After having been brought into this world by our parents, we start seeking the meaning of life. Why were we born and what is the purpose of our life? We realise that we didn’t make a conscious decision to be born. We suddenly found ourselves in the world. And now we need to face life, whether we like it or not.

Life is a joyous struggle! But in most cases, people end up feeling unhappy because life for them seems to be austere. The truth is that everybody has to work hard to earn a living. It’s not just a burden, as many would like to believe. But once you are unable to cope up with its pressures, you start questioning the creator! Why did you create us? Why should I go on living? Is there really any God? Why will we die one day? All kinds of questions start invading our mind, putting us through a lot of mental discomfort.

Some years ago a successful American had a serious identity crisis. He wanted to know the meaning of life and sought help from psychiatrists. But nothing came of it, for there were none who could enlighten him about life. After a while he learned of an incredibly wise guru who lived on the Himalayas. Only that guru, he came to believe, would help him realise ‘life’ and what his role in it ought to be. So he sold all his possessions and started out on a journey in search of the guru. After wandering for eight years in the Himalayas, he finally found the venerable saint, who was now well over a hundred years. The guru consented to help him, especially when he learned of all the sacrificed he had made to reach him.

“What can I do for you, my son?” asked the guru.

“I need to know the meaning of life,” replied the man.

The guru said, “Life is a river without an end.”

“A river without an end?” repeated the started man.

“After coming all this way to find you, all you have to tell me is that life is a river without an end?”

The guru was shaken and shocked. And bellowed, “You mean it isn’t?”

This is the story of most of the seekers who want answers to their questions from gurus and philosophers. And there are millions of gurus willing to give all kinds of fictitious answers. But these questions never really get answered; they multiply. Because our mind can never be satisfied with these answers since they aren’t our own. We need to understand that these answers don’t have roots in our being or our life. These answers are merely intellectual sans any self-realization.

Osho explains: “Nobody can help you understand life. Since it is your life, the meaning also has to be yours. Only by living, this mystery will unfold. Don’t seek life anywhere else. It’s neither in me nor in the scriptures. It is bubbling inside you. You will be able to feel it, only when you live it.”

So if life is such, what happens when it ends? Osho says, “Life neither begins nor ends anywhere. It’s eternal. What we call life is just an association with a certain body. And what we call death is nothing but getting out of that body and that concept. Life is never- ending; death is just part of it. Actually death is a process of continuous revival, a means of resurrection!”

- Swami Chaitanya Keerti