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Yearning for Contentment I am sure that everyone has questioned the meaning of their life. Why are we here? Why do certain things happen? Why don't certain things happen? Isn't there more to life than working, getting a paycheck, paying the bills, and then starting this same cycle over every two weeks on the 1st and the 15th of the month? What are we searching for? Is there really a difference between living and surviving? All of these and more questions come to mind, when I sit down to ponder the purpose of my life. Much like everyone else, as an Indian there are many ways to view the answers to these questions. As I alluded to in the last part, it seems to me that almost everything that is practiced within our culture goes back to our spirituality. Prior to this discussion, I must make this distinction; I differentiate between the two words, religion and spirituality. To me religion is only a label. Spirituality is a much more all-encompassing word. Spirituality includes your philosophies, your views, and ultimately your way of life. For the majority of my life, I only called myself a Hindu by label. I knew that this was the family religion that I was born into; I knew that there was some type of altar in our house (usually in the kitchen), but…I had no idea what it meant to be a Hindu. In fact, I used to say that I was a Hindu, but not really a 'practicing' one. To be perfectly honest, I seemed to be dealing with so many other things in my life, that spirituality took a backseat. Not purposely, it was just that everything else seemed to be much more immediate. All of my problems had to take precedence. Not once did I stop to think that perhaps the answer to all of my problems and issues lay in the hands of one simple answer. I was raised a Hindu as I mentioned. What I mean by that is sometimes Aai (my mother) would do some ceremonial rituals with a candle, in front of our dias. Mostly these would occur on my birthday. Over the years, we actually went away from celebrating Hindu holidays. I think perhaps that my parents instinctively knew that living in the West, I had a need to assimilate and feel as if I was somewhat the same.
Approximate Word count = 1576
Approximate Pages = 6.3
(250 words per page double spaced)
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