You Weren’t Born Just to Pay Bills — A Gita Inspired Call to Meaning

The Childhood Metric: Be Somebody

“Oh my gosh, how adorable!” they’d say, eyes lighting up. And then came the inevitable follow-up: “What do you want to be when you grow up?” I’d toss out something like “doctor” or “astronaut,” watching their faces for a reaction. The names may be different, but I am sure you have heard the same script. But even then, deep down, I wondered why everyone does ask “who do you want to become” and why doesn’t anyone ask, “who we already are?”

In today’s hustle culture, our obsession with results has become a quiet epidemic. We chase success like its salvation — believing that if we just hit the next metric, we’ll finally feel whole. We can’t stop measuring our life’s worth in results and labelling it “Good Enough” or “You could have done more”. The heart longs to be appreciated for our efforts — but the voice in our head says, ‘Effort doesn’t pay the bills. Where are your results?’

The Mud Doll Moment: Effort Over Outcome

I remember— it was almost Dad’s birthday, and I wanted to surprise him with a special gift. Still just a little girl in school, I was racking my brain for an idea of unique gift. Around that time, we were learning about how ancient people made pots from mud — shaping them, sun-drying them, and then firing them to make them strong. So, the idea struck: I’ll make a mud doll for Dad!

I dug a hole in the backyard, gathered the clay-like earth, and shaped it into what looked like a tiny snowman — three mud balls stacked one on top of the other. I left it to dry in the sun and then, in my moment of genius, snuck it into the kitchen to “bake” it on the stove. I remember presenting it to him with so much pride thinking I was such a genius.

He smiled and I got my favorite hug.

Never once did he complain about the scorched stove, the muddy mess in the backyard, or the cleanup that followed. All I remember is how deeply he appreciated the effort — even if the outcome was, well… let’s just say, interesting.

While the world counts results, the heart longs for someone to simply see our effort. As a child, I just wanted my efforts to be seen. But growing up, I forgot to see the efforts of others.

When Results Blind Us to Love

When I was slightly older, we lived at a place where it was hard to get proper drinking water — it was just too salty. But my dad worked hard to get two bottles of fresh drinking water and just gave them to me every day.

Those bottles were a welcome relief, but they could solve the water problem completely. Yet, years later, whenever I feel thirst, I remember the sacrifice my father made, keeping every bottle for me.

So, today as FOMO catches up with me and pushes me to jump on the hamster wheel and do more and more to achieve the fabled success — I go back to that space in my heart and ask myself — is this who I want to be or should I re-evaluate my relationship with goals and ambition and explore a different metric to measure the success of my life.

Mentality vs Destiny: The Power We Still Have

The sky limits the area of movement, but we still have the ability to move within that limited sphere. We each have a sphere of action, known in yoga texts as ksetra and while this sphere is limited, we do have choices within that sphere to make. Within the limitations there is scope.

Our next steps depend on two things — Mentality and Destiny.

Destiny determines the resources you may or may not have access to in this life, but mentality determines how you use those resources. I may not be able to change my destiny — but could I re-align my mentality to something higher than temporary results.

So, while destiny may hurl curveballs or offer unexpected chances, the real game is played in the mind. How can we train or re-engineer our mentality to remain steady, focused, and purpose-driven through the turbulence?”

As Viktor Frankl said,

Life is never made unbearable by circumstances, but only by lack of meaning and purpose.

Languishing: When the Hustle Stops Feeling Human

In a culture obsessed with outcomes, many of us have drifted into what Dr. Corey Keyes at Emory University calls ‘languishing’…

that blah, aimless, or hollow feeling — a state where you’re not mentally ill, but you’re not mentally well either. You’re functioning but not thriving. You may be meeting deadlines, showing up to commitments, but lacking motivation, joy, and connection.

Arjuna was also feeling it in the beginning of the Bhagavad Gita and he describes it as

karpanya dosha upahatta svabhava

This fault of miserly consciousness and subsequent anxiety is gripping him. He is there to do the job, but he is losing his energy, feels no motivation and no drive to move on and he sees no “joy” for himself no matter what choices he makes.

Around 50% of Americans are said to be languishing at any given time. Maybe it's because the promise of the American Dream — 'work hard, get what you want' — feels increasingly broken. And when we don’t get what we were promised, we blame ourselves. We must not be trying hard enough. We must not be good enough.

I can hear Mic Jagger in my head going🎶I can’t get no satisfaction ’Cause I try, and I try and I try and I try…🎶

But if we keep trying and still feel empty, maybe it’s time to stop trying harder — and start asking better questions. Could someone, somewhere, actually know where to find this rare gem called ‘satisfaction’?

