The Problem is Choice !!!!!!

Of all the questions haunting mankind, the enigma of self-realization is the most illusive one.

The Questions like Who Am I ?, Why Am I Here ? , are the ones that pose far greater challenge than anything else in the world.

In other words, what is the purpose of life, that we are living.

The careful analysis of Matrix trilogy along with Vedic Philosophy gives a nice insight on this very fundamental question..

The concept of matrix is very appealing one . It graphically explains the Vedantic concept of Maya.

Maya OR Matrix, in the words of Morpheus, is a dream world drawn in front of man's eyes, to keep himself from realising the simple and obvious truth. It is prison for the mind. But this, I guess is not a complete understanding of the true picture. It is later understood that even the apparently free-people are not free. Zion itself is a fictional system created by machines to keep the rebels at bay. And the character of NEO, the one, is himself a part of this control system. Everybody considers this apparent freedom as real one.

Purpose is a word, just like Karma. It is way of saying why we are here. Although, it does not answer the basic question, it satisfies the mind of the answer-seeker to large extent and gives him peace. Purpose is an Assumption OR a Hypothesis which is used to explain other aspects of life, like joy and sorrow and many others.

For a person who believes in classical vedanta, purpose of life is to attain moksha OR liberation from cycles of birth and death. His purpose of life is to burn out the sanchita karma and head along towards salvation.

But how much is this hypothesis testifiable is what drives seeker crazy. Here arises the question of freewill.

Seeing inside, we can compare these things with our lives. The things which we say as joy, sorrow, success, failure, the ideas are so much pre-programmed in our mind somehow. It is like a set of rules are there which tell us the nature of our experience. If we experience feeling X, it is joy.. If we experience feeling Y, it is sorrow. The very concepts of love and hate are pre-programmed. No one knows, but seeing from this perspective, I feel that these concepts and PREJUDICES should be unloaded. Who knows even we are controlled by some higher power. May be some people call it God. Others call it fate.

We are not even free from the programmed feelings. How can we even think of understanding the purpose of our own existence, if we are not able to transcend our own prejudices..

Atheist is the one who is really open to accept the truth. The one who questions the establishment becoz he feels that some thing is wrong with the system. It is like although he is FREE, still he is bound by some higher power. That power is shown as the ARCHITECT in matrix. He lets NEO know that he is not the only ONE. There have been many ONES before him. This is the moment of choice when the anomaly of the system is revealed both as beginning and end.

Absolute freedom is an illusion!!! Freedom is freedom to choose our own set of bondages and commitments. I think, this is the basis of free-will in the system which we live in. I guess, human being has been granted this freedom. But very few exercise it. This is the choice that most of us are afraid of making. And this is where we lose the purpose of life and submit to fate/God. Even if HE does not exist, we assume him to be present. Just like einstein assumed the Universal constant in his general theory of relativity.. To make his own life easy..

Hence, I think, the purpose of life, as I see it today, is to understand the degrees of freedom that are made available to mankind for usage, by the system we live in. To check the limits of our freedom, our choices..

This is sounding too much vague. But, isn't this question extemely relative? For nothing in this universe/multiverse is absolute. Everything is relative.. Even Time..

As aptly put forth by Neo... The Problem is Choice...

Regarding Vedic Philosophy

The term Hindu which is used to describe the way of living of majority of people living in Indian sub-continent, itself is of foreign origin. The inhabitants of India never called themselves Hindus. It was the name given by the Persians as they were unable to pronounce the sound ' S '.
Thus, people living to the east of river Sindhu (Indus) became Hindus.

The appropriate term to mention Hindus can be Arya. The word 'Arya' refers to a noble human being, who the sense of responsibility towards 4 main accomplishments (PURUSHAARTHA) which are mandatory for a human being.

