The purpose of life - Artha

Like Kama this is also one of the most misunderstood Pursharthas. Based on my understanding in the past, like many others, I always thought that talking about money, collecting wealth etc. was not in conformity with the tenets of the philosophy of Hinduism. After considerable thinking, some reading and after having heard some wise people, some clarity has emerged in my mind and the same is being shared in this blog post.

  What is Artha?

Artha deals with material prosperity of the individuals and the society. This purshartha or the purpose of life, is all about the wealth creation, or earning money, this all about the acquisition of the property, creating the engine for wealth generation and employment. It is all about entrepreneurship  which makes society powerful and prosperous.

Lu the Chinese God of prosperity and wealth

This is all about worldly or material prosperity. While money is an essential ingredient for survival and fulfillment of the fundamental needs of a human being, wealth is also necessary for the material prosperity and development of the society. Wealth leads to great human endeavors which are absolutely critical or essential. These endeavors lead to building industries that create employment and ensure social security in long term. Wealth creates and nurtures large institutions for education, charitable institutions for the needy, creation and nurturing of the places of worship, institutions for research and development, infrastructure development for the society,  development of the cultural and social institutions, etc. Wealth is certainly not a bad word, it is the basis for the life.

Wealth creation and earning money is therefore not a taboo and should never be shied away from. Wealth creation or “Artha” is an important second Purshartha. In Indian society  Hindus have always worshiped Goddess Laxmi and in Chinese society also  God for Prosperity and wealth is  an integral part of a household. It is expected that during the Gruhastha Ashram phase of life,  people must focus on earning money and ensuring that the money gets utilized not only for the fulfillment of basic needs and comforts of the householders but also for social security and fulfillment of the Runas or debts about which I have talked earlier in the other blog posts.

Laxmi the Hindu Goddess of Wealth

During my journey I also discovered that the term Artha has a broader meaning - The word 'Artha' implies achievement in general. In particular, it implies the kind of achievement that accumulates  meaningful wealth. This wealth may be material goods and possessions; or it may be merit, fame and honor, or knowledge and skill, or good habits and virtuous character.

Even nomadic sanyasi or mendicants also need to earn money for their own survival, they also have to work, we may call it alms, or Bhiksha, whatever you may call it, work has to be performed by them and resources have to be generated either in kind or cash for their own survival and living.

Beware, Wealth or Artha may derail us:

During my discoveries I realized that the wealth creation is an important objective and we have to focus on this while we are in the second phase of our life. One of the reasons why wealth creation is unfortunately considered as wrong by many Hindus was it can derail a human being.

 

I realized that problem is never with the money or wealth on its own, the issue comes-up when the human beings misuse the wealth. Wealth invariably leads to power. Wealth can lead to indulgences of all kinds leading to derailment from the path of Dharma and losing sight of the ultimate objective of life "The Moksha". Wealth can become a cause or an important source of the evils that we talked about earlier - Kam, krodha, moh, mad, matsar and Lobha.  

In the process of wealth creation, somewhere individuals start focusing only on "wealth amassing" or hoarding, since this gives them sense of power, position, name and fame or even false sense of security. Objectives in the life therefore get focused on acquiring more and more. Becoming a wealthy person, earning not only for self but even for the next generations, becomes the sole  objective / purpose of the life. This may even lead to, showing off the wealth in order to get the name and fame. Wealth becomes the means to  fulfillment of several latent desires (Kama) and also creation of new desires which otherwise the individual was not aware of. Wealth can corrupt / spoil an individual very quickly. However if one follows the four Pursharthas completely in letter and in spirit, likelihood of Artha or Wealth corrupting or spoiling an individual gets minimized since the individual will always remain focused on the ultimate objective of the life, i.e.  "Moksha" and work within the frame work of the Dharma.

  

Some jewels that I picked up during my journey of self discovery:

  

• Austerity, simplicity and detachment are the basis for the Dharma however the poverty is never glorified in India; somewhere due to the lack of the true knowledge I had misunderstood wealth creation as a wrong / undesirable activity.
• Most of the Vedic invocations lead to asking for wealth or prosperity - a divine power that leads to individual and social progress.
• Renunciation does not mean give up wealth; it just means get detached from the wealth and this is the most difficult part.
•  Purpose of life is not to generate wealth and to become personally powerful or indulge in luxuries and other undesirable vices, but to generate the wealth for a bigger cause.
• Hinduism talks of moderation, detachment and not aversion to wealth.
• Arha-arjan or earning money is a noble goal as long as the objectives for earning and the process for earning are right. 
•  Hinduism recognizes importance of Artha for overall well-being of an individual as well as that of the society.

