The Principle of the Ultimate Purpose of a Human Being

The state of Moksha where life and joy are eternal and unlimited in quantity as well as quality. A logical and analytical approach towards the validity of Moksha and the way to achieve it.

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A human being is a complex system. As per complex systems theory, all complex systems have a set of interacting parts exhibiting behaviours aligned to a purpose. An evolved system can have multiple purposes at the same time with one being the ultimate purpose and the others supporting it. Take the case of a bank. It has many purposes like taking deposits, providing loans, and wealth management. But the ultimate purpose is to serve as a monetary institution of trust. The ultimate purpose is always more abstract than the supporting purposes.

In this article, we are drawing a principle from the Indic philosophy related to system purpose. There will be usage of a few Sanskrit terms (in Italics) along with their English translation.

A human being is an evolved complex system and so has an ultimate purpose and by implication some supporting purposes. The Indic philosophy calls this purpose-matrix as Chaturvida Purusharthas (चतुर्विदापुरुषार्थः). In Sanskrit, Chaturvida means four-fold, Purusha means a human being, and Artha means purpose or meaning. Chaturvida Purusharthas means the fourfold purpose of human life.

There are several references to these Purusharthas in various Vedic* scriptures. One such reference is in Ganesha Atharvashirsha Upanishad (13.9). The other references are from Mundaka Upanishad (3.2.9) and Bhagavatam (1.9.28).

Let us logically analyse the Purusharthas principle from known and common experience axioms.

Inborn goals: A human is born with two basic mental instincts — fear and mating. These instincts drive him towards the goal of survival. Similarly, he is born with senses of sight, smell, hearing, taste and touch that impel him towards the goal of pleasure-seeking. These two goals of survival and pleasure-seeking are inborn. The human consciousness is driven by them at a subconscious level. Unfortunately, he shares these goals to a large extent with animals too.

The Goal of Survival:- A man is constantly wanting to increase his odds of survival by stocking up on things including various possessions, relationships, children, money and security measures. If he has a house, he is looking for another or a bigger one. If he has good enough money in his bank account, he is still looking for more. He is looking for the security of having relationships and progeny and is constantly competing with others who have similar survival goals. As one set of wants gets met, another set of wants pops up. The drive to constantly expand the boundary of what is mine is spurred inherently by the survival goal. This survival goal has a visible conscious expression in the phenomenal world (manifest goal) and a deeper subconscious expression (subtle goal) that seeks infinite life (immortality) and infinite possessions (when human consciousness expands infinitely, then there is nothing that is not mine).

The Goal of Pleasure: A human being is also constantly looking for pleasure and joy in some form or the other. If he has had a tasty dish, he is already looking for another the next time. If he has been on vacation, he is looking for yet another. The desire to constantly pleasure himself with sights, sounds, aromas, touch and tastes never seems to end. When one pleasure is met, the desire is to have yet another pleasure larger in quantity and quality than the previous one. The inner desire to constantly look for more and more happiness is driven by the pleasure goal. This pleasure goal has a visible conscious expression in the phenomenal world (manifest goal) and a deeper subconscious expression (subtle goal) that seeks permanent bliss.

Artha and Kaama as Purposes:

A goal is a specific and measurable achievement that is achieved in a certain time frame. A purpose is a larger vision and gives meaning to the goal that makes the goal worth achieving.

The survival goal leads to the purpose of Artha which means the acquisition of possessions whether of things or beings. The pleasure goal leads to the purpose of Kaama which means the enjoyment that results from the fulfilment of any bodily, mental and intellectual desires.

Thus Artha and Kaama are inbuilt purposes that impel everyone consciously towards the manifest goals of survival and pleasure respectively in the phenomenal world. But given that their corresponding subtle goals seek immortality and permanent bliss, the outcome will be disharmony and dissatisfaction. This is also because the manifest goals that are in the sphere of our awareness are shaped after the visible limit, while the subtle goals that are beyond our awareness are shaped after the invisible unlimited.

The core problem of a human being is the inner feeling of being unfulfilled in terms of possessions and happiness. Though contentment can be taught to oneself as a virtue, this feeling lingers.

The feeling of — “I want more possessions and more happiness from this world which I think will give me fulfilment.” is driven by the manifest goals. The feeling of — “I feel that I am seeking something that this world cannot offer. What this something is, I do not fully know.” is driven by subtle goals.

