NAME- SIMRAN KAUR

ROLL NO.- 972

SEMESTER 2
TOPIC- PURUSARTHA

The Theory of Puruṣārtha

Introduction
Puruṣārtha, literally means an "object of human pursuit." It is a key concept in
Hinduism, which holds that every human has four proper goals that are necessary
and sufficient for a fulfilling and happy life. The word, Purusartha, comprises of
“purusha” meaning “man” or “human” in general, and “artha” meaning “object of
desire”, “meaning” and “purpose”. Human existence has a meaning and the
puruṣārthas outline the goals and ends that a rational and conscious being should
pursue in life in order to fulfil their destiny. These are dharma, artha, kama and
moksha. The order in which these puruṣārthas are taken, probably emphasizes the
superiority of dharma over the other two puruṣārthas, i.e. artha and kama. Dharma
acts as a regulating principle. According to Dharmasastra, a person can have three
life goals called puruṣārthas, which are kama, artha and dharma. These three are
cumulatively called in Sanskrit as Trivarga i.e. group of three. The Mahabharata
invariably speaks of the trivarga. "dharma, artha and kama should all be equally
attended to. “He is the best who attends to all the three." It is argued that moksha
was not included in the earlier sources and only later added to because it
necessarily deals with the afterlife while the other three has mostly to do with this
world here and now. As a matter of fact, he who wanted moksha was expected to
renounce the trivarga. It is to be noted here that a puruṣārtha is not considered to be
so in the same sense as the other puruṣārtha. Let us discuss the four puruṣārthas
briefly below:

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 fellowmen and
various life forms. Dharma lays 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 fellowmen 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.
Dharma or the good, according to Veda, stands for the ideal that stirs, regulates and
sustains everything that is living, moving and having its being. “Everything is rooted
in dharma”, “dharma is the basis of the universe” and “therefore do the wise say that
the good is great.”

ARTHA
The Sanskrit word artha means ‘that which one seeks.’ It stands for the acquisitive
principle in man. 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. These resources need to be cultivated and developed according
to the two guiding principles of yoga and ksema, the former means the generation
and supplementation of resources and the latter means the conservation of them.

KAMA
It stands for the instinctive principle of the human personality. 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. Kama is seen as the dynamic force of life,
without it there would be no action.   Man largely accumulates artha for kama.
But artha and kama should be closely linked with the dharma. They should
be directed towards dharma. Apart from the aesthetic enjoyment, kama also stands
for the fulfilment of all psycho-physical needs. One has to make sure that the needs
are not converted to greed and the intentions to enjoy the fruits of kama must be
pure and in alignment with dharma.

MOKSA
It stands for the spiritual principle. 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 to avidya, his original ignorance
about self. He has been oblivious of his true identity. He attaches himself to worldly
objects. He remains bonded to the mundane objects because of the temptations and
his insurmountable desires. 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.

CONCLUSION

There is a perpetual struggle going on between the higher and the lower self. But the
true meaning of his being does not consist in conflict but in its transcendence. The
goal of all this strife and struggles is the realization of one’s ultimate self (moksha).
There is an inherent tension between moksha or renunciation and the pursuit of
kama and artha. Law and profit are technical terms for two of the puruṣārthas - Law/
righteousness (dharma), profit/wealth/power (artha), and pleasure (kama). When
they are in conflict with each other, one is expected to choose the higher––profit
over pleasure, and righteousness over both profit and pleasure. In each of these
fields expert treatises were composed: the Dharmashastra for the first, treatises on
government, Arthashastra for the second, and texts on erotics, Kamasutra for the
third.

There are four stages of life (asramadharma) according to which a person seeks
fulfilment of the puruṣārthas, and four castes or varnas. This social reality must have
formed the basis for the formulation of the theory of puruṣārtha. It can be reasonably
argued that no matter what the society is, an individual aspires for these basic goals
in life. They are the puruṣārthas.
With each stage begins a certain kind of sacrifice. The first stage of sacrifice is the
brahmacarya (initiation) where there is a second birth. the life of the individual is
dedicated to the development of an individual self; for this he has to sacrifice
although not at a great level. The second stage i.e grhastha (householder), the man
has to undergo five sacrifices of life, along with it, there are added responsibilities.
The life of grhastha is that of pravrtti (giving or devoting one's self to" external action)
and the ideal of progress rather than perfection, dominates it. The ideal of perfection
emerges at the third stage of life (vanaprastha). A man is supposed to enter upon
his third birth in this stage. He sacrifices his love for the world and having placed the
responsibilities on the shoulders of his sons, now spends his time on contemplation
in order to cultivate an unbiased mindset. But the greatest sacrifice he makes in the
fourth stage of life i.e sannyasa, wherein he sacrifices his love of one’s self. This is
the hardest to break but once he leaves his ego, he finally comes at peace and
freedom and all struggles cease. Moksha is emphasized more in the last two stages
of life while artha and kama are considered important during family life. Dharma is
essential in all the four stages of life.

There is a conflict between the three constituent puruṣārthas within the trivarga
scheme itself on the question of importance. Also, the nastik schools of philosophy
which do not subscribe to the Vedas, differ in their notions as well: Carvakas or the
materialists accept only artha and kama. Buddhism and Jainism give preference to
moksa- centric puruṣārthas which parallels their concepts of nirvana and kevala.
However, it is agreed that the four puruṣārthas describe a holistic philosophy of life
which the human beings adopt in varying degrees in their spiritual and material lives.

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