The Only Equation That Matters:
How I Finally Found the Purpose of My Life,
After years of searching — books, retreats, long walks, sleepless nights, therapy, podcasts, prayers
I finally found it! My purpose:
Not in a thunderbolt, but in a quiet, undeniable click...
My purpose is simple:To give.
To give my time, energy, skills, talent, and knowledge — freely, selflessly — for the benefit of others.Not because I’m noble.
Not because I want to be remembered.
But because every wisdom tradition, every hard-won insight from great minds, and even modern AI science points to the same truth:
The less you keep for the ego, the more life gives you back — in joy.
The Ancient Voices
Buddha said:
“Give every day — if for no other reason, then just for the sake of giving. That way, your karmic ledger will have fewer debts written in red.”
Eknath Easwaran, in his tiny masterpiece The Purpose of Work, put it even more beautifully:“I don’t compete with anybody. I try to complete everybody.
I try to help everyone around me become more complete.”
He observed that when we work without expecting even a thank-you, we reduce the size of our ego.
When we work for pride, profit, pleasure, position, prestige, primacy, or power — the 7Ps — we inflate it.
So I wrote down an equation that now lives on my desk:
Ego = 7Ps / 3Gs
(3Gs = Gratitude, Graciousness, Generosity)
The bigger the numerator, the smaller the denominator → the fatter the ego.
The bigger the denominator → the smaller the ego becomes.
The Modern Titan’s Warning:
Elon Musk — not exactly known for warm fuzzies — says success follows a brutally simple rule:
Ego / Ability < 1
If your ego grows faster than your ability, you break the feedback loop with reality.
You stop hearing the truth.
You crash.
His advice?
Smash your ego.
Internalize responsibility.
Do whatever it takes.
The goal is not glory.
The goal is true work that serves the most people.
The AI That Explained My Soul Back to Me
Then Gemini (of all things!!!) handed me the final piece.
It was explaining Reinforcement Learning — how machines learn:
An agent (the learner) interacts with an environment.
It takes actions, gets rewards or penalties, and slowly updates its policy to maximize future reward.I read that and froze.
In life: The agent = You
The environment = Mother Nature / Reality / Other people
Most people’s reward function = the 7Ps (noisy, delayed, addictive, fake)
The true reward function = reduced suffering + increased joy (yours + others’)
Every time you give without strings — a 3G move — you get an immediate, intrinsic reward.
And as a beautiful side effect, your ego shrinks.
A smaller ego = clearer sensors = better learning = better actions = more reward.
It’s a virtuous flywheel.
The Chain That Links
Ego → Learning → Joy
High ego → distorted perception → you misread reality’s feedback
You learn slowly (or wrongly)
Real joy stays elusive
You chase louder, emptier rewards
Ego grows more → loop tightens → suffering
Break the loop with one selfless act.
Then another.Suddenly:Lower ego
→ Clearer feedback from life
→ Faster, truer learning
→ Actions that actually work
→ Genuine joy (the quiet, lasting kind)
→ Ego shrinks further
→ More joy…That is the only spiral that goes up forever.
My New Daily Operating System
Morning (30 seconds):
“Today my policy is: the moment a 7P impulse appears, I smile at it — then convert at least 51% of my energy into a 3G move.”Evening (2 minutes): Where did ego sneak above ability today?
Where did I give without needing credit?
Thank the Environment — people, circumstances, even pain — for the feedback.
That’s it.No grand heroics.
Just small, consistent, ego-deflating gifts.Final ThoughtYou may have ability. I salute you.
But check the ratio.
Is your ego above or below the waterline of your talent? Because the purpose of life isn’t to win.
It’s to give so freely that winning loses all meaning .
and joy becomes the default weather of your soul.
The Karmic ledger is already turning from red to black.
Keep giving. Thank me later? NO THANKS!
Someone who finally understood purpose of Life!