Most of us have the purpose of life / meaning of each life. These life goals may be a physician, becoming rich and famous or representing a country in a particular field. Whatever the purpose, for most of us, many of these goals are more dominantly worldly. Our existing educational systems have been organized to help us pursue these worldly goals. As parents we also instill the same worldly purpose of life in our children by encouraging them to learn and enter into professions that give them more financial benefits than our own profession.
One might ask, "How can these earthly purposes be aligned with the spiritual purpose of life and the reason for our birth on Earth?"
The answer is quite simple. We strive for worldly purposes mainly because of seeking satisfaction and happiness. The effort to achieve that 'ultimate and eternal happiness' is essentially what drives all our actions. However, once we reach our worldly goals, the happiness and the resulting satisfaction lasts only briefly, then we pursue the next dream to achieve.
'The ultimate and eternal happiness' can only be achieved through spiritual practice in accordance with the six basic principles of spiritual practice. The ultimate form of happiness Bliss (Happiness Hakiki) is an aspect of God. When we are united with Him, we feel the Bliss continuously.
This does not mean that we have to abandon what we do and only focus on spiritual practice. What is meant is that only by doing spiritual practice together with worldly life can we experience the ultimate and eternal happiness in its true sense. The benefits of spiritual practice have been discussed in detail in the chapter on 'Spiritual research for eternal happiness'
In short, the more our life goals are in harmony with the goals of spiritual development, the more our lives become rich and the less pain we experience from this life. Here is an example of how our outlook in life changes as we grow and matured spiritually.