Purushartha (Sanskrit:पुरुषार्थ,romanized: Puruṣārtha;pronounced[pu.ɾu.ʂɑːɾ.tʰɐ]) literally means "object(ive) of men".[1] It is a key concept inHinduism, and refers to the four proper goals or aims of a human life. The fourpuruṣārthas areDharma (righteousness, moral values),Artha (prosperity, economic values),Kama (pleasure, love, psychological values) andMoksha (liberation, spiritual values, self-realization).[2][3]
All fourPurusharthas are important, but in cases of conflict,Dharma is considered more important thanArtha orKama in Hindu philosophy.[4][5]Moksha is considered the ultimate goal of human life.[6] At the same time, this is not a consensus among all Hindus, and many have different interpretations of the hierarchy, and even as to whether one should exist.
Historical Indian scholars recognized and debated the inherent tension between active pursuit of wealth (Artha) and pleasure (Kama), and renunciation of all wealth and pleasure for the sake of spiritual liberation (Moksha). They proposed "action with renunciation" or "craving-free, dharma-driven action", also calledNishkama Karma as a possible solution to the tension.[7][8]
Puruṣārtha (पुरुषार्थ) is a composite Sanskrit word fromPurusha (पुरुष) andArtha (अर्थ).Purusha means "spirit",[citation needed] "immaterial essence",[citation needed] or "primaeval human being as the soul and original source of the universe".[9], depending on thedarsana, the school of thought.Artha in one context means "purpose", "object of desire" and "meaning".[10] Together,Purushartha literally means "purpose of human being" or "object of human pursuit".[1][11]
Alf Hiltebeitel translatesPurushartha as "Goals of Man".[12] Prasad clarifies that "Man" includes both man and woman in ancient and medieval Indian texts.[11] Olivelle translates it as the "aims of human life".[13] In his bookBhagavad-Gita As It Is,Prabhupada describes Purusartha as "material religiosity, economic development, sense gratification and, at the end, the attempt to become one with the Supreme."[14]
Purushartha is also referred to asChaturvarga.[15]
Purushartha 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,[16]
Dharma – signifies behaviors that are considered to be in accord withrta, the order that makes life and universe possible,[17] and includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues andright way of living.[18] Hindu dharma includes the religious duties, moral rights and duties of each individual, as well as behaviors that enable social order, right conduct, and those that are virtuous.[18] Dharma, according tovan Buitenen,[19] is that which all existing beings must accept and respect to sustain harmony and order in the world. It is, states van Buitenen, the pursuit and execution of one's nature and true calling, thus playing one's role in cosmic concert.[19]
Artha – signifies the "means of life", activities and resources that enables one to be in a state one wants to be in.[20]Artha incorporates wealth, career, activity to make a living, financial security and economic prosperity. The proper pursuit of artha is considered an important aim of human life in Hinduism.[21][22]
Kama – signifies desire, wish, passion, emotions, pleasure of the senses, theaesthetic enjoyment of life, affection, or love, with or without lustful connotations.[23]Gavin Flood explains[24] kāma as "love" without violating dharma (moral responsibility), artha (material prosperity) and one's journey towards moksha (spiritual liberation).
Moksha – signifies emancipation, liberation or release.[25] In some schools of Hinduism,moksha connotes freedom fromsaṃsāra, the cycle of death and rebirth, in other schools moksha connotes freedom, self-knowledge, self-realization and liberation in this life.[26][27]
Ancient Indian literature emphasizes that dharma is foremost. If dharma is ignored, artha and kama - profit and pleasure respectively - lead to social chaos.[4] TheGautama Dharmashastra,Apastamba Dharmasutra andYājñavalkya Smṛti, as examples, all suggest that dharma comes first and is more important than artha and kama.[5]
Kama states the relative value of three goals as follows: artha is more important and should precede kama, while dharma is more important and should precede both kama and artha.[28] Kautiliya'sArthashastra, however, argues that artha is the foundation for the other two. Without prosperity and security in society or at individual level, both moral life and sensuality become difficult. Poverty breeds vice and hate, while prosperity breeds virtues and love, suggested Kautiliya.[4] Kautilya adds that all three are mutually connected, and one should not cease enjoying life, nor virtuous behavior, nor pursuit of wealth creation. Excessive pursuit of any one aspect of life with complete rejection of other two, harms all three including the one excessively pursued.[29] Thesastras, states Kane,[30] observe that the relative precedence of artha, kama and dharma are naturally different with age.
