The Pillars of Indian Culture: Ṛta, Ṛṇa, Dharma

Hinduism never ignores individual accountability and sincerity in practice.

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Classification of Dharma

True realization of value takes us closer to the Vedic concept of ṛta. The word ṛta has no
equivalent in English but can loosely be translated as the ‘cosmic order in the
universe,’ ‘divine law governing the universe,’ or ‘gnostic order that is inherent in the universe.’

The word ṛta is derived from the root word ṛ which means ‘dynamism,’ ‘vibrancy,’ ‘seasoning,’
and ‘belongingness.’ In the Vedas, ṛta is often held supreme. The Vedic god Varuṇa identified
with water and the oceans is frequently referred to as the protector of ṛta. The symbolism of
water and the ocean in connection with ṛta is profound.

In Ṛgveda and Arthavaveda, it is said that the law behind existence is ṛta and to tamper with it
will prove deadly. The whole of creation is called sat, which has an inbuilt cosmic law, ṛta.
If sat (existence) is a fact, then the value which we realize out of it is ṛta (cosmic law). When we
realize ṛta, the value of the whole of creation, we are humbled and naturally become more
caring towards the universe. The entire universe supports our sustenance and the whole of
creation toils for our existence.

This awareness infuses immense gratitude in our hearts. This indebtedness—akin to guilt but
without the negativity—that arises in a sensitive mind is called ṛṇa. (In common parlance, the
word ṛṇa refers to ‘being in debt’ – of a physical, monetary kind.) In the Vedic conception, every
human being by birth carries this baggage of ṛṇa. This baggage is not something mystical but
rather straightforward. Every birth is a miracle – the entire universe conspires to make it
happen. Therefore, it is an unwritten duty to clear this debt to the universe. Without this,
one will not achieve his or her life’s purpose. Those who ignore the debts they are born into
are merely breathing, not alive.

The way to clear this debt is by adhering to dharma. Thus, the awareness of ṛta leads to the
realization of ṛṇa, which in turn motivates one to pursue dharma.

Yajña, Dāna, Tapas

Having realized that adherence to dharma is the ideal way to live, the question arises: how to
practice it? The action plan of dharma is given in the pedagogy of yajña, dāna, and tapas.

Yajña is a specific term for the Vedic fire ritual. In general, it refers to worship of any form.
Metaphorically, yajña refers to ‘an act of self-dedication,’ ‘service above self,’ or ‘respecting the
divine presence.’ The word yajña comes from the root word yaj, which means ‘respect,’
‘belongingness,’ and ‘sharing.’ Respect cannot last without a sense of belonging and this
belongingness is not feasible without selfless offering.

A beautiful story in the Vedas will illuminate the true meaning of yajña:

The asuras (demons) – the elder brothers of the suras (deities) – went to their father Prajapati,
the creator, and complained bitterly that they were often humiliated in comparison to their more
illustrious younger brothers. They urged their father to find a solution to this problem and give
them a better place. The great god Prajapati smiled and said, ‘O my children, you don’t know
the essence of yajña and you don’t practice it even a bit. That is the reason you are compared
with the suras and contemptuously dismissed by the wise.’ Needless to say, the asuras disagreed
with his observation. They dared Prajapati to give any test to the two groups of brothers and see
who comes out as the winner. Prajapati agreed and so did the suras. He made all the suras and
asuras sit on the floor and had a delicious meal kept in front of them. He asked them to eat, but
with one condition, that they should not bend their elbows. The asuras were absolutely clueless;
they failed miserably. How can you eat without bending your elbows? But the suras were wise.
They rearranged themselves so that they faced each other, keeping a distance of an arm. Then
they fed each other, of course without bending their elbows. Then Prajapati told the asuras in a
compassionate voice, ‘O my deprived children, this is the secret of yajña. Help the world without
any expectations and share your prosperity with the rest. You will in turn be helped and
enriched!’

