Sri Sathya Sai Baba's Message to the Russians. Four goals of family life The highest goal is moksha

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According to Vedic knowledge, there are 4 main goals in the life of every person: dharma, artha, kama and moksha.
To understand oneself, one's internal and external motives, personal birth charts (horoscopes) help to determine which one or more of the main human goals prevail both in general and in a particular period of a person's life.

The first main goal in life is dharma.
Dharma is a term used in Hinduism, Buddhism and other Eastern religions. The concept of this word is quite extensive and, depending on the context and religious or philosophical currents, it has many different meanings.
Translated from Sanskrit, "dharma" means - to hold, to hold, to support. In Vedic culture, most often this term is understood as the fulfillment of one's destiny, duty to oneself, family, society in which we live, and to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. As well as following religious and socio-moral laws. Dharma is understood as well as righteousness, truth and order. For the kshatriya varna, dharma is the main goal. In the natal chart, dharma is shown by the 1st, 5th and 9th houses. These houses are associated with the knowledge of one's nature and one's physical and psycho-emotional capabilities, Purva-punya (pious karma), reason, wisdom, religiosity and righteousness.

The next goal is artha.
Artha - wealth, prosperity, financial well-being, success, various material benefits. For vaishya varnas and family people, artha is one of the main goals in life. In the horoscope of the house of artha, these are the 2nd, 6th, and 10th houses - family values and traditions, family income, job duties, areas of work, the ability to cooperate and achieve material goals and economic development.

Kama- means desires, passion, enjoyment of material things. Kama is also the satisfaction of one's ambitions, desires and all the senses (touch, sight, taste, smell and hearing). Kama is the main goal of life in the Shudra varna. 3rd, 7th, 11th houses in birth charts are responsible for kama. These are the houses of aspirations, relationships, ambitions and desires.

And the last of the four main goals according to purushartha (the Vedic concept of human goals) is moksha.
Moksha means liberation, material independence, freedom from samsara (the cycle of birth and death). Moksha is liberation from illusions, attachment to material wealth, liberation from suffering. This is spiritual development, freedom from karma, enlightenment and awareness of oneself as an eternal Soul, a part of God. Moksha is the main goal of the Brahmins. In the horoscope, the goal of moksha is indicated by the 4th, 8th and 12th houses. The indicators of these houses are spiritual efforts, spiritual knowledge and practices, yoga, meditation, solitude, transformation and liberation.

All these goals are interconnected - in order to satisfy our desires (kama), we need money (artha), and in order to be financially secure, we should know our nature, our capabilities, and also observe the social and moral standards of society (dharma). And when a person fulfills his dharma, leads a righteous, spiritual lifestyle, then the understanding comes that true happiness is not in material things and not in satisfying his senses, but in realizing himself as a Soul, in knowing and serving God, which leads to moksha .

“The meaning of human life is simply to go back home to God, and the meaning of my life is simply to serve the Lord. If I serve the Lord, I am the happiest person, and if I do not serve, then I am the most miserable. And for me it makes no difference where to live - in a hut or in a palace. The main thing is to serve the Lord.”(Gopal Krishna Goswami).

In addition to the four main life goals described above, there is the main, true goal of life for each of us - this is to come to God with our service and love, to return home!

The Vedas speak of four goals that a person can set for himself. These goals are universal and important for any community in any country and any era. They are called in Sanskrit dharma, artha, kama and moksha - 1) the performance of religious duties; 2) economic prosperity; 3) sense gratification; and 4) salvation, or liberation from material bondage.

The Vedas speak of four goals that a person can set for himself. These goals are universal and important for any community in any country and any era. They are called in Sanskrit dharma, artha, kama and moksha - 1) the performance of religious duties; 2) economic prosperity; 3) sense gratification; and 4) salvation, or liberation from material bondage. This list is not random, the achievement of each subsequent goal depends on whether the previous goal is achieved. This is how the acharyas, the spiritual masters of Vedic knowledge, explain it.