If one looks at the Four Pursharthas dispassionately and objectively one will realize:

1.    The Moksha is for self (mainly self-centered, the ultimate objective of the life),

2.    the Kama is also for the self (mainly self-centered, unless the fundamental and latent desires are not satisfied one can’t get to Moksha),

3.    Artha is for self (to fulfill personal needs) as well as to create prosperous and strong society around us. Here the focus is on self as well as the society and therefore discussion on the Runas or debts.

4.    Dharma is for “self-management” as well ensuring harmony in the society.

In the next blog post we will deal with the concept of Moksha as understood by me.

 Disclaimer: The pictures are downloaded from Google Images.

Kama one of the purpose of life

Kama sutra, is probably one of the most read and is probably one the most popular books of all times. Because of this books popularity, the word Kama is invariably associated with sex.
This leads to confusion as to why one of the objectives of the life as illustrated in the four Pursharthas is Kama? One of my friends raised this question and very rightly so  – “Vivek one of the thing amazes me is, our Indian Philosophy encourages Pursharthas (Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha) but why on the other hand Kama is to be shunned as part of six evils- Is this a dichotomy or an aberration?

Kama is a positive source of energy:

Similar question also bothered me in the past; however the explanation that I have found is very acceptable to me and needs to be shared with larger audience. Kama is not about the Sex alone. This term encompasses all the worldly desires (sex being just one of them). Human desires or Kama is a very potent force that leads to most of the actions and endeavors of mankind. Kama per say can be a very positive force if the mind, body and soul work in unison and make a positive usage of this “energy of desires, impulses and aspirations”. Behind our will power and actions there has to be a strong desire, a strong passion and a very good reason. Kama is all about that.

Kama per say is therefore not a negative term and should not be mixed up with the sex alone. Kama leads to “Karma or actions”. Kama or desires can be of multiple types for example: desire to acquire skills and knowledge, love and affection for even children which gets classified as “mamata”, desire to acquire wealth, desire to progress in life, desire to do research, desire to excel and make significant contributions in a chosen field or vocation, desire to leave behind a legacy, desire to get married and create a family, etc. Such desires in mankind have ensured the progress of humanity. The period of the Gruhastha ashram is to be dedicated to the fulfillment of such desires within the frame work of Dharma about which we talked about in the earlier blog post.

The suppressed desires are wasanas, they do surface unconsciously and create problems:

Wasana is another term which is highly misunderstood. Wasana means all those desires that are suppressed within us or are bottled-up, curbed and are latent in the minds. It is these bottled-up desires which make people do unpredictable things - unconsciously. In Hindu way of life, we believe that it is these curbed or latent desires that cause us to get a rebirth. Hence in the Hindu philosophy we never talk of suppression of desires we talk of management of desires. This means question your desires, challenge them and learn to channelize them, contain them rather than suppress them. 

There is nothing wrong in fulfilling all those desires which do not cause harm to others, which do not come in to the way of your own spiritual growth, which do not lead to compulsive or addictive behaviors. The most important principle being these desires and the fulfillment process has to be within the frame work of the Dharma tenets. The most important thing - the desire fulfillment process should not lead to imbalance in life and should also not lead to the imbalance of body, mind and soul about which we will deal with, in the next few blogs. Hindus have recognized the need for fulfillment of all the legitimate and natural desires of human beings. People however have to remain focused not only on the desires but also continuously evaluate the appropriateness of the process of their fulfillment.

Desires have no limits and the fulfillment process may not be right:

Let us talk of a simple desire like - I wish to visit Singapore, I have never seen this place. There is nothing wrong with this desire; it is very much within the boundaries of Dharma. If the desire is strong one works to save the money and is able to visit Singapore. Now another desire may come up – I want to live in Singapore – another legitimate and acceptable desire. Now with this new desire if it is compelling - one will start working towards fulfillment.  The process of fulfilling such a desire may lead the person to do things that are not necessarily bound by the tenets of Dharma. When questioned the person having such a desire may always justify saying he is just fulfilling a reasonable legitimate desire which is not against the religious tenets or Dharma.

