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In Hinduism, puruṣārtha (Sanskrit पुरुषार्थ: "that which is sought by man; human purpose, aim, or end") refers to a goal, end or aim of human existence.[1] There are generally considered to be four such puruṣārthas, namely:
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The notion that proper living entails the pursuit of four goals or ends first took shape in the literary traditions of the Dharmaśāstras and the epics Ramayana and Mahabharata.[2] Early texts treating the goals of human life commonly refer to kāma, artha and dharma as the "trivarga" or "three categories" of possible human pursuits. This is generally interpreted as indicating that the notion of mokṣa as one of the puruṣārthas is a product of a later age.[3] As Hiltebeitel (2002) notes, however, this is not necessarily the case: given that the trivarga focuses on the interests and concerns of the individual during the householder (grihastha) stage of life and mokṣa, though to be pursued throughout life, is the particular goal of the renunciate (sannyasa) stage, the opposition between the trivarga on the one hand and mokṣa on the other can be understood as a reflection of the householder-renunciate opposition as seen in the aśrama system prevalent in India during the ancient and medieval periods. In a similar vein, Prasad (2008) argues that the division between the trivarga and mokṣa is intended to highlight the distinction between values in the social (trivarga) and personal (mokṣa) spheres.[4] While it may remain somewhat unclear as to when it was articulated as a goal of human life on par with the trivarga, mokṣa was certainly integral to the matured conception of the puruṣārthas, eventually becoming known as the caturvarga, the "four-fold set".
Each of the four canonical puruṣārthas was subjected to a process of examination and elaboration which produced several key works in the history of Indian philosophy, including the Kamasutra of Vātsyāyana (treating kāma, particularly as "sexual gratification"), the Arthashastra of Kauṭilya (treating artha as "material pursuits"), the Dharmaśāstras of various authors, most notably Manu (treating dharma as "religious, social and personal ethics") and the principle sūtras of the six orthodox schools of philosophy or darśanas, all of which are principally concerned with the attainment of mokṣa, often referred to as the parama-puruṣārtha or "chief end of human life".[5]
There is a popular correspondence between the four puruṣārthas, the four stages of life (Skt.: āśrama: Brahmacharya [student life], Grihastha [household life], Vanaprastha [retired life] and Sannyasa [renunciation]) and the four primary castes or strata of society (Skt.: varna: Brahmana [priest/teacher], Kshatriya [warrior/politician], Vaishya [landowner/entrepreneur] and Shudra [servant/manual labourer]). This, however, has not been traced to any primary source in early Sanskrit literature.[6] If one speculates philosophically, he can guess that kama is lowest (material sense-gratification, lust), thus it may correspond to sudras (and lower), and brahmacaris (also those who are born outside brahmacarya system, in non-brahmacari-family etc, but then become brahmacaris). Second, next after artha is more or less surely is artha, - because it is also material sense-gratification, but not always just sex or lust like in kama. So this may correspond to grihastha life and vaishya order of life. Grihastha, if he is spiritual, he will be different from grihamedhi is is very much interested in kama, one may become grihastha even from level of grihamedhi if he decides to accept spiritual aims in life. Vaishyas are very much connected with artha, because vaishyas are not just in ignorance, tamas like sudhras (tamo-guna), but they also have some rajas, passion quality. If one has spiritual life, then his kama and artha are converted into spiritual - source of money etc is Laxmi, and also sense-gratification comes from spiritual renunciation - one accepts necessity of something higher than material development. Here one can understand that sense gratification can also come from spiritual life, but not in perverted from: one is advised to ask even for material - also from God, not from demigods (say, Kamadeva for kama, Ganesha for artha): if Krishna says that He is also pure sex life, that means that it is better to direct mind towards Krishna and not to Kamadeva, Krishna is transcendental Cupid, and He ultimately defeats all Cupids; and similarly Krishna is source of all wealth: all energies are His, so money is also energy of Krishna - one can ask Him for money, artha as well. Next, dharma. Ksatriyas are usually the class which have this or that law, dharma. Usually even religions, except from sanatana-dharma, are related to dharma, laws. However, if we speak of renunciation from family, vanaprastha, this is different. One has to stop any passion: in family life, grihastha, passion is a big problem, but ksatriyas are to control passion. This is because sex life is more or less in ignorance, tamas, even if that is life of grihastha. And ultimately moksha is for brahmanas, because they are in goodness. Brahmanas are supposed to know Brahman or Absolute Truth, that is in vedanta-sutra - athato-brahma-jijnasa. So sannyasa and brahmana class represents moksha, liberation of five known kinds. However, above these known four purusharthas is the higher purpose of life - bhakti, because just to know Brahman as brahmana is not enough - that is yoga-meditation - practical application of moksha - one is liberated only in meditation on Krishna. Mukunda - only He can give mukti or moksha. And devotional service is even higher than just meditation, because it points to highest point of realization of Brahman - Bhagavan, Supreme Personality of Godhead and service to Him.