There is much more to life than just living. And one who realizes this seeks to have some sort of aim in life. One strives hard to achieve that aim. And when the aim gets fulfilled, he experiences joy and satisfaction; but as soon as one aim is achieved, they have to set out to achieve another. And the life passes through, struggling for achievements after achievements in this way. But these are all external achievements, which only finish when life is over. SEE ALSO: 8 Ways To Stay Happy More Often What is the ultimate aim of our existence, then? The ultimate aim of our existence is to know really ‘Who am I?’ This is the question that has remained unanswered in our infinite previous lives. To know this, we need to investigate who we really are. Because for how long should we remain unaware of our true identity? All along you have always believed that, “I am John (the reader may insert his own name here)”. Even when you fall asleep at night, you do so as John, don’t you? There is no harm in saying, “I am John,” but the belief that ‘I am John’ should not be ingrained in us, because John is not our real Self; it is only a name given to our body. And our body too is not our real Self, as it exists only for this one lifetime — and we really are a Pure Soul, which is permanent. This is our real identity that remains the same throughout, whereas John is only our worldly self that develops and interacts in this world, during this lifetime. So, all in all, to believe that really I am John, is wrong. Yet every moment of our life, this wrong belief of ‘I am John’ reinforces itself, and keeps getting stronger and stronger with every passing day. The wrong belief is due to the ignorance of our real Self, and this is what brings forth suffering life after life, be it in the form of inner restlessness, misery, worry, discontentment or anything else. Moreover, it is because of this wrong belief that we have been wandering from one life to another. Not knowing our real identity, we have imposed on our real Self the belief of that which we are not; and as a result, have behaved accordingly. But when we identify ‘I’ with our real Self, which is the Pure Soul, then the wrong belief is gone. So we just need to put the ‘I’ in its correct location - and this is what the ultimate aim of our existence is. How do we do that? This ultimate aim of our existence can be achieved only when we find enlightenment. And to do this, we need to meet or follow an enlightened being. Self-Realization does not cost us anything in money. There is no charge for it, but it is even more valuable than the total value of all money in this world put together. Self-Realization can be attained by people of any religion and belonging to any nation, there’s no discrimination. The ultimate aim of our existence is to know our Self i.e. the Soul. And until we attain Self-Realization, the aim of our existence should be to have a strong intention to oblige others. Just like a tree gives its fruits to others, we too should use our fruits to help others. We can do so by making a firm resolve to: Not hurt any living being through our thoughts, words or actions. Use our mind, speech, and body for the service of mankind. We may or may not have achieved big, bigger, biggest achievements in our external life. But when we acquire the knowledge of the inner real ‘I’, everything is achieved! So, let us pray that we soon meet an enlightened bing, and with His divine grace, achieve this biggest real achievement of life.