The four principles - dharma, artha, kama, moksha

 

For spiritual blossoming in life, four principles have to be kept in mind — dharma, artha, kama, and moksha. These are the four aspects of Purushartha. Dharma is the nature, artha is the means, kama is the desire and moksha is the release from desire. 

The body has its nature. If the body wants to sleep, you have to provide it with rest. But, in reality what do we do when the body wants to sleep? We turn on the television to watch an interesting movie. We are going against the body’s dharma. Suppose the body has a desire to eat and even though you have eaten, the desire has not vanished. Your stomach is full, but the desire to eat still remains. This is where moksha comes in.

Moksha means release from the desire. Dropping of the desire is moksha. If there is no coordination between these four faculties, then life will be utter chaos; a misery. For example, you have a desire to go to the moon or to fly but your desire and means don’t coordinate with each other, then sheer dissatisfaction sets in. When desire and nature are coordinated, then the means and fulfillment are also coordinated. Fulfillment can also be taken to mean liberation. 

Once, there was a potter. He took a long time in making pots — spending long hours to make each pot artistic and even painting some of them. He put all the pots he made in a basket to take them to the market. The market was some distance away. The potter started daydreaming as he was walking along. He began to make various plans about what he would do with the money that he would earn by selling the pots. He imagined that he would become a millionaire, that his friends would respect him a lot. He would be able to relax and do nothing. While thus dreaming of relaxing on a chair, his hands let go of the basket and all the pots fell and were shattered. He did not even reach the marketplace! No coordination between the four — fulfillment, desire, means and one’s very nature, creates problems. 

Both artha (wealth and material comforts) and kama (desire or passion) arise in life from time to time, according to one’s needs. Fulfilling those needs to sustain one’s life, yet not getting entangled in too much greed or lust is the responsibility of dharma (righteous action) and moksha (liberation from suffering). 

In the course of our life, from time to time, we have to engage ourselves in the pursuit of artha and kama. Enjoy them but at the same time do not get caught up in them. That is why we should engage in actions that are aligned with our dharma and refrain from those actions that go against it. The same goes for artha too. 

Life cannot function smoothly if any one of the four aspects of Purushartha is missing. As life progresses, we must have moksha as our supreme aim; adhere to and uphold dharma at all times, and we will see that our pursuits for both artha and kama will also bear fruit in due course of time.

Why should one be on the spiritual path?

 

Spirituality for me is very basic to life. We are made of both matter and spirit. While the building blocks of our body are proteins, carbohydrates, etc., our consciousness or spirit is made of compassion, joy, energy, enthusiasm, peace, happiness and all such beautiful qualities. Anything that uplifts the spirit, anything that brings more happiness, love, creativity, compassion, and enthusiasm in life is spirituality. 

For thousands of years, spirituality has been the guiding force behind humanity. Now is the time when we need to move from religion to spirituality. Religion is like the peel and spirituality the fruit inside. Wars have been fought and nations divided in the name of religion but spirituality has united humanity irrespective of religion, race, caste, creed, gender, colour and age. The rituals that you go through from birth to death are all religion. 

Spirituality is personal. Unfortunately, the world over, we have thrown out the essence and are holding on to the dry fruit peel. Spirituality gives you the much-needed self-esteem, confidence and fearlessness. Some religions don’t believe in God — like Buddhism and Jainism. 

Religion, mainly talks about rituals, symbols, a style of life, whereas spirituality attends to the core values of empowering oneself, and realizing that there are many faculties and dimensions lying dormant within us. For example, all of us have ten fingers, but not everyone knows how to play the sitar. With a little training, the fingers can play music. In the same way, with a little training of our minds, talent can be exhibited, confidence levels can rise, honesty, integrity – qualities that we expect from others will start showing up within us. 

Spirituality is getting in touch with yourself, the core of your being. The goal of the spiritual path is to understand the spiritual dimension of life and live all the values that the spirit represents — peace, love, joy, beauty, unlimited knowledge, and the capacity to understand both mind and matter. At any moment, in any place, you can just sit and let go, knowing that inside you there is a pure, clear space that’s vast and deep. 

That inner space is what you are. Feeling this inner space is knowing your spiritual dimension. Spiritual blossoming simply means blossoming in life in all dimensions — being happy, at ease with yourself and with everybody around you. Worrying doesn’t make any difference, but working does, and spirituality gives one the strength to work.