What drives one to do anything in the life?
Over the past few years, I’ve tried to understand life from many different angles of philosophical, psychological, and spiritual. I explored Advaita Vedanta and the idea of non-duality: that, ultimately, there is no separate “me,” only pure consciousness expressing itself through everything.
What we usually call an individual self — this body, mind, personality, identity is not the ultimate truth. Advaita speaks about different levels of reality. On the practical level (Vyavaharika), the world exists: individuality, relationships, desires, suffering, even the idea of God. But on the absolute level (Paramarthika), there is only pure, attribute-less consciousness beyond all division, beyond even the concept of God as a separate entity.
I’ve listened to many teachers and speakers like Sandeep Maheshwari, Osho, Swami Sarvapriyananda, BK Shivani, and others. Sometimes their teachings feel deeply connected. For example, Sandeep Maheshwari’s idea of the “sound of silence” reminds me of what Osho often spoke about: watching thoughts without becoming identified with them, until the mind gradually becomes quiet and still.
Intellectually, I understand many of these ideas. I understand the teaching that I am not merely the body or the mind, but the Atman the consciousness itself which is beyond birth and death. The body may perish, but consciousness remains untouched.
For a long time, I also followed BK Shivani’s teachings. I feel her approach focuses more on how to live peacefully within everyday life which is still inside the world of maya, but with greater awareness and emotional balance. One of her central teachings is that happiness does not come from achievements, possessions, status, relationships, or external success. Happiness, she says, is the natural state of the soul itself.
And honestly, that makes sense to me.
But even after understanding all this, one question still remains unresolved within me.
If external achievements do not truly define us, and if lasting happiness cannot come from them, then what actually motivates human beings to act at all?
What creates the inner pull toward life?
When I observe ordinary life, it seems most people are driven by desire, the hope that achieving something will finally make them feel complete. People work hard, reach a goal, feel satisfied for a short while, and then another desire appears. The cycle keeps repeating endlessly.
Different spiritual traditions seem to answer this question differently. A follower of Bhakti Yoga may say that life is God’s leela, a divine play and we are here to participate in it with devotion. Others may say that we should simply perform our dharma without attachment to outcomes.
I’ve explored many of these perspectives sincerely, yet I still feel unable to find something completely solid to stand on, something that clearly answers how life is actually meant to be lived.
So I often wonder:
Am I misunderstanding these teachings? Are different teachers pointing toward different truths? Or is there simply no final intellectual answer to hold onto?
Even though these teachings have helped me in many ways, something still feels incomplete inside me.
If happiness is already our nature, and if we are already whole, then what is supposed to move us toward action?
Should there be any desire at all? Are we meant to live without inner longing?
And if desire falls away, then what actually drives a person to live, create, work, love, or pursue anything?
I understand that advaita does not mean "nothing matters". But what is it that drives you to do anything?
That is the question I still carry within me.