“We make life pleasant and useful or unpleasant or useless according as we think, plan and act.”
It has been well said that life is, as we look at it, view or think of it. Some people have a happy view of life, and they are called optimists. Some have an unhappy view of it, and they are called pessimists. Others take life lightly and do not think seriously about it, and many people live in this way. Most of the people of our country, who are uneducated, live like animals and birds. Life to them amounts to working, eating, sleeping and resting. But life, in fact, is much more than this. It should be lived meaningfully and purposefully.
Then, how can we make life meaningful and purposeful? It is possible by having higher aims or ideals for whose achievement we shall make efforts and struggle in life. These high aims or purposes of life can be as many as there are fields of activity and thought: For example, a student can decide to become a famous doctor, engineer, teacher, lawyer, writer or something else. [the_ad id=”17141″]During his studies, he works hard and prepares himself for his future profession. It is his aim or purpose or ideal in life to rise to a very high position in his chosen profession. So a person already in a profession, like a doctor or a lawyer, tries to do better than or to outshine others. He tries to become more well-known and famous, and then this is his purpose in life.
Some of our great saints and religious scholars like Hazarat Data Gunj Baksh and Abdul Latif Bhitai had the aim of getting as close to Allah Almighty as possible. Then they aimed to show the path of absolute (perfect) goodness to their fellow human beings. They worked day and night, prayed and purified themselves. Life here (worldly life) and life hereafter (other-worldly life) became a continuity for them as a result.
This was perhaps the highest, noblest and most sublime (of the greatest kind) aim that made the lives of the above saints incomparable. They are everlasting examples of purity and goodness and perfection. It is possible, for quite a few of us, to have our noble and sublime purposes of life. No doubt, it demands tremendous effort and sacrifice.