When yajña comes into action for the welfare of mankind, it is known as dāna, or offering. The
literal meaning of the word dāna is ‘giving,’ ‘charity,’ or ‘offering’ but the real import of the
word is ‘philanthropy.’ While engaging in this act of giving, one must not be insecure, or
have the feeling that one is losing something. This demands mental and physical preparation.

The training that leads to internal and external conditioning is called tapas. The
term tapas translates into ‘penance,’ or ‘austerity,’ but mostly refers to a single-minded focus on
work. Thus the threefold path ofyajña, dāna, and tapas leads us to dharma.

The Nature of the Self

All of us, without exception, want to be happy – at all times and at all places. Happiness is our
highest goal. All our suffering, struggle, and effort invariably are exercises towards the
attainment of happiness. Happiness is the one point where all our diverging natures converge.

The means by which one attains happiness varies from person to person. What constitutes
happiness also varies similarly. In general, the source of happiness is considered to be one or
more of the following: health, food, beauty, materials, money, fame, power, social status, art,
travel, family, knowledge, love, etc. Needless to say, what brings happiness to one might bring
misery to another. But the very nature of happiness, the value, is not divergent. Our own
experience reveals that happiness is a state of completeness where no inadequacy is felt.
This state of fulfilment, though lasting for a moment, is essentially the same for everyone.

Leo Tolstoy starts off his novel Anna Karenina with the words: ‘All happy homes are alike. But
every unhappy home is unhappy in its own way.’ Joy has an absolute form while its opposite,
sorrow, has many forms – and at a deeper level, they are all illusions.

This absolute state of joy is similar to the blissful experience of sound sleep. During sound sleep,
all demands, desires, and differences disappear. Even the maladies of the body cease to exist
during that time. This suggests that joy is innate but sorrow is externally thrust upon us. Our
over-indulgence in the world brings sorrow.

Indeed, joy is also a product of external influences. But the happiness that we gain externally is
short-lived and eventually leads to sorrow because it operates in the material world. But the bliss
that we realize internally does not lead to sorrow. It is also interesting to note that sorrow
cannot be generated internally, for our true state is bliss and not agony. Light, like
happiness, is a positive entity whereas darkness is a negative one. Darkness doesn’t exist as an
independent entity but rather, it is the absence of light. Sorrow, like darkness, has no independent
existence. It is just the absence of joy.

When we ask someone ‘How are you?’ to enquire of their wellbeing, if the answer we get is ‘I
am fine,’ then we will ask no more. But if the answer we get is ‘I am not fine,’ then we will have
many questions for them. Similarly, if someone has learnt something that is of interest to us, we
ask ‘How do you know that?’ or ‘How did you learn that?’ We would rarely ask ‘Why do you
know?’

Don’t these instances reveal that existence, awareness, and happiness are natural states of
every living being? Even in the physical world, we see concepts such as equilibrium, valency,
and steady-state, pointing to a similar truth.

Irrespective of our physical or mental condition, we wish to live on forever, learn everything,
have everything, and become fulfilled. The dying one seeks the elixir of life, the weakest one
desires the gold medal, and the dullest one desires the top prize. All these are not merely desires
driven by external forces but it is our inner nature that motivates us to seek wisdom and joy
through these means.

In sum, our ultimate ambition is eternal existence, eternal awareness, and eternal happiness.
Further, nobody truly wants to be a subordinate to another; in fact, everyone wants to dominate
over the others. This desire for absolute freedom and absolute authority accelerates one’s zeal for
eternity. This is the quest after perfection, as Prof. M. Hiriyanna calls it.
Sanātana dharma identifies this desire in a sublime way, considering this to be inbuilt in us as
the very nature of our own selves. Absolute existence (sat), absolute awareness (cit), and
absolute bliss (ānanda) that are independent of external factors constitute the nature of the self
(ātman). The very nature of ātman is sat–cit–ānanda.

