This is a vexed question everyone of us keep asking some time or the other. My daughter asked me recently for nth time and i am tempted to answer this time. For I have seen 62 years of life and feel have some experiences worth sharing with my next generation. I wrote this a few months ago and now I put it in public. It's not complete i will keep posting now and then as and when I have something to write about on the theme.
Suggestions for topics and better writing are most welcome.
What is life?
Female ant after attaining adulthood starts on its nuptial flight followed by several male ants and ultimately one male ant succeeds to catch up with the female and dies instantly after mating. What is the purpose of life? The male ants that participated the race or the one that succeeded never seemed to have pondered over this question. Else the ants as a species must have been extinct long ago. Drone bees which meet similar fate nor the worker bees which constantly slog to build colonies to nurture the families of the queen and collect honey only to be robbed by the humans or other predators never seem to have thought over this question. Else we
would not have known the taste of honey. Several, rather all species of living creatures come into existence, live and die without knowing the purpose or meaning of life. Humans who are the superior of all the species on the planet have this vexed question popping up in their most
evolved brains almost without getting any satisfactory answer. Interestingly, the species that are seemingly unperturbed by this age-old question have been living to their full participating in all the life processes and are helpful to the nature in one way or the other. On the other hand, humans who exploit nature and its other co-inhabitants, often beyond repair, have been pursuing the meaning or purpose of life.
So far man could not get an answer for this question. I am not conversant with our vedas,
Upanishads and scriptures or any other religious books of any religion to know if this question has been answered anywhere. Several thinkers tried to answer this question. One of the answers was that the purpose of life is to live. May be this answer is in line with how the other species in the nature live their life. However, humans are the thinking animals and by virtue of it assume superiority among the living species due to well developed frontal lobe in their
brain. He wants reason for everything he observes and experiences. Among humans too 99.9% live like animals not bothered by the aspects beyond food, sleep and sex. In the process of acquiring these basic necessities man has started living in the most dangerous ways inimical to the very nature that bestowed him with life. Had he understood the meaning of life possibly
he would have followed the so called less developed species in the nature. In that case, we would not need COPs and climate change dialogues or nationally determined commitments, etc.
