The Very Purpose of Human Life is to attain to God
There is only one thing that God looks for: He loves one who bears Him devotion. Caste, creed, and such other things don't count. In normal life, one who has wealth is considered fortunate; actually, he is fortunate who has realized God. To realize God is, indeed, the very purpose of human life. What hinders the realization is neither want nor abundance of money, but the individual pride, the 'I' ness. One who says 'I serve God' really serves not at all, for the sense of doership destroys all sense of service. Whatever we do while thinking of Him is a meritorious act. So always entertain the awareness of God. What is done with faith will bear fruit.
However, prayers and meditation done without full faith, do not go to waste, provided these are done with the aim of generating devotion, and not merely as a pastime. There aren't a few who do good acts, but often there is a selfish motive underlying it. To perform good acts without expecting a return is a step towards devotion.
Paramartha, in essence, is to realize that it is God who activates everything. It is synonymous with the realization of God within one's own self. One should understand that He is the prime mover behind everything. When a person dies, we say 'he is no more'; we are then referring not to the physical body, but to the departed 'Soul'. It is a tacit but obvious recognition that there is some unknown thing which owns and 'animates' the whole system which we call 'the body', a something that passively watches all activities including wakefulness, sleep, and dreams.
I call the world 'mine', but pay no attention to what animates me. Let us first try to be aware of the 'God', whose presence in me makes me, keeps me, alive. This presence is realized by inference as well as by experience.
We celebrate the beginning of the fresh year with the New Year's Day, the joy of living, with the birthday, and each fresh day, with the morning. So, too, we should begin devotion with nama. We shall thereby get immediate proof of joy, making both the beginning and the end joyful. The sky is common to all, irrespective of status, caste, creed, and such other distinctions; the aim of human life is, similarly, regardless of religion or nationality, the same, namely, the attainment of God.
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