Purpose of Life – A Perspective Based on Evolution

This material Universe began with the Big Bang more than thirteen and a half billion years ago. The Universe evolved from a mass of energy to subatomic particles. It took more than a hundred million years for the Universe to evolve the first stars made of Hydrogen and Helium. It took longer to make heavy metals like iron. Chemical reactions started much later than nuclear reactions. It took about ten billion years from the Big Bang to evolve the first signs of life on Earth. It took another three billion years to evolve vertebrates like fishes. The life on Earth evolved another half a billion years to form human beings, who are as recent as two million years. Every human being is the product of thirteen and a half billion years of evolution of this Universe. The evolution is not over yet.

When we study evolution, the pattern is very clear. From physical forces came chemical forces. From chemical reactions came the biology of life. Life’s focus was just survival and reproduction. These became biological sensations like hunger, thirst, pain, pleasure, lust, sleep and fear. Then came societies in the form of herds and the evolution of feelings to manage transactions between animals of the same and other species. These became the psychological emotions like love, hatred, anger, jealousy, ambition, courage, competition, possession, and pride. As life evolved further, concepts of right and wrong, value systems, belief systems and ideologies arose. Human moral values like truthfulness, compassion and self-discipline evolved.

The physical and biological evolution became less and less progressively. The physical changes to evolve from biological to psychological characteristics is much less and faster compared to the changes to evolve molecules from sub-atomic particles. The physical changes to evolve value systems from psychological characteristics is still less. The further evolution of life beyond the sense of values would need almost no change to the physical and biological structure. The potential for further evolution in this very life, in this very body and mind is there for all human beings.

This progressive evolution can be seen in the four pursuits of human life (caturvida purushaarthaah) as mentioned in the Vedas, Bhagavad Gita and other Hindu texts. Artha (security) is about protecting and propagating life. It is at the biological level. Kaama (desire) is about emotions. It is at the psychological level. Dharma (virtue) is about human values. It is at the moral level. The next level of evolution would be towards Moksha (freedom). It is about natural renunciation arising out of the knowledge of the Truth. This is called spiritual evolution.

The Universe evolves through the evolution of its parts. Thus, our pursuit of higher moral and spiritual values is our contribution to the evolution of the Universe. As the Universe evolves, we can choose to be pioneers of the evolution by pursuing higher values of morality and spirituality, or choose to be left out by pursuing animal values like pleasure and possessions. Pursuing higher values would be aiding the Universe in its evolution. Pursuing lower values would be dragging the Universe back.

With this higher picture, a person who faces a personal success can dedicate his success to the evolution of the Universe, as a part of a grand plan. A person who faces a personal failure can push forth with honesty and hard work to push the Universe one step forward. Even a person who is on his deathbed, waiting for his last breath can contribute to the Universe by having nobler thoughts. Every attempt, of a person trying to free his mind from baser instincts like lust, greed, anger, hatred, jealousy, and arrogance, is a yeoman service to the grand cause of the evolution of the Universe. Understanding this grand Truth and offering one’s individuality on the altar of the Universe and thus, completely freeing the mind from all desire for life, pleasure, possessions, and fame is Moksha, the ultimate pursuit and goal of life as per the Hindu scriptures.

In the words of Albert Einstein, “A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined primarily by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self.”

In the words of Swami Vivekananda, “Sense-happiness is not the goal of humanity. Wisdom (Jnâna) is the goal of all life. We find that man enjoys his intellect more than an animal enjoys its senses; and we see that man enjoys his spiritual nature even more than his rational nature. So the highest wisdom must be this spiritual knowledge. With this knowledge will come bliss. All these things of this world are but the shadows, the manifestations in the third or fourth degree of the real Knowledge and Bliss.” (CW III 4)

In the words of Ramana Maharishi, “Your own Self-Realization is the greatest service you can render the world.”

Question: Does this mean individual pursuit of wealth, pleasure and fame are wrong?

