There are 4 purposes/aims of life. These are Dharma (Kartavya or duty), Artha (prosperity, wealth), Kama (pleasure, desire), and Moksha (liberation). These represent a holistic framework for a meaningful life, guiding individuals to balance ethical conduct, material well-being, personal fulfillment, and spiritual liberation.
Dharma
The first and foremost purpose of life is to do your duty (Kartavya). The path of dharma you will follow is governed by the mind (sansakaras stored in your chitta) and body (senses / indriya) complex. The three gunas of this world (Tamogun, Rajogun, & Sattvagun) greatly influence the body and hence dharma that a person follows in his her life. And all of this is known to omniwill or omni cautiousness or almighty based on your conduct in previous lives. So, you are born to do a job that is consistent with your conduct of past lives. If your conduct in past life was like fire, you will be born to burn people around you and all of this will have a purpose. So, while Arjuna was born as a prince to fight Kauravas, Buddha was born prince to leave wealth and follow the path of spirituality. No path was right or wrong.
In Rigveda, dharma is shown mostly in context of nature. For example, to burn is the dharma of fire, to flow and bring water to far lands is the dharma of a river, to bring destruction is the dharma of a Cyclone. There is nothing right or wrong about it. It just is.
On the other hand, in Scriptures like Mahabharata and Ramayana, Dharma is interpreted as righteousness.
More recently, Dharma is interpreted as a religion, worship, donation, etcetra. It is broadly called Hindu religion now.
These two interpretations have diluted the meaning of dharma or duty and created confusion.
Artha
Artha is the karmas you do for living or making money. Working at the workplace, office, farmhouses, etcetera is Artha Karma. Working for name and fame is also artha. Sex with the intention of child is Artha. Artha karma is productive in nature. Doing artha karma through righteous means is a necessity for everyone, even if you have inherited a lot of money. However, we must aim for a limited amount of money or it results in competition, enmity and pride. Ultimately, it will bring you enemies, greedy and selfish relatives, children, spouse, and friends which brings decay of values and mental peace.
Kaama
Kaama is the karmas you do for pleasure. Working for self goal is kaama karma. All entertainment activities including cinema, sex for pleasure, drinking, drugs, parties, dance, gossiping, bitching, video games, sports for fun, and all pleasure activities is Kaama.
Both kaama and artha karmas are influenced by Maya. Which is attraction towards money, power, status, luxury, women/men, and knowledge about ways to earn maya. A person who is passionate about maya cannot maintain good karma. But it is so tempting that most people choose maya over good karma.
Moksha
Moksha is the ultimate spiritual goal of self-realization. It signifies freedom from worldly attachments and the attainment of a state of eternal bliss.
This is the toughest goal to achieve in life. But here are a few things that can help:
- Surrender to God
To surrender to God is to place your trust in his will, releasing your own desires, plans, and need for control, with faith that his purpose is greater than yours. Devote yourself to the service of almighty.
Our life is nothing but a character that we are playing in this theater “Earth”; delivering fate to each other.
In due time, the omniwill/divine power sends people or animal or object(s) in our life that will reward or punish us for our karma. Sometimes we deliver fate to other people and sometimes other people enter our life to bring joy or sorrow to our lives. While people do it subconsciously, the time plans everything to perfection. Compassionate people are sent in your life as rewards and bad and incompatible people are sent to your life as punishments. This happens right from the time of birth till you die. There are no accidents in time and space. Everything works as per plan.
So, the next time you come across a person who starts yelling at you, just be calm and kind and hospitable to him and be cautious of the hidden motives of his call. Its the divine inside that person that is delivering the fate you deserve.
The divine also chooses us to accomplish various tasks. These tasks can be ordinary, affecting only a few people or extraordinary that affect the entire world.
After birth, the soul progresses towards the destiny (Dharma) sub-cautiously. However, you are still responsible for the karmas you do while achieving the destined goal.
For a right balance to be maintained in this world, destruction is as important as creation. Similarly, an unmerciful person is as important as a merciful person. Both help the divine power in maintaining a balance, deliver justice, and bring destruction or peace when required.
For example, Adolf Hitler was as important as Gandhi if not more! World War-2 bought destruction and death but also resulted in the end of imperialism in Asia and Africa. Undoubtably, Hitler played an important role in indirectly causing the end of colonialism. Or colonialism would not have ended. World war 1 and 2 brought death to the citizens of oppressing countries that had colonized several parts of the world. Had it not happened, even more number of people would have died, not in Europe and Japan but in their colonies where innocent people were struggling for their freedom. Developed countries gave misery and death to the under developed countries by colonizing them, and this is exactly what they got (and are getting) in return.
If the destiny wants you to be like Hitler, you will become one without much effort and without knowing what destiny has planned for you. The purpose of such scheme of things is beyond the understanding of humans; who are too selfish to understand the larger scheme of things. The divine has to take care of the universe as a whole and not just your family, your country, or we humans.
The purpose of your life is to do whatever destiny wants you to do. The way to do it, is to surrender to god.
In Mahabharata, Krishna says: Those who killed are Krishna and those who got killed were also Krishna
2. Sannyasa
Moksha Comes with Asceticism & Detachment because society and family does not let us live the way we want. They will judge you, and may even insult you.
The purpose of life is to live in freedom. Without expectations, without the need for specific results, and without caring for society’s perspective of how we are doing. This makes it necessary to stay away from the society.
Doing something for a living that you don’t like to do is not living, it is dying. Still many people do what they don’t really enjoy doing, just because their parents, spouse, children want or expect them to do it. Sometimes, people keep doing their job or business even if they are not liking it because it is a must to meet the expenses of their family who may living a lavish lifestyle that you yourself may not be fond of. Many bread earners don’t spend even 5% of the money they are earning on themselves. So, leave the family when your children are adults.
True freedom can not come without detachment and asceticism. But I understand that its not easy to detach. Therefore, make small changes at a time and enjoy the journey while maintaining as much freedom as you can. Freedom eventually leads to asceticism (Sannyasa) and that is first step towards moksha.
Also Read: The Right Way To Live Life