The pursuit of attaining sat–cit–ānanda through materialistic paths leads invariably to

corruption and annihilation. Those who seek existence, awareness, and bliss from outwardly
sources try to establish authority over others. They declare their own freedom at the cost of
other’s freedom and invariably become tyrants, blemishing humankind. Sat–cit–ānanda is not
something to ‘attain’ but it is something to ‘realize,’ for it is always within.

Sanātana dharma clearly distinguishes these two paths in the attainment of self-supremacy. It
has always advocated the spiritual path, which is essentially inwardly and has shunned the path
of materialism, which is always outwardly. However, we must remember that although sanātana
dharma takes such a firm stand, it doesn’t take refuge in a utopia. It recognizes the materialistic
world and gives it its due but encourages the evolution into the spiritualistic.

Materialism is an instrumental value, in that it is only a means and never an end in itself.
This is why in the conception of the puruṣārthas, the idea is to manage demand (kāma) and
supply (artha) by the global compromise (dharma) in order to attain liberation (mokṣa).
Materialism is inevitable but when pursued for its own sake without adherence to dharma and
without the larger goal of mokṣa, it leads to destruction of the self and the
surroundings. Mokṣa is the ultimate value. Ānanda, which is the very nature of mokṣa, is the
fundamental value. All others are secondary and instrumental values.

Hinduism not only crystallized the concept of liberation but also established its
instantaneousness. Liberation or salvation is not restricted to a post-death stage but can
happen here and now. This brilliant conception is called jīvanmukti – being liberated during
one’s lifetime. The Upaniṣadic conception of salvation is not a post-dated cheque but a demand
draft.

Let us look at the idea of jīvanmukti with the lens of modern scientific temperament. Such an
idea presupposes the futility of heaven, hell, divine judgement, apocalypse, etc. The highest ideal
– liberation – can be attained by anyone, anywhere, anytime. It is within our reach. This is a
great teaching.

But Hinduism never ignores individual accountability and sincerity in practice. It has the
two opposite concepts of pāpa (sin) and puṇya (goodness, virtue). Everyone is expected to
reduce their pāpaand increase their puṇya. We may explain the material implications of these
two concepts using entropy, which is the measure of disorder or chaos in the universe. What
recklessly adds to entropy is pāpa and what sincerely avoids entropy is puṇya.
There is no need to invoke any scripture or authority of any kind to follow the various points thus
far. The reason for this is simple. Every religion claims that it is the most superior one and uses
the revelations of its scriptures as authority. The proof provided and that which is to be proven is
one and the same. This is absurd, because any book – scripture or otherwise – is the product of
the human mind, which is in turn conditioned by its own spatiotemporal limitations. While on
the one hand, there is no need to disrespect any scripture, on the other hand it is imperative to
transcend all scriptures. We can realize the one underlying spirit in all existence only with
the universal experience of oneself, not by reading a book or listening to a lecture.

Nishkam Karma is the art of focusing on our actions & not their results. Involvement for the
sake of duty, without any expectations of personal gain. Being bothered with what we do in the
present instead of being worried about what its outcome will be in future.

Let’s say that someone is preparing for his exams. While preparation, should he or shouldn’t he
be concerned about results? Should he be concerned about the results on the day of the
examination? Should he be concerned about the results after the examination is over? Should he
be concerned about the results at least after the results are announced?

The answer to all the above questions is ‘No’, according to the philosophy of Nishkam Karma!

Attaching oneself towards their duty and detaching themselves from its results is the synthesis of
Nishkam Karma.

What is more important for an employee? Being concerned about the work at hand, or being
concerned about when he/she would get a salary raise?

Can a Tennis player just concentrate on the serve / rally that they are playing currently without
being bothered about the score / outcome of the match even if they are playing at 0-6, 0-6, 0-5
(Love-40) ?

While going to office in the morning, can we be concerned only about driving our vehicle
without being concerned about that difficult meeting we need to attend that morning?

In a sense, Nishkam Karma is also about complete absorption in what ever one is doing NOW.
And that can be done effectively if one is not bothered/ concerned about the outcome/ results.

The opposite of Nishkam Karma is Sakam Karma. Here, one does his duty always expecting
favorable results.