Without religion, human society cannot exist. It is in the nature of man to worship someone or something, and even if the state is declared secular on the outside, it is easy to see that people still worship leaders, dictators, Fuhrers, chairmen of the supreme councils or presidents. Also in human society, great poets, musicians and other prominent figures of science and art are worshipped. In the Vedic society they worshiped exclusively God, but at different times they did it in different ways.

God is the basis of everything, it was from His energy that Brahma created the universe. This is described in detail in the second canto of Srimad-Bhagavatam. It says that Brahma was born on a lotus flower growing from the navel of Lord Vishnu (God). Since the universe was then empty, Brahma had no choice but to use the parts of the Lord's universal body to create the universe as it was before. Thus, everything around us is a manifestation of the universal form of the Supreme Lord. Worshiping the Lord means using His energy in His service. It is similar to how a son, having received pocket money from his father, buys a gift for his father. Money in any case remains the energy of the father, but this behavior of the son gives the father pleasure. God is a person, and He is capable of experiencing pleasure or pain. The soul is eternally connected with God in a relationship of servant and master, which is why Krishna (God) likes it when we try to restore this lost relationship by offering Him what He wants. God does not need any material things, however, so that we can show our love for Him, He says that He will even accept "a flower, fruit, leaf or water, if it is offered with love." Krishna (God) accepts only love. This is the meaning of the word "religion".
Dharma, religious duties, are sometimes performed automatically, without love for God. However, even such actions have consequences. Human society properly fulfilling its responsibilities within the system varnashrama, is also considered to be on the path of true religion. "A tree is known by its fruits," similarly, you can tell if people are really following the religious path by the prosperity of the economy. In the context of the Vedas, economic prosperity did not mean the mass production of consumer goods; also nowhere in the Vedas is there any instruction to artificially inflate human needs. Modern industry, which deprived people of fresh air and clean water, was not considered a sign of economic prosperity in Vedic culture. The cow was a symbol of economic prosperity. The cow was considered a mother because a person drinks her milk. Melted butter is prepared from milk, which is so important in fire sacrifices. That is why, in the Vedic sense, economic development is the development of agriculture, especially cow breeding. Mass killing of cows is a sign of a godless society. Such a society will not know peace. Everyone in such a society will snarl at each other like cats and dogs, and war and poverty will be the lot of such a society. No one in such a society can expect to achieve the third goal - sense gratification. The center of sensory activity is the mind.

The mind is the subtle energy of our psyche, which determines our mood and even plans for the future. Depression, which has grown to the scale of a national disaster, is now the second problem after AIDS. Nobody knows what peace and happiness are. People are constantly worried. In pursuit of the mirage of material success, people without hesitation commit one sin after another, one stupidity after another. Srimad-Bhagavatam says that such people work hard during the day and either sleep or have sex at night. The laws of material nature are immutable, unlike the laws adopted in the legislative assemblies of worldly politicians. The more a person forgets his spiritual nature, the harder material nature forces him to work tirelessly. Sometimes, in order to somehow brighten up their impenetrable existence, people erect such bestial labor on a pedestal of higher human values. However, practice shows that as soon as a person has the opportunity, he stops working. Thus, without a genuine development of the economy, the basis of which should be spiritual development (dharma), a person is not able to satisfy his senses and mind.

Dissatisfied people are constantly at enmity with each other, calling their enmity national interest or something else, but the real reason for such enmity is in unmet needs. The life of a person in the Vedic civilization was simple, but the thinking was sublime. The real knowledge is contained in the Vedas, the oldest scriptures in the world. A person always strives for the knowledge contained in the Vedas, however, today's "educated" skeptic, out of thoughtlessness, rejects the authoritative knowledge of the Vedas and invents his own ways to happiness. As a result, people form a wrong idea about the fourth goal of life - liberation.