In the quest of fulfillment of desires several people just burn out themselves. They may even dwell in to several undesirable actions. All of us are bound by the pros and cons of our own Karmas or actions. For everything that happens to us in this birth, or in the next birth, has a definite cause and the same is created by our own karmas or actions and most of our actions or Karmas are aimed at fulfillment of our desires..

The problem with the desire fulfillment process is, it has no end point. As one desire gets fulfilled, another set of desires take birth. In this illusionary world (Maya) the human beings keep creating several means of comforts, entertainment and temptations. The nature also creates several attractions. By the time you are thru with one, the other comes-up. We have to learn to deliberately draw a line somewhere and say – “so far and no further”. Enlightened clairvoyant souls have realized the futility of fulfilling the desires, the continuous birth of new desires and the pros and cons of actions that lead to fulfillment of the same. These enlightened souls therefore reach a stage wherein their mind gets focused on the Parma-atman or the creator, the God, and not on the worldly pleasures.

Kama is the reality:

For most of us who are part of the materialistic world the concept of getting detached from the desires of the life is very difficult to manage. We get so much attached to the worldly things, materials, possessions, people, near and dear once, position, power, wealth, etc that some time on the way we forget the ultimate purpose of our lives. 

We can however make an attempt.  If we understand that non fulfillment of desires / expectations is the cause of frustrations, envy, anger and negativity of all types, it becomes a good beginning. One should start questioning everything that comes to our minds, start challenging the desirability of our newly born and the latent desires. This in itself is half battle won. One should also start thinking of the process of fulfillment of chosen few desires and start testing the process with our own capabilities, aptitude, the road blocks and the methods to overcome the same, this in turn should be tested with the tenets of the Dharma. Such a process will ensure we focus on critical few and we manage and contain what is not desirable. We have to accept that happiness does not come from the fulfillment of desires, it comes from being comfortable with your-self, it comes from sharing and giving – refer to my first blog on Pearls of Wisdom.

Human beings should live a complete life - Upanishads

This means:

 A life that is Soundaryapurna or Beautiful. Most of the wise persons looking at your life should say that this is a beautiful balanced life. Beauty referred here is the internal or intrinsic beauty of your personality & the achievements you made in your life. Beauty of your values, love and compassion with humbleness.

A life that is Sukhamaya or full of Happiness. Happiness coming from the inner self and this should not be confused with pleasure, joy or fun, which are short term.

  

A life that is Tejomaya or full of brightness or aura that you acquire. Aura or Tej  comes from several sources.

1. Due to Knowledge you acquire and share with others
2. Due to Contributions you make
3. Due to Spiritual development  the serenity or Satvikta that you develop.

A life that is Parakrami: The challenges that you take, your  accomplishments, significant contributions that you make to the society in a chosen field, significant road blocks that you bust – all for the right causes.

Artha and Moksha:

Up till now we have dealt with Dharma and the Kama. Artha and Moksha are the other two Pursharthas, about which we will talk about in the next two blog posts over one week.

Disclaimer: The pictures in this post are downloaded from Google images.

The concept of “Dharma” – my reflections

In my earlier blog-post I talked about the purpose of life and the Dharma being the foundation for everything that we should be doing in the life. Today I will talk about the meaning of the term Dharma as understood by me.

Considerable confusion existed in my mind about the difference between the term Religion and the word Dharma. Some understanding that I developed: There is no synonymous term to the word Religion in the Eastern Languages. Religion as we understand is a western concept. The term Dharma is all about the guidelines and the code of conduct that a person is expected to follow. These guidelines as articulated by our ancient seers are for various stages of life. Really speaking these guidelines are the frame work for the way of life.

I am not an expert on religions, however from what I understand similar guidelines or the philosophical foundations exist in all the religions. These religions do differ from each other on superfluous plains – dress codes, symbol, rituals, food habits etc. However the foundational philosophical tenets are very similar in all the religions. Many of the religions that have survived and blossomed for several centuries, these  would not have been in existence if they were fundamentally against building a sound social fabric and code of ethics and conduct that are close to human values. Human beings are same all over the world and they are glued on to very similar human values.

