BANGALORE: Purushartha is an often used expression in scriptures. It is a combination of two words — purusha and artha. The dweller in the body is the purusha. He is the Atma or soul that resides within us which is unseen, unfelt and unrealised. The word purusha is not gender specific. Both men and women are referred to as purushas because the inner Jeeva thatva within them is the same. The word artha means “what we seek.” Purushartha refers to what the purusha seeks or what the soul seeks. What the body and mind seek is easy to understand in terms of physical needs like hunger, thirst and pleasure, but what the soul seeks is a matter to ponder upon.
The human body is like a “mahaapuri” or a great city with gateways (inlets and outlets), centers (chakras) and pathways (arteries and veins). The Atma lies hidden deep within the innermost part of the city. We do not see it, we are unwaware of it. Our awareness is limited to our physical body and mind. Like people in a fair who have lost track of their money,objects and children, we too have lost awareness of the “self” in this fair called life.
The Atma suffers due to our ignorance. When we refer to the self, we are truly referring to the “Atma”, yet we do not know it. Losing awareness of the self, is like losing the most precious possession that one can have.
The Upanishad states - “Atmanastu kaamaaya sarvam priyambhavati”— nothing is dearer to the Jeeva than its Self.
When we read about tragedies and calamities in the newspaper, we are not terribly disturbed. But when the same tragedy strikes our near and dear ones, we are pained because my and mine refer to the Atma or Self.
The true form of the Atma is happiness. When disturbed ,it seeks to move and reattain that state of eternal bliss. The actions of the Jeeva are only an external manifestation of the Atma’s quest to regain happiness.
Purushartha refers to this quest. Dharma, artha, kama and moksha are the four purusharthas or the needs of the Jeeva and the pursuit of these purusharthas is the nature of the soul. Artha or wealth is the means to fulfil our kama. Desire for
food, house, wife and children, can be fulfilled through artha. God bestowes artha and kama on us depending on our good deeds and achievements in life. Dharma is the kaaranabootha vasthu or the essential condition to gain artha, kama and moksha. It is the password which gives entry to the realm of suka and
moksha.
Kama or desire which has Dharma behind it and moksha infront of it is acceptable. We have to be careful to accept only wealth and happiness that are founded on Dharma and lead to moksha. If not, they will lead us to misery and destruction. Kama which keeps company with kroda, loba, mada and mathsara is evil and should be rejected.
Moksha means a pile of eternal happiness and kama is a tiny part of it. If Moksha is compared to an ocean, kama is a wave. They are the same, but differ in degree. To give a foretaste of moksha to Jeeva, God has kept kama as a force in our life. Yoga says that the pile of happiness which is within us is covered by three gunas- thamasa, rajasa and sathvika. Thamas is like colour black and hides the inner truth; rajas like colour red prevents visibility; sathvika is like a transparent glass dome, and we get a glimpse of the inner happiness and beauty. It is only through constant practice we can remove the colours of thamas and rajas in our selves and gain sathvik tendencies .
It is the absolute right of Jeeva to seek happiness. We have to find the right way to procure purusharthas , founded on Dharma. Then life is a fulfillment. If not , it is an unbearable burden.
