Purushartha

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THE UNIVERSAL DESIRES
AND THE GRANTHIS
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THE UNIVERSAL DESIRES
No matter who we are or where we come from, all of our desires can be
categorized into one of the four universal categories known as the
purusharthas:
1. Dharma, the desire to lead a purposeful life and to contribute to
society according to one’s gunas.
2. Artha, the desire for basic needs [food, shelter, clothing] and material
wealth/resources.
3. Kama, the desire for fulfillment of sense pleasures – art, music, beauty,
sexual union and so on.
4. Moksha, the desire for liberation, and transcending the other three
classes of desires.
What each of us desires is dependent upon our unique matrix of vasanas
(conditioning). As we've seen in previous classes, a vasana is an
impression left by a particular action that drives future actions. As an
example, if I have less than a positive experience interacting with a
particular person, all my future interactions will be colored by the
impression left by that first unpleasant encounter.
Over time, this becomes a subconscious impression, associating a
certain “type” of negativity with this “type” of person. And all our
interactions with that “type” of person consequently become subtly
colored. This type of coloring arises from the combination of: the faculty
of memory plus the emotional component of feeling a certain way plus
cultural/familial conditioning of what “should” or “should not” happen.

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Thus we go about our lives driven by likes and dislikes, love and hate,
greed and generosity and such polar opposites, continually at the mercy
of our vasanas – deeply embedded impressions. And these impressions
do not reside only at the level of the mind – they reside deeper, in the
causal body that veils our true nature.
Moksha or liberation is what gets us out of the endless loop of samsara.
The result of moksha is the state of desirelessness. Moksha or liberation
quite simply, is to know one’s true (divine) nature. This is not secular
knowledge gained through books, but an experiential knowledge that is
beyond the mind and intellect.
With very few exceptions, moksha can be attained only during a human
birth, which is why being born human is considered a great privilege and
an opportunity not to be wasted.
According to Vedic philosophy, human evolution mandates that all
desires must be, and necessarily, are fulfilled in the particular order of
dharma, artha, kama and moksha. For example, a person starving of
hunger craves food, not Van Gogh’s art or Mozart’s music. Yet, when
one has fulfilled basic needs of food and shelter, there is a natural pull
or drive for material success and recognition, and for the gratification of
sense pleasures. Thus, unless one’s basic needs are met, they cannot be
asked to meditate or to desire transcendence. Similarly, someone driven
by ambition to “make it” in the corporate world will find neither the time
nor the interest to discover the deeper purpose of human life (moksha).
Additionally, moksha cannot be attained unless one has experienced the
other three to a certain degree.

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Importantly, all vasanas must be exhausted within the context of one’s
dharma in order to progress to moksha. Adharma (opposite of dharma)
results in further enmeshment in the continuous loop of vasanas, with
moksha being lower and lower on the “list” of desires to be fulfilled.
Desires also fall into categories of gunas; desires driven by a very dense
matrix of vasanas tend to be tamasic and progressively become rajasic
as the vasanas are exhausted.
Following one’s dharma on a continuous basis results in a loosening of
sorts from the vasana driven birth/death loop, the mind and psyche
becoming progressively prepped for the sattvic desire of moksha.
While this progression is something we must all go through, the timeline
for this progression is different for each of us, occurring over many
lifetimes. Thus, somebody extraordinary like Ramakrishna Paramahamsa
or Ramana Maharishi may seem to have jumped right to moksha, but that
is simply because they have been through the previous stages in previous
lifetimes

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THE THREE GRANTHIS
Desire-driven vasanas reside in the causal body and drive the workings
of the subtle and gross bodies. The subtle body is the intermediary
between vasanas of the causal body and the actions of the gross body.
Vasanas create energetic obstructions in the subtle body that drive how
we interpret the world and our own thoughts (knowledge) that then
determine how we go about fulfilling our desires (action).
Obstructions in the subtle body are known as granthis or knots, which
occur at three primary locations along the spine. Named after the trinity
of deities that create, preserve and destroy the cosmos, the granthis in
the subtle body refer to the creation, preservation, and destruction of
the I-self.
• Brahma Granthi: Navel - representing the lower three chakras: root,
sacral and navel where the vasanas for survival, sense pleasure, power,
fame, domination, and ambition are housed. This granthi houses the
stories that create the identity with the I-self and correspond to the first
three universal desires for purpose, comfort, and pleasure. These are the
stories we pick up from our caregivers early in life, where we begin to
think of ourselves in terms of what we need to do and get in order to
make something of ourselves.

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• Vishnu Granthi: Attachment and aversion reside in the heart chakra.
They preserve the I-self through the ongoing cascade of karma. The
stories we have built based on the desires for purpose, comfort, and
pleasure are fortified or crushed by whether or not we get what we
want. When we get what we want, the I-self is strengthened by the story
of success and when we don’t, the I-self is strengthened by the story of
disappointment, both of which keep it alive and kicking. Notice here the
shadows of both Kali and Tara.
• Rudra Granthi: The granthi at the third eye represents the desires that
propagate ignorance, lack of discernment and higher reasoning that are
needed to see through the I-self. When the first three desires are
fulfilled, we are naturally drawn to examine the fickle nature of desire
and to find the root cause of our suffering. With the aid of inquiry and
other tools, we realize our true nature and see that the I-self has been
an illusion.
With the cultivation of discernment, we are able to differentiate
between the unreal (temporary objects such as desires) and the real
(permanent subject, awareness or the true Self).
Once this occurs, attachment to objects drop away through the
spontaneous rise of dispassion. Discrimination and dispassion destroy the
I-self.