ṛṣṇ ṣā

Dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa are the four puruṣārtha. These can be translated as righteousness, wealth, desire or lust and liberation. These are the four-fold meanings of life. I prefer not to call them the purposes of life. There is no purpose to life. Once we fix a purpose to life, it becomes a goalpost and attachments and expectations result.

Life is a path without a destination. Once we assume there is a destination, we hurry. The future becomes a stressinducing factor. Let us say we travel from New York to Washington. Once we fix Washington as our destination, the next issue is, 'When will we reach there?' From then on, we are constantly tormented by, 'When will we reach there?' It is a different matter that we may have nothing to do in Washington once we arrive, and therefore there is no need to hurry! In the process we do not enjoy the journey. The journey becomes an irritation that we must cross in order to reach our destination.

In life, do not fix a destination. Each journey must be enjoyed being in the space of completion. The path and the journey are what life is. Life is completion. I tell you, have the space of completion for yourself. That will attract all the right experiences. Completion is power! Completion is Life! Enjoy the people you meet, the experiences you have and what you pick up on the way, without being greedy to acquire more. The journey, the path, becomes so enjoyable that whatever destination you reach is the right destination.

People who attach a purpose to life are disturbed. Philosophers who have no other work create false purposes to life. Philosophers exist to confuse people whereas mystics solve problems and provide guidance to awaken intelligence. When we let life lead us, when we let life enrich us, when we take life as it comes, we enjoy every moment. We truly live with completion in the present, like a God. We realize and manifest our potential, possibility and reality! As of now, man is only a possibility. A human being has everything in him to become the ultimate reality, the divine reality.

Helping students understand the importance of being in a space of completion. Helping students realize how they can move from being a possibility to becoming the divine reality.

• ❖ What do we do when we assume there is a destination?
• ❖ How can we attract all the right experiences?
• ❖ What happens to people who attach a purpose to life?
• ❖ How can we enjoy every moment of life?
• ❖ How does a God live life?
• ❖ What happens to us when we live that way?

Paper markers, pencils, eraser, etc.

Ask students to draw their life in the present only. Ask them to draw, represent, write down only what is happening in this moment. Then discuss how living in the present awakens our intelligence and our energy.

Life is a path without a destination. Once we assume there is a destination, we hurry. The future becomes a stress-inducing factor. In the process we do not enjoy the journey. The journey becomes an irritation that we must cross in order to reach our destination. When we let life lead us, when we let life enrich us, when we take life as it comes, we enjoy every moment. We truly live with completion in the present, like a God. We realize and manifest our potential, possibility and reality!

Timewatch paper pencil, eraser

Set a goal. Tell the students that they have 1 minute to go up to each person around them and gather information about their name, their Ishta Devata and when they first connected to Swamiji. Then ask the students to take a few minutes to write down how the experience was like, do they feel enriched by the interaction, do they think the people they spoke to feel enriched, etc.

Now tell students to go up to the same people and to engage in a conversation with them for 1 minute without having any specific goal. Then ask students to write down how they feel after the conversation and to ask people whom they spoke to how they felt during both interactions (which one was more enriching for them and why, etc.). As a group, discuss what happens when we do not fix a destination in life..

Enjoy the people you meet, the experiences you have and what you pick up on the way, without being greedy to acquire more. The journey, the path, becomes so enjoyable that whatever destination you reach is the right destination. Completion gets you all the best things of life! Completion is the basic need of life.

Ask students to share whether they have associated a purpose to life, whether it came from them or from what they have heard people around them. Also ask them to discuss how focusing on purpose impacts their ability to live the present moment. Then, ask each student to sit in silence with their eyes closed for 11 minutes and to drop whatever purpose they carry at Swamiji's feet. At the end of the meditation, ask them to write a short essay about:

What the process of dropping purpose felt like. Did it create relief, insecurity, uncertainty, bliss…

How they can move from a possibility to become the ultimate reality, the divine reality.

Part 2: Bhagavad Gita Chapter 18 - Lesson 10 of 19_English_part_2.md

Surrender to your own being, to your own consciousness, to your own inner space.