30 Artha and Kāma

T. Seshasayee

Introduction

The Hindu ethical philosophers have named the instrumental value which is necessary for the satisfaction of human desires, artha. It is a generic term which means possession. The term ‘artha’ generally indicates “the attainment of riches and worldly prosperity, advantage, profit, wealth” also “result” in commercial life, “business-matter,” “business-affair, work, price,” and, in law, petition It also refers to the activities of production, distribution and consumption of goods. Thus the term artha need not be restricted to the meaning of wealth, though wealth is the most powerful of the instrumental values in the satisfaction of human wants.

The Hindu metaphysics and the Hindu culture point out that while the pursuit of wealth is sanctioned and justified, as compared with renunciation and contemplation it is inferior as a source of liberation and release. Hindu view of the economic pursuit is to be understood in terms of the Hindu philosophers’ visualizing the fruitful role from a purely secular point of view as well as from the viewpoint of the ultimate goal of human existence. The Mahabharata stresses the great importance of wealth in human life by saying: “Poverty is a state of sinfulness”. All kinds of meritorious acts flow from the possession of great wealth, as from wealth spring all religious acts, all pleasures and heaven itself” Kautilya was opposed to widespread and indiscriminate renunciation since it interfered with economic production and recommended that the state should punish those who renounced the world without having first satisfied the claims of society and family. He would not allow ascetics to enter villages of the kingdom for fear that they may cause disturbance in the economic activities of the villages. The ordered scheme of the four stages of human life (āśrama-scheme) in the developmental scheme Manu insists on the house-holder’s working for wealth do enable him to obtain satisfaction of the basic needs of him and his family. To toil for wealth is to avoid living on other’s labour and is a commandment familiarized by all the smŗtis.

1.1. Artha as Dharma

To the Hindu ethical philosophers earning artha is itself a dharma, a way of life. The usefulness of artha as an instrumental value is wide, for it is not confined only to securing secular comforts but is also necessary for aiming at spiritual virtues and leading a moral life. Virtues are impracticable without wealth. Material possessions satisfy the ordinary life of desires In this sense “artha is the source of the whole and the loss of wealth spells ruin.”

Therefore, wealth is important. Material wealth is the basic necessity of human life and it is given due importance in Hindu thought. The poet Vālmīkī extols that to the wealthy exist friends and relations. He who has wealth is considered as man by people. He is considered a learned man. He is lucky and is intelligent. The Mahābhārata highlights the importance of artha by considering dharma and kāma as the two limbs of artha. The moral degradation caused by poverty is described by Bhartŗhari. Man though has same sense-organs, the same actions, the same intellect, the same speech; yet, without wealth, the same man becomes quite different in an instant.

Poverty has never been put forward as an ideal in life by the Hindu philosophers. The Paňcatantra points out that the poverty is a curse which is worse than death. The Hindu philosophers’ view seems to be that poverty does not make for virtue. It destroys the mind and corrupts the morals. Hence a minimum of material possessions is absolutely essential even for the spiritual aspirant.

Hindu philosophers have always regarded the economic factor as essential to human life. “Wealth is of three kinds: white, spotted and black. White wealth is something that which is acquired through sacred knowledge, valour in arms, the practice of austerities with a maiden, through (instructing) a pupil, by sacrificing and by inheritance. Spotted wealth is – what is acquired by lending money at interest, tillage, commerce, in the shape of śulka, by (means of) artistic performances, by servile attendance, or as a return for a benefit conferred on some one.

Black wealth is that which is acquired through corrupt practices such as bribe, gambling, bearing a message, forgery, robbery or fraud.

The concept and the institution of property are dealt with by the Hindu ethical philosophers. Property is divided by most smŗtis into two kinds, sthāvara (immovable such as lands and houses) and jangama (movable). Both kinds of property are spoken of as pledges or mortgages. We also find a three-fold classification of property: land including houses (bhu), gold, silver and other movables (dravya).

