ANJ, I hear you. First of all there is no creation independent of Consciousness. The existence of so called "life" which you are talking about is as real as "things that appear in dream." Why are you bothering so much about the time "between your birth and death?" It is like a flash of lightening which is all imaginary. The only reality behind all these mere appearance is consciousness. Nothing exists outside of consciousness. Wise often say that, true knowledge is the knowledge of "Atman" (Transcendental Consciousness), everything else is ignorance. When you wake up in the morning, you don't give a crap about your dream which you saw last night. Do you? Similarly, when your awareness reaches the transcendental level of consciousness, this waking reality which we call world becomes as if it is a long dream.

You are wondering why are you here in this planet. This is a very good sign that your consciousness is elevating to a higher level. You are in the right track. When you cut the onion, what do you find? You find layers and layers and layers and when you see deep within the onion you find there is nothing! Life is like an onion. It expresses in many layers; at the same time this pure consciousness is experienced as if it is pure void because it is free of attributes. Therefore, one has to be very open to all kind of philosophy because the aspects of knowledge is infinite. There is nothing to be depressed about this life. When you know who you are, you will smile at your-self and enjoy the supreme bliss within. May you realize this pure consciousness.