The Story of Jatayu — Ramayana

Let’s fly back millions of years to Treta yuga, into the setting of Ramayana, the great epic describing the history of Lord Ramacandra. In there is the story of a gigantic bird Jatayu. He was a very old, but he loved Rama, Sita and Lakshmana as his own children.

One day when Rama and Lakshmana were away and Sita was under attack by a powerful demon Ravana — Jatayu fought with all his might a battle that both he and Sita knew he could not win. His wings cut off by the cruel demon, failed in his attempt to save Sita, he lay soaked in blood, holding onto his last breath just so he could relay to Ram Sita’s plight and whereabouts.

Contemporary thinkers might call this a failed mission.

But the yoga vision will re-direct our attention to the real goal and the real mission.

Jatayu’s mission was never to determine the result but to try with all his might — and he had done that so gloriously. And that is all is expected of us — sincere best attempt.

The success/failure duality is a product of material consciousness. Bhagavad Gita will point out that neither is really in our control.

ahankara vimudatma karta aham iti manyate

It’s only out of arrogance and pride that we see ourselves as the doer or recipient of success or failure. Krishna is not looking for perfection, simply sincerity. Obsession with results and perfection is our own disease.

We may or may not see the results

Perhaps the problem is not with our effort… but with our metric.

This truth echoes through history. Countless soldiers have died protecting a world they would never live to see.Susan B. Anthony fought for women’s rights, never witnessing the full fruits of her struggle during her lifetime.

As Winston Churchill said:

Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.

From Ozymandias to Sanātana Dharma: What Lasts?

I remember reading Ozymandias by Percy Shelley — a haunting image of a vast, empty desert where a once-mighty king's statue lies in ruins. The boastful inscription reads:

My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings;Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!

Yet, nothing remains — just shattered stone and endless sand.

In the Srimad Bhagvatam, the ancient yoga classic with 18000 mantras, the Earth personified says

Just see how these kings, who are actually playthings in the hands of death, are desiring to conquer me...Although in the past great men and their descendants have left me, departing from this world in the same helpless way they came into it, even today foolish men are trying to conquer me.

The Case for a Great Life

So tangible results, concrete achievement — we may or may not see in this life. Greatness of human life or a Great life is not about counting how much money you have left in the bank after you paid your bills. Actually, it’s not about becoming great at all — it’s about finding who or what is the greatest and serving the greatest.

Krishna tries to explain this in the Bhagavad Gita

Karmanyeva adhikar astu ma phalesu kada cana

We only have the right to choose our actions — never our results. If that’s the case — how then can we measure our life’s success in results?

Bricklayers and Temple Builders: What Are You Really Doing?

Three men working hard moving bricks in the middle of a street. One was slow, second one so -so and the last one looked joyous and energetic. An inquisitive onlooker asked all of them the same question “what are you doing?”

The first one responded, “I am moving bricks”.

The next one responded, “I am building a wall”.

The last energetic one responded “I am building a shelter for everyone”

No answer was wrong answer — but their sense of purpose was vastly different and so was their spirit and enthusiasm.

When we have a shallow sense of purpose or none at all — thinking we are just moving bricks — well sometimes the world can run out of bricks, and you may have nothing to do at all.

But if you know your greater purpose, that unchanging reality about your life, when the storm comes which, it will in this turbulent world — you can quickly switch strategies to live a purpose aligned life. And if the bricks are gone, build gardens instead. Shelter finds form in many ways.

Purpose Over Performance: The Gita’s Call

In our search for purpose, we have to dare to go deeper than the ephemeral sense of let me be happy, let me be peaceful because that is available even to an ant with a little sugar crystal. Otherwise, we are stuck in the same sad loop — chasing sugar crystals while ignoring the sweetness of real purpose.

We do not know who we are, and we do not know why we are here or for how long or where we are headed. Yet we are just running helter-skelter chanting give me money — give me time.

Who we are beyond this rat race on a hamster wheel? Aligning ourselves with this original identity and purpose is called dharma. Fighting to make it big, whatever you define as big, whether fairly or unfairly in this temporary world is called Karma.

A life of purpose — A life of Dharma is about aligning with our original identity — not struggling hard to achieve a new temporary identity.

More specifically as defined in the Bhagavad Gita: Sanātana-dharma refers, as stated previously, to the eternal occupation of the living entity.

We have two choices — bind our life with Dharma or be bound by our minds and the minds of others, dragged from one illusion to the next — losing possessions, titles, and victories each time the wind changes direction.

In a world obsessed with outcomes, choosing purpose is the quiet revolution. Dharma isn’t about becoming someone new. It’s about uncovering who you already are, beneath the noise, beneath the pressure to perform. The bills may still need paying — but now, the soul is no longer bankrupt.

Ending on a famous quote by Howard Thurman

Don’t ask what the world needs. Ask what makes you come alive and go do it. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.

So how do you plan to come alive today?