Dharma Artha Kama Moksha

Millenia ago, seers in the ancient Eastern tradition

articulated the blueprint for the fulfillment of the objectives of human birth as was shown to them in the highest
supreme levels of consciousness. The Supreme Self pervades and exists in all dimensions in all beings, sentient
and insentient. It is that Supreme Self that exists inside each individual self, in each individual person. And
therefore every individual person is none other than the Supreme Self, for how can the part be different from the
whole.

In order for an individual to realize their supreme Self, they need to identify the reasons and objectives why they
came into being on this earth plane, and fulfill them. The ancient seers clearly articulated the objectives of
humankind as "Purusharthas" -- 'Purusha' means an individual or person, and 'Artha' means meaning or
objective or pursuit. They articulated four Purusharthas as:

Dharma : Righteousness, Duty

Artha : Wealth
Kama : Desire
Moksha : Liberation
The four purusharthas are really the objectives of God, of the Supreme Self, the qualities of God. And since an
individual person is a reflection of God, is a part of God, it is the rightful pursuit of a person to fulfill these four
purusharthas. In fact, it is both your individual and soul purpose.

An individual can realize him or herself by balancing and

fulfilling these four objectives. These four objectives are not independent of each other and should not be viewed
in a stand-alone manner. They define and refine the other objectives and allow the other objectives to define and
refine itself. The activity of fulfilling one objective should also support the fulfillment of the other objectives. By
maintaining a balance between the definition and fulfillment of the four purusharthas, a symbiotic evolution of the
individual self takes place. Exclusive pursuit of one purushartha creates an imbalance in a person's life, and
prevents the person from reaching the ultimate destination of their life. As a person progresses through the
evolution of their soul, they find that some of the objectives eventually lose their place and importance to more
predominant objectives. For example, the desire to earn wealth may diminish and disappear, or a person may
come to the realization that there are no more material desires that they need to pursue, and hence more room is
created for the pursuit of the ultimate objective, Moksha.

Ekatvam is founded on the four pillars of Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha. The mission of Ekatvam is to help
people realize their True Selves, to become one with the Supreme Self in this lifetime, to achieve moksha. Often,
people make the mistake of renouncing everything in the pursuit of Moksha, but that can frequently turn out to be
the wrong path, and is not suited for everyone. Ekatvam is in place to help people identify their true purpose and
their unique purusharthas. Ekatvam shows the way to each individual by helping people see the underlying
unity, Ekatvam (oneness), of themselves with the Universe. The path for each individual to reach the ultimate
destination is different, and it is only the individual self that can identify and see the path with the help of the
Divine guidance.
Dharma: A person is born on this earth to perform certain duties. The soul houses itself into the physical vehicle
that is the body which most suits for performing these duties. The physical work that a person needs to do, the
duties of the person on this earth plane are termed as the Dharma of the person. Dharma is a difficult term to
translate into English, but can roughly be translated as the rightful duty of a person. This is the true calling of a
person, what they are born to do. Examples of a person's dharma are to be a doctor, teacher, writer, warrior,
priest, parent etc. Sometimes a person's dharma is decided by their birth, but not necessarily so. A person's
dharma can be a combination of things, and as a person progresses through life, different stages of life may call
for different dharmas and purposes. Tuning into the inner guide of the heart allows a person to identify their
dharma, their true calling.

Artha: Artha is the pursuit of material wealth, which

brings material comforts to a person. People sometimes believe that the path of spiritual growth and pursuit of
material wealth are mutually exclusive, or even that a spiritual seeker needs to be in poverty. But that is not true.
If we look at the Universe, it is a reflection of abundance. Nature is abundant in everything, poverty is nothing but
a state of consciousness. If abundance is the quality of the Divine, how is pursuit of abundance in contrast with
the pursuit of the Divine? If one is in poverty, in a state of constantly worrying about how to support and feed, if
that is what the focus is on, how can one pursue spirituality? Only when there are no worries is one able to focus
their attention to the goal of union with the Divine. The important thing to remember is not to be attached to the
possession or attainment of wealth. It can be either transcended or sought with detachment, and with awareness.
When done in this state of mind, the pursuit of wealth is not different from the pursuit of the Divine, because one
sees abundance, or wealth as a form of the Divine. And in this state of detachment, one recognizes when one
has attained their financial objectives, and hence the desire to pursue automatically dies away, paving the way
for Moksha.
Kama: Kama is fulfilling one's desires. Desires are in various forms -- to be wealthy, powerful, sexual needs,
recognition, service, etc. The Kama purushartha advocates that one's desires in this lifetime need to be fulfilled,
albeit in a state of awareness and without harming anyone in the process. For a person to evolve spiritually and
to reach the ultimate destination, the barrier of desires needs to be crossed. This can be done either by fulfilling
the desires, or by sublimating or transcending them. Suppressing of desires is certainly not recommended
because it is like a fully coiled spring that is held down by force, it can erupt unpredictably causing undesirable
consequences. As one becomes aware of their desires and one goes about fulfilling them in awareness and
without judgement, one soon reaches the stage of being able to sublimate them. The Divine, the Universe, lends
a big hand in the process.

