Skip to main content

Purusharta

Saraswati with Veena on a Lotus

I want a Liberal Arts Education in Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) like there is in the West. But the Hindu knowledge system is so vast and the traditions cover so many things that it is a bit overwhelming if someone was not born into it or was unfamiliar with the different tradition systems. Having been raised in the West and rediscovering my Hindu identity there was no track on how to go about this.

This leads to confusion because the very nature of what being a Hindu changes from one person to another. While this choose your own adventure nature of Santana Dharma is wonderful as we are not bound by a singular path, it also causes confusion for the diaspora. We may go to a temple and pray but we may not know the deeper meaning behind the prayer. We may not even know who the devas are except vague understandings. Furthermore, each YouTube guru teaches according to their tradition Vedanta, Yoga, Tantra, etc. and if we read western writers their perspective is almost entirely on the Vedanta-Yoga systems without any real coverage of the Bhakti based systems that most Hindus grow up in. All of this leads someone coming to Hindu dharma to be confused as to where to start.

After reading and practicing and reading and misunderstanding and practicing some more I have come up with a curriculum that provides an 80%, non-sectarian understanding of what it means to be a Hindu. In Sanatana Dharma the community/parabrahman are the four goals of life: Dharma, Artha, Kama, Moksha that is duty within society, wealth, pleasure, and liberation. A common basis of a Sanatana Dharma Liberal Arts Education should be based on the purusharta as these are the four goals of life.

Furthermore, Indic thought does not live in isolation and it never has. A bridge needs to be built from Dharmic thought to Western thought. As much as Hindus like to boast our ancient culture we have been influenced by Western thought for millennia whether it was Alexander, the Roman Empire, Islam, or the British. We have in return significantly contributed to those thoughts as well. I believe the best ideas of Western civilization should be incorporated and reformulated within Dharmic thought.

The Foundational texts express the goal and practice of a Hindu. However, though the Bhagavad Gita covers a portion of this these texts don't cover the larger Hindu though process which is that we live in an imperfect world. Most of us are likely not striving after moksha but money, pleasure and power. While gurus and swamis cajole us to the path of moksha the paths of dharma, artha and kama are all important pursuits of life. Traditional Hindu thought understood this and said that there are four goals of life, the purusharta. These are duty in society, wealth, pleasure and liberation. A core reading of the full Mahabharata and Ramayana which encompasses the entire thought process is thus vital to understanding this. Lastly, Hindus don't live within a vacuum and with Islam and the British a new current of thought was established within India. Vivekananda, Aurobindo, Hedgewar were all educated and understood Western thought. It is because they understood the thoughts that they were able to create what constituted the Hindu identity. While an extensive Liberal Arts textual workload is out of the question. I again wanted to choose a few core texts that fit the 80% rule. Here I also include studying Vivekananda and Ramakrishna who have had a profound influence of modern Hinduism.

  • Dharma
    • Ramayana. The essence of an ideal man and woman, Rama and Sita. The ideal of an ideal devotee, Hanuman. The power of ignorance, Ravana. The messiness of culture and duty. Love of one's wife!
    • Mahabharata. The messiness of life and karma. The unfairness of dharma. The futility and sorrow of war.
    • Illiad
    • Odyssey
    • Marcus Aurelius – Meditations
    • Epictetus – Discourses / Enchiridion
    • Plato - Works
    • Aristotle - Works
  • Artha
    • Panchatantra. Moral stories for how to be a good leader for children.
    • Chanakya Neeti. Collected thoughts of Chanakya.
    • Arthasastra. Political power and an ideal Hindu kingdom.
    • Plutarch's Lives
    • Cicero – On Duties
    • History of the Peloponnesian War
  • Kama
    • Kama Sutra
    • Abhijñānaśākuntalam and Meghadūta by Kālidāsa
  • Moksha