Thursday 18 September 2014

Purushartha 02

Pusushartha Nischayam - Determining the highest priority of Human Goals

The very first step towards attaining moksha is purushartha nischayam. We need to decide our highest priority among the four goals - kama, artha, dharma and moksha. A person who wants moksha much more than kama, artha and dharma is called as a mumukshu. That person wants mukti more than anything else.

Value of moksa:
Unless we understand what is meant by the word moksa, we are unlikely to develop an intense mumukshutvam - an intense desire to seek moksha. We saw the definition of purushartha – kama, artha, dharma and moksha in the previous blogs.

Jagadguru on Purushartha:
Jagadguru Sringeri Sankracharya starts with a reference to purushartha in his talks as per the link below.
Jagadguru says that the first three purusharthas – kama, artha and dharma are anityam – impermanent and only moksa is nityam – permanent.

Swami Dayananda on Purushartha:
Swamiji starts his book on Bhagavad Gita Home Study with a discussion on purushartha. Excerpts from Swamiji’s book and talks were used in previous blogs.

Swami Paramarthananda on Purushartha:
Please listen to Swamiji’s talks as per the following links.

Swami Guruparananda on Purushartha:
Please listen to Swamiji’s talks as per the following link.

Swami Omkarananda on Purushartha:
Excerpts from Swamiji’s talks were used in previous blogs.

Futility of Kama, artha and dharma
Kama – objects of pleasure and enjoyment and artha – keeping the objects secure is common and instinctive to both animals and humans. Jagadguru says that if a human seeks only the objects of pleasure and protecting them, that person is not very different from animal. The pursuit of objects and relationships must be in line with dharma. We have apurna bhavah – a sense of incompleteness which drives us to seek objects. We seek them in the hope that these objects will make us complete.
This ____ will make me happy. You can fill up any number of items in this blank. As a child, toys and marbles made me happy. We are constantly and continuously in search of happiness by means of acquiring objects.
This person _____ will make me happy and take care of me when I am old and sick. You can fill up any number of relationships in this blank.
Sastra says that addition of any number of objects and relationships will never make you complete. That is what Jagadguru means by kama, artha and dharma being anityam. Things break and relationships sour. That is the fact of life. When a person if pointed to the futility of this pursuit, that person becomes a mumushu.
We have to note one thing carefully. When we say that pursuit of dharma is also futile, one should not give up dharma and start performing unethical acts. That is why this sastra is only for dharmic people who are firmly established in dharma.