If there is something which is very real and yet unseen it is life. The life which everyone enjoys is something that is elusive of any definition. It is true that much has been said about it in modern science and too much of it is known to us, precisely because we are all living. Yet when a person is confronted with the question as to whether there is any meaning that he can give for his life, we find him hesitant, uncertain and to certain extent avoiding to give an answer.

While a philosophical discussion regarding the beginnings of Life and its Evolution is really interesting and may be useful in developing proper values of life, it is rarely meaningful for a person who finds no value worth striving for in his life. It is only when a person is in crisis he develops a value for life. The crisis is the best teacher that Nature has granted to us as a boon. Life as opposed to Death seeks pleasure and when we say that crisis or death confront a person we only intend that the pleasure seeking principle is thwarted. Any thing or person who helps to tide over the situation of crisis then gets the value of life itself, which value we have been all the time unaware of. That is how we find persons who have been helped to get over their problems expressing their gratitude saying 'I cannot repay your debt even if I were to sacrifice my life for you'. Though identical in its dynamics, the offer of a lover of his life for the sake of his or her beloved, it appears dissimilar because the pleasure that is denied is generally base in its nature and we do not want to give life such a mean value, though in reality such a value is often conferred on life.

Life thus we find develops a meaning according to the crisis situation that may present itself to a person. However, the crisis situation may be real, physically, emotionally, psychologically, or spiritually. It is the promise of religion that it can help a person from the crisis of any kind that one may confront. However, it is the experience of a common man that such a promise was not kept always and the Biblical statement 'Your faith is too weak. I tell you this (MATTHEW 17:20) is offered as an explanation. Such statements by themselves or with the additions of past miracles narrated do not generally convince a man who is really facing the problem. They are at best meaningless. But if a person is saved from a problem, or finds that another person has been really saved from his trouble by some person or principle it is likely that he develops a value for his life, namely to achieve it or identify himself with it; that is he makes it his goal of life. That is how the goal of life for some persons is the attainment of the desired partner in life (in the absence of it death) for some others getting some social and occupational position (in the absence of it, utter disappointment and suicide) for some more visiting religious centres like Vatican, Mecca and Banares (in the absence of which utter psychological despair amounting to death) and for still others serving the society (without which they feel paralysed and killed) and so on. It is however true that some seek Nothingness. Such a value is really no value as it transcends the realm of values. If we can arrange values beginning at the bottom with what is ordinarily called base values going upwards with the socially accepted values we would find that there can be no place given to the life which seeks nothingness. Values of life are based on the goals which that life strives after in a society to make its life pleasant. That is precisely the reason why people who seek such a goal in life are generally considered to be a useless and certain times even mad.

But when a person has transcended the realm of values we find him giving us a new meaning of life itself. He lives entirely for the sake of others and there appears to be nothing which he would personally like to have in order to be happy. That is because he is in a condition which does not differentiate between happiness and unpleasantness (not that he is a stone) between misery and pleasure, so far as he is concerned. While all others try to see a meaning for their individual lives only, he gets a peep into the meaning of Life itself. Such a participation consciously in the working of Nature which is striving to perfect the forms of life that have so far evolved to the condition in which they exist is the only duty that a person who attained such a state has. It is a condition where he works one with the principle of Life itself which we may call Nature. Because of his identification with Nature which is perfect due to annihilation of his personal identity he may be said to be Nature itself, and Nature therefore behaves according to his wishes which come from Nothingness.

Such a meaning for our life probably would be disliked by most of the people because of the fear of loss of personal identity. Yet some of us have such an impulse as to strive for a state of Nothingness and that is by itself a justification for having that as the meaning of our life.

That such a meaning for our life should be found by us is no accident. That we are participating in the Divine work of perfecting Nature would be realised by us when we reach a state of Nothingness as our Master has stated on several occasions. Everyone of us has some function to perform a Anadi karma which remains unfulfilled due to our arrogance (that is because we think we are doing a thing while the fact remains that it is the work of Nature that is entrusted to us). It is this function that we get reminded of when we reach the state of Nothingness. The completion of that work is the goal of our life. Life has value for us in so far as it affords an opportunity for us to achieve that goal.

We in Sri Ramchandra's Raja Yoga System are all the more privileged because of the Divine presence of our Master who enables us in reaching that state of Nothingness and assist us reach our goal.