Find a daily purpose

Life is unique and intriguing only because it holds unexpected turns. While considering on a spiritual plane a human life is given to work out one’s past karma and also stock up good nishkama karma for the future. But man gets so involved in mundane matters and unknowingly keeps building piles of sakama karma. When the connection with spirituality becomes weak, a person is prone to be affected strongly by the joys and sorrows that he faces in his journey of life.

When flooded with happy circumstances he celebrates like there is no end and when sorrow taps on his door, he becomes miserable and unable to cope with the situation. He feels life has lost its meaning and purpose. Depression is an offshoot of intense emotional suffering.

A depressed state of mind could also result from a debilitating incurable disease.

But the end is sure for each living entity and suffering is part of the karmic journey. When all seems lost, the effort to find something worthwhile to do on a daily basis may help.

The Japanese have been practising and promoting Ikigai for a long time. Ikigai is a strong intention or motivational force that gives each one a purpose to wake up the next day.

Don’t we feel thrilled to catch a glimpse of sunshine or a rainbow amongst dark clouds? Ikigai is specially relevant for a person whose life has come under neutral gear - a chronically ill person, a lone senior citizen, a person who has lost his dear one, a person suffering betrayal, and such others. For a writer, Ikigai is the eagerness to write a new article daily.

For another it could be maintaining plants and the excitement of spotting new leaves and buds, or it could be reading out stories to needy children and lonesome seniors, or as simple as taking a daily walk along with a dear friend.

A film on a true story of espionage has a scene where the English suspect held and tortured by the Russian secret service agency, KGB, asks his visiting wife to give him a reason for desiring to come home. In fact, he was asking her for his ikegai. Each one’s ikigai, the raison d’etre, could be customised to bring calmness to the mind and infuse a daily meaning to life. 

It is important to find out own ikigai.