The Ultimate Purpose of Life

There are many goals of life people strive to achieve. The four basic goals that people generally strive for through a spiritual path are economic development, sense gratification, religiosity and liberation. But the fifth goal, the only true goal of life, is pure love for God, and this goal lies beyond even liberation.

Krishna personally descends into the material existence just to give us the opportunity to awaken that love.

It is this love of God that is the ultimate purpose of life. Even in the Christian and Jewish scriptures the commandment is to love God with all your heart, mind and soul, and to love your neighbor as yourself. When you love God, you will naturally love your neighbor.

That is the culmination of all perfection—to realize that the nature of the self is to love God.

–Radhanath Swami