The objective of goal matters

Many people, while pursuing to achieve their goal, forget the objective for which the goal is pursued. They largely focus on the goal and ignore the objective.

Goal is referred to something which you want to acquire or achieve, but the objective of goal is the purpose for which you want to achieve or acquire that goal.

For example, one’s goal could be to earn a lot of money, own a big house, big car, have comfort, name, fame, status, recognition, etc, but the objective to acquire these things is to gain happiness and live peacefully.

Now, does everybody who has earned a lot of money and who owns a big house with all the comforts are happy in life? Or is it that the people who do not own all these things are unhappy?

If there is clarity on the objective for which a goal is being pursued then irrespective of whether one earns a lot of money and owns a big house or not, one will still try to remain happy as one knows that life’s objective is to be happy and not merely to earn money or own a big house.

One might have chosen money, big house, career as the mode or medium to be happy, but if that does not give happiness then acquiring all that goes waste. Once we know that they are only medium to get happiness and not the main objective of life then our happiness does not get dependent on them.

Another example from day to day life is when you have to travel from point A to point B in your city. Ideally, you may choose a medium to reach your destination in the shortest time and in a comfortable mode. But eventually your goal is not the medium through which you may travel but your destination. So, even if you are not able to get the fastest mode of transport and very comfortable one yet it should not matter how you get there — it could be in an auto rickshaw, it could be in a taxi, it could be in a Mercedes car, or it could be on foot. What should solely matter is the objective — getting to point B!

Hence, it is imperative that more than the goal to acquire something what is important is the objective for which we want to acquire. That should be crystal clear. We need to consciously gauge ourselves — whether we are, unknowingly, assuming our path to be our objective. If we are doing so, we need to correct it and remind ourselves of the ultimate objective!

And spiritually speaking, the true purpose of human life is to achieve a state of eternal happiness, also known as “enlightenment”. And achieving this state is only possible in human life. But we get so entangled in materialistic things that we do not even bother to find out what the actual objective of our life is. We should try and be in a state of bliss, irrespective of the situations we face, the problems that we encounter and without causing trouble to others around us.

This practice of always being in a state of bliss will help us achieve our ultimate objective.

Sadguru Rameshji is a modern age spiritual guru and the force behind Poorna Ananda, a Hyderabad- based centre for spiritual evolution and joyful living. He can be contacted at www. poornaananda. org