The Meaning of Life

The meaning of life is a deep subject that explores if human life has a meaning and if so, what is it and how does that apply to me?

There are many different points of view about life and so the question “what is the meaning of life?” can have many different answers.

Whatever our personal view about the nature of life, we can try to answer the question in different ways. For example:

• personally, as in what is the meaning or purpose of my own life?
• practically, as in what can I do to increase the meaning in my life?
• philosophically, as in exploring different philosophical positions about the origin and significance of life to see what it could actually mean.
• from a religious perspective, as in what does my religion tell me about the meaning and purpose of life?
• scientifically, as in what is the scientific explanation of life and can that help me understand my own life?

This website is based on a deep understanding of life as framed by the sage Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, who came from the ancient Vedic Tradition of India.

Maharishi taught that the purpose of life is the expansion of happiness and that the active and visible aspects of life that we all engage in on a daily basis spring from a silent and often hidden transcendental region of abstract life, a region he called “the absolute phase of Being”.

The absolute phase of Being is non-changing, ever the same, eternal. When enlivened consciously in the human mind it assumes a blissful nature which brings, peace, happiness, power and great joy to human life.

Therefore, according to Maharishi, the meaning of life can be personally enhanced for anyone if they know how to consciously connect the activity of their individual mind to the absolute phase of Being.

The full value of the meaning of life

The rising sun

If you can find a reliable path to enlightenment and follow it faithfully, you will greatly expand the meaning of your life.

As the sun rises in the sky and the clouds are chased away, so will your inner peace, happiness and joy rise in your life and doubts about the meaning of life will disappear.

The sageandthelotus.com is here to help.

Questions on the meaning of life

Do you have questions on the meaning of life? Here are some examples, with answers in brief (more in-depth discussions are on their own separate pages):

• What is the meaning of my life?
• How can I experience it to the full?
• What do I have to do?

Answers in brief

All life has meaning, even if you can’t see it just now in your own life. It is natural to seek happiness, success, fulfillment, in terms that are personally meaningful. This is the purpose of your life.

The greatest happiness comes from realising that you are intimately connected with the cosmic source of all Being on the level of Divine love. Then life grows to become infinitely meaningful at all times.This realisation has to be on the level of direct experience as well as understanding.

Working to make that connection real is what you have to do and there are two steps: gaining correct knowledge about the structure and nature of life and gaining direct experience of the cosmic source of all Being.

Knowledge you can gain from this website and from courses led by knowledgeable teachers. Experience you can gain by learning Transcendental Meditation.

• Is intelligence important? Why?
• Are there different kinds of intelligence?
• Is there a cosmic value of intelligence?

Answers in brief

Intelligence is the power that guides life towards the fulfilment of its purpose. There are two main kinds of intelligence:

1. administrative intelligence, which upholds the existence of all life and provides a stable foundation for the laws of nature that govern activity;
2. creative intelligence, which guides the active phases of every individual life towards the fulfilment of its life purpose. 

Both kinds of intelligence operate at a cosmic level – the level of the whole universe - and within every individual life.

• What’s the difference between intelligence and consciousness?
• Is consciousness just to do with my brain?
• Can my consciousness be developed? How?

Answers in brief

Consciousness holds knowledge in existence by intelligently linking objects of knowledge with the self of the individual who knows. Intelligence is the power of consciousness to create knowledge and experience.

Consciousness, when projected through an individual into a shared world, operates through an individual body which carries organs of both sense and action as well as a mind and a sense of self.

Countless individuals have their own specific values of both intelligence and consciousness. Some specific aspects of consciousness require a brain; other, more subtle aspects, do not.

Transcendental consciousness, the cosmic source of individual consciousness, exists on its own, independent of any material structure.

Individual consciousness can be developed in several ways, through education, through proper healthy living and through certain physical and mental techniques such as Yoga and Transcendental Meditation.

• Can an intelligent machine ever be conscious?

Answers in brief

Artificial intelligence or AI refers to computer systems that can solve problems previously associated with human intelligence, problems associated with learning, reasoning, problem-solving, understanding language, perception, and decision-making. AI systems are being designed to take actions or suggest solutions to achieve human goals more effectively. As such they are certainly intelligent. Can they be conscious?