Dharma to me is a way of life and not some religious dictate:

Dharma to me is all about the righteous behavior that we are expected to exhibit. This is all about the norms, the purity of life. Dharma can be described by many people in many different ways. For me it simply means: Sat-sang, Sat karma, Sat bhavana and Sat vichar. Let me illustrate my understanding of these terms:

1.    Sat-sang: Ensuring we always remain in the company of wise / good people from whom we can learn and get guided. Sat means truth, pure, clean. This term therefore tells us to avoid the company of wrong / evil people who can make negative impact on us. This is all about right associations. Ask yourself – Are you always associated with good human beings who are positive, who have good character and those who are value creators. Refer to my first blog on Pearls of wisdom.

2.    Sat-bhavana: This is all about ensuring we always have pure heart and complete absence of evil within us. Bhavana is all about imaginations, sentiments, feelings, fancies, susceptibilities. These have to be pure.

3.    Sat-vichar: This is all about purity of thoughts that are not evil, not negative. It is believed that thoughts are as powerful or may be more powerful than the actions. If we are full of negative thoughts our actions will also become negative.

4.    Sat-karma: This is all about good deeds, the work that is aimed at larger good, the one that is aimed at helping the society, needy and the one that has no malice or selfish interests. It is all about selfless virtuous actions.

Dharma is all about duties:

The term Dharma is all also about the duties that arise from the four ashrams. Some of the duties also come to us from the roles we perform or the profession to which we belong to, for example if I am a teacher, it is my dharma to ensure right efforts are made in a self-less fashion to create and disseminate knowledge in such a way that my students are benefited. No compromises are expected in this process. It is all about putting in the heart and soul and endeavor to excel. Dharma also deals with ethics, moralities, truthfulness, etc. 

Dharma is all about repaying the five debts:

 

Dharma also deals with the duties and the same are illustrated thru the concept of debts in the Indian Philosophy. The debts that we need to repay while we live are illustrated below. These Runas or debts also indicate the purpose of our life.

Type of Debt or Runa	How to repay the debt?
Rishi Runa: Debt from the learned. They are the Gurus, the scientists, the spiritual leaders, the researchers, the thinkers. They gave us wisdom and knowledge.	Lifelong learning with an open mind. Financially or thru service - help / support institutions of learning. Create new knowledge, challenge and rediscover, invent. Sharing is critical.  Aim at becoming a coach / teacher for those who need the knowledge – share what you know.
Dev Runa: Debt from the Devatas. In Hindu way of life a Devata is not the creator or God as understood by the western thought. God is Param Atma or the Bramhan. The Devatwa is a pravrutti or tendency. Those who are divine, do good work for humanity are considered as Deva-swarup or God like, and are therefore called Devas.	How to repay their debt?  Actions that support  / nurtures the work of good human beings. Help, be compassionate, love & support the needy. Become the source of motivation and joy to the depressed. This also includes service & support to the people who are like God. In short become like a Devata or become like God.
Pitru Runa: Debt from ancestors, elders, and parents. They gave us the culture, education & everything that we have including the physical body.	Ensure respect & care for the elders. Nurture & protect the heritage - culture, traditions & arts. Find the meaning behind everything, reject what is not right and relevant at a point of time and accept what is right and relevant. Pass on the heritage to the next generation – ensure continuity.
Bhut Runa: Debt from nature. Focus is on the environment – both living and non-living. In this term Hindu way of life looks at all the elements of nature and environment as Devatas. We worship Warun-dev, Agni-dev, Sun, moon and planets. We also worship animals who are useful to human beings.	Learn to live in harmony with the nature. Use it to the minimum, conserve and nurture. This Debt is all about environmental protection and conservation of flora, fauna and the related areas.
Samaj Runa: Debt from society. Social systems & governance are necessary for human survival. They provide support system, security, education, & means of livelihood. They ensure social fabric. Some examples: cultural centres, charitable institutions, Government institutions, industries that create an engine for prosperity, employment and growth etc.	Find opportunities to contribute to social causes - financially & thru service. Uphold & champion legal & social framework necessary to maintain & improve society. Ensure material pursuits, create new economic engines, lead / support social reforms, work for weaker sections & be a champion for their rights. This is also about becoming excellent citizens of the society where we live in.

It will therefore be seen that Dharma becomes the foundation for the life. Dharma acts as a regulator. All our actions in the life have to be guided by the fundamental principles of Dharma. Our pursuits of Kama and Artha have to be in the framework of Dharma.