Salvation, or liberation, has always been a favorite topic of discussion among philosophers and theologians. In our time, these brave people have been replaced by scientists who have been struggling for years to create the notorious death pill. But, if we look back, we will see that everything that scientists have created over the past few centuries is only more lethal types of weapons, designed not to postpone, but to bring death closer. The big lie that people have been treated to for more than a year is the cause of despair among modern youth, who have lost their bearings and are not able to perceive reality more adequately. With a few exceptions, almost all the youth of modern Russia is experiencing a severe crisis, which consists in the fact that people have no goal in life other than profit, and if this goal seems unattainable, a person generally loses the desire to live. The fourth goal of life, according to the Vedas, is liberation from the shackles of illusion, the knowledge of one's true "I", immortal, eternally blissful and full of knowledge. It is the Vedas that can help a modern person change his outlook on the future, find himself both materially and spiritually, and make us truly happy.

12 houses can be conditionally divided into four groups: Kama, artha, dharma, moksha - 4 types of various human desires, 4 goals of life, which are intertwined in different combinations into one common one - Destiny. It is these desires that give rise to human activity, and indeed all life as such. Why is a person born? Soul wants know yourself through your own experience. Trying to get rid of desires is pointless, stupid and even dangerous, because in the end they are the reason for our existence.

Dharma houses - 1st, 5th, 9th. Duty, obligation, religion - these are several translations of this word. Dharma is what a person is born into the world for, a task, a purpose. Dharma always corresponds to innate personal qualities, desires and aspirations. The root of this word from Sanskrit is translated as "support". Dharma is the path that leads a person through his whole life. Following this path, he remains satisfied, creative and happy. From this follows another definition - Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Path. If you follow the dharma, sincerely, and with a pure heart, you automatically get on the Eternal Path. There are many paths of dharma, they are as unique as living beings, but the goal for all paths is the same - the Eternal Path. And each living being follows the Eternal Path in its own special way.
Artha houses - 2nd, 6th, 10th. Wealth, means, resources... What is necessary for a fulfilling life and the fulfillment of dharma. Of course, this is not just about money. Experience, knowledge, skills - all this is artha. I would translate this word as "equipment" or "equipment" for this incarnation.
Kama houses - 3rd, 7th, 11th. Desire, passion, impulse, movement to achieve the goal. This word should not be interpreted as "lust". Kama is the desire to touch, to establish contact with any manifestations of the surrounding world, especially with living beings, the desire to Create and Love.
Moksha houses - 4th, 8th, 12th. Liberation. But not leaving this “material” world and incarnating in the spiritual one, but liberation from attachments, addictions. To love without expecting anything in return, to rejoice without worries about the future, not to be afraid of losing and not to cling, not to try to control, to be fluid. This is what true moksha is. Absolute unconditional love. Unconditional. Without conditions. Moksha is the dissolution of delusions and illusions inspired by dharma, artha and kama. Moksha is that which makes it possible to possess nothing while possessing everything.

All these four life goals for each person are differently distributed in their relationship with each other. It’s good for someone to wave a saber, someone to live as a hermit in the forest, and someone to perform on stage. However, one way or another, each of these four goals is necessarily manifested in every life. How exactly all the energy is distributed to these groups is shown by the horoscope.

FOUR BASIC GOALS OF HUMAN LIFE

To have a goal and be able to achieve it means to be human. An animal, like a person, goes through its life cycle, obeying instincts (nutrition, reproduction, etc.). But it is precisely in the presence of a goal that there is the main difference between a person and an animal.

In the ancient Aryan culture, the sages divided the life aspirations of a person into four categories - purusarthi (from purusha - individual soul, artha - goal): drachma, artha, kama and moksha.
In the Charaka Samhita, they are expressed in the form of three innate and instinctive desires - ishan: pranaishana - the desire to live a long and healthy life, dhanaishana - the desire to achieve material well-being and paralokaishana - the desire to find happiness in a future life.

