What is the purpose of human life? · पुरुषार्थ

Hinduism does not ask you to give up the world to find meaning. It names four aims of human life — and puts duty first and freedom last. What are the purusharthas, and how do they fit together?

The puruṣārthas, "aims of a person", are: dharma — righteous living and duty; artha — prosperity and security; kāma — love, beauty and enjoyment; and mokṣa — liberation. Wealth and pleasure are not sins in this view; they are legitimate aims, so long as they are pursued within dharma.

Dharma is listed first because it guides the other two. The Mahabharata's Vyasa, near the end of the epic, cries out with raised arms that no one listens to him: "From dharma come artha and kama — why then do people not follow dharma?" And then there is the fourth aim, which is different from all the others…

• Moksha — the aim beyond aims
• The four stages of life
• For life today

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• Mahabharata — Svargarohana Parva
• Manusmriti and Dharmashastras — on the ashramas
• Bhagavad Gita