Tag: Purusharthas

Purusharthas

The Purusharthas are the psycho moral bases of the Ashrama Theory. These are a kind of psychological training. They are concerned with the understanding, justification, management and conduct of affairs of the individual’s life in relation to the group in and through Ashramas. They are four Purusharthas that govern the human life, namely; Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha.

Dharma:

  • It is the central concept of all social institutions.
  • Derived from Sanskrit word ‘dhri’ meaning ‘to hold together/ to preserve/ to support/ to bear/ to nourish.
  • Dharma is created for the well being of all and is created to keep all beings free from any harm.
  • The comprehensive view of Dharma holds “Dharma Rakshati Rakshita” which means he who follows Dharma is protected in turn by Dharma.
  • Dharma regulates the acquisitive and emotional drives the enjoyment of life consistent with man’s spiritual progress.
  • Dharma signifies the totality/ entirety of privileges and obligations in different stages of life.
  • Dharma exists more essentially for community and most of all for that universal self which is in each of us and all beings.

Artha:

  • Artha refers to satisfaction of acquisitive instinct in man, i.e., wealth and material being.
  • Artha according to Zimmer includes “the whole range of objects that can be possessed, enjoined and lost and that are in daily life.”
  • The pursuit of wealth is a legitimate human desire.
  • The acceptance of sex drives, emotional urges and economic drives as necessary and even desirable, never undermines the supreme goal of life.
  • Artha is to be understood as referring to all the means necessary for acquiring worldly prosperity, such as wealth or power.
  • Artha is desirable because man has to maintain the Dharma as a householder and therefore temporal interests were allowed for the smooth running of day to day life.

Kama:

  • Kama implies the desires in man for the enjoyment and satisfaction of the life of the senses, including the sex drive.
  • The desire may also mean the desire for early possession.
  • According to Prabhu, “Kama refers to the native impulses, instincts and desires of man, his natural and mental tendencies and finds it equivalent, we may say, in the use of English words- desires, needs, primary motives, urges and drives.“
  • Kama is recognized as one of the aims of marriage along with “dharma” and “praja”.
  • Kama is given lowest importance among the valuable ends of marriage, because sex finds its meaning I procreation (praja).
  • Kapadia holds the view that ” Kama doesn’t mean only instinctive life, it means emotional and aesthetic life as well.”
  • The aesthetic life in man expresses itself in both creation and appreciation of all that is fine and sublime.
  • The healthy development of personality calls for the expression of the emotions.

Moksha:

  • Moksha is seen as the ultimate end of the life of Hindu or can be said as the liberation of soul.
  • According to K. M. Kapadia, ” Moksha means that the true nature of man is to unfold it and derive thereby the meaning of joy of it.”
  • The aim of man is the purification and perfection of ‘Atman’ by pious acts and devotion to God.
  • Moksha can be attained possibly by inquiry into the true nature of the ‘Atman’ and by founding the whole life of power and truth of the “Atman”.
  • The trivarga becomes the means for the attainment of that end.
  • The Hindu thinkers do not consider ‘artha’ and ‘kama’ as barriers in the way of man’s striving for realization of ‘moksha’.
  • They have recommended the fulfilment of such urges for the healthy development of man’s personality.
  • The goal of Moksha does not possess the narrow individual outlook for the Hindu nod it is to be pursued exclusively and directly by an individual unless and until he has duly satisfied all his social debts and obligations.

Purushartha

Purushartha is a key concept in Hinduism and Indian Philosophy. The word Purushartha comes from the Sanskrit word “Purushartha”, where ‘Purush’ refers to human beings and ‘Artha’ means purpose, object of desire or meaning. 

Together the word Purushartha translates to ‘purpose of human being’ or ‘object of desire’. There are 4 main Purusharthas or aims of human life that one must attain.

The first Purushartha is Dharma. Dharma means truth, the right way of living or the accepted behaviours one should follow to maintain the order of things in the world. On a larger scale Dharma refers to the cosmic law or rules that created the universe. On an individual scale however, it refers to the ethics on which we should live our lives. Dharma advocates that humans should be obedient to their teachers and elders, follow law and justice and practice good virtues such as Ahimsa in life.

The second Purushartha is Artha. Artha signifies means of life. In simpler terms it refers to wealth and materialistic things. It is believed that if you have the security of material comfort then you can live in the world with much ease. Artha does not reject the materialistic nature of the world but teaches us to accept and be content with the material benefits that we are provided with. Some of the examples that Artha include are career, love knowledge, friendships and good health.

The third Purushartha is Kama which means ‘pleasure’. The most common misconception that people have when talking about Kama is the belief that Kama means only sexual pleasure and this is completely wrong. Kama in reality refers to sensual pleasure. Anything that provides pleasure to our 5 senses is a way to obtain Kama. For e.g. apart from sexual intercourse, humans feel pleasure while listening to music, looking at art or other aesthetic entities. Love is also a part of Kama.

The fourth and last Purushartha is moksha. Moksha is the ultimate Purushartha as it is the most difficult to obtain. Moksha means liberation, to free or let go. In Indian Philosophy it is believed that our souls are eternal and never die. It is believed that souls just inhabit one body after another leading to a cycle of deaths and births. Moksha refers to the freedom from this cycle of birth and rebirth. It is also believed that when one attains Moksha, the soul (atman) is truly able to become one with the Ultimate Reality (Brahman). Moksha is also said to cease Karma. Because Karma is the major factor responsible for birth and rebirths. Therefore when one attains Moksha all his Karma ceases and so does his cycle of death and rebirth. In addition to all this, in Hinduism, Moksha is defined as a state of complete bliss and knowledge.

It’s important to know the types of Purushartha as they are heavily discussed in Indian Philosophies. Each of the Purushartha, if toned down to simpler meanings can be applied to our daily modern life and help us achieve self-improvement. Because if you have a clear mind then you have a clear focus.