But is it possible to get favorable results always? Isn’t life a mixed bag of up’s and down’s ? If
one does not get the results they expect, they would be depressed and sad. On the other hand,
would they be satisfied and happy at least after they get the results they expect?
 If your salary is twenty thousand rupees per month, and you get twenty five thousand rupees per
month including bonus, would you be satisfied / happy with it (or) would you want to make
thirty thousand rupees per month like your colleague?

Is there a point where one would be satisfied with what they have (with Sakam Karma), how
much ever they have?

But with Nishkam Karma, a person is satisfied (detached) with a favorable result and also
satisfied (detached) with an unfavorable result. Even a small effort taken in the spirit of Nishkam
Karma is satisfying and there is an element of fulfillment.

The Bhagvad Gita goes one step ahead and says that actions are in our hands, but their results
(fruits) are not in our hands.

The Purusharthas are the inherent values of the Universe: Artha (economic
values), Kama (pleasure), Dharma (righteousness), and Moksha (liberation). The Purusharthas
are the blueprint for human fulfillment. Working with them helps you create a satisfyingly
balanced, meaningful life at the deepest and most holistic level. They offer a way for evaluating
your life and making good decisions. Knowing your goals brings meaning to your spiritual
practice.

Purushatha means “for the purpose of the Self. Take a moment and ask yourself, ‘Am I
managing my life in a way to support my spiritual growth?’ and ‘What do I really, really want at
the level of my Soul?’”

he original Vedic texts only suggested the three goals of Dharma, Artha, and Kama. In the later
Upanishadic era, when people began to seek higher consciousness, the fourth goal
of Moksha was added. Although the first three are somewhat interwoven, it is felt that the “right
action” of Dharmais a necessary requirement for Artha to be meaningful and the abundance
of Artha will be needed to support Kama. The path to liberation or enlightenment of Moksha is
supported by the harmonious interaction of Dharma, Artha, and Kama.

Dharma

Dharma means truth, the right way of living, and human behaviors considered necessary for the
order of things in the world. On a grander scale, it refers to the cosmic law or rules that created
the Universe from chaos.

On an individual level, you can think of Dharma as your true purpose in life or the ethical basis
on which you live your life. It is also:

 Being conscious in your actions, words, and thoughts.

 Having compassion and sensitivity to the needs of others.
 Being awake to the existence of the Divine within you.

Ultimately, Dharma leads you to remember who you really are.

Dharma also brings stability and order, a life that is lawful and harmonious, and the striving to
do the right thing, to be virtuous, to be helpful to others, and to interact successfully with society.
The great Indian text, The Bhagavad Gita says, “The greatest dereliction of Dharma is to desert
the helpless in their time of need.”

Vedanta tells us that you can discover your Dharma by studying sacred teachings from the
examples of highly evolved people, reflecting on and following what satisfies your heart, and
listening to your deepest inner feelings.

Dharma is considered the first of the Purusharthas because without it, Artha and Kama can
easily become self-destructive. However, Artha and Kama, when balanced, also serve to support
your Dharmic Path and eventually your outward Dharma leads you to inner Moksha.

Artha

Artha is the security of having the material comfort you need to live in the world with ease.
While some people think that to be spiritual means to be poor, Artha is not about rejecting the
world, but being content with the things you own. It’s to live skillfully in a world of material
objects that exist for your benefit.

Artha is one of the basic human dignities—to have enough assets to live on and care for your
family, without hoarding or being greedy. Artha guides you to ask the question, “What do I see
as truly valuable?”

Needs vary from person to person. Artha includes everything in your environment that allows
you to live a fulfilling life and also the means to achieve it. It includes knowledge, friendships,
love, career, skills, good health, and prosperity. The Upanishads tell us, “There is no joy in
smallness, joy is in the infinite.”

Artha provides the foundation for Dharma and Kama. Without prosperity and security in society
or at the individual level, both moral life and sensuality become difficult. However, it’s
important that your "worldly success" doesn’t violate the moral responsibility of your Dharma
and your journey toward Moksha (spiritual liberation).