Moksha is considered in Hinduism as theparama-puruṣārtha or ultimate goal of human life.[12]
Indian scholars recognized and have debated the inherent tension between renunciation andMoksha on one hand, and the active pursuit ofKama andArtha on the other.[31] This has led to the concepts ofPravrtti (प्रवृत्ति, Pravritti) andNivrtti (निवृत्ति, Nivritti), with the former meaning "giving or devoting one's self to" external action, while the latter means "withdrawing and restraining one's self from" external action in order to focus on one's own liberation.Artha andKama arePravrtti, whileMoksha isNivrtti.[32] Both are considered important in Hinduism. Manusmriti, for example, describes it as,[7]
Activity, according to orthodox tradition, is of two kinds:pravrtti andnivrtti, The first kind of activity leads to progress (abhyudaya), and the second, to perfection (nihsreyasa).
Indian scholars offered a creative resolution to the tension between "action"-filled life and "renunciation"-driven life, by suggesting the best of both worlds can be achieved by dedicating oneself to "action with renunciation", that is when "action is without attachment or craving for results". Action must be engaged in because it isDharma, that is, it is good, virtuous, right, a duty and a moral activity, and not because of one's craving for the results or material rewards without any consideration for Dharma. This idea of "craving-free, dharma-driven action" has been calledNishkama Karma inBhagavad Gita.[8][33] Other Indian texts state the same answer to tension between "pursue wealth and love" versus "renounce everything"Purusharthas, but using different words. Isa Upanishad, for example, states "act and enjoy with renunciation, do not covet".[7]
The concept ofmokṣa appears in theUpanishads, while the precedingSamhitas, Brahmanas and Aranyakas commonly refer tokāma,artha anddharma as the "trivarga" or "three categories" of possible human pursuits. TheDharmaśāstras and the epicsRamayana andMahabharata are the first known sources that comprehensively present the notion that integrated living entails the pursuit of four goals or ends.[12] Prasad (2008) states that the division between thetrivarga andmokṣa is intended to highlight the context between the social (trivarga) and personal (mokṣa) spheres.[34]
TheSannyasa is entirely focussed on the pursuit ofMoksha without violatingDharma. Baudhayana Dharmasūtra, completed by about 7th century BC, states the following behavioral vows for a person inSannyasa,[35]
These are the vows a Sannyasi must keep –
Abstention from injuring living beings, truthfulness, abstention from appropriating the property of others, abstention from sensual pleasures, liberality (kindness, gentleness) are the major vows. There are five minor vows: abstention from anger, obedience towards the guru, avoidance of rashness, cleanliness, and purity in eating. He should beg (for food) without annoying others, any food he gets he must compassionately share a portion with other living beings, sprinkling the remainder with water he should eat it as if it were a medicine.
Baudhāyana also makes repeated references to theSannyasa (ascetic) stage and its behavioral focus, such as in verses II.13.7 and 11.18.13. This reference,Olivelle states, is found in many early to mid 1st millennium BC texts, and is clearly fromgnomic poetry about an established ascetic tradition by the time Baudhayana Dharmasutra and other texts were written.[36] Katha Upanishad, in hymns 2.1–2.2 contrasts the human feeling of pleasant (preyas, प्रेयस्) with that of bliss (sreyas, श्रेयस्), praising the latter.[37] The hymns ofRig Veda in Book 10 Chapter 136, mentionMuni (मुनि, monks, mendicants, holy man), with characteristics that mirror those found in later concepts of renunication-practising,Moksha-motivated ascetics (Sannyasins andSannyasinis). TheseMuni are said to beKesins (केशिन्, long haired) wearingMala clothes (मल, dirty, soil-colored, yellow, orange, saffron) and engaged in the affairs ofMananat (mind, meditation).[38]
He with the long loose locks (of hair) supports Agni, and moisture, heaven, and earth; He is all sky to look upon: he with long hair is called this light. TheMunis, girdled with the wind, wear garments of soil hue; They, following the wind's swift course go where the Gods have gone before.
