Film

The Aim of Life

Monday, 18 September 2023, 4pm, at SAVITRI BHAVAN. Duration: 52 min.

Throughout the history of human thought, there has been a persistent questioning as to what is the goal of human existence. As a free exploration of students and seekers, this educational film by Kireet Joshi (1931-2014) attempts to answer the following questions, ‘What am I meant to do?’, ‘What role do I have to play in this vast and mysterious universe?’, and ‘What is the best and the highest goal that I should aim for to realize?’. 

 

To see how various great historical personalities from science, philosophy, literature, and art from East and West sought, lived, and pursued their special ‘Aim of Life’ is both thought-provoking and mind-broadening. From the film we learn that the Buddha (563–483 B.C.) sought after Utter Transcendence; Socrates (469-399 B.C.) for Full Perfection of Knowledge and Life; Alexander the Great (356-323 B.C.) for Relentless Adventure; Jesus Christ (4 B.C.-30 A.D.) for the Kingdom of God within and a totally new relationship between God and man; Prophet Muhammad’s (570-632 A.D.) message was the submission to the Will of God; Shankara (8th century) tried to attain Brahman or Reality;

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was in search of Excellence in scientific investigation and artistic expression and integral development of man; Chaitanya’s (1486–1534) aim was to realise the Ecstasy of Divine Love; Rene Descartes (1596-1651) wished to attain Truth through Reason; Swami Vivekananda’s (1863-1902) fundamental question was ‘Have you seen God?’; Albert Einstein (1889-1955) wanted to develop a New World Vision based on the new perception of the relations between energy, matter, light, space, and time; Jawaharlal Nehru (1879-1964) wished to discover a Living Philosophy and bring it to India; and Bertrand Russel’s (1872-1970) goal was to attain Freedom of the Mind.  

 

The above paragraph shows that life offers many ways for human beings to pursue diverse aims of life. The Mother explored the possibility of having an Integral Aim of Life. Her play The Ascent to Truth provides insight into various goals of life and their limitations. Many people sought-after the Truth, but very few proceeded and reached their destination. To succeed in it, the inquiry must continue despite the alluring temptations along the way. Towards the end of the play, she indicates the path towards an Integral Life and a New World: it requires that the seekers have faith and absolute trust in the divine grace and to practice total surrender to the Divine Will.

 

Kireet Joshi was in constant contact with The Mother and became more and more an expert in Free Education. The goal of his life was to promote Integral Education based on the ideas of Sri Aurobindo and The Mother and use it for teachers’ training. His studies and educational research resulted in books and multiple articles, the film The Aim of Life, and the monograph Aim of Life.

He also established the Sri Aurobindo International Centre of Educational Research (SAIIER) at Auroville and was the Chairman of the Auroville Foundation from 1999-2004.