Ultimately, Artha is the pursuit of activities and means necessary for a joyous and pleasurable
life. Vedanta says that you should:
 Discover a way so money runs after you and not vice versa.
 Do work that is compatible to your nature and capabilities.
 Do work that serves society.
 Do work you really love.
 Trust in the infinite organizing power of the Universe.

Kama

The desire for pleasure is what drives human behavior. A life without pleasure and enjoyment is
hollow and empty.

Kama relates to this pleasure, which can be sensuality, but is also art, music, beauty, love,
intimacy, affection, fellowship, and kindness—it’s what brings a sense of delight to your life.
The right kinds of pleasure lead you toward your Dharma and help you fulfill it with
passion. Kama is good and necessary when it exists to support Dharma and becomes part of the
richness of life. However, excessive Kama can lead to overindulgence, addiction, sloth, greed,
and lust.

To successfully practice Kama, you must ask, “Are my pleasures aligned with my life’s
purpose?” The Upanishads tell us, “As is your desire so is your will, as is your will so is your
deed, as is your deed so is your destiny and You are what your deep driving desire is.”

Many Westerners were introduced to Kama when the ancient Indian text, The Kama
Sutra, became popular. Unfortunately, it was generally misinterpreted as a sex manual; it is
actually a guide to a virtuous and gracious living that discusses the nature of love, family life,
and other aspects

pertaining to pleasure-oriented faculties of human life. In truth, it depicts Kama as an essential

and joyful aspect of human existence.

To practice Kama from a yogic perspective means to practice being fully present with whatever
you’re experiencing. Kama is a total sensory experience that includes discovering the object,
learning about the object, establishing emotional connection, learning the process of enjoyment,
and experiencing the resulting feeling of well-being before, during, and after the experience.

Vedanta warns us that Kama should be followed with thought, care, caution, and enthusiasm, and
be free from worries and egotistical problems. Know and seek which pleasures are saturated with
Divine Consciousness and are drenched in the ecstasies of the soul. Ultimately, the
highest Kama is the longing for Oneness with the Divine.

Moksha
 When you live your Dharma, fully supported by Artha and Kama, Moksha or the final liberation
dawns.

Moksha is your true nature—it’s who you really are. It includes:

 Emancipation.
 Liberation.
 Freedom from the cycle of death and rebirth.
 Freedom from ignorance.
 Self-realization and self-knowledge.
 Consciousness of the Oneness of the Supreme Soul.
 The removal of obstacles to an unrestricted life.
 Access to our full human potential of creativity, compassion, and understanding.

Vedanta tells us that liberation comes to those who know Brahman as that which is the origin
and end of all things, the universal principle behind and at source of everything that exists, and
the consciousness that pervades everything and everyone.

Such realization comes from self-knowledge and self-discipline. Moksha is self-discipline that is
so perfect that it becomes unconscious, second nature, an unworldly understanding, and a state of
bliss. This liberation comes from a life lived with inner purity, alert mind, led by reason,
intelligence and realization of the Supreme Self who dwells in all beings. As the poet Rumi says,
“The whole Universe exists within us, ask all from yourself.” While Lao Tzu tells us, “Knowing
others is wisdom, knowing yourself is Enlightenment.”

Moksha is seen as a final release from life’s illusion. The Upanishads describe the liberated
individual as one who treats others with respect (regardless of how others treat him/her); returns
anger with soft and kind words; doesn’t expect praise from others; never injures or harms any
life form; is as comfortable being alone as in the presence of others; and is humble of clear and
steady mind, straightforward, compassionate, and patient.

Your journey through the Purusharthas is beautifully summarized by Swami Chinmayananda,

“May your life be simple and pure so you know only beauty. May your mind be clear and quiet
so you speak only of Truth. May your heart be filled with love and compassion so you radiate
Light to all you meet. May all you do be blessed with Divine Grace.”