Why am I unable to find a purpose in my life?

You are not alone, most of us earthlings are unable to find it also.

This is a long answer. If you want the gist of it, just read the bold statements.
At the beginning, when we are put in the kindergarten by our parents, we do not know why we are studying. The first day some of us even cry and make a ruckus saying that we do want to go back home. Over a period of time, it becomes a habit and then we create new interests in school, both academic and non-academic.

Then comes a time when we eagerly await the re-opening of the school after the vacation.

Then comes an age, that is around the teenage years, when we get to ask ourselves “Why was I born? What is the purpose of my life?”.

That question persists for sometime and then fades off, only to come back again frequently, but always in the back of the mind.

The Game called Life

In the Hollywood movie “Predators”, the participants are thrown into the game dramatically, being pushed out of an airplane, where they wake up in free-fall. In this life of ours, we come out of our mother’s womb. Utterly undramatic, but the result is the same.

And we are expected to play a fair game. In the process, we may accumulate material wealth all we want, but it is imperative that we be doing more good than bad, because that will be the basis for our other games that will follow this.

Just get on with it and enjoy life, take good care of your physical health. Point to note is that we do not own our body and it is not ours to be abused.

Finding the "I"

There are other questions like are we the “I” that we call ourselves day in and day out? Then what happens to the “I” after we pass?

So, then it becomes obvious that our body is not the “I” that we call ourselves.

So who am I and what is the purpose? The revelation will come in time. But, a healthy body and mind are essential to play this game to the best of our abilities.

According to Indian philosophy, there are 4 paths to self-realization called Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga, Gnana Yoga and Raja Yoga. These are attaining self-realization through our work, devotion to God, inner contemplation and through spiritual practices respectively.
Almost all of us are following Karma Yoga and are confused like the kindergarten children that we spoke about in the beginning. In this path, to get clarity, we need to progress a little more to know the path that we have to take.

Nature does not discriminate

Note that if we commit a murder, the law is the same for all of us, irrespective which religion we belong to. Religion does not change our punishment. It is life imprisonment, death or blood money based on which country we are in. There needs to a compensation for a wrong.

Similarly, with nature, we can expect appropriate repercussions for all our actions, good or bad.

Since we are all sincere souls, here are the golden rules that we need to follow; practice non-violence and try not to hurt others. Whenever we think that we have hurt others, even if it is just a verbal barrage, let us sincerely repent the moment we realize it.

We are learning, all the time

Knowing the purpose of our life is a long process; it may even span many lives. We just have to keep at it. Our egos play a big part in stunting our spiritual progress. What we eat will aid or disturb our quest to know the purpose of life.

There is a wonderful explanation on what we should eat and why by Guru Jaggi Vasudev who says, “We become what we eat”.
Here are a few revealing thoughts by another Master Swami Prabhupada .