As yet the answer is “no”. They have no innate capacity to experience in the way a conscious living being has. AI is artificial not natural and is based on ultra-fast computation and huge datasets. It is best to think of AI systems as an extension of human culture, as sophisticated machines that are designed by humans to serve human needs.

In order to become conscious, an AI machine would need to have a sense of Self and a connection of that self with the cosmic source of all Being. That would require subtle structures of intelligence that are currently way beyond current human engineering knowledge.

• What is Higher Consciousness? Why would I want it?

Answer in brief

Individual consciousness springs from a Cosmic source and can be purified so that its connection to the cosmic source becomes directly known, bringing great contentment, inner happiness and the potential for greater meaning in life.

This is Higher Consciousness, of which there are several distinct states: Cosmic consciousness, God consciousness and Unity consciousness.

Life lived in Higher consciousness uncovers the greatest level of meaning and fulfils the purpose of individual life.

• Is Wholeness the same as Spirituality?
• How does Wholeness relate to the meaning of life?
• Is spiritual growth the same as the development of consciousness?
• What’s the difference between spirituality and religion?

Answers in brief

Life in its completeness is a unified whole, made of many interacting parts, which exist at different levels: gross, subtle and transcendental. A spiritual perspective on life takes account of the whole, including the relationship between the different parts and levels.

The full development of consciousness is a spiritual work, involving both a recognition of all the different parts and levels and also routines and practices to create an integration between them, so that they function smoothly together to create higher values of consciousness.

“The whole is more than the sum of the parts” is a great spiritual truth about life.

• Is Vedic wisdom only for Hindus?
• Why should I be interested?

Answers in brief

Different religions have grown up in different cultures of the world to express the great spiritual truths about life and to provide guidance for the people in forging a meaningful relationship between individuals and the cosmic Being, God.

Unfortunately, religions can become governed by blind obedience to dogma and ritual and the valuable insights that gave the religion its life and meaning in the first place can get temporarily lost or buried in ignorance. Fortunately, the ultimate truth is eternal and can get revived at critical times by great teachers and saints who have rediscovered God in their own lives and can speak aloud the great truths again.

The Vedic Tradition of India is an ancient tradition of holistic knowledge about life that has been revived many times in its long history by the Great Masters of Vedic Wisdom. Although the Vedic scriptures form the basis of the Hindu religion, Maharishi taught that the truths extolled by the Masters are universal in their scope. Based on those universal truths, he formulated an approach to the spiritual development of consciousness which can be followed successfully by anyone, of any religion and none.

Maharishi paid great attention to the training of teachers and created many unique courses that are available around the world to help anyone find greater meaning in life through methods taught by the Vedic Masters.

On these pages you will find articles that ask and discuss all the interesting questions about the meaning of life and how to find it for yourself. We'll also provide links to other useful resources.

We aim to bring you the wisdom of the Vedic Masters in manageable doses!

Maharishi, the Sage

A very detailed and complete account of the meaning of life was given by His Holiness Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, a sage from the Vedic Tradition. Maharishi began teaching in 1955 and continued until he passed away in 2008.

In those 53 years of teaching around the world, Maharishi unfolded a full and precise knowledge of consciousness, taken from the ancient Vedic Tradition of India. He gained this knowledge through devotion to his own teacher, his beloved Guru Dev.

Guru Dev the Master

Guru Dev (1868 - 1953) had occupied a traditional seat within the Vedic tradition (as Shankaracharya of Jyotir Math). He became widely known as a great saint and exponent of Vedanta, the Vedic subject that deals with the wholeness of life. Maharishi studied with him for 13 years at the monastery of Jyotir Math in the Himalayan region of India .

Maharishi claimed that the most complete and valuable meaning of the Vedic literature had been lost for centuries. He said that, if correctly interpreted, these works taken together present a complete knowledge of human consciousness and its development towards enlightenment.

This once secret knowledge is relevant to anyone, regardless of race, religion or belief system.