Each of these four canonicalpuruṣārthas was subjected to a process of study and extensive literary development in Indian history. This produced numerous treatises, with a diversity of views, in each category. Some Purushartha-focused literature include,
On Dharma
These texts discussdharma from various religious, social, duties, morals and personal ethics perspective. Each of six major schools of Hinduism has its own literature on dharma. Examples include Dharma-sutras (particularly byGautama,Apastamba,Baudhayana andVāsiṣṭha) and Dharma-sastras (particularlyManusmṛti,Yājñavalkya Smṛti,Nāradasmṛti andViṣṇusmṛti). At personal dharma level, this includes many chapters ofYogasutras. TheBook I of theTamil moral text of theTirukkural exclusively focuses onaram, the Tamil term for dharma, although the entire work of the Tirukkural keeps dharma as its base.[40]
On Artha
Artha-related texts discussartha from individual, social and as a compendium of economic policies, politics and laws. For example, theArthashastra ofKauṭilya, the Kamandakiya Nitisara,[41] Brihaspati Sutra,[42] and Sukra Niti.[43]Olivelle states that most Artha-related treatises from ancient India have been lost.[44] TheBook II of the Tirukkural primarily focuses onporul, the Tamil term for artha.[40]
On Kama
These discuss arts, emotions, love, erotics, relationships and other sciences in the pursuit of pleasure. TheKamasutra ofVātsyāyana is most well known. Others texts includeRatirahasya, Jayamangala, Smaradipika, Ratimanjari, Ratiratnapradipika,Ananga Ranga among others.[45] While theBook III of the Tirukkural primarily focuses oninbam, the Tamil term for kama, it remains unique in the sense that, unlike the Kamasutra, the Tirukkural's Book of Inbam remains a poetic appreciation of flowering human love as explicated by theSangam period's concept of intimacy, known asagam in the Tamil literary tradition.[40][46]
On Moksha
These develop and debate the nature and process of liberation, freedom and spiritual release. Major treatises on the pursuit of moksa include theUpanishads,Vivekachudamani,Bhagavad Gita, and the sastras onYoga, in particular the fourth portion of Patanjali's Sutras.
TheSanskrit Epics devote major sections onpurusharthas,[47] in particular debating dharma.[48][49] The ancientTamil moral literature of theTirukkural focuses on the first three of the purusharthas (Dharma, Artha, and Kama) without discussing Moksha, suggesting that "the proper pursuit of the other three will inevitably lead to the fourth."[50] TheNalatiyar, another work of theSangam literature, too, follows similar philosophy as the Tirukkural.[51]
The four puruṣārthas are often discussed in the context of fourashramas or stages of life (Brahmacharya – student,Grihastha – householder,Vanaprastha – retirement andSannyasa – renunciation). Scholars have attempted to connect the four stages to the four puruṣārthas, however Olivelle dismisses this, as neither ancient nor medieval texts of India state that any of the first three ashramas must devote itself predominantly to one specific goal of life.[52]
The fourth stage ofSannyasa is different, and the overwhelming consensus in ancient and medieval Indian texts is that anyone acceptingSannyasa must entirely devote toMoksha aided byDharma, with a complete renunciation ofArtha andKama.[52]
With the known exception ofKamasutra, most texts make no recommendation on the relative preference on Artha or Kama, that an individual must emphasize in what stage of life. The Kamasutra states,[52]
The life span of a man is one hundred years. Dividing that time, he should attend to three aims of life in such a way that they support, rather than hinder each other. In his youth he should attend to profitable aims (artha) such as learning, in his prime to pleasure (kama), and in his old age to dharma and moksha.
— Kamasutra 1.2.1–1.2.4, Translated by Patrick Olivelle[52]
^M Hiriyanna (2000), Philosophy of Values, in Indian Philosophy: Theory of value (Editor: Roy Perrett), Routledge,ISBN978-0-8153-3612-9, pages 1–10
^abcGavin Flood (1996), The meaning and context of the Purusarthas, inJulius Lipner (Editor) - The Fruits of Our Desiring,ISBN978-1-896209-30-2, pp 16–21
Patrick Olivelle, Dharmasutras - The Law Codes of Ancient India, Oxford University Press,ISBN0-19-283882-2, Note 24.23 at pp 364;
Gautama Dharmashastra at 1.9.46–47, Patrick Olivelle, Dharmasutras - The Law Codes of Ancient India, Oxford University Press,ISBN0-19-283882-2, paragraph overlapping pp 92–93;
Yajnavalkya Smrti at 1.115, Translation by Rai Vidyarnava (1918),The Sacred Books of Hindus Volume XXI, Verse CXV and commentary at pp 232;
Apastamba Dharmasutra 2.20.18–23; Patrick Olivelle, Dharmasutras - The Law Codes of Ancient India, Oxford University Press,ISBN0-19-283882-2, Miscellaneous Rules 18–23 at pp 64
^Prabhupada, A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami (2019).Bhagavad-gita As It Is (2 ed.). Mumbai: The Bhaktivedanta Book Trust. pp. 289 (purport to verse 6.20–6.23).ISBN978-93-84564-19-3.