Ancient Hindu law divides property into two classes: (i) joint-family property; and (ii) separate property. Joint-family property is either ancestral or jointly acquired with or without the aid of ancestral property or property acquired separately but thrown into the common stock. Ancestral property (apratibandha dravya) is all property inherited by a male from his father, paternal grandfather or paternal great grandfather. Separate property includes also what is called self-acquired property (svārjita dravya).

The pursuit of artha was considered essential and not merely permissive in the Hindu tradition. First and foremost, the individual requires artha for fulfilling his primary obligations to support the members of his own family. Secondly, the individual has to ‘take care of’ those who belong to the three stages (āśramas) in life, the initiated (brahmacārin), the wandering mendicant (vānaprasthin) and the ascetic (sannyasin). Further, the memory of the deceased ancestors was expected to be cherished by the individual by means of periodic rituals and certain sacrifices were also to be performed by him. In view of these considerations, augmenting one’s material resources was considered an imperative need by the Hindu philosophers. The Hindu ethical philosophers’ implication of the insistence on considering artha as a means seems to be that if the ends for which it is sought are noble, the desire for the means is not ignoble.

1.2. Ethical Means to Artha

The Hindu philosophers have maintained that there are ethical means even with regard to meeting one’s economic requirements in life. These aspects emphasize (i) that acquisition of wealth should not be for gratifying one’s own sensual desires but for achieving the nobler purpose of sharing and (ii) that no one should acquire more wealth than is actually necessary for meeting his own requirements.

Consideration of artha purely as a means and never as an end-in-itself would have seen the evolution of a peaceful society in which no individual would have thought it fit to act in a manner impairing the happiness of others. If a balanced approach to material possessions had been developed, it would have averted all the social and political ills which the world at present is witnessing. Social coherence would have been an accomplished fact; progress of society would not have been retarded; and above all, the dynamic and the reciprocal relationship between the individual and society would not have been lost sight of. One may be under the impression that if complete material satisfaction is achieved, even the desire for values other than the material can easily be dissolved. Happiness then becomes purely materialistic. Happiness is a state of mind and that is the reason why men and women who have all the conveniences that a material civilization has given them feel frustrated and have a definite feeling that they are missing something in their lives. Talking of artha, Kautilya starts with the traditional four divisions of the basic aspirations of the individual as dharma, artha, kāma and mokşa. He never says that artha determines the forms and conditions of social and political existence. He says: “As dharma is the basis of wealth and kāma is the end of wealth, success in achieving that kind of wealth which promotes virtue, wealth enjoyment (dharma, artha and kāma) is termed success in all (sarvārthasiddhi)

The Hindu theory seems to have deeper implications not merely for a scheme of reconstruction of individual life but also for a programme of social reconstructions.In terms of the Hindu theory, due to the dhārmic principles with regard to artha not being followed, sometimes we find certain sections of society enjoying the benefits of material possessions and certain others suffering from privation and the predicament of dependence of the latter on the richer classes. From this point of view it is clear that there is something wanting on the part of those who have the capacity to earn more than the others. Such an attitude needs certainly to be condemned but it should not be concluded from this that “the poor have the monopoly of virtues, administrative capacity, directive ability and disinterested devotion, while the rich have a full share of all the conceivable vices, lack of imagination, selfishness and corruption.” In sum, what is required is not the attitude of mutual recrimination but of mutual appreciation of the capacities and needs of each other, by the different groups of society.

2. Kāma

In the Hindu ethical tradition the term personality-integration has a spiritual meaning and that the deeper significance of personality consists in not stopping merely with an analysis of the mind the ways and means which are instrumental in securing mental equipoise.

Kāma is an integral aspect of the four-fold value-scheme (the puruşātha-scheme).The desire-aspect is significant as the nature of man is largely the nature of his desires. Desires generally are of two types – the desires for ordinary experiences in life and those which are not powerful enough to activate man. These can be referred to as the desires for the pleasures of the moment and the pleasures that are yet to be realized.

