pleasure. Set goals for your enjoyment and how you are going to spend time for yourself. Goals may be set for entertainment, learning new art or for taking up new hobbies.
These are the goals that are related to your physical well being and health. If you need to loose weight, or improve your physical condition and health in some way, you will need to set these goals.
Career Goals
Where do you want to be in your career five years from now, ten years from! In what position you see yourself and what you will do to reach there, what kind of value addition you will do to your skills, both hard and soft, will fall under career goals.
Financial Goals
When are you planning your retirement, what kind of house you want to live in, what kind of car you want to drive, where you want to go for vacation, what kind of education do you want to afford for your children? Answer to all these will depend on you financial planning, and achievement of your financial Goal Setting.
Relationships & Family Goals
Relationships and your family are one of the biggest assets that you may have. How will you improve your old friendships, and make new ones? What will you do for your spouse, children, parents, greater family, so as to take these relationships to a greater depth? It is worth it to set goals in this area to have a fulfilled life.
Self Development & Spiritual Goals
A person is like a fruit. As long as you are green you are growing. If you stop growing you ripen and fall to ground. One of the greatest blessings of human life is the lifelong ability to learn. So, keep learning, keep growing internally. Set goals for improving your attitude, self image, faith etc. People those who are spiritually higher enjoy better self image, better relationships, and more financial success as they have stronger faith. Spiritual upliftment is an important purpose of all human life and one should set goals in this area of self development.
Pleasure Goals
As the children of God it is your right to enjoy and have pleasure. Set goals for your enjoyment and how you are going to spend time for yourself. Goals may be set for entertainment, learning new art or for taking up new hobbies.
Social Goals
More often your success will be measured by what you do for the society rather than your personal achievements. As a human being it is your responsibility to give back to society more than what you receive from it. Any goals that you set for this purpose are Social Goals.
More often your success will be measured by what you do for the society rather than your personal achievements. As a human being it is your responsibility to give back to society more than what you receive from it. Any goals that you set for this purpose are Social Goals.
But on reading the tiny booklet , I understood one thing from the excerpts of Srila Prabhupada’s books and lectures– “ The tragedy of life does’nt lie in not reaching your goal. The tragedy lies in not knowing what goals to reach.”
“ If in the human form of life one misses the chance to understand his position, he is again placed in the cycle of birth and death in various types of bodies. The ultimate goal of life is to stop the cycle of birth and death.”
“ As per Vedic injunctions, the ultimate goal of human life is to go back to home, back to Godhead. This material world is not our home…and our home is in the spiritual world. The opportunity is available in this human form of life. Therefore if we don’t take advantage of this information and prepare ourselves accordingly, then we are losing the opportunity. “
A study sponsored by the Ford Foundation that :
23% of the population has no idea what they want from life, and as a result, they do not have much.
67% of the population has a general idea of what they want, but they do not plan properly to get5 what they want.
Only 10% of the population has specific well-defined goals, but even almongst them, only seven out of ten reach their goals, only half the time.
It is astonishing that 90% of the population has no idea or plan for what they want out of life !
When you have no central purpose in your life, you fall an easy prey to petty worries, fears, troubles, and self pity.
One must know the goal of life, and that knowledge will be revealed by the chanting of Hare Krishna. By this simple process, we can come to understand the spiritual kingdom, the self, the material world, God, liberation from material entanglement, and everything else. This is called ceto-darpana-marjanman [Cc.Antya 20.12], cleaning the dusty mirror of the impure mind.
To conclude … Please chant … “Hare Krishna Hare Krishna Krishna Krishna Hare Hare , Hare Rama Hare Rama Rama Rama hare Hare “ ( minimum 108 times daily )
“ By chanting the holy name, when our hear gets cleansed, then everything will be revealed. Even if you have no inclination to study the scriptures, if you simply take to this chanting of hare Krishna, gradually everything will be revealed to you.”
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