They are
Dharma (Duty, Righteousness, basic nature)
Artha (Material gains)
Kaama (Desires)
Moksha (Freedom )

The word Arya has nothing to do with so called ARYANS who invaded the subcontinent according to Aryan Invasion Theory (AIT).. Without any authentic proofs, it propunds that white-skinned, blue-eyed aryans invaded Indian subcontinent and displaced the aboriginal Dravidians and imposed their philosophy.. It also states that Vedic literature was composed outside India by pastoral tribes.

It has been, proven by the facts, that there was nothing like Aryan-Dravidian struggle, nor did Aryans were migrants from central Asia, and NOR that Vedas were written outside India. It is outside the scope of this post, but i would like to give certain illustrations.

Dasharaadnya Yuddha (War of ten kings) and many other geological, linguistic and geographical accounts conclusively proves that Arya people inhabited on the either banks of river Sindhu, and that Arya people never conquered India, rather Arya people in India went outside for conquests.

Arya dharma, OR the duty of nobles , is actually a way of living peacefully with self and others. It is the most scientific and ancient lifestyle, which recognize that each and every person is unique in one way or the other. The mode of thinking of every individual is different. It broadly classifies people into 3 categories

Group 1) People who like to feel things, emotionally
Group 2) People who prefer to know things, intellectually, logically
Group 3) People who refuse to be involved, either emotionally OR intellectually, but who insist on doing their duty in detached fashion and be happy.

Psychologically speaking, those people who are emotional, constitute group one.. People who are logical, constitutes group two. Those people who place duty over anything else, constitute group three.

The Ultimate destination of a human being according to Arya/ Vedic dharma is to experience and understand that a basic principle forms the substrate of each and every fabric of Space-time of this Universe/multiverse.. Every person actually is not different from this basic unifying principle or supreme truth (SAT). Everything in this universe is one, in principle (Sarvam Khalvidam Brahmam)

The Path of Devotion (Bhakti Maarga) - Usually it is prescribed to/acknowledged by/followed by people belonging to Group One. It constitutes unconditional belief towards the deity of worship OR principle of contemplation. Most important manifestation of Bhakti Marga is idol worship seen prominantly in Hinduism. Idol worship constitutes giving a form to a basically formless entity and believing that the form is that of god. This forms the initial stage the path. In later stage, the devotee no longer requires the necessity of idols and contemplates more on formless aspect of the supreme truth.

All the Monotheistic religions OR Abrahmic religions like Judaism, Christianity and Islam prescribe this form of worship. Although, they form an extremely rigid framework which denied the follower any freedom of independent thought on his personal view of Supreme. The presence of prophets, messiahs and single holy-book make the matters worse. Belief in prophet and holy-book is more important that belief in god himself. Thus making them retrograde philosophies.

The Path of KNowledge (Gnaana Maarga) - This path is prescribed to/cknowledged by/followed by people belonging to Group Two. It involves logical understanding of various aspects of nature and thus culminating in knowlede and experience of Supreme Truth. It requires questioning attitude and relies heavily on independent thought. Usually traversed under the guidance of a learned teacher (Guru) to ensure correct direction.
The Path of Knowledge is highly praised in Vedic literature. But the followers are not too many as there are high chances of getting lost in the jungle of various thoughts. The path of knowledge is most beautifully explained in the Matrix Trilogy. The path of the ONE is in principle, same as the path of knowledge..

Abrahmic religions negate this path as Blasphemy as it may lead to contradiction to prophet and holy-book.

The Path of Karma - This path is prescribed to/acknowledged by/followed by the people belonging to group three. It involves doing one's duty with utmost sincerity without expecting the returns of the deed performed. This detachment from returns, takes the follower to higher trajectory of consciousness and understanding. This is highly revered path in Bhagvat Geeta.

Almost entire Vedic/ Arya philosophy is based on individuality. Even Buddhism which claims to be not believer in Vedas takes its core principles of eight fold path and pancha sheel from well known book in yoga known as Patanjal Yogsutras which was written about 2000 years before Buddha.

This individuality is what everyone must understand. As everybody of us is different. Hence the path and the ideals to be chosen by everybody are always relative.
What requires is merely good knowledge of ourselves......