You are here: SriPedia - SriRangaSri - Archives - Dec 2005

SriRangaSri List Archive: Message 00115 Dec 2005

 
Dec 2005 Indexes ( Date | Thread | Author )
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]


          The 4 ?purUshArthAs? at work in the world
          -----------------------------------------

Very few are the ones in the world who possess the
requisite wisdom or character to pursue ?veedu? or
?mOksha?, the 4th of the Vedantic ?purUshArthAs?, for
its very own sake. 

The numbers of saints or sages, seekers of salvation
known generally as ?mumUkshU-s?, have been but minute
fractions of humanity in all ages. We can only read
about archetypes of ?mumUkshU-s?, such as young Dhruva
or old Sabari, in the age-old ?pUrANas?. And it is
only once perhaps in a score of generations that we
ever come across, in actual flesh and blood, a soul as
exalted as, say, a Meerabai or a Ramakrishna
?parama-hamsa? -- souls that saw human life purely in
terms of opportunity to seek self-liberation and
realize the bliss of God-union. Lesser men of the
world simply cannot appreciate the value that there is
in the highest of the 4 ?purUshArthAs?; they do not
really comprehend why or how a ?mUmUkshu? remains a
captive in its spell. It is in acknowledgment of the
extreme rarity of the ?mumUkshU? (?sa mahaatmaa
sudurlabhaH?), and in praise of the uncommon nobility
of character that is uniquely his and his alone, that
Lord Krishna in the Bhagavath-Gita said:     

?bahuunaa.n janmanaamante GYaanavaanmaaM prapadyate . 
vaasudevaH sarvamiti sa mahaatmaa sudurlabhaH ..
7\.19..? 

?After many cycles of births and deaths, does the rare
being emerge, who knowing Me to be the Cause of all
causes and of all that is and shall ever be, pursues
Me in order to become one with Me! Such a great soul
(?mahatma?) is very rare, very rare indeed
(?sudurlabaH?).

                    ****************

Then there are a certain number of men in the world ?-
a few more perhaps than ?mumUkshU-s? but really not
too many more -- who too, one might again say, are
?mahaatmaa-s? but of a different shade. Such men
dedicate their entire lives to the pursuit and
realization of the 1st of the 4 ?purUshArtha-s? viz.:
?dharma?. 

Men of charity, men of compassion, men who make it the
mission of their life to strive for the betterment of
their fellowmen, men who do their life?s work in the
sincere faith that the world they shall leave behind
will be a far better place than the one they were born
into --- such men are rare too, certainly as rare as
Justice or Righteousness (?dharma?) is in the world at
large. Men of such rare ?dhArmic? qualities come to be
renowned as ?dharmAtmAs? or ?mahAtmas?. In the
?paurAnic? world, BhishmachArya was regarded as the
foremost amongst ?dharmAtmAs?. Mahatma Gandhi, is a
much more recent example from history. Mother Teresa
of Calcutta was a great one too of contemporary times.

                  *************

Innumerably larger than the combined populations of
both ?mUmUkshUs? and ?dharmAtmAs? of the world are the
vast numbers of men that pursue the 2nd of the 4
Vedantic ?purUshArthAs? viz.: ?artha? or Wealth,
generally regarded the most dynamic of human
motivators. 

For many men the pursuit of Wealth is the only truly
purposeful activity in life. Economics is their
religion, the balance-sheet is their Bible, banks are
their temple and ?money-in-the-bank? or on Wall Street
is their one true God.  Such men are neither shy nor
afraid to swear by 2 hallowed mantras which they hold
absolute and cardinal in life. (They are indeed the
modern version, we might say tongue-in-cheek, of the
sacred ?dvaya-mantra? of the SriVaishnavas!). One
declares that ?Money makes the world go around? and
the other claims ?It is a rich man?s world?. 

For millions of shop-keepers, traders, farmers,
craftsmen, professionals, businessmen, bankers,
company executives, managers, economists, accountants,
stock-brokers, commission-agents and assortments of
middlemen all across the globe, it is ?porUL?, or
material gain, alone that invests Life with real
purpose or true meaning. (It is extremely significant
to observe here that in Sanskrit ?artha? is a perfect
synonym denoting both ?wealth? and ?meaning?.
Likewise, in Tamil too, the word ?porUL? means both
?assets? and ?meaning?). To them what really binds the
entire world together is not so much the ?bond of
human kinship? as it is the ?financial bottom-line?.
The world?s holiest books do not constitute their most
profound ?Book of Inspiration?; that exalted and
venerable status they reserve for their bank
pass-books. For such men the pursuit of Wealth and the
pursuit of God are one and the same, a fact that the
Almighty Himself confirmed in the Bhagavath-Gita: 

chaturvidhaa bhajante maa.n janaaH sukR^itino.arjuna .

aarto jiGYaasurarthaarthii GYaanii cha bharatarshhabha
.. 7\.16..

?O Arjuna! Know this to be true that the piety of all
men springs from four principal urges ? the urge to
escape Pain or Distress, the urge to discover the
Unknown, the urge to realize the Absolute? and the
urge to amass Wealth too!?

                 *************

While ?mUmUkshUs? are rare, ?dharmAtmAs? few and
?porUL?-seekers form a vast but by no means complete
majority amongst mankind, the pursuers of the 3rd of
the 4 ?purUshArthAs? i.e. ?kaama? or ?inbam?, however
are simply everywhere in the world at all times, in
all ages?! They rule and predominate the entire world.

Pleasure, ?kaama?, is the lowest common spiritual
denominator for every sphere of human activity. Every
human heart -- rich, poor, young, old, learned and
illiterate, male and female, white, black, brown,
yellow --- every human heart harbors the desire for
Pleasure and every man seeks to fulfill it to his
heart?s content at any cost. A world without ?kaama?
would be a joyless and barren desert indeed. No
Pleasure, no Life; no Life, no Pleasure. Period.
Pleasure hence becomes for most men a desireable end
in itself, a great "purUshArtha", a goal of life that
transcends every other. 

This great and self-evident universal truth about
"kaama", which no man on earth, of any age or clime,
ever needed to be persuaded about, was so well
expressed indeed by the English poet, William
Shakespeare too:

 ?So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see,
    So long lives this, and this gives life to thee?.
      
The human desire to experience Pleasure in its myriad
variety and degree is indeed an all-enveloping,
all-powerful, all-conquering force of life. In Vedanta
the force is given a special name: ?icchaa-shakthi?.
Man is usually powerless against it. He has no choice
but to yield to the force of ?kaama?. He must tamely
yield to it in much the same way as he must succumb or
bow down to Gravity or Magnetism, the physical forces
of Life infinitely superior to him.

                   **************

The conquest of "kaama" has been recognized by Vedanta
to be  one of the fundamental problems of life
encountered by Man. And it is precisely to show us all
a pathway to the conquest of such a powerful force
that the 29th Verse of the TiruppAvai issues forth
that clarion call of prayer: ?maRRai nam kaamangaL
maaRRu?!

                    ************
                   (to be continued)

Regards,

dAsan,
Sudarshan


Send instant messages to your online friends http://in.messenger.yahoo.com 




------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> 
Join modern day disciples reach the disfigured and poor with hope and healing
http://us.click.yahoo.com/lMct6A/Vp3LAA/i1hLAA/VkWolB/TM
--------------------------------------------------------------------~-> 

 
Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
    http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SriRangaSri/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
    SriRangaSri-unsubscribe@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
    http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
 



[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next] [Date Index ] [Thread Index ] [Author Index ]
Home Page
http://www.ibiblio.org/sripedia
srirangasri-subscribe@yahoogroups.com
To subscribe to the list