The Free Press Journal

Guiding Light

Four Purusharth­as

- — Swami Atmananda

Purusharth­as are those for which a person strives for. They imply our goals of life.

TO understand our goals of life we should not look outside, as to where the world is going, but should rather look within, as to what we really aspire. For this we should ask ourselves a very fundamenta­l question: What is that attaining which I will be fully satisfied ? Don’t be in a hurry, take your own time and discover the answer to this important question. You will find that most of our so called goals are only means for some other end, they do not really come under the category of goals. We find that very few people have clarity about this fundamenta­l thing. They may say that they are modern educated people and do not blindly follow anyone, but this is what they are doing, blindly following others, for the simple reason that they themselves are not clear as to what they really want. They join the rat race and in the end realize that they have been on a meaningles­s trip, by then it is too late. So let’s pause and try to know what it is that we really want, what is it that attaining which we will certainly quench our thirst. Let’s look within, introspect & discover. The knowledge of Self starts with such fundamenta­l questions. The scriptures do not ask us to blindly follow someone but only help us conduct this inquiry. This is called the inquiry into Purusharth­as of life.

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