DHARMA

The word dharma has many meanings, so it cannot be translated unambiguously. In this case, dharma is following one's nature, a natural way of life for a particular person. This is what a person wants and can do for himself, for his family, for society, for the Universe, an intuitive sense of duty, his destiny.
Dharma is unique, it cannot be copied from another. Following the call of his Self, a person acquires all the benefits, saves himself from misfortunes and provides good karma. But an attempt to be someone else, on the contrary, contributes to the accumulation of negative karma. Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita tells Arjuna: "It is better to perform your duties imperfectly than the duties of others perfectly. It is better to die doing your duty, someone else's path is dangerous."
No one can tell a person what his dharma is, only he himself can feel it. Yoga practices help calm the mind and become more receptive to the voice of intuition. It is also useful to observe the achievement of what goals bestows happiness.
While doing his work, a person naturally concentrates, a natural meditation arises, a person does not wait for tomorrow and does not live in the past - he is “here and now”.
Throughout life, as a person develops, his dharma changes.
Understanding your dharma leads to setting clear goals in life, efficient use of energy, right decisions and, accordingly, the right results. However, following the dharma does not mean at all that there will be no obstacles on the path of a person, their occurrence is a consequence of karma, but obstacles in this case are overcome relatively easily.
If a person does not follow the path of dharma, he begins to feel the meaninglessness of life, emptiness, inability and unwillingness to carry its heavy burden, there is a craving for such cheap "substitutes for happiness" as alcohol and drugs.
Dharma suggests that a person tries not to harm anyone or anything if his duty is not directly related to this. If the performance of duties involves harming another, bad karma does not accumulate.
Walking the path of dharma, a person comes to the comprehension of the highest reality. More broadly, dharma is defined as the universal law on which the world rests.

ARTHA

Artha literally means "that which is necessary".
The artha category concerns the material aspect of existence and combines such components as well-being, a sense of security, health, i.e. everything that allows you to maintain life at the required level. Artha involves work leading to the accumulation of material wealth, since spiritual development is impossible without a solid foundation. To find it, a person must build his life in accordance with legal, moral and ethical standards.
Since artha is not the ultimate goal of life, one should beware of excessive accumulation of material wealth.
It's no secret that modern society is called a society of consumers. Humanity consumes and produces a huge amount of unnecessary products, information and services. All the time and thoughts of modern man are busy with the endless pursuit of the most fashionable and prestigious. Guided by vanity and false ideas of necessity and good, people turn their lives into madness. Meanwhile, the production of the necessary takes a little time and does not create economic, psychological and other problems.

KAMA

The concept of kama is associated with the satisfaction of worldly desires. This is the natural desire of a person for sensual pleasures, good food, comfort, his emotional needs.
Ayurveda is based on the knowledge of the existence of past and future lives. Unsatisfied desires are the cause of suffering in the present and future lives. An indispensable condition for approaching liberation is the fulfillment of all one's desires in accordance with family, social, cultural and religious norms.
However, a trap lies in wait here: often a person becomes a slave to his desires and spends a huge amount of energy and time on achieving insignificant goals. The strategy of "do not deny yourself anything" turns him into a weak-willed creature. Therefore, you should be careful about your desires, not suppress them, but always evaluate the expediency of implementation. It bestows strong will and free energy. An important spiritual achievement of a person is also the ability not to cling to the results obtained or desires fulfilled.
Restrictions and prescriptions, discipline in life are also necessary for a person, like a non-bitter medicine taken strictly by the clock for a sick person.
Proper nutrition, sufficient and full sleep, pure consciousness, satisfaction of sexual needs, material comfort, regular spiritual practices and spiritual communication satisfy all the needs of a person, making him happy.

Vedic knowledge says that there are 4 goals of human life that complement each other and lead a person to harmony.

1. Dharma is a very broad concept. More than one book can be written on Dharma matters. Here I will only talk about some of the main facets of the Dharma. Dharma is the concept of duty, following one's destiny, fulfilling one's duties. Life and professional activities for the benefit of society, in accordance with their nature, with their talents and abilities. Spiritual development. Connection with God. Dharma is honor and conscience, following moral and moral principles. Development of your Higher nature and control of the lower. Following the Dharma cultivates the possibilities and abilities of a person. Dharma teaches a person how to live in peace with other people and with the entire universe. Where there is Dharma, a person always feels peaceful. Dharma gives respect. God always protects a person who follows the Dharma and gives him many blessings, opportunities and good fortune.

