Alternate Goals

Many of us young Pakistanis probably realize that from the time
that we are born our goals in life have already been set by our parents and there's absolutely no questioning their
expectations. You see according to them, it's all very simple, be at the top throughout your school years, then get into an
Ivy-League school to
earn your Bachelor's in a ’valid' discipline of study, then go onto Graduate school to earn your Master's and also find
your high-earning potential soul-mate, get married, live in a nice suburban house, produce babies and then raise them
with the same materialistic goals
so that we the human race remain dazzled and confused by the images of this world, never to discover the true meaning
of life. According to them these are all very easily attainable goals - nothing out of the ordinary.

Hmmmm...., sometimes I wish my parents had read me this long treatise at the time of my birth into this crazy world. Perhaps it would go something like this:

I come out my mother's womb and sitting there right in
front of me is my father with a huge book on his lap that
looks like the Encyclopedia Britannica and he begins reading,
"Ahem, Volume I, Chapter I, our expectations of you for the
first day of your life....Our expectations of you for the
second day of your life....for the 3000th day of your
life....for the 8000th day of your life...."
I interject "Excuse me, Abba, but can I say something please
- I feel like crying and it's not because of the nurse
hitting me, by the way can you please tell her to stop
slapping me, I can breathe just fine now. Actually I'm
crying because your expectations are giving me a headache and
my head isn't even fully developed yet. So let's make a deal
here and please don't take this the wrong way because I really
like you guys - you're both so lovable and I know you would
make wonderful parents, however the truth is that I will
never be able to live up to your expectations - I'll only be
a disappointment. So what I'll do is I'll go right back
into this nice young lady's womb, which by the way is
extremely cozy (the womb realtors did a fine job of finding
me this real estate) and I'll put myself in reverse
gear to reverse back through the nine months of that
excruciating development until I actually disappear. Then
you two can do whatever it is that you did to put me there in
the first place and put someone else there instead. Hopefully
she may be able to live upto your expectations, because I
know that I will croak within the first week of my life.Well,
nice to have made the acquaintance with you two guys. See you
later."

Unfortunately, I was never given that opportunity and so I worked very hard to live upto my parents' expectations.
Luckily God helped me along the way, and I needed a lot of that since my brain is just about the size of a pea with a
processing time proportionate to the speed of a snail. For part of my life I was able to make them happy by going to a
college of their choice and then going to Graduate school for just about two months, when a switch finally turned off in
my head and I realized that like many other
young Pakistani's, my life was nothing more than a series of goals one after the other with no time to truly discover the
world. So I decided to take the bold step of dropping out of Graduate school and finding a regular 8-5 job where I could
spend my evenings sitting
under the banyan tree beneath the dark blue skies thinking about the true meaning of life, the existence of God, the
essence of truth and, of course, the all-important question - how many licks does it really take to get to the middle of a
tootsie roll candy bar.

After having meditated under the dark blue skies for a few years I think I have finally discovered my one and final goal in
life - to become a yogi. Of course this is not very easy news to break to your parents for their first reaction is "Are you
crazy?". The
truth is, I truly must be a lunatic to want to abandon a very loving family and a very close circle of friends to sit atop a
mountain in total isolation. Perhaps it is having worked for a highly competitive firm that has led me to this state of
lunacy or perhaps this truly is my destiny for deep within my bones I have always wanted to do this since I was child.

Those amongst you that have a philosophical bent of mind, probably already know that we are truly a damned lot for our
whole lives we are lost in a sea of questions and we successfully manage to further confuse ourselves by answering each
question with another
one. Unfortunately, these are questions unanswerable in the material world, but rather only in the metaphysical and so we
spend hours sitting queitly trying to understand the beautiful ways of God. Combine the task of answering a million
questions with a brain that has the processing speed of a snail - hence the decision to become a yogi to spend the rest of
life fulfilling this task.

Perhaps it may sound ridiculous, but is not the discovery of the metaphysical world our true purpose in life? Are not the
greatest amongst us, the ones that have forsaken the desires and comforts of this world to gain a wisdom and
understanding of the true world of God? Is not the true understanding of everlasting peace and contentment deep within
our hearts the ultimate goal of man and woman? I think so, perhaps I may be wrong, but something deep within the
recesses of my mind constantly reminds me of the truth and
reality of a world beyond and I thank God for that reminder.


Unfortunately, I find that in our Pakistani society, the younger generation is raised with very materialistic goals for life.
They are expected to earn degrees from the finest schools, earn the highest salaries and attain the highest positions in
their careers. But what's wrong with being just average? Why goal for being the head partner at a consulting firm or why
spend our whole life earning huge salaries without ever discovering true humanity? Why do we not encourage our
youngsters to join the Peace Corps, to join
UN relief missions, to return to Pakistan and establish developmental aid organizations, or to even just sit on top of a
mountain and attempt to discover the beautiful mysteries of God? Perhaps because none of them will enable us to attain
material gain, but is not
material gain like the heavy anchor that pulls us relentlessly into the lowest depths of a dark and lonely ocean? And
where is this material gain when we die? Nowhere, for it deserts us leaving us with our one and only loyal companion -
the soul, which God has blended deep within our mold perhaps as a constant silent reminder of his existence. So why not
spend the rest of our life trying to understand his presence deep within us.

As for my parents' advice about my decision to become a yogi and commit my life to the service of God and humanity -
"Why don't you change careers and go back to Graduate School at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and earn
your Master's in
Public Policy and Service, then you can serve humanity as much as you want from a nice air-conditioned office.".

Hmmm...., guess they missed the whole point - oh well I love them just the same, nonetheless. The truth is had it not
been for their high goals in life, perhaps I would not have had the leisure and time to think about my own 'alternate
goals'.

Perhaps, I should end now with the very simple lyrics of a song, which I think aptly portends the destiny of all of
humanity, I only wish more of us truly realized this:

I close my eyes only for a moment and the moment is gone

All my dreams pass before my eyes in curiosity

Dust in the wind

All they are is dust in the wind



Same old song, just a drop of water in an endless sea

All we do crumbles to the ground, though we refuse to see

Dust in the wind

All's we are is dust in the wind



Don't hang on, nothing lasts forever but the earth and sky

It slips away and all your money won't another minute buy

Dust in the wind

All's we are is dust in the wind

Everything is dust in the wind.




(Note : For those of you interested in hearing a penetrating version of the above song, try the remake by Sara Brightman
on her CD 'Eden')