Moksha: Moksha means liberation, realization of the Self, and is the

ultimate destination of this human birth. It is the stage of inner realization that the individual self is the same as
the Supreme Self. It is the experience of the cosmos within one's self. It is the experience of the flow and fusion
of the Shiva and Shakti energies in one's self. It is the experience of union, oneness, Ekatvam, with the Universe.
As all the rivers must eventually lead to the sea, there are many spiritual paths leading to the same
destination. Some paths are shorter than others, some are more arduous than others. The path can be difficult to
navigate, and the path may not always be visible. A guide, in the form of a Guru is needed to traverse this path,
someone who holds the person and shows them the Way to their inner Guru. It is Ekatvam's mission, and it is the
Dharma of Amma and Swamiji to help people find their way to Moksha.

Indian Philosophy
The Indian philosophy has its roots in
the Vedic period.

The great Rishis, settled in the peaceful, invigorating

environment of the forests, meditated over the fundamental
questions of existence: What is the world? If it’s a creation, what
are its constituents? Who is the creator? What is life? What is
‘truth’? What is ‘the nature of reality’?

What was revealed to them was expressed in hymns. With

the passage of time, the systematized collection of these hymns
constituted the Vedas and the Upanishads.
 Indian philosophy distinctly exhibits a spiritual bent. The
essence of religion is not dogmatic in India. Here, religion
develops as philosophy progressively scales higher planes.

Some of the fundamentals expressed in the Indian philosophy

and the Western philosophy may be similar. However, Indian
philosophy differs from the Western philosophy on several
counts. While the Western philosophy deals with metaphysics,
epistemology, psychology, ethics etc. separately, Indian
philosophy takes a comprehensive view of all these topics.

For an Indian philosopher, philosophy is something beyond

an intellectual pursuit. The Indian philosopher exemplifies
philosophy in his life. His intelligence, knowledge and wisdom
are reflected in his life. This is why his life positively influences
the life of masses.

The Indian philosophy uniquely describes

four purusharthas of life.

Purusharthas:

The four basic ends (purusharthas) of human life,

as recognized by the Indian tradition, are as follows:

artha, kama, dharma and moksha.

(1) Artha: The Sanskrit word artha means ‘that

which one seeks.’ Whatever activity and physical
material a man needs to support life can be
considered as artha. Artha, in a broad sense, covers
man’s professional activities, job, business, wealth,
property and all such earthly material helpful in
maintaining his life.

(2) Kama: Man seeks pleasure in various

activities and material objects. Pursuit of happiness
and pleasure is a basic, natural instinct in man. Man
derives pleasures from relationships and material
objects like food, drink etc. This is kama. Man largely
accumulates artha forkama. But artha and kama should
be closely linked with the dharma. They should
be directed towards dharma.

(3) Dharma: 'That which sustains' is dharma. The

word dharma stems from the Sanskrit root
‘dhr’ meaning ‘to sustain’ or ‘to
support’.Dharma sustains or maintains
life. Dharma supports the society. Man lives in the
society with fellow-men and various life
forms. Dharmalays down duties and obligations
expected of man. An individual and the society, for
their conduct and actions, get guidance from dharma.
Man has obligation to his own self, to the fellow-men
and to the society, in fact, to the whole environment
of the world. All the mutual obligations of these
inter-relationships are spelt out by dharma.

(4) Moksha: Moksha means liberation or total

freedom. The Sanskrit word moksha is derived from
the root ‘muk’. This root means ‘to emancipate’ or ‘to
release’ or ‘to free’. Indian tradition
considers moksha as the ultimate goal of life. The
sufferings of man are due toavidya, his original
ignorance about self. He has been oblivious of his
true identity. He attaches himself to worldly
objects. Tempted and pressed by everlasting lust and
insurmountable desires, he remains bonded to the
mundane objects. When knowledge (vidya) dawns on
him, he overcomes the dualities of the world and
identifies himself as the infinite, eternal Being.
Having been completely free from all attachments,
expectations and desires, the liberated soul
attains moksha.