Purusharthas: Giving life a meaning
आहार Ahaara (food), निद्रा Nidra (sleep), भयं Bhaya (fear) and मैथुनं Maithuna (sex) are the four significant cravings of मन: Mana – mind – which transcends species, space and time. To sustain one’s body a living being needs food, to heal and rejuvenate one’s body and mind sleep is essential, in survival fear plays a dominant role and for procreation as well as recreation - sex appears to play a crucial part. It is in pursuit of achieving these natural urges of the senses that there happen umpteen conflicts in the wild. Animals at times kill their kind for the sake of food, sleep, fear, and sex. It’s also the root of Chaos. To ensure that humans don’t live like beasts they created families, societies and, even, civilizations. पुरुशार्था Purushartha as an ethical code of conduct created by Vedic seers to survive, assess, pursue and achieve their desires without conflicts. It was to over-ride the “natural order of things” where the “strong crush the weak” in exchange for “peaceful co-existence.”
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King Bharat’s Dilemma vis-à-vis Pandava’s Paradox
One of the common questions posed about the Mahabharata is, “How did Yudhishthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva – who weren’t born to Pandu – all come to be known as Pandavas (sons of Pandu) and claim the throne of Hastinapur over legitimate 100 sons of Dhritarashtra (elder brother of Pandu?” This article by U. Mahesh Prabhu tries to answers this question in depth.
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Bhartrihari’s Wisdom: Niti Shataka
By U. Mahesh Prabhu Legends have it that Bhartrihari once ruled the city of Ujjain. Although a loving ruler his mind was always engrossed about Love and Romance. He had over 100 beautiful women for his wives. No wonder he spent negligible time in the affairs of the state. His …
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