Purpose of Life
PURPOSE OF LIFE
Author: Prabir
Purpose of life differs from person to person. For some, the purpose of life is to earn money. For some, the purpose of life is to help the needy. For some, the purpose of life is to educate the illiterate. For some, the purpose of life is to save the animals. For some, purpose of life is to save the environment. For some, the purpose of life is to clean the city. There are numerous examples to show how the people have chosen their purpose of life.
Once I went to Puri to see the
Jagannath Temple. I stayed in a hotel nearby
sea for a week. Every day I used to go
to the beach to enjoy the turbulent waves of the sea. There I came across a fellow. From his dress he looked from a well off
family. Every day in the morning and
evening he used to collect rags and waste materials from the coast. He used to clean the coast till he was
satisfied. While cleaning the coast he
never interacted with anybody. His only
moto is to clean the coast. Bhagwat
Gita’s lines suits here “Karam Kiyea Jaa, phal ki chinta mat kar”.
There are umpteen examples in
this world where the purpose of life is to work for the benefit of men
kind. Regarding purpose of life let us
take the example of Mountain Man.
Dashrath Manjhi was a poor landless labourer in Gehlaur village, Bihar. He carved a path of 110 meters long, 9.1
meters wide and 7.6 meters deep through a hillock using only hammer and chisel.
The distance between Atri and Wazirganj is 75 kilometers. With his efforts and hard work for 22 years
he carved a road through mountain so that the village people can reach a doctor
in time. He worked in the fields on the
other side of the hill. One day his wife
fell from the hills while bringing his meal.
She got seriously injured. That
day he decided to cut the hill. He had
to sell his goat, which meant a lower income for his family. From his meagre savings he purchased a hammer
and chisel. He would start early in
morning, chip the mountain for few hours, then work in the fields for his
livelihood and come back to work on the mountain again. The lyrics written by Rabindra Nath Tagore
befits here “Akla cholo re”. He would
hardly sleep. The villagers thought he
had become mad. Gradually they began to
respect him and started donating food to his family. He eventually quit his wage job and devoted
whole time in digging the mountain. In
between his wife died. After 10 years of
hard work when people saw a cleft in the mountain some came to his help. After 22 years of hard work Dashrath Manjhi,
the landless labourer had broken the mountain.
He carved out a 360 feet long and 30 feet wide road. Due to his relentless efforts; the doctors,
schools and jobs were only at a distance of 5 kilometers. Without any resources he laboured for 22
years and set an example for mankind.
Bihar Government allotted a land to him.
He donated the whole land to a hospital.
His village people even today worship him as Dashrath Baba.
Now, the example of Sir Nicholas
Winton, who saved lives of 669 Jewish children.
During the World War II, Hitler was killing the Jewish people in
concentration camps. Sir Nicholas Winton
saved 669 Jewish children who became homeless.
He took them to England and helped them to find new homes. Sir Nicholas never told the above incident to
anybody, even to his wife. He kept the records of Jewish children with their
names with photographs at his home.
There is a saying in Hindi which befits Sir Nicholas Winton’s
nature. “Neki kar dariya mein dal”. One day Sir Nichllas’s wife while going
through the old records she came across the documents related to Jewish refugee
children. She gave all the records to
media people without the knowledge of Sir Nicholas. The media people published the details of
Jewish children. After 50 years all the
refugee children, who were grown up British citizens gathered to facilitate
Shri Nicholas Winton. They all thanked
him for saving their lives. Sir Nicholas
throughout his life helped needy people and never disclosed that to
anybody. Sir Nihcholas was the person,
who never wanted anybody should know about his benevolent deeds. His purpose of life was selfless service to
mankind.
Let us take the example of Oskar
Shindler. He was a German
industrialist. During the World War II
he used to supply arms to German Army.
During that period Hitler was killing Jews citizens in gas
chambers. He could not bear the killings
of innocent Jews. He decided to save
lives of some of the Jews. He paid huge
bribe to German army officers for release of 1200 Jews prisoners. He took Jews prisoners to Poland by
train. Oskar Shindler took a great
risk. If he was caught, Hitler would
have executed him. Luckily the war ended
and he escaped the punishment. He saved
the lives of 1200 Jews at his own risk.
His purpose of life was to help the mankind.
About the Author: Prabir is a Graduate from University of Delhi. He did his Post Graduate Diploma in
Marketing and Sales Management from Rajendra Prasad Institute of Communication
& Management, Mumbai.
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