Life is always a riddle for human beings, they keep inquiring about his existence and the purpose of his life. This self-inquiry of man is not new, but from thousands of years, the answers to these queries were looking out. In Vedic civilization, these queries have been resolved by the sages and yogis through penance and deep meditation, when the mind is in a super relaxing state, the knot of all the queries open up and answers manifested as a pearl of wisdom. From the creation to the end, life flows like a wave with its high and low, happiness and misery, pain and pleasure etc. How to end this suffering of life and live content and peaceful life is the biggest quest. The Vedic people decode the nature of life and develop a lifestyle that gives meaningful purpose to live a content, peaceful and blissful life.
In Hinduism or Vedic Religion there are four main aims of life which depicted in the Vedic texts mainly Vedas and Puranas. These four purposes mentioned in Upanishad as Caturvarga (four categories, dharma, artha, kama and moksha). All the Vedas, Puranas like Ramayana, Mahabharata, etc., Vedanta scriptures explain the laws of life and its purposes. They give a path of a healthy, happy and meaningful life.
Dharma(Virtue)
Dharma is Karma, it is nothing to do with religion, religion is just one of the modes to reach the state of self-realization. Religion is the outer body and spirituality is its soul. In every religion on this planet, the concept of Dharma teaches in various ways. Dharma is the aim of this state of life. Once you enter in this relative real world, your dharma starts with your karma. Dharma gives the identity of our existence once you are born you are bounded with the laws of Karma and your karma based on your dharma. Let understand Dharma there are main 3 stages in Dharma 1.Bharamcharya 2. Grihastha 3. Sanyansa let explain it with a simple example once we born as a child, the child dharma is to obey its parents, in your teenage your dharma to follow your teachers(Bharamcharya Jeevan), in your adulthood find your companion and live a Grihastha Jeevan and enjoy the worldly pleasures after enjoying all the worldly pleasures and fulfill all responsibilities lets unite yourself with the one and living in a liberated and peaceful life as a Sanayans (renunciation) here you should be at peace with yourself toward the realization. But these stages of Dharma should maintain the basic principles but with the factor of time, the dharma also transforms accordingly.
Artha (Wealth)
Artha means Wealth, in Vedic philosophy the Artha is not just a monetary or economic value it gives the meaning of overall wealth with respect to social and personal well being. Ancient people decipher the system of wealth and its creation as wealth is a quite important tool for the growth and development of human beings and their society. Artha is the help to push human societies in the forward direction. it provides all the resources which require development at a personal level and at the worldly level. Artha explains the laws of the world’s system. Many sages and intellectuals like Kautilya etc written Artha Shastra(the knowledge of wealth system) to explain why the meaning of wealth and its management.
Kama(Pleasure)
In Vedic culture, the physical pleasure The Kama means pleasure and pleasure is not just at the sensual level but at the conscious level i.e the state of Citta-Ananda. In Vedic philosophy, the kama explain as an important purpose of life but at the lower level, which associated with physical, sensual and mental pleasure. In the Vedic lifestyle, kama plays an important role. But kama can only be pleasurable once above(dharma and artha) two purposes have been practiced. The Kama is an art of making love, kama is the expression of love, pure love. Kamasutra, kokshastra, etc. are the scriptures that explain the science of Kama. Sex was never a taboo for the Vedic people the clear picture about the mindset of these people can be shown in Khajuraho’s temples or in Ajanta & Allora caves where the divinity in the sensuality explained.
Moksha(Liberation)
Moksh, the liberation, the salvation the ultimate aim of life to liberate ourselves from the cycle of birth and death, pain and pleasure to merge into the supreme consciousness. Once you die your body liberated from the soul but your soul does not liberate it seeks another birth a new form of life. The true Moksha is the liberation of the of your soul to realize the true self, the supreme consciousness. In Vedic culture, moksha is the fourth aim or the last aim where you liberated from all the worldly matters and merge in the divine consciousness. Vedic people know that liberation is the climax of all the Karmas, they explained the aim of moksha for all the living beings of the world.
All these aims give a life a meaning, a purpose, to our existence and ultimately these aims derive us toward the contentment, bliss, pleasure, liberation from all of the suffering. There should not be any doubt about our existence, that there is no purpose of life and we are here to just passing the time of life and lastly dead