Answer: No. We cannot judge an animal about its pursuit of food and procreation as wrong. Similarly, we cannot judge human pursuits of wealth, pleasure and fame are wrong. They are inline with nature. However, one should understand two things: (1) These pursuits should be within the bounds of morality and compassion. Pursuing these by dishonest means or by causing harm to others will not result in evolution forward. So they cannot be accepted. (2) It must be understood that people who possess the knowledge and dispassion, by which they have gone beyond these pursuits are better and must be honored. The whole purpose of the evolution of the Universe should never be forgotten.

Question: How can you say dispassion and renunciation are higher pursuits than those of wealth, pleasure and fame?

Answer: You can see the progression shown in the article. You can find this even in what human beings value. In any movie in any culture, the hero is the one who makes the biggest sacrifice. A selfless person who is willing to sacrifice his conveniences for the welfare of others is the hero. A selfish person who seeks his own convenience at the cost of inconvenience to others is never the hero. Everyone knows it at a deep level. You just need to understand your own mind at a deeper level.

Question: By this, are you not discouraging people from following the passions in their life?

Answer: Not at all. Selfish pursuit of wealth and pleasure is good for a person who is lethargic and cannot be motivated by anything else. However, the person must graduate to a more selfless worldview by which he strikes a balance between pursuing for his sake and for the society. Without this, he would justify dishonesty and harming others. This approach does not discourage action. It gives a higher purpose to action.

Question: If the whole Universe evolves from matter, as individuals, do we have Freewill?

Answer: Voltaire said, “If God doesn’t exist, we will have to invent God.” It applies more to Freewill. Freewill is needed as a working model for us to lead a normal everyday life. Along with Freewill will come Law of Moral Causation (also called Law of Karma), based on which, we can exercise our Freewill. One cannot exist without the other. At a practical level, we need to accept Freewill to be able to make decisions and be held responsible for them.

However, we need to understand that much of the decisions are made by the subconscious mind. We have more control over the knowledge that we acquire, the psychological inputs that we expose ourselves to, the way we interpret the incidents that we see around us, the company that we keep, the habits that we form, and the introspection that we do. All these influences the subconscious impressions. At the moment of action, those impressions are more involved in decision making than our conscious mind. Thus, in a way, we can say that we have Freewill to create the subconscious impressions. We don’t have much control at the time of decision making.

Question: Does this line of thought invalidate God and religion?

Answer: No. God is just a name given to the Universe. According to the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita, God is the Supreme Consciousness associated with the whole of Existence. He is omniscient (knows everything that happens in the Universe, including the innermost thoughts and intentions of every being), omnipotent (can make anything happen in the Universe) and compassionate (is a well-wisher of every being in the whole Universe towards its purpose of the evolution). By definition, there can be only one such Supreme Being. Any worship through any name, form and method of an omniscient, omnipotent and compassionate being goes to the same One Universal Supreme Being. Depending on the context and temperament of the worshipper, he worships God through various names, forms and methods of worship. God, being the knower of the deepest thoughts of everyone, knows that the worshipper is worshipping Him only and responds to the worship appropriately through the same name and form. As the purpose of the Universe and the will of God is the evolution of each individual being, everything falls into place. God provides the Universe and life situations for the evolution of every individual being.

Question: The Universe started with the Big Bang. If God is a name of the Universe, was God there before that?

Answer: God is the Whole of Existence, within which the Big Bang and the evolution of the Universe happen. By definition, Existence can never be non-existent. It is the Universe which manifests from an unmanifested state. Both are contained within God. In that way, the Universe is a manifestation of God.

At the beginning of the analysis, the Universe is known and God is not defined yet. From that point of view, we say that God is a name given to the Universe. When we have some understanding of God, we would see that God is more permanent and real than the Universe. Then we would see that, God alone exists, and the Universe is a manifestation of God. Universe is just a name given to God.

Question: Why is there so much misery and suffering in the world?

Answer: Misery and suffering are seen as problems because of a wrong assumption that pleasure is the goal of life. That is not so. Evolution is the goal of life. A person must gradually evolve from the lower most animal level to the highest spiritual level. The Universe provides life incidents to aid this evolution. In every situation in life, a person must think and try to learn the lesson that the Universe is trying to teach, to aid the evolution. Then, evolution will be fast and smooth.