Swami teaches... Four Purusharthas (Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha)

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Sai Ram

Light and Love

 

Swami teaches... (16 January 2005)

Four Purusharthas (Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha)

The Makara month is holier than all the other months. All auspicious

ceremonies and activities are embarked upon only from this month. Now it is the

beginning of Makaramaasa (when the Sun enters the constellation Capricorn). The

entry of the Sun into Makararasi (Capricorn) heralds the beginning of a great

change from this day. That time is merged by Nature what wears the garb of

Supreme Peace on the holy day of Sankaranthi what means San (coming together),

Kranthi (a big change). Kranthi also means knowledge of the past, present and

future. It can apply to God, who presides over time, space and causation.

Sankaranthi marks the entry into a Divine phase. It signifies the attempt to

turn man's mindtowards God.

It is a time, appointed by Nature to contemplate and experience the

purposes of human life.

 

Four Purusharthas (Dharma, Artha, Kama and Moksha) are regarded in common

parlanceas the purposes of human life. They are given a worldly meaning.

The real meaning of Purusharthas is to make use of the time and the

circumstances as they arise for making one's life meaningful and sublime. We

have to effect a remarkable spiritualtransformation in the world today. Only

then the observance of Makara Sankaranthi has ameaning. External changes with

no change in one's outlook and attitude will not signify Kranthi(radical

change). When the most of humanity bring about a great spiritual

transformation, then there will be real peace. The word Purusha does not

signify the masculine gender as is commonly assumed. It refers to the Atma, the

Supreme Consciousness, which has no gender and which is immanent in allbeings.

Of the two terms Purusha and Prakriti, the latter represents the gross element

in Nature.It refers also to the body. Purusha is the Consciousness, the

Indweller in the body. The two areinterdependent. The sastras have declared

that the body is jada (gross) and the Atma ischaitanya (consciousness) and that

the body is feminine. Every being can be considered as made up of both elements

and therefore everyone irrespective of sex, is entitled to pursue

thePurusharthas.

 

Of the four Purusharthas the first, Dharma, is regarded in common usage as

referring to actions like charity and perform other good deeds. But these

relate only to external actions. The true Dharma of every human being is to

make every endeavour to realise the Divine. The process by which this

consummation can be reached constitutes Dharma what should lead to

Self-realisation.

The second - Artha does not mean, as commonly understood, the accumulation

of property and wealth. They may well become anartha (calamitous). They are not

lasting. The acquisition ofsuch wealth cannot be considered as Purushartha. The

real wealth that the man should acquire is the wisdom that is related to the

Divine. The third - Kama is generally associated with worldly desires and

sensual pleasures. But, when it is considered as the Purushartha - as one of

the purposes of life - it relates to the yearning for God and not to mundane

desires.

The fourth - Moksha is generally understood as referring to the means by

which one reaches God or Heaven. But one can be in Heaven only for the period

earned by one's meritorious deeds and at the end will have to be reborn again.

But Moksha in the true sense refers to a state in which nothing is lacking and

there is no incoming or going out. It is a state without name or form. It is

not a specific place to go to. It is the attainment of unity with the Diane.

For every human being, the first task, among the four Purusharthas, must be

to determine what is permanent and what is transient and seek the Eternal

Madhava. The second objective is the acquisition of the Diane Wisdom as the

real wealth. The third is to develop faith in God andyearn for realisation of

mergence in God. The fourth is Moksha, the state of Self-realisation inwhich

there is no change and there is no movement.

 

However, a human being is not allowed to know his glory, by the six thieves

who hide in his mind - lusty desire, anger, greed, undue attachment, pride and

hatred. So long as these beasts occupy the heart, man cannot escape being a

beast.There are also eight waves of pride which obstruct his attempt to know

himself - the pride of caste, of physical strength, of scholarship, of youth,

of wealth, of personal charm, of overlordship and one's spiritual attainments.

Being a human, what does one aspire for? Absence of grief and presence of

Ananda and freedom to follow one's will. Grief and joy are like night and day,

inevitable phases of life. Freedom for one's will can cause disaster to oneself

and others. A human being must know that he/she is the Atma; that knowledge is

all that is needed for one's Ananda.

 

The basic principles of the human nature are Truth, Righteousness, Peace,

Non-violence and Prema For the first four, the last value, Prema (Love), is the

life-giving spring. When action is saturated with Truth, it becomes Dharma

(Righteousness). When all actions are right, Peace reigns and one's mind is

free from traces of violence. Love is the sustenance for all the four. These

values are the goals, the bases, the roots, the keys of human progress. They

can be achieved most quickly by Prema.

 

Love as thought is Sathya,

as action it is Dharma,

as feeling it is Shanthi and

as understanding it is Ahimsa (Non-violence).

 

These authentic human values cannot be learnt from books or from lessons

given by teachers or gifted by elders. They can be acquired only by experience

and example.

In addition, it is good to know that in arithmetic three minus one is two.

But in the mathematics of the spirit, three minus one is one. God mirrored in

Nature is seen as the Image, Human Being. There are three entities here, but

remove the mirror and what remains is not two but only One, the One God.

(Reet's compilation from: Sathya Sai Baba Speaks. Volume 18. Chapters 1 "World

needs spiritual transformation" and 13 "Live the values and lead the

children").

 

Namaste - Reet