Does your life have a purpose or meaning? In order to ask the question, "what is the purpose of my life?" you have to first take a few steps back and ask "what is the purpose of the Universe?" Since you are an active participant in and a veritable fraction of (if not entirely) the Universe, your purpose must be in some what articulated along with and according to the purpose of the Universe. But does the Universe even have a purpose? Or is it just insentient matter? Is there a God who created the Universe as in dualistic theistic religion? Or is God embodied AS the Universe as in pantheistic and panentheistic religion? If so, what is God's purpose for creating/becoming all of this? And what does any of that have to do with you?  But again, before asking "why the Universe" or "why God", we must first ask "what"! WHAT is God and what is the Universe?!  In this lecture, we sketch out the map of Reality as per the Sāmkhya, Advaita Vedanta and Trika-Krama (Kashmir Shaiva) systems of philosophy before offering a teleology (a raison d'etre) for all of it. Ironically, right as we got to the "why" question", my internet connection cut out and the recording stopped. And since I have no idea how to do video editing whatsoever, this video ends in somewhat of a cliff-hanger. You can watch the final ten or so minutes of this lecture for absolutely free here: https://www.patreon.com/posts/true-purpose-of-84533452?utm_medium=clipboard_copy&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link I promise this is not some clever marketing scheme to direct traffic from here to Patreon! Its only because I felt the last section was too short and out of context to upload unto YouTube as a stand alone video or as a podcast! Lectures happen live on zoom every Monday at 7pm PST and Friday at 6pm PST.  There's Q&A right after the lecture.  It is free and open to the public. All are welcome! Use this link and I will see you there: https://www.zoom.us/j/7028380815 For more videos, guided meditations and instruction and for access to our lecture library, visit me at: https://www.patreon.com/yogawithnish To get in on the discussion and access various spiritual materials, join our Discord here: https://discord.gg/U8zKP8yMrM Support the show