In astrology, the houses showing the Dharma of a person are 1, 5 and 9. All-good, the best houses of the horoscope. If the houses of Dharma are strong, then the person is blessed with wisdom and opportunities. These houses show the stock of a person's pious karma - Purva Punyu. Strong Dharma houses indicate that the owner of the card is a spiritual, honest and decent person. He has been given a lot. The basis of Dharma is compassion and following the Universal laws (commandments of God)!

The first goal of human life is following the Dharma and spiritual development.

5 pillars of Dharma:

a) knowledge

b) Justice

c) Patience

d) Loyalty

e) Love

2. Artha - material well-being. Money, wealth, fame. Energy of Goddess Lakshmi. But, what is interesting .... in order to win the favor of the Goddess Lakshmi, a person must follow the Dharma - moral and ethical standards. The main quality of a person who can be rich is an internal non-attachment to money. Leo Tolstoy once said: “The person who understands that what he has is what he needs is truly happy.” Academician Likhachev expressed this idea even more precisely - "The poor is not the one who has little, but the one who has little!". Artha is the principle of sufficiency.

In astrology, the houses of Artha are 2, 6 and 10. The condition of these houses will show whether a person will prosper, whether he will have money, how successful he will be and whether he will achieve fame. I want to note that money karma is the easiest to change. How to change money karma? Through philanthropy, donations and developing an inner detachment from money. We should appreciate everything we have, but we should not be attached to it!

3. Kama - fulfillment of desires, sensual pleasures, satisfaction of one's senses. The nature of the individual is desire. When we do not have desires, this is called depression. On the other hand, it is to our desires that we can be grateful, or vice versa, that we are embodied here on Earth all the time. It is because of our desires that we cannot escape from the cycle of our “deaths” and rebirths. Desire is what keeps us here. Desire is a powerful driving force. Someone's wishes come true for two times. Someone with a creak.

In the horoscope, the 3rd, 7th and 11th houses are responsible for the fulfillment of desires. These are Kama's houses. Strong houses of Kama endow a person with strong desires, but also provide opportunities to realize them. It is always important for such a person to remember the words of the sage - "Beware of your desires - they can come true!" :) Because the fulfillment of our desires does not always bring us good. Weak houses of Kama, although they can give a person great ambitions, but he will not have special opportunities to realize these ambitions.

Ultimately, after countless incarnations, some earlier, some later, we must come to one single desire - to merge with the Highest Source, return home, so to speak, and no longer incarnate on Earth. This is called - to achieve enlightenment / liberation - the next fourth goal of our life.

4. Moksha - liberation from the circle of births and deaths on Earth, spiritual enlightenment. Gaining Cosmic consciousness, understanding that you are immortal. The ultimate goal of our life. In the chart, the houses of Moksha are 4, 8 and 12. Strong houses of Moksha will show a sage, a person of a philosophical mindset. The weak can bring a lot of trouble, but through them a person can realize the whole illusory nature of the visible world.

Houses of Dharma (1,5,9) - the element of Fire. The most auspicious houses of the horoscope. Any association with them is beneficial.

Houses of Artha (2,6,10) - the element Earth. They will show our success in the material world.

Houses of Kama (3,7,11) - the element of Air. They will show how our desires will be fulfilled.

Houses of Moksha (4,8,12) - the element of Water. They symbolize deep spiritual development.

Dharma is the fulfillment of one's duties to one's family, society, and God. Spiritual development. Money (Artha) comes to one who follows the Dharma. With the help of money, a person can satisfy his feelings and ambitions (Kama). But the Soul cannot be happy through the satisfaction of human feelings and desires. “I am not this body – I am the Soul!” - this is the main postulate of Vedic philosophy. The soul can be happy only by uniting with God (Moksha).