How important are we?
This question is only answerable in connection with the cause and purpose of our existence.
So, first we have to verify what the purpose of our existence is. We need to have a clear understanding of the values of life.
Someone may be very knowledgeable; others may be very expert in music; others may have good memory, and some may be very skillful athletes. It is the same thing with beauty, wealth or any other attribute. Whatever we may have and whoever we may be, there is always somebody who has something more than us. So what is the actual value? How to determine, who has the best predisposition to find fulfillment in life?
Once I knew a boy, who had such a capacity of memory, that he had memorized entire telephone books of several cities. Of what value was that for him? I wouldn’t be able to tell. Of course, sometimes he would show off his incredible memory. Anybody could pick a book and ask him a name and a city. The boy would tell him the phone number. In cases like this, people can exhibit an extreme talent of one kind or the other.
But what is the value of this? From where does the concept of value arise? What is good? What is bad? How does a combination of sounds convey meanings? When and where are you supposed to take up responsibility and to behave according to a certain pattern of prescribed expectations? Where is the law? Who are you, to begin with, so that we can study this topic?
All this leads us to the greatest of all needs: Self-realization. Are we doing anything about this, or are we wasting our time buying pants, shirts, jewelry, entertaining ourselves with different things here in this world? We do not spend much time on self-realization. Thus our life is floating by fast, and we have not yet asked ourselves the most essential of all questions: Who am I and what makes my existence so valuable?
I must feel that my existence is very important. Otherwise, why would I work my entire life, only to sustain my existence? Of course sometimes, we are so lost and hopeless, that we are not able to see any value in our life. Then we may even sometimes conclude that the best choice of action would be to finish with our life. To finish with the many tasks, temptations, frustrations, which sometimes arrive at the point of seeming to be unbearable.
Then again our mood changes -- when we associate with positive minded people, and we again regain the previous appreciation towards our own life. This appreciation of your own life is the appreciation of the value of your existence. You cannot define it clearly; you don’t know what to do about it. You do not know how to develop it. And thus you do not have a strong standing. When we put all these questions to the transcendental tradition of Vedic wisdom, we find that we are positively surprised and we are freed from uncertainty at once.
In Vedic wisdom , existence is defined by desire. Because I exist, I desire. It is said, because I think, therefore I am. But the Vedas say, because you desire, it is proof, that you have a standing, a reality in this temporary existence and that you are unique -- an individual conscious unit. Individuality is to a certain extent characterized by independence. The capacity of considering options, moving ourselves about and making decisions, all these are characteristics of our individuality. As individuals we are independent to do whatever we want, but at the same time we have to take responsibility for whatever we do. This is a simple fact about existence.
According to the Vedas, our existence is eternal, or Sat. But more than that, it is also Cid. Cid is the cognitive capacity. It means that we are conscious beings. What does that mean?