The name given in Hindu philosophy to these different types of desires is kāma. Kāma is a comprehensive term which includes all desires – desires ranging from the cravings of the flesh to the yearnings for the spirit. The Hindu view is that man should only gradually overcome the insistent call of the flesh. Hence it has rightly been visualized that there is a connecting link between the ordinary life of bodily desires and the dim call of the spirit.

Kāma is the central force that is responsible for propelling man into action. The uniqueness of this psychological concept of kāma is that it is an inspiring force behind all human activities, and at the same time is the goal of all human activities. The materials he obtains help him in fulfilling his desires (kāma). The desire for objects leads to the pursuit of the sciences, but the rapidly growing demand for the work of those who pursue them as professions clearly means that man finds an enjoyment in pursuing the arts and the sciences for their own sake.

2.1.Kāma as a Desire

The term ‘desire’ may, in a sense, be applied to the various puruşārthas since they drive a man to seek them. Righteousness, seeking wealth and aiming at self-realization (dharma, artha and moksa) are all due to man’s strong desires (kāma) for them. As all of them are forms of desire, their difference being only in the objects desired, from the perspective of psychology it may be stated that the only human end (puruşārtha) is kāma, that dharma regulates the way desires have to be satisfied and coordinated and that mokşa is only an intense and unique type of longing for eternal happiness.

The two types of desires– desires pertaining to the body and the yearnings of the soul are to be found in man. Man cannot do away with any of these desires completely. The strength of the desires of the flesh is so enormous that man very often indulges in them exclusively. At the same time the capacity for thinking makes him interrogate whether there is not something more than the delight of the flesh. This is responsible for his aspiring for spiritual experience. Hence the Hindu ethical philosophers do not oppose the sensuous pleasures. On the other hand they appreciate the fact that when satisfied with a clear sense of proportion, far from dragging the individual away from the ideal-realization, the basic urges help him to develop a taste for the ideal and enable him to achieve self-realization.

The physical-psychological aspect of kāma offers us an insight into the sensuous side of sex itself, while the psychological-mental introduces us to the Hindu psychology of love and the mutual attitude of the sexes. The moral-spiritual aspects are discernible by a further consideration of the complementary relationship between the sexes and also by analyzing the other non-sexual aspects of kāma – concepts which are meaningful in the realms of art and aesthetics.

The sensual aspects of sex are elaborately treated in the Hindu classic, kāmasūtra authored by Vātsyāyana. He gives a systematic account of the different aspects of sex-life and deals with the natural stirrings of the human heart. The scientific treatment that he gives to this subject indicates his zest for life and is far from the vain cry of complete abstinence. Zimmer explains that though the kāma literature has come down to us giving excessively technical details of the subject, nevertheless, some basic insights concerning the attitude of the sexes towards each other can still be extracted from it – some notions of the Hindu psychology of love, analysis of the feelings and manners of emotional expression as well as a view of the recognized task and sphere of love.

2.2.Kāma in Dharmaśāstras

Dharmaśāstras and the various other ethical treatises also advocate that the principle that kāma like artha, is a means -value and not an end-value, and hence that it needs to be regulated by dharma. Manu, for instance, observes that the proclivity of all beings is to hanker after the satisfaction of the common…. “desires of hunger, thirst and sexual gratification and therefore no stress is to be placed on them but on the cessation or curbing of those.” Further, in our zeal to project the positive, the lively and the colourful approaches to kāma in the Hindu tradition we should not fail to take note of the ‘contextual approach’ to sex that is equally strongly present. The motive of sexual love is not only for the begetting of children but for the performance of obsequies of the parents so that they might have happiness ensured for them in the life hereafter.

The ‘contextual approach’ is reflected in the sections relating to the institution of marriage and progeny in the Dharmaśāstras, the Epics and the Purāņas. The deeper implications of kāma thus need to be emphasized by stating that its connotation is not exhausted by the restrictive sense as sexual love.