From this ancient tradition comes a range of methods for purifying the mind and for discovering the treasures that lie within. 

Books, buildings, courses and teachers

Most of Maharish's adult life was set on making this knowledge widely known and applied. He argued that human life can be transformed away from misery and suffering towards peace, happiness and the full meaning of life for everyone.

He has left a legacy of books, buildings, schools, colleges, video lectures, courses, 40,000 trained teachers and an estimated  300,000 advanced practitioners of his TM-Sidhi Program.

Millions of people have been taught Transcendental Meditation and gained a foothold on the ladder for extending the meaning of life for themselves.

Maharishi's teaching is the main source of reference for thesageandthelotus.com

We pay our respects to all other teachers of spiritual truth, wherever they may be found and from whatever tradition of spiritual knowledge they come from.

The lotus on the lake

The lotus is an ancient and beautiful symbol of both knowledge and consciousness. It has been used within the Vedic Tradition for centuries as a poetic and yet technically useful way of illustrating the structure and meaning of life.

It is structured in layers; each layer has many petals; the center is golden; the flower is whole; the lotus flower stands in the world above the quiet surface of the lake while its roots lie deep below the surface, embedded as if in the silence of absolute Being.

The Sage and the Lotus project explores the meaning of life by combining the teachings of Maharishi with the symbol of the Lotus on the Lake.

Consciousness, knowledge and Self

Let's take a quick look at some of the important things to know before diving deeper into the meaning of life on other pages.

According to Maharishi, "knowledge is structured in consciousness" and "knowledge is different in different states of consciousness".

We all know that our daily lives flow through three different states - waking, dreaming and sleeping. There is, however, a fourth state of consciousness - a state of silent wakefulness which transcends and underpins those three and which is realized through Transcendental Meditation.

Actually, the goal of enlightenment can be achieved through a number of ways which may seem very different at first. For example, the different approaches to Yoga: Hatha Yoga, Laya Yoga, Mantra Yoga, Raja Yoga etc..

Or through the timeless methods of deep prayer and devotion.

Nevertheless, the general principles are the same. These general principles have been laid out in the well-known Vedic work, The Yoga Sutras of Patanjali. The work however, requires careful interpretation by an accomplished Yogi and many mistakes can be made.

The conscious capacity of the mind can be expanded and refined through correct application of these general principles, under the tutelage of a competent teacher. Correct teaching leads to experiences within higher states of consciousness on the chosen path to enlightenment. As proficiency in the experience of inner silence develops, the silence becomes filled with celestial light. Hence the term "Enlightenment".

In those higher states of consciousness, the meaning of life is transformed. From a life bound by surface values of experience to a life lived in joyful waves of activity anchored in silence to a life lived in freedom in the light of God.

In order to fully understand this deeper meaning of life we will have to consider different kinds of knowledge structured in different modes and states of consciousness. We will explore these ideas in more detail on their own pages. 

Meanwhile, let's take a quick look at the meaning of "wholeness".

Wholeness of Life

Life extends beyond each individual body, mind and spirit to include family and social life, human culture, the environment, the biosphere and the celestial objects - Sun, Moon, planets and stars. There is an inter-connectedness between these different parts of life - not only on the obvious surface level of existence but also on those celestial and transcendental levels of life first experienced in the deep silence within our own minds. 

It is this great wholeness, this great inter-connectedness of all the parts that creates the spiritual aspect of life. Our own individual consciousness, the light of life within each one of us, is intimately connected with this larger whole.

We can choose to consciously explore and enliven this connection in our own lives, to make real for ourselves the cosmic or spiritual value of the meaning of life.

The full meaning of life lies not only in developing our own consciousness towards higher states. We can work with others - with those in our own families and communities in the direction of greater happiness for all, bringing added layers of fulfillment to life.

thesageandthelotus.com explores the meaning of life from this perspective of wholeness and brings you the ancient wisdom from the Vedic Masters to apply in your own life. 

Read on for more!

Key Takeaways

1. Learn Transcendental Meditation from a properly qualified teacher and practise it twice a day. See here to help you find a teacher.

2. Explore the sageandthelotus.com website for more information about the nature of life.

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