In Hinduism, a Puruṣārtha (a Sanskrit tatpurusha compound translating to "human purpose") is one of the canonical four ends or aims of human life.[1][2][3] They are (ordered from least to greatest):
- Kāma - "wish, desire, love and sensual pleasure"
- Artha - "wealth, prosperity, glory"
- Dharma - "righteousness, duty, morality, virtue, ethics", encompassing notions such as ahimsa (non-violence) and satya (truth)
- Mokṣa - "liberation", i.e. liberation from Saṃsāra, the cycle of reincarnation.
Mokṣa as ultimate transcendental liberation ranks as the chief goal or parama-puruṣārtha. The relative value and hierarchy of the preceding three are the subject matter of a discussion between Yudhisthira, Arjuna, Bhima, Nakula, Sahadeva and Vidura in the Mahabharata (12.161).[4]
Historically, the first three goals, dharma, artha and kama, were articulated first (Sanskrit: trivarga), and the fourth goal, mokṣa, later (Skt.: chaturvarga). In living tradition, the notion of the four puruṣārthas represents a holistic approach to the satisfaction of man's spiritual, physical and emotional needs.
There is a popular correspondence between the four puruṣārthas, the four stages of life (Skt.: āśrama: Brahmacharya [student life], Grihastha [household life], Vanaprastha [retired life] and Sannyasa [renunciation]) and the four primary castes or strata of society (Skt.: varna: Brahmana [priest/teacher], Kshatriya [warrior/politician], Vaishya [landowner/entrepreneur] and Shudra [servant/manual labourer]). This, however, has not been traced to any primary source in early Sanskrit literature.
Swami Dayanand Saraswati explains the concept as follows:
- "Dharma occupies the first place in the four categories of human goals, because the pursuit of security, artha, and pleasures, kama, need to be governed by ethical standards. Artha, striving for security, comes second, because it is the foremost desire of everyone. Everyone is obedient under the doctor's scalpel precisely because everyone wants to live. Granted life, one then wants to be happy, to pursue pleasures, kama. I want to live and live happily; and both pursuits, the struggle for security and the search for pleasure, must be governed by ethics. The last category is the goal of liberation, moksa, ranked last because it becomes a direct pursuit only when one has realized the limitations inherent in the first three pursuits."[5]
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See also
Notes
- ^ For kāma, artha, and dharma as "brahmanic householder values" see: Flood (1996), p. 17.
- ^ For the Dharma Śāstras as discussing the "four main goals of life" (kāma, artha, dharma, and mokṣa) see: Hopkins, p. 78.
- ^ For definition of the term पुरुष-अर्थ (puruṣa-artha) as "any of the four principal objects of human life, i.e. धर्म, अर्थ, काम, and मोक्ष" see: Aptte, p. 626, middle column, compound #1.
- ^ Bilimoria et al. (eds.), Indian Ethics: Classical Traditions and Contemporary Challenges (2007), p. 103.
- ^ "Introduction to Vedanta - Understanding the Fundamental Problem" [1][page needed]
References
- Apte, Vaman Shivram (1965). The Practical Sanskrit Dictionary. Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers. ISBN 81-208-0567-4. (fourth revised & enlarged edition).
- Flood, Gavin (1996). An Introduction to Hinduism. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-43878-0.
- Hopkins, Thomas J. (1971). The Hindu Religious Tradition. Cambridge: Dickenson Publishing Company, Inc..
Further reading
- Anna Dallapiccola, Dictionary of Hindu Lore and Legend (ISBN 0-500-51088-1)
- Patrick Olivelle, The asrama system: the history and hermeneutics of a religious institution (New York, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1993) (ISBN 0-19-508327-X)
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