Purpose saps joy out of life

A friend sent me a message saying, "Of late am not driven by ambition, feel that life is purposeless, feel like just relaxing and enjoying whatever comes my way..."

I have responded her by saying that it is always a nice feeling to receive message from you, a dear friend. To say – 'I am so happy to receive your message' does not fully convey my feeling.  Your expression arising out of genuine experience is precise, soothing for the mind and touches a cord in the heart.

The state you hinted at in your message is the most beautiful state to be in.  It is a culmination of lives times of sadhana.

And as Osho used to say, "Meditation is ... just relaxing ... doing nothing."

Yes, if one just relaxes (physically as well mentally), body also feels the pleasure and life becomes a continuous enjoyment.  But one can relax only when there is no purpose, no goal.

The fact is that whole of the manifest world is an expression of one reality, one consciousness or one God.  Everything and everyone being expression or manifestation of one, who will have any purpose and for whom.  It is just a play (leela) of consciousness and there can therefore be no purpose in it.

Just visualise a situation where there are no human beings on this earth. Plants will grow, bloom, dance and die; birds and animals will be born, grow, sing, enjoy conjugal relationship, grow old and die (as infant, young or old); all without a purpose.  Everyone just relaxes and enjoys.

There would, of course, be fear or violence when there is threat to life  - only in that moment - no brooding, no replay of these emotions.  Next moment and everything is in harmony, in a state of relaxation again.  There would be pain and disease but no suffering.

In this existence, the fragrance of flowers just spreads (this being their nature) – sun shines – not for anyone – without a consideration if someone is there to enjoy it and without consideration if someone nearby deserves the fragrance or sunlight.  Lily is lily with no tension of becoming rose.  Rat is rat with no desire to become a lion.  No purpose, everything and everyone just arising and falling like waves in ocean with or without an order.

Whole existence is without a pupose – just an expression of consciousness.  But we, human beings, think as if there is a purpose to life – we have to leave a better world behind.  As if a human being, an insignificant creation, can improve upon this infinite and mysterious existence.  This is an illusion.  The idea of ‘purpose’ is egocentric – this does not allow one to think that one is an expression of creation, endowed with limited abilities necessary for one's survival.

With an assumed purpose in life, every action is turned into an effort, a burden.  There is an ambition to succeed and fear of failure, making the mind feverish – in a state of continuous turmoil. And joy is sapped out of the life.

Yes, the life is purposeless.  This realisation (not a mere understanding by the conscious mind) is a great blessing in one's life.  It takes one to the state of relaxation where one can enjoy whatever comes one's way.

Coming to the later part of your message, "but my husband feels otherwise, he is sooo ambitious...", this also is a play.

Existence is a product of three Gunas - Satvik, Rajasik and Tamsik. A person who is predominantly Rajasik, will have lot of ambition – there is no choice.  With process of evolution, aided by sadhana (purushath), over a period of time or over a number of lives, according to divine play, composition of Gunas changes and persona of the person also changes.  How and why it happens is a mystery.

How to break inertia / lethargy

It is everyone's experience that there is a correlation between physical activity involving deep breathing and better functioning of mind.

The reason behind this is that with each breath one is taking in 'life energy', known as 'PRAN' in spiritual parlance. In absence of physical exercise or deep breathing level of 'life energy' becomes low. When 'life energy' is low, mind gets caught into repetitive thought process or negative emotional state or lethargy. Mind does not have capacity to come out of it and therefore it cannot take on any other task / studies.

Aerobic exercise / deep breathing brings up 'life energy' and mind comes out of repetitive thought process or negative emotional state or lethargy. Mind feels energised and refreshed. It enthusiastically takes on any activity. 

Even modern medicine (which has long way to go before it can reach anywhere near what our seers have experienced and expressed) says that mind consumes maximum amount of oxygen. As such to keep it active healthy and active, exercises which result in deep and / or fast breathing will help. 

Now what surprises one is that even after experiencing this fact - knowing the wonderful positive effects of exercise - as one rightly observes, mind and body do not feel inclined for it and one needs strong determination and will power to push them through.

Reason for it is that everything in existence is constituted by three GUNAS - 'Satva', 'Rajas' and 'Tamas'. 'Satva' is a quality which manifests in the form of purity, contentment and peace. 'Rajas' makes one action oriented and ambitious. While 'Tamas' takes one into lethargy and emotional states like vengeance, depression, hatred, worry etc. Everyone of us is a mix of all the three GUNAS, of course in different proportions and that is why no two individuals are alike.

So because of presence of 'Tamas' (which manifests as laziness) one does not feel like going for exercise even though one is fully aware of its benefits.

Exercises involving deep / fast breathing, pranayams and meditations slowly but surely reduce 'Tamas' and increase 'Rajas' and 'Satva'. So these will help remove lethargy in the long run on somewhat permanent basis - by nature one would be free of lethargy or negative mental states.

As an immediate solution, as OSHO used to suggest, just stretching one's limbs (hands legs, back, stomach and facial muscles etc - jise angdai lena kehate hain) for about 1 to 2 minutes, while one is still in the bed, will break lethargy and one can easily go for exercises / work out.

If one continues to lie in the bed even when one has woken up, goes to increase 'Tamas' and consequently laziness. As such stretching in the bed (angdai lena) and getting up immediately thereafter is a simple and effective remedy in the short run.