^Sushil Mittal and Gene Thursby (2004), The Hindu World, Routledge,ISBN0-415-21527-7, page 4, Quote: "There are four categories or life-ideals (caturvarga or purusartha) that usually are said to provide the framework for classical Hindu society".
A. Sharma (1982), The Puruṣārthas: a study in Hindu axiology, Michigan State University,ISBN978-99936-24-31-8, pp 9–12; See review by Frank Whaling in Numen, Vol. 31, 1 (Jul., 1984), pp. 140–142;
^Gavin Flood (1996), The meaning and context of the Purusarthas, in Julius Lipner (Editor) - The Fruits of Our Desiring,ISBN978-1-896209-30-2, pp 11–13
E. Deutsch, The self in Advaita Vedanta, in Roy Perrett (Editor), Indian philosophy: metaphysics, Volume 3,ISBN0-8153-3608-X, Taylor and Francis, pp 343–360;
T. Chatterjee (2003), Knowledge and Freedom in Indian Philosophy,ISBN978-0-7391-0692-1, pp 89–102; Quote - "Moksa means freedom"; "Moksa is founded on atmajnana, which is the knowledge of the self."
Jorge Ferrer, Transpersonal knowledge, in Transpersonal Knowing: Exploring the Horizon of Consciousness (editors: Hart et al.),ISBN978-0-7914-4615-7, State University of New York Press, Chapter 10
Andrew Fort and Patricia Mumme (1996), Living Liberation in Hindu Thought,ISBN978-0-7914-2706-4;
^Sukra Niti Bk Sarkar (Translator); Chapter 1 verse 43 onwards - Rules of State and Duties of Rulers; Chapter 1 verse 424 onwards - Guidelines on infrastructure for economy; Chapter 1 verse 550 onwards - Guidelines on treasury management, law and military; Chapter 2 - Functions of state officials, etc
^Patrick Olivelle (2011), Language, Texts, and Society: Explorations in Ancient Indian Culture and Religion, Anthem Press,ISBN978-0-85728-431-0, page 174
^J. L. Brockington (1998), The Sanskrit Epics, Brill Academic,ISBN978-90-04-10260-6, page 2 and Introduction chapter
^Daniel H. H. Ingalls (1957), Dharma and Moksa, Philosophy East and West, Vol. 7, No. 1/2, pages 41–48
^J Ganeri (2010), A Return to the Self: Indians and Greeks on Life as Art and Philosophical Therapy, Royal Institute of Philosophy supplement, 85(66), pages 119–135
^Sundaram, P. S. (1990).Tiruvalluvar: The Kural (First ed.). Gurgaon: Penguin Books. p. 9.ISBN978-01-44000-09-8.
^Kowmareeshwari (Ed.), S. (August 2012).Pathinen Keezhkanakku Noolgal. Sanga Ilakkiyam (in Tamil). Vol. 5 (1 ed.). Chennai: Saradha Pathippagam. pp. vi–viii.
^abcdPatrick Olivelle (1993), The Āśrama System: The History and Hermeneutics of a Religious Institution, Oxford University Press,OCLC466428084, pages 216–219
Hiltebeitel, Alf (2002)."Hinduism" in: Kitagawa, J. M. (Ed.)The Religious Traditions of Asia: Religion, History and Culture. Routledge.ISBN0-7007-1762-5.
Olivelle, Patrick (1993).The Āśrama System: The History and Hermeneutics of a Religious Institution. Oxford: Oxford University Press.ISBN0-19-508327-X.
Prasad, Rajendra (2008).A Conceptual-Analytical Study of Classical Indian Philosophy of Morals. Centre for Studies in Civilizations.ISBN978-81-8069-544-5.
Gavin Flood (1997), "The Meaning and Context of the Puruṣārthas", In The Bhagavadgītā for Our Times (Editor: Julius J. Lipner), Oxford University Press, pages 11–27,ISBN978-0-19-565039-6
Arvind Sharma (1982), "The Puruṣārthas: A Study in Hindu Axiology", Asian Studies Center, Michigan State University,OCLC234144281
Karl Potter (1963), "Presuppositions of India's Philosophies", Prentice Hall,ISBN978-81-208-0779-2
Donald David (2004), "Being Hindu or being human: A reappraisal of the puruṣārthas",International Journal of Hindu Studies, 8(1–3): 1–27,doi:10.1007/s11407-004-0001-3