Of all the human longings, the love of a man for a woman is the strongest. It ennobles, uplifts and makes man and woman capable of great sacrifices and enables them to get over his narrow and selfish desires. Hence, Hindu philosophers insist on every individual entering into the married state called gŗhastha. Marriage, thus represents, on the one hand, the appreciation of the complementary nature of the relation between sexes and , on the other, of the mutual attraction between the sexes. The completeness of each other is attained fully because of an intimacy of body, mind and spirit. This involves sacrifices by both for the sake of the other. True human love is characterized by the readiness, on the part of the individuals for absolute self-sacrifice. In short, love implies undivided unified absorption of the personality of the lover in the loved.

The great ethical qualities are developed in the individual when he leads a pure and complete married life. The Hindu philosophers’ pronounce that the householder’s is the best stage in human life. The institution of marriage has the significant function of enabling the sexes to realize personality-integration through the basic medium of the sex-relationship. In the ancient Hindu society marriage (vivāha) is thus a socio-spiritual institution and is not regarded as an institution with a limited purpose, purely utilitarian in character.

The greater ethical and the ultimate spiritual ideal envisaged even for the institution of marriage in the Hindu tradition. There seems to be logical and psychological grounds to expect that a person who is accustomed to sacrificing his own interests for the sake of his family will be quite equal to the task when it comes to sacrificing his interests for the sake of society at large. Furthermore, if the development of an altruistic attitude is an essential preliminary for ultimately developing a spiritualistic outlook, expansiveness in outlook – concern for the others – needs to be developed through the individual developing love relationships.

The concept of God-union is drawn on the model of the perfect relationship between man and woman. The relationship between man and woman is conceived as holy and perfect and as most intimate. This is because without passions, instinctive drives, emotions and sentiments, there is no life. Yet, like the other means – value of artha, kāma is to be regulated by dharma and it is in this sense that the concept of kāma is given a spiritual orientation.

The term kāma not only refers to the sexual desires but also to the non-sexual desires in man. Vātsyāyana observes: kāma is the enjoyment of desired objects by the five senses assisted by the mind together with the soul. Thus the term kāma refers to man’s love of art and art experience. The fine arts afford fulfillment of the deepest sensuous and non-sexual desires inman. Man not only grows unselfish here but also forgets himself completely and escapes from worries. Vātsāyana refers to the sixty-four arts in his Kāmasūtra. The uniqueness of the Hindu concept of these common enjoyments was that all of them were to be related to the spiritual goal of human existence and so the Hindu scheme insisted upon a regulated enjoyment.

The Hindu philosophers’ view is that all these arts and fine arts are the pathways to self-realization (sādhanas).The restricted meaning of kama as sex more specifically points to the deeper psychological implications for personality-development. The other aspects indicate the ‘spiritual content’ of the ‘desire-aspect’.Thus the term ‘kāma’ does not merely reveal the ‘secular’ aspect of the value-philosophy of the ancient Hindus but more importantly its relatedness to the ‘spiritualistic orientation’ of the thought system itself.

Summary

Artha and kāma are two most important goals of human life. Although their value is treated to be extrinsic and instrumental their absence may cause pain and agony to the social life of individuals. In a way they are the base values which are absolutely necessary for the sustenance of society in general and individual in particular. Of course dharma as a regulative principle controls these two instrumental values for the benefit of society and individual.

Web links

• http://ekatvam.org/liberation/dharma-artha-kama-moksha.html
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Artha
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puruşārtha
• https://yogainternational.com/article/view/introduction-to-the-four-desires-dharma-artha-kama-and-moksha

 Bibliography

• Balbir Singh. Principles of Ethics, New Delhi: S.Nagin & Co, 1971.
• Gopalan, S. Hindu Social Philosophy, New Delhi: Willey Eastern Ltd, 1979.
• Gokhale, B.G. Indian Thought through the Ages, New Delhi: Asia Publishing House, 1961.