In Hinduism the purpose of life is primarily governed by the spirit, consciousness existing in our heart as soul atman. The purpose of manifest physical life could be any but the ultimate goal of life for every single human being on mother earth was constant, liberation from cycle of birth and death forever and that too at the earliest.
This becomes a reality when human beings indulging in spirituality, teachings contained in Bhagavad Gita successfully reached stage of enlightenment like Sri Ramakrishna Paramhansa or Maharshi Ramana. In present life time we may or may not be interested in path of spirituality but that does not change our cosmic goal of life.
For human beings to reach state of enlightenment God Almighty ordained a long journey of 1.1 million manifestations in human form. There was never hurry. We could take our time. Only those who wanted to liberate themselves from cycle of birth and death at the earliest indulged in spirituality as detailed in Bhagavad Gita.
When six years of age I somehow developed inkling to see and meet god in this very life time. Not knowing anything about god or path of spirituality I kept enquiring from elders about Lord Krishna and other enchanting stories good for children. It was in the company of elders I realized that there was more to life than the manifest physical appearance.
When around five years of age I felt extremely ill! Doctors bid goodbye and gave 24 hours for me to survive. If somehow I could survive the night! Probably I was destined to. The whole night I lay by my mother. She did not leave me even for a second. Probably she did not want to lose me forever.
During that period as I can vividly recollect, I recall falling down a deep well having no bottom. I kept felling to no end and suddenly the falling stopped and my eyes opened. I have escaped death. This experience led me to serious belief in god so much so that my faith in God became 100%. From inside came a feeling that I must know this God who saved me.
Inherently unknowingly I started travelling towards God. Many stories in my house did the rounds. One of them pertained to Lord Krishna. The more I came to know about Lord Krishna, I developed a deeper interest in knowing him in totality. Unmindful of the fact that he existed no more, after school hours and holidays I started venturing into nearby fields in search of Lord Krishna.
This happened not once but for many days. An elderly villager who knew my family well enquired of me what I was after. I bluntly told him I was searching for Lord Krishna. He started laughing and politely told me Lord Krishna existed no more and existed thousands of years before. I immediately returned home and asked elders in the family whether the saying of the elderly villager was right. On receiving confirmation in yes I became more perplexed.
Queries within me relating to God started increasing day by day. To dissolve the queries within I started loving company of elders in the house and outside. Despite lengthy discussions with the elders, my queries had no end. They kept on growing. I reached a stage when none in the family or outside, the class teacher and the principal, classmates and friends were unable to provide an answer. It was then I unknowingly looked within.
As I was extremely truthful, I could hear some promptings from within. At that young age I did not realize what it was but I felt enchanted guided by the inner voice. As the promptings from within grew louder and louder, my escapism vanished overnight. For days and months I avoided listening to the inner voice. I was dead scared not knowing what it was.
Finally one day in school during one of the games the voice prompted from within and I followed this voice and did what I was told to. I finally came first in the game and won a prize. This led me to believe in my inner voice. And thus started my journey towards my inner self existing in heart! This voice from within also kept saying that if I followed it, I would reach God in my lifetime! Sceptical at times I started followed the dictates of this voice most of time.
This experience converted me into an introvert of the highest order. I stopped listening to voice of various people around either calling me or wanting to talk to me. As I was all the time engrossed in contemplation on god, I practically had no time for earthly dillydallying, even the daily responsibilities entrusted to me. In the circumstances I kept trying my best to keep myself up to date on the work expected of me by my parents.
No matter what occurred inside me, I just could not discard my responsibilities towards the family. In all the circumstances I always tried my best.
Indulging in contemplation (chintan) most of time I completed my spiritual journey around 37 years of age when in the wee hours of third of August 1993 I finally reached god, realized self forever.
Having reached the highest level of spiritual pursuit, I can now say with my experience that liberating self from cycle of birth and death is the only goal of life for all human beings.
It was around nine years of age when I took my final decision to liberate self from cycle of birth and death forever. The spiritual accomplishments take time but we must continue our indulgence unconditionally all the time. As we had a limited time span of 70 to 80 years of earthly life, the earlier we do the better for us.
Between six years and nine years of age I finally dissociated myself from all religious practices (rituals) that my family indulged. For me it was 100% practice of spirituality all the time.