The True Purpose of Life

Between personal goals and a grand "life mission," it is easy to lose one's way. This article distinguishes the universal purpose of human existence from its singular expression in each life, and shows how the spiritual Path of original yoga invites us to align with it.

Home / The Satsang blog/ The Revelation

Between personal goals and a grand "life mission," it is easy to lose one's way. This article distinguishes the universal purpose of human existence from its singular expression in each life, and shows how the spiritual Path of original yoga invites us to align with it.

Life Mission or Purpose of Life?

Who has not asked themselves the question of the "purpose of life"? Everyone has their own personal goals, and these change over time as needs evolve. Some speak not of the purpose of life, but of a "life mission."

The life mission is a modern expression for a very ancient intuition: the idea that a human existence cannot be reduced to surviving, succeeding, consuming, working, aging, and dying. At the heart of a life, there would be a deeper direction, a right way of being in the world, an inner thread that gives meaning to one's actions.

But this expression calls for caution, because it can illuminate just as easily as it can enclose.

The life mission is not necessarily a great visible work, an exceptional career, a spectacular destiny, or a role recognized by others. This idea flatters the spiritual ego a great deal. One imagines that one's mission must be unique, brilliant, almost heroic. And so one searches for a long time for a "mission," as one would search for a title, an identity, or a validation.

Life mission and purpose of life speak to the same need for meaning, but not exactly at the same level. The purpose of life answers a fundamental, almost metaphysical question: why live? toward what does human existence move?

The life mission, on the other hand, answers a more embodied question: how does this purpose translate into my particular life? One could say: the purpose of life is universal. The life mission is singular.

A Purpose Shared by All Human Beings

The purpose of life touches every human being. It does not depend on occupation, era, culture, or temperament. From a spiritual perspective, this purpose could be formulated as follows: to leave ignorance behind, to return to the consciousness of the essential, to recognize Grace, until this consciousness becomes a daily reality. This is the deep direction of human existence.

The Path of original yoga answers this question of the purpose of life and the life mission at the same time, without denying the need for personal goals, such as completing one's studies, finding a fulfilling job, starting a business, finding shared love, having children, acquiring property, and so on; in short, the pursuit of happiness.

The Path distinguishes two possible forms of happiness: well-being and personal fulfillment, and essential happiness, which is the happiness of the consciousness of the essential, of Grace. The Path, the practice of its original yoga, belongs to the register of the purpose of life and of essential happiness, not of individual happiness, even though one does not exclude the other.

Of course, original yoga has nothing to do with the Hatha yoga practiced most of the time in the West. This yoga has its own merits, and it is entirely possible to practice it while following the spiritual Path. Practicing original yoga does not prevent one from also practicing Tai Chi, for example, or taking an interest in Ayurveda. One can also practice Original Yoga, follow the Path, and attend Mass and receive communion, if one is Christian.

Distinguishing the Mind and the Soul

The purpose of the spiritual Path is the fulfillment of the reason, the purpose, of existence. This purpose, this reason for existence, is shared by all human beings. What is the Path's means for achieving this? To begin with, it recommends no longer letting one's mind scatter itself among thoughts and emotions. Why? Because the purpose of life concerns the deep identity of the human being, not their thoughts or emotions.

Thoughts and emotions, like concepts and intellectual knowledge learned at school, in books, and through life experience, belong to the domain of the mind (citta), not to that of the deep identity, of the soul.

Without distinguishing between these two identities, it is difficult, even impossible, to fulfill the fundamental reason for coming to Earth, in this life (incarnation). To distinguish between these two identities, it is essential to inwardly set oneself apart from the mind, from one's thoughts and emotions. This is the goal of the practice of original yoga: to be able to identify what comes from the mind and what belongs to the deep, fundamental identity.

To tell two things apart, one must first know both of them. Everyone lives on these two planes, that of the mind and that of the soul, but most often without identifying them as such. There are even people who do not believe in the existence of a soul. That said, the word "soul" carries many meanings and covers many concepts. The Path has its own, as everyone does, and we speak here from our own understanding of the word "soul."

What Buddhism Really Says About the Soul

On this specific point, the Path takes a position within an ancient and unresolved debate inside Buddhism itself. Buddhism, in its most widespread reading today, does not believe in the existence of the soul but does believe in reincarnation, without clearly saying what it is that reincarnates. The Path does not share this reading, and holds that the Buddha did not share this view either; a later view that owes nothing to his teaching.

For the Path, the Buddha never denied that a soul exists, neither in the Dhammapada nor in the suttas. This notion of the absence of a soul is a doctrinal interpretation born out of the Buddhist teaching of non-self (anattā/anātman), then gradually hardened in certain schools and in modern translations, long after the Buddha's death. When awakened beings die, the living make them say things they never said.

In the ancient texts, the Buddha clearly rejects the idea that an identical, unchanging consciousness passes from life to life. Buddhism does not speak of the different levels of consciousness, such as citta (the mind), jivatman (the incarnated soul, functioning in synergy with the mind), and purusha (the pure soul, unrelated to the mind, the one that reincarnates); this does not mean he lacked this intuition, only that he lacked the Indian words to express it. This is our own view, not necessarily a universal truth.

The Motivation of Those Who Commit to a Spiritual Path

What motivates those who actively commit themselves to a spiritual path? Who observe a sadhana (a method) that is complete, encompassing every aspect of existence, thereby turning the whole of existence into a coherent path of life? This is where we return to the notion of essential happiness.

In certain Asian spiritualities, there is talk of Liberation, of the chains of incarnations, of samsara. When one loves life, one does not much want to be freed from it! To aim for Liberation, one must be Hindu, Buddhist, or Jain! But do not forget that this life is impermanent, that it will come to an end, and that its reason for being is not simply to be lived.

The Purpose of Existence

If it were only a matter of living, why would you need to be human, to have this capacity for reflection, and this free will? It would be enough to be an animal. You are a human being, and one day you come into the world; another day, you leave it. Between the two, there is a set time to accomplish something specific: this is the purpose of existence.

There is a purpose to life, and not scattering oneself, distinguishing between the temporary "self" and the permanent "self," helps in fulfilling this purpose.

Let us recall this distinction: the temporary self is the mind (citta); between the two lies the incarnated consciousness (jivatman), which functions in synergy with the mind; and at the core, there is the permanent, eternal soul (purusha), which does not depend on the mind. The sadhana of the spiritual Path, the practice of its original yoga, are practical means of distinguishing between these three planes.

If you have any questions, please write here:

madhyama.marga@gmail.com