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Dharma Artha Kama Moksha – The 4

Purusharthas

Millennia ago, Saints in ancient Eastern traditions articulated the blueprint for the
ful�llment human birth, as it was revealed to them in the highest states of meditation and
consciousness. The Supreme Self pervades and exists in all dimensions and all beings,
sentient and insentient. And it is that Supreme Self which lives inside every person.
Therefore every person is none other than the Supreme Self.

For an individual to realize their Supreme Self, they need to identify the reasons and
objectives for which they came into being on this earth plane and ultimately ful�ll those
purposes. The ancient sages articulated the goals of humankind as Purusharthas. Purusha
means an individual or person, and Artha means objective, meaning, or pursuit. The four
Purusharthas are:

Dharma: Righteousness, Duty

Artha: Wealth
Kama: Desire

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Moksha: Liberation

The four Purusharthas are indeed the qualities and objectives of the Supreme Self and
God. And since an individual is a re�ection and manifestation of God, it is the rightful
pursuit of a person to ful�ll these four Purusharthas. In fact, it is both your individual and
soul purpose.

An individual can realize him or herself by balancing and ful�lling these four objectives.
They are not independent or mutually exclusive of each other and should not be viewed in
a stand-alone manner. They de�ne and re�ne the other objectives and allow the other
objectives to de�ne and re�ne itself. The activity of ful�lling one objective should also
support the ful�llment of the others. By maintaining a balance between the de�nition and
realization of the four Purusharthas, a symbiotic evolution of the individual self takes
place. Exclusive pursuit of one Purushartha creates an imbalance in a person’s life and
prevents the person from reaching the ultimate destination of their life. Take Artha, for
example. If an individual seeks only wealth but lacks in righteousness, and the ful�llment
of their duty, an emptiness and lack of full spiritual evolution will take hold.

However, through a well-balanced pursuit of the four Purusharthas deep ful�llment is

within your grasp. As a person progresses through the evolution of their soul, they �nd
that some of the objectives eventually lose their place and importance to other objectives.
For example, the desire to earn wealth may diminish and disappear, or a person may
realize that there are no more material desires that they need to pursue, and hence more
room is created for the pursuit of the ultimate objective, Moksha, which is liberation or
self-realization.

Dharma
A person is born on this earth to ful�ll certain duties. The soul houses itself into the
physical body which is most suited for performing these duties. The work that a person
needs to do, which may be tied to their body, family, or commitments, among others, can
be the Dharma of the person. Dharma is a di�cult word to translate into English, but can
roughly be explained as the rightful duty of a person. This is the true calling of a person,
what they are born to do. Examples of a person’s Dharma may be their professional or
familial roles such as a doctor, teacher, writer, warrior, priest, parent, etc. Sometimes a
person’s Dharma is decided by their birth, but this is not necessarily determinative. A
person’s Dharma can be a combination of things, and as a person progresses through life,
di�erent stages of life may call for di�erent Dharmas or rightful purposes.

For example, a professional may need to transition to the role of parent and then later
back professional. Tuning into the inner guide allows a person to identify their Dharma,
their true calling. You can do this by �nding and aligning your life purpose and soul
purpose.

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Artha
Artha is the pursuit of material wealth, which may bring material comfort to a person.
People sometimes believe that the path of spiritual growth and pursuit of material wealth
are mutually exclusive, or even that a spiritual seeker needs to be in poverty. But that is
not true. If we look at the Universe, it is a re�ection of abundance. Nature is abundant in
everything. Poverty is nothing but a state of consciousness. If abundance is a quality of the
Divine, how is the pursuit of abundance in contrast with the pursuit of the Divine? If one is
in poverty, in a state of continually worrying about how to support and feed, how can one
pursue spirituality? When one can move beyond daily worries, they can focus their
attention on the goal of union with the Divine. However, it is essential to remain
unattached to the possession or attainment of wealth. It can be either transcended or
sought with detachment, and with awareness. When done in this state of mind, the pursuit
of wealth is not di�erent from the pursuit of the Divine, because one sees abundance, or
wealth as a form of the Divine. And in this state of detachment, one recognizes when one
has attained their �nancial objectives. When that happens, the desire to pursue wealth
automatically dies away, paving the way for Moksha.

Kama
Kama is ful�lling one’s desires. Desires may come in various forms — to be wealthy,
powerful, sexual needs, for recognition, etc. The Kama Purushartha advocates that one’s
desires need to be ful�lled in their lifetime, albeit in a state of awareness and without
harming anyone in the process. For a person to evolve spiritually and to reach the ultimate
destination, the barrier of their desires needs to be crossed. This can be done either by
ful�lling the desires or by sublimating or transcending them. Suppression of desires
altogether is not recommended because it is like a fully coiled spring that is held down by
force. These suppressed desires can erupt, sometimes unpredictably, causing detrimental
consequences. As one becomes aware of their desires and goes about ful�lling them in
awareness and without judgment, one soon reaches the stage of being able to sublimate
and eventually transcend them. The Divine, the Universe, lends a big hand in the process.

Moksha
Moksha means liberation, the realization of the Self, and is the ultimate destination of this
human birth. It is the stage of inner realization that the individual self is the same as the
Supreme Self. Moksha is the experience of the cosmos within one’s self. It is the
experience of the �ow and fusion of the Shiva and Shakti energies in one’s self. The
experience of union, Oneness or Ekatvam with one’s Higher Self is Moksha.

As all the rivers eventually lead to the sea, there are many spiritual paths leading to the
same destination. Some paths are shorter than others, and some are more arduous than
others. The path can be di�cult to navigate, and the it may not always be visible. One path,
the Pratyangira Sadhana is a direct road to Moksha, guided by the Divine Mother

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Pratyangira Herself.

The mission of Ekatvam is to help people realize their True Selves. For each to become one
with their Supreme Self, to achieve Moksha, in this lifetime. Often, people make the
mistake of renouncing everything in the pursuit of Moksha. At di�erent stages of one’s
spiritual evolution, this may turn out to be the wrong path and is not suited for everyone.
The path for each person to reach the ultimate destination is unique, and it is only the
individual self that can identify and see the path with the help of the Divine guidance. At
Ekatvam, we are honored to assist your soul in this pursuit and invite you to contact us.

About the authors

Swami Shanmuga and Amma Adi Sakthi are a Yogi and Yogini couple. They are
Adiyargal (ardent devotees and servants) of the Divine Mother Sri Maha Pratyangira Devi.
They manifest and personify the pristine energies of Pratyangira Devi and are in Ekatvam,
in Oneness with Her. At the current time, Amma and Swami are in Mangala Tapasya in
the Himalayas, to usher auspiciousness and Satya Loka energies in the world and serving
the Divine by serving humanity. Read More...

 Sadhana
 7 ways to handle bad karma, gracefully
 How to �nd and align your life purpose and soul purpose

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