He who has a why to live can bear almost anyhow

 Psychatrist Viktor Frankl, a jew in the concentration camps during the Nazi Germany era, describes the year 1933 as the bad times- no food, people were kept naked, and a lot of torture. 

He saw his family- brother, wife, die crying before his eyes. He was demoralized to the core of everything. He lost hope in life. So, at any moment he would have given up and he just thought that the next moment he could be in grief. 

But one day when he was all alone in a dark room, naked, he sat and thought what's happening to him? And he thought that these Nazi cops have tortured him like hell but he still had one choice. There is stimulus and there is a response but between these two there is something-'Freedom'. Freedom to make a choice about how to respond. 

He decided not to give up even in his worst times. And survived to inspire the world. Viktor Frankl says that -" life is not primarily a quest for pleasure or a quest for power, but it is a quest for meaning." And to seek it's meaning, we must have a purpose to live life. 

To know the answer to 'why do we exist' and what is that we want out of our lives and where do we want to see ourselves ten years down the line, we need to reflect on our own selves. It is the understanding of the self that gives direction to our lives. It is only when Siddhartha Gautama reflected on his own self, he found himself to be caged in a body that is meant to suffer. He wanted to free his soul from the physical and mental pain that he was going through. 

Thus, he decided to search for the meaning in life. Eventually this turned out to be the only purpose of his life. He filled his every cell in the body with the desire to seek the truth of life. In his journey of enlightenment, he went to the extent of penance where he was almost dead. Though his conviction to discover the meaning of life was so strong that he continued to bear all the pain anyhow for six long years. And finally he came to a realisation that life itself is a suffering and there is cession of all the suffering through nirvana. It was this self realization that has made Buddha and his teachings immortal.

To know thyself, one has to reflect over one's strengths and weaknesses. Only when we know what we are good at, can we set the goals for the future. And these goals will itself provide the inertia to move along with life. Sometimes this journey might get long. It might take years to achieve our goals or perhaps we might fail in the beginning. Still a person can get through the dark times with perseverance. As he would know that his success is delayed not denied.

A person with goal is capable enough to overcome every obstacle. As APJ abdul Kalam quotes that "all the birds find shelter during a rain. But Eagles avoid rain by flying above the clouds." Problems might be same for everyone but it is the attitude that creates difference. A person with right attitude will find opportunity in every adversity. As there can be multiple doors to reach a single destination. Even if one door closes, there are still others which are open. It is up to us to discover them.

A national volleyball player, Arunima Sinha, wanted to join paramilitary force. But on the day of her examination, she met with a train accident in which she lost her right leg. Her dreams were shattered. While undergoing her treatment, she decided not to give up on life and search for its purpose. It is then she decided to climb mount everest. Thus Arunima became the the first female amputee to scale Everest. She was able to discover the meaning of her life with her positive attitude. She chose to be an eagle who knew how to avoid rain by flying above the clouds.

Perhaps our attitude is the benchmark of our choices. Anything that we do or want to do in life is decided by our outlook towards it. A person can be poet or a painter or a writer if his attitude is to see the beauty in everything. Or he might want to become a scientist if his attitude is to question everything and has a curious mind. So to have a why to live, one should be aware of his attitude. Once we realise our interest or attitude towards life, we can set goals for future and can surely create the capacity to achieve it.

As Rabindranath Tagore has rightly said -"everything comes to you that belongs to you if you create the capacity to receive it." Therefore, to know the real purpose of life, the question that we should ask is, what is that life wants from us? instead of asking what we want from our life. Only then we can work hard towards our goals and find contentment in living in the present moment. 

For instance, civil services can provide an opportunity to an individual to do public service on a large scale. However, it cannot be the only way to pursue social work. As we have seen during second wave of covid pandemic. People from different social strata came forward to provide necessary help to the victims of pandemic. Be it helping the migrant labourers to reach their villages( actor Sonu Sood has helped thousands of migrants to get back to their hometown during nationwide shutdown). 

Similarly, gurudwara bangla sahib in Delhi, facilitated ventilators with oxygen cylinders to the corona patients for free. Cremation of dead bodies of covid patients by the sikh community, and establishing community kitchens across various states to feed migrants and labourers. Most of these people had certain limitations like finance, family pressure, fear of catching the virus. But what inspired them was their determination to serve mankind. These are the people who did not give up their values and morals even in difficult circumstances. All these are the examples of how one can seek opportunity in adversity to find out the purpose of life. 

Life is full of triumph and disasters. Human beings have evolved from a hunter and gatherer lifestyle to a civilization which is more human. Today the whole world denies violence, war, racism, feudalism, terrorism, poverty and atrocities on women. We have learned from our experiences that war does not bring peace. Rather education, healthcare, employment and socialism can surely ensure peace in the society. Perhaps their absence leads to an increase in terrorism, violence and communal hatred. 

A nobel laurate and a Pakistani activist, Malala Yousafzai, was shot in her head by a Taliban gunman. Critical of girl's education, Taliban didn't liked Malala spreading awareness for education of the girls. But any cruelty and hatred against her didn't stop her from doing what she thought was necessary. Even after surviving from a head injury she has no anger for Taliban. She says, " I don't want revenge on the Taliban, I want education for sons and daughters of the Taliban." Therefore, there is no doubt in the fact that those who have reason to live, they live at any cost.