The higher the intensity of manifest goals, the less subtle goals come into the awareness of a human being.

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Consequently, in the phenomenal world, the purposes of Artha and Kaama do not ever seem to satisfy a human being except for a limited period of time, in limited quantity and in limited quality. How can the limited phenomenal world satisfy our inner consciousness that desires the unlimited?

This leads us to the conclusion that Artha and Kaama are intermediate purposes that have been designed for the human mind to comprehend human purpose easily. The manifest goals keep the individual, the family and the society running, while the subtle goals keep stirring the individual subconsciously for something higher.

Moksha as the Ultimate Purpose:

Since the cosmos has bundled the subtle goals into Artha and Kaama along with the corresponding manifest goals to completely satisfy our need for unlimited survival (immortality) and unlimited happiness, there is a larger different purpose that these subtle goals are seeking.

This larger abstract purpose is called Moksha. Moksha means freedom from all limitations — physical, psychological, intellectual and metaphysical to experience unlimited timeless joy called Anandam.

Hence Moksha is the ultimate purpose of human life where the inherent desire of a human to expand his consciousness to achieve unlimited life and unlimited happiness both in quantity as well as quality is finally achieved. Moksha is a state where happiness comes from within, without any dependency on external objects.

There are some who tend to disagree with such a lofty ultimate purpose. They tend to think that their ultimate purpose in life is to serve and help others. This is definitely a noble purpose but not at the level of ultimate purpose because this purpose does not satisfy the inner urge of the consciousness that seeks infinity and unlimitedness.

Then there are others who think that their ultimate purpose is to save the world. People who are driven by this purpose set out in the world to reform it without first reforming themselves. Most problems in the world are usually resolved if most people and societies focus on perfecting themselves than perfecting the world. An individual or a society should perfect itself in such a way that he or it becomes an inspiration worthy of emulation by others, instead of setting out to reform others. Clearly serving and helping others could be a sub-purpose but not an ultimate purpose.

A. Challenges with Moksha as the Ultimate Purpose:

1. The supremely aspiring goal of Moksha should be provable using the principles of verifiability and repeatability. This means it should be achievable while the human being is alive and running. A system cannot have a purpose that will be achieved after the system ceases to exist.
2. Moksha is too abstract and difficult for an ordinary human to understand since he is internally driven by the more visible inbuilt purposes of Artha and Kaama.

B. Challenges with Artha and Kaama as Purposes:

1. Although Artha and Kaama in the phenomenal world can take one towards Moksha, their manifest goals are usually pointed in the wrong direction, which is towards Samsara. This is a case of a right impulse but in the wrong direction. Samsara is the antithesis of Moksha because it gives an illusion that permanency and happiness can be somehow obtained from this phenomenal world. Samsara can also be called the anti-purpose**.
2. In the phenomenal world, if Artha is taken to the extreme, man will spend all his life hoarding things for himself and his progeny because no amount will satisfy his survival wants. While he stocks up on things he does not need, others who need them find themselves bereft of them. This results in social chaos. On the other extreme, not being able to save for the future at all would put man at risk of any adverse changes in the environment. When future needs arise, he will have nothing at hand to secure himself and his family.
3. Similarly, if Kaama is indiscriminately chased, it will deplete all his energies and possessions and will bring him to the brink of ruin. Thereby he will also create social anarchy. As Somerset Maugham says — “If you single-mindedly chase pleasure, very soon you will find nothing pleasing in it.” On the other extreme, if a man is severely restricted from enjoying the pleasures of the senses, he will be tormented mentally. It will have a severe impact on his psyche and physiology that the consequences of it will take him away from sanity, again causing a danger to society.
4. Kaama looks for enjoyment by chasing external things (Artha), but since Artha is subject to temporariness, Kaama keeps flitting like a butterfly from one external object to another in a never-ending search for happiness.

These challenges can be resolved by adding a fourth purpose which is regulating in nature. This purpose should be able to meet the following requirements with a view to resolving the above challenges.

