Purushartha: Four Pursuits Of Life

Purushartha

The word 'purushartha' is a compound derived from 'purusha' and 'artha' — root words that together shape its entire meaning.

Purusha—In the bipartite concept of purush-prakrit in Sankhya and Yoga darshana, the one that 'holds ground' (pura + sha), determining and asserting its own course of action — often understood as the 'person' who wills their own path in life, as distinct from prakrit, which is 'designed by nature' (pra + krit) and follows a natural course.

Artha (as root)—From the dhaatu 'rta', meaning to pursue, purpose, or goal — the 'core driving force' of the subject in question. In conversation it conveys 'meaning' (the artha of a phrase); in artha-shastra it deals with the acquisition of wealth. At its root, artha is simply the inner core purpose of a context.

Hence 'purushartha', in its simplest definition, stands for the pursuits of a human for this life.

The Concept

The purushartha are the pursuits of life — in simple terms, the meaning or purpose of life. They address the fundamental question of why we are born and what we are trying to accomplish in this life. There are four main pursuits: dharma, artha, kama, and moksha. These are often practiced in this natural order, but one can always skip one or more intermediate steps, with moksha as the final objective.

Every human, knowingly or unknowingly, naturally works toward one or more of these four aims through the length of their existence.

Like everything else in life, it makes more sense to understand the concept and work toward it in an organized, planned manner than to pursue it ad-hoc.

Dharma

The word is derived from 'dhr + ma', which translates to 'hold or sustain in a controlled or measured way'. In essence, dharma is that which sustains a system in a well-regulated manner. The pursuit of dharma is about learning and understanding the truths of society, nature, and life — and further, seeing how these can be improved in a sustainable way.

The concept of dharma is best understood as part of a tripartite system — ritham-satyam-dharmam:

Ritham—The mental and intellectual realization of non-relative, absolute truth.

Satyam—The outward expression of that truth, in the form of vocal expression, art, philosophy, and so on.

Dharmam—Putting the realized truth into action as a sustainable system.

This is roughly analogous to the relationship between Justice, Law, and Jurisprudence — where justice is the realization of truth (what is 'just'), law expressly codifies what is understood about justice, and jurisprudence is the system of procedures that uses law to make justice happen.

In the Mahabharata (Shanti Parva 12.110.11), Bhishma explains dharma thus:

dhāraṇād dharma ityāhuḥ dharmo dhārayate prajāḥ |
ya syād dhāraṇa samyuktaḥ sa dharma iti niścayaḥ ||

Dharma sustains the society and maintains the social order — dharma ensures the well-being of humanity, and surely is that which fulfills these objectives.

Artha

As described earlier, the word artha comes from the dhaatu 'rta', the core driving force of the subject in question. In the context of purushartha, it was about the purpose and meaning of life. As a pursuit of life, it is about prosperity and well-being as the core driving force.

Prosperity is often misunderstood to be just about material wealth, but it is far more than that. An easier way to understand artha as 'prosperity and well-being' is through the different aspects of Goddess Lakshmi, the deity of that exact purpose.

Dhana (wealth), dhanya (food), vijaya (victory), santana (offspring), dhairya (courage), vidya (knowledge), saubhagya (fortune), vara (blessings), rajya (majesty) — all of these are part of artha constituting prosperity, alongside health, intellectual satisfaction, happiness, and emotional contentment.

Basically, anything that drives a human to acquire things for their own satisfaction is part of artha — and all of it forms this pursuit.

Kama

The word 'kama' comes from the dhatu 'kam', meaning desire, wish, or something one longs for. This is perhaps the most misunderstood and maligned term, given its popularity with negative connotations as part of the ari-shad-varga — the six enemies within. The incorrect reading of the Kama Sutra as merely a 'sex manual' only makes it worse.

Every human has desires and wishes they want to fulfill. The pursuit of kama is about fulfilling those desires while staying in line with the teachings of dharma. A balanced, constructive way to understand this is through Kamadhenu — the divine cow who grants any wish to fulfill the desires of those in her possession.

Wishes and desires are not just sensory in nature, but also intellectual, emotional, and aesthetic — one's pursuit of kama is about fulfilling those desires while staying within the bounds of dharma.

In Bharatiya samskruthi, it is common for the following mantra to be chanted to Devi Saraswati before beginning education-related activities:

sarasvatī namastubhyaṃ varade kāmarūpiṇī |
vidyārambhaṃ kariṣyāmi siddhirbhavatu me sadā ||

Salutations Mother Saraswati, giver of boons, fulfiller of desires — bless me, so that I begin my studies successfully, may there be accomplishments.

Moksha

The word 'moksha' comes from the dhatu 'muk', meaning to release. Among the four pursuits, moksha is considered the final objective of life — to be released at peace from the bondages and sufferings of this life, and to exit with the utmost peace and contentment.

The pursuit of moksha, as explained in the Gita, is to be detached from raaga-dwesha (attachments and aversions), and to be able to leave this world in the most natural state — the way we came in at birth, by shedding all that was imposed on us afterward.

Summary

The four pursuits — also the purpose, aim, or goals of life — are dharma, artha, kama, and moksha. While these are generally practiced in this natural order, one can alter the order of the first three and even skip some of them. The fourth pursuit, moksha, is universally accepted as the last one, and stands as the core objective of life.

— Mohan Krishna Sonti (2022)