In life, everything we do is with a purpose, from studying for a competitive exam to even playing a video game(to have fun), except living the life itself.
It's a sad irony that the most ignored thing in life is the life itself.
Majority of people in this world live without a purpose. In that majority, two types of people are mostly found- the underprivileged and the privileged.
The underprivileged are those who are working extremely hard to make the ends meet. A poor farmer fighting drought and struggling to get his children educated won't have these thoughts ever crossing his mind because his whole life energy is focused on this sole aim to survive somehow and reach a better position in life, which is nothing wrong and is the most practical approach in that scenario.
Other is the privileged class-this makes the larger proportion of that majority.
These are those whose survival needs are more or less taken care of but they have kept themselves so busy in trivial matters that the question of purpose would be the last thought they'll have in their mind because for that they'll have to sit in the company of the person they fear the most, they themselves. Those who do stumble upon themselves accidentally at a certain point in their lives experience the unsettling phenomenon called existential crisis. But thankfully, another season of some Netflix series gets published and these questions are again swept under the carpet.
Only the privileged ones are privileged enough to ask these bigger questions of life but the main question is not what your purpose is, but why there is a need for purpose at all in first place?
I'll try to answer that under four broad headings - Personal, philosophical, scientific, and spiritual.
Personal
The biggest reward of finding your purpose will be the start of your journey of self-discovery. That will be the first time you'll start to realize who you truly are. Unless you know yourself in totality you'll never be able to find out what you truly want in life. You need to become brutally honest with yourself on what you are doing, why you are doing, what you want to do, why you want to do and so on. So many painful answers will start to unfold, the most painful among them will be how your unique soul was made ordinary in trying to adjust to the standards of society, how that ordinary crowd became successful to make you a part of it.
But beware, trying to find those answers is hard work, sitting in your own company is scary, we spend our lives running away from ourselves trying to adjust and live a life according to others, those others we don't even know of, not realizing that people we truly know will love ourselves the way we are, that we are doing a great disrespect to their love by trying to be someone whom we are actually not.
“I am not who I think I am; I am not who you think I am; I am who I think you think I am“
Diving deep into yourself, again and again, you'll establish yourself in your true identity and your purpose will become crystal clear in front of you. That will be the day when the opinion of others will stop mattering you because you are clear on who you are, opinion of others affect those who don't have a clear opinion of themselves.
Philosophical
Finding a purpose and working everyday towards it fills the heart with a deep sense of contentment. It's said that Destiny is not the destination, maybe the destiny is fixed by God or some higher power, but destination you yourself will have to decide. It can be just anything, from as big as colonizing the mars to as simple as finding ways to make people smile all your life.
Don't worry if you try and fail, the result doesn't matter much in the end, it's the constant sense of progress towards your goal which is rewarding. In your final moments, you'll be analyzing yourself not by whether you achieved it or not, but by whether you tried it or not. It's impossible to achieve nothing from working for a higher goal in life, when you'll look back, you'll realize, even your failures were much greater than the achievements of many.
Scientific
Many of you must be thinking now, Isn't living a normal happy life enough?
Why make it so complicated?
Well, actually, No, because your odds of having a happy life are much much higher when you have a sense of purpose than without it. Studies show that people who live their lives with a sense of purpose had lower risk of stress, cardiovascular mortality, and had better grip strengths in their later years.
So a life with purpose will improve your chances of having a longer, healthier, and wealthier life.
The feeling that you are living for some higher cause keeps you ever motivated and gives your life a clear sense of direction. All your resources(most imp body and time) will be directed towards that goal and you'll be developing and utilizing everything you have to its maximum potential.
Spiritual
Yoga stresses heavily on this, according to Shiva Sutras, the main aim of life is the development of our limited consciousness to it's limitless form. Yoga is the only direct method for that but is extremely hard to get because of the sheer amount of luck involved in finding a genuine guru.
But if we take a step back and think, if development of consciousness is the goal and yoga is not available, can't it be done via other ways?
I think it can be. The consciousness of a person who's always taking new challenges, always learning more, always growing, and moving towards his goals in life will always be much greater and wiser. It might not reach the threshold of infinity, but it will keep growing on with age and will surely reach the unimaginable level which most people can't even think of.
Conclusion
I tried to think on this topic from as many aspects as possible before finally writing it down to make it absorbable for most people. I hope it'll help you kickstart the search for your own purpose of life.
I would like to wrap this article up with a thoughtful quote-
"The first day of life is not when you are born, it's when you discover your purpose for living."
Image- The wayfarer The blend of red, blue and black signifies the chaotic and dreamy nature of your inner world. That hazy horizon is your goal, hard but achievable. The vertical line in the middle of the road is your focus, protecting you always from getting lost in this universe. Your inner self is the bright light, ever glowing, guiding and enlightening the path ahead.