Goals of human life. (Glossary for the Vahinis)

Let people, wherever they may be, in villages or towns, cultivate faith in God, develop love and share it with one and all. Then they will experience ineffable bliss. Liberation will not come through meditation or penance. Love is the only means. When you render service with love, it will become meditation, penance and all else. Love is the fifth Purushartha, the supreme goal of life. Love is also the panacea for all the ills that afflict society today. Hate is the cause of all ills. Hence hatred should be banished, as declared by the Gita. Don’t give room for any evil feelings in your heart, which is the seat of God. Dedicate your minds to God. In due course, you will merge in the Divine and become one with God. (SSS Vol.28, p. 22)

Artha (wealth) is one of the Purusharthas-legitimate objects of human endeavour. The four Purusharthas are: Dharma, artha, kama and moksha. They have been listed so, in that order, on purpose. Dharma (righteousness) has to direct and control the process of earning wealth (artha) and Moksha (liberation is to be the regulating factor of desire (kama). All artha accruing from sources tainted by adharma (vice) is to be treated with contempt as unworthy of man. All desires that do not subserve the one supreme need for liberation are to be given up as beneath the dignity of man. So, the Adhyatmika (spiritual) basis of Dharma and moksha has to be the root of both artha and kama. Without it, earning degenerates into plundering; desire degenerates into death. (SSS Vol.6, pp. 135-136)

Rama, Lakshmana, Bharata and Shatrughna can be identified with the four Purusharthas, Dharma, artha, karma and moksha. Ramachandra has been looking at these Purusharthas as distinct ones. He took Dharma as the base, moksha as the destination which we have to reach. When we have a ladder and when want to climb to the top using the ladder, the ladder rests on the ground as the base. The ladder has also got a destination which we have to reach. The ladder rests on the ground of Dharma and attempts to reach the top mansion which is moksha. In between there are two steps the steps of artha and kama. Both these steps, artha and kama are to be jointed either on one hand with Dharma on the other hand with moksha. If one is to expound it in a simple way, one can say Dharma and artha join up and constitute one part and kama and moksha join up and constitute second part. When Dharma and artha are put together, we see that by dharmic life, one may acquire wealth or artha or you have an aspiration to acquire wealth for the sake of Dharma. Do not have kama towards the world. Do not desire to enjoy the world but have kama or the desire for moksha. All your earnings and acquisitions should be related to Dharma and your desires to moksha. (SSB 1977, pp. 51-52)