Why do you think the Japanese concept of ikigai—your reason for being—is so popular in India?” is one of the questions we get asked the most from all over the world. Our intuition told us that there must be something in common between the Japanese way of life and the Indian way of life, so we’ve responded to the question by saying: “Indian culture is the wellspring from which many Japanese traditions emerged a long time ago. It seems that people in both Japan and India consider the purpose of our lives to be of utter importance.”
But in our quest to understand how to have a good life, and the role of one’s purpose in it, we pursued a more concrete answer.
After reading dozens of books on Indian culture and traveling around India talking with thousands of readers of our previous books, we encountered a key concept from Hinduism: purushartha.
It can be translated as “the objective of human beings” or as “the purpose or goal of a human being.”
Purushartha (पुरुषाथर्) is a Sanskrit word made up of two parts:
PURUSHA (पुरुष): “spirit” or “immaterial essence of a human”
ARTHA (अथर्): “meaning,” “purpose,” objective,” or “goal”
In order to live in accordance with purushartha and to have a fulfilling life, there are four areas—known as the four purusharthas—that we need to cultivate:
- Kama refers to the pleasures of the senses and the enjoyment of what is beautiful in life. It is also about desires, emotions, and love.
- You can ask yourself: What do I love doing? What do I want?
- Dharma is a word that has many meanings. At a very general level it means “what makes the Universe exist,” “the right way of living,” or “the eternal nature of reality.” It includes the moral values, duties, rights, and virtues that each individual pursues in order for harmony to prevail in the world and in order to realize one’s true nature.
- You can ask yourself: What does the world need from me? Why do I exist?
- Artha is what you need to do in order to sustain your life. It is about bringing prosperity to yourself, your family, and your community. In a modern sense it is about your job, your career, your financial security, and wealth in general.
- You can ask yourself: What do I need to sustain my life? What can bring wealth to me and my loved ones?
- Moksha means self-realization, liberation, and freedom. In some schools of thought we reach a state of moksha when we are free from death and rebirth. In others it means simply being in a state in which you have the freedom to work on your self-realization. In modern terms it could be associated with the top of Abraham Maslow’s hierarchy of needs. Who are you in your most essential sense? Try to think how you would define yourself without mentioning your name, your job, things you identify with, your country . . .
- You can ask yourself: Who am I? Who am I in the truest sense?
We arranged these four purusharthas in a Venn diagram, just like we did for ikigai, and noticed that purushartha and ikigai are very similar. What a pleasant surprise! The wisdom and tools to achieve a life of meaning and purpose have been available to the people of the Indian subcontinent for a very long time.
Why am I alive? What should I do with my life? What is my purpose? The answers to these questions can be found in the timeless wisdom of the ancient texts, philosophers, and traditions of India.
We wanted to learn more from India and share what we learned with our readers. The lessons apply to all of us, whether you believe in the afterlife, in no god or one god or multiple gods, or in any particular religion.
There is one thing all of us, as humans, can agree on: At this moment, while you are reading these words, you are a human being who is alive. And while alive, you should aim to have a purposeful life and bring purpose to your people, your family, your friends, your community, your country or region, and all the world. You might already know what your purpose in life is, or you might not yet know. If you already know, this book provides a blueprint for living in accordance with your purushartha. If you don’t yet know, it will give you the tools to start the adventure of knowing yourself better and discovering your purpose.
