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.