The Universal Human Question: Why am I here?

Life is strange, isn’t it? The question “Why am I here?” rarely comes when all is well. It appears when the ground beneath us suddenly shakes—when a relationship fails, when a career collapses, or when health forces us to pause.

Sometimes this change is sudden, like a storm that overturns everything. Sometimes it creeps in slowly, wearing us down until we can no longer pretend. What once felt secure slips away, leaving us with silence and unease. And in that silence, the question that was always buried within begins to rise:

“Why am I here?”

A life once filled with the race for money, success, growth, or love suddenly feels meaningless. The fast track slows down—or even comes to a complete halt. In just a short time, everything that seemed so reachable drifts out of reach.

And when the glitter fades, illusions blur. Questions surface like sparks in the dark:

• Who am I?
• What am I really doing?
• Why am I doing it?
• What is the necessity of doing it at all?

These questions arrive without warning. They disturb our sleep, follow us in quiet moments, and linger even when we try to distract ourselves. Once awakened, they refuse to go away.

The Survival Questions

But before the soul asks “Why am I here?”, it first struggles with what I call the Survival Questions. These are the cries of a mind caught in pain and confusion:

• Why is this happening to me?
• What did I do wrong?
• Why is my life like this?
• Why does nothing I try ever work?
• Is this job, this relationship, this path even meant for me?

I believe everyone must go through these questions. They are part of the breaking. They strip away the false securities we cling to. Yet, they can also wound deeply, circling us back into despair if we get stuck there.

The Turning Point

But when the survival questions give no peace, something shifts. The mind grows tired of chasing blame and fear. In that exhaustion, a deeper silence opens. From that silence, a new question slowly emerges — not from panic, but from the soul itself:

“What am I really doing, and why am I doing it?”

And finally, as if all smaller questions merge into one, the voice within asks:

“Why am I here?”

The Gift Hidden in Crisis

At first, it feels like punishment. But with time, we see the hidden gift. What looked like loss was actually a doorway. What felt like an ending was the beginning of a new search.

In the stillness after the storm, clarity begins to form. We realize that purpose cannot be borrowed from society or copied from others. It has to be discovered within, like a lamp waiting to be lit.

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✨ Reflection
Think of a time when your life slowed down or collapsed.

• What did you lose?
• What survival questions did you ask yourself?
• When did the deeper question — Why am I here? — begin to rise?

Write it down. You may find that the very pain you feared most was also the first step toward meaning.

This article is part of the Purpose Series on Bharathiyam. To explore deeper, follow our upcoming book: “How to Find the Purpose of My Life — Astrologically.”