The Fourth Purpose should meet the following conditions:

1. This regulating purpose should include practices that discipline the body, mind and intellect so as to strengthen the subtle goals of Artha and Kaama which results in spiritual evolution to Moksha in this life itself. These practices should be verifiable and repeatable. Several well-known personalities*** have been able to achieve Moksha while being alive on this earth through proven spiritual practices like Yoga, Sadhana, and Tapasya. Hence challenge A.1 is resolved.
2. It should serve to convert the abstract concept of Moksha into something concrete that can be better comprehended and followed by the ordinary human being. This resolves the challenge A.2.
3. It should be able to re-orient the manifest goals of Artha and Kaama away from Samsara and towards Moksha, in alignment with the subtle goals****. These resolves challenge B.1.
4. The regulatory purpose should work towards fulfilling the purpose of Artha and Kaama in the phenomenal world. But it should avoid detrimental outcomes of either negation or obsession. This resolves challenges B.2 and B.3. Negation of the manifest purposes of Artha and Kaama results in survival & psychological issues respectively which will lead to individual dissatisfaction and social unrest. Obsession with these manifest purposes will result in environmental, law, ethical and moral issues which will again lead to individual degeneration and also social collapse.
5. Kaama is unable to give a human being permanent happiness as it focuses on external objects. We need a regulating purpose that repurposes Kaama towards Moksha so that the search for permanent happiness is internal and successful. Following the middle path avoids the pitfalls of the extremes. These resolves challenge B.4.

Dharma as the fourth purpose:

This regulating purpose that satisfies all the requirements mentioned above is called Dharma, which means one that supports and upholds.

Dharma is a cosmic set of principles that act as guidelines to discipline the body, mind and intellect to ensure that our thoughts, words, desires and actions are in alignment with our evolution towards Moksha.

Vivekachudamani***** (345) says that only by rising to a higher plane of consciousness can one have a complete vision of absolute reality. Albert Einstein similarly said — “No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”

It is clear that someone at the level of ordinary human consciousness cannot derive these principles of Dharma. It has to come from spiritual scientists who are people with higher levels of consciousness, which are reached using the scientific mechanism of Ashtanga Yoga (8-layered Yoga).

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Thus a human being has a purpose-matrix of 4 purposes — Moksha, Kaama, Artha and Dharma which are together called Purusharthas in Sanskrit.

1. Moksha (मोक्ष) is the Ultimate Purpose

2. Kaama (काम) is the supporting purpose

3. Artha (अर्थ) is another supporting purpose

4. Dharma (धर्म) is a regulatory purpose as well as a supporting purpose.

Kaama and Artha are purposes which we have in common with animals, hence these will be followed subconsciously. Since they are inbuilt, the best human beings could do is to regulate them for positive outcomes so that they can enable the path towards Moksha. The challenge is to follow the middle path of both the purposes by reorienting the visible purposes with the abstract, but ultimate purpose.

Moksha and Dharma distinguish us from animals, hence these are purposes that a human being has to follow consciously. Given that Moksha is an abstract concept from the point of view of a common man, Dharma becomes the visible purpose that has to be consciously adopted into our daily lives. From an earthly existence point of view, Dharma is the key purpose as this alone saves the individual and society from degeneration and chaos. No amount of man-made laws can be as effective as an internal moral compass that is aligned with the cosmic law of Dharma.

We have used a top-down approach so far to infer the ultimate purpose and then deduce three other supporting purposes. In practice, the purposes in Vedic scriptures are described in reverse order as Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha in a bottoms-up approach.

Why? How are these purposes perceived by a human in his life? How do these purposes interact and influence each other? Is it possible for everyone to reach Moksha in this lifetime? Since Moksha is everyone’s ultimate destination, if it is not achieved in this lifetime, what will happen? The answers are a part of the praxis part of the principle and it will be covered in another article.

*Vedas are the first tier of Sanatana Dharma’s holy libraries.

**There is a purpose behind this anti-purpose and this will be covered in another article.

***Ramana Maharishi, Swami Vivekananda, Swami Sivananda, Swami Tapovan Maharaj, Swami Chinmayananda, Mahaperiyavar Chandrasekharendra Saraswati, Nisargadatta Maharaj etc

****It won’t be possible for most human beings to align both the manifest and subtle goals perfectly in this life itself, though the partial alignment is possible for many. The reason and mitigation for this will be covered in another article.

*****Vivekachudamani is a text written by Sri Adi Shankaracharya as an introduction to Vedanta.

Originally published at https://heliumplus.substack.com.