Readers may refer to my first blog on “Pearls of Wisdom”. These pearls or guidelines or the frame work, has no religious connotation, it is all about the “code of conduct” that I articulated and I am urging my children to follow. To me that is like Dharma.

My next blog will deal with the concept of "Kama". This will be published in next 3/4 days.

Disclaimer: The images in this blog post are downloaded from Google images

The purpose of life and the four Pursharthas

As I was thinking of retirement and the life post retirement the question - what is the purpose of life kept bothering me. In this process of thinking I was nudged to focus on the four Pursharthas and the four Ashrams that we are expected to go thru as per the Hindu way of life. Lot of inputs for this thinking came from the spiritual experiences that I went thru during the Pandharpur Wari and the reading of Bhagwat as I returned.

Ancient seers in India have very clearly articulated the purpose of life as “attainment of Moksha”. We in India have heard the terms Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha several times since our childhood; however the exact meaning and the linkage of these terms were never very clear.

Thru my on process of reflections I have made an attempt to establish these linkages. While I was diving deep in to the meaning and the purpose of these terms I also tried to link them to the four Ashrams that we are expected to go thru. These linkages were crucial to me since it was difficult for me look at the Wanaprastha Ashram or for that matter any stage of life separate from the four Pursharthas. Once these linkages were established it became clear to me on what one focuses at each stage and how to ensure our ultimate objective of Moksha is not diluted or ignored.

Before we talk of these linkages a brief summary on the four Pursharthas is given below. More reflections on each of these will be in my next blogs.

 Dharma:

This is all about the righteous behaviour that we are expected to exhibit. This is all about the norms, the code of conduct, etc.

Dharma deals with duties and responsibilities that human beings have. This term also deals with ethics, moralities, truthfulness, etc.  It will therefore be seen that Dharma becomes the foundation for the life. Dharma acts as a regulator; it provides the frame work within which we must live.

Artha:

This is all about the wealth creation, earning money, this all about the acquisition of the property, and other material possessions, etc.  This is all about worldly prosperity. Money is an essential ingredient for survival and fulfilment of the fundamental needs of a human being.

Kama:

Kama is all about fulfilment of desires. These desires could be in multiple areas: sexual, power, recognition, comforts, good food, right homes, all types of possessions etc. The urge to enjoy pleasures and satisfy the desires, is the most powerful force within all the human beings.

Moksha:

The ultimate reason for our birth and the life we live is to attain the Moksha. This is the final liberation or Nirvana. This can happen after getting the freedom from the bondages of our deeds or our Karmas, after we conquer all our desires. Beyond moksha human beings have nothing more to attain. It is the stage where man’s cravings cease and along with that the need for further attainments also ceases. It is all about waking up of human consciousness at the highest level of reality.

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As mentioned earlier the table below establishes the linkages and may be simplifies our understanding on the interconnections between the stages of life and the Pursharthas. In our pursuit of worldly glories and pleasures some where we forget the purpose of our lives.

Phase of life	Areas for focus	Fundamental guiding force
Vidyarthi dasha. The foundational years.	Acquisition of knowledge, capabilities and skills necessary to become a strong and independent human being. Here the focus is on building the basics which will enable a person become a good citizen.	Bramhacharya Acquire knowledge Acquire capabilities Acquire skills Understand the “Dharma”
Gruhastha ashram. Life of a householde.	Pursuit of Artha and Kama. Fulfilment of worldly desires, so that you are freed to pursue the higher goal of Moksha.	Be a “Karma yogi” Support the society, build / support the institutions, Build a family, & create the progeny. Manage / control the evils illustrated below.
Wanaprastha ashram. The life of a retired individual	Give-up power, position and controls both on domestic as well as the professional front. Freedom from worldly bondages. Be available to advise, support, counsel, as required. Contributing back – selflessly to the society in the chosen areas.	Conquer the evils: Kama, krodha, moh, mad, matsar and Lobh. Do not allow new desires to enter your thoughts, preparation for Moksha.
Sanyast ashram	Spiritual practices leading to Moksha.	Bramhacharya
For all our life pursuits & to live with purpose in the four stages of life we should depend on the foundation of “Dharma”

In my next few blogs my personal reflections and understanding of the terms Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha are illustrated. These blog posts will be published in next few days. Keep looking for them.

Disclaimer: The picture is downloaded from Google Images.