Man seeking pleasure is the third purushartha, called Kama in Sanskrit. It takes many forms—all kinds of sense pleasures, pleasures of the flesh—lust, which titillates one's senses—pleasures of the intellect, or pleasure in seeking all kinds of knowledge. Anything that satisfies our senses, pleases our mind, touches our heart leading to appreciation, is Kama. It may be a beautiful painting, sunrise or a mountain, or playing with children. These may be called aesthetic pleasures. Even though these are beyond one's senses and intellect, they are still Kama.

In this Kali Yuga, importance is given only to Artha and Kama, as man has become absolutely selfish. Each one tries to get the object of his desire, by foul means or fair, resulting in family feuds, conflict of interest and even war among nations. In Katha Upanishad Nachiketas asks Death—Yama—about "immortality." Yama evades the question by tempting him with all earthly pleasures. There ensues an interesting dialogue between "Death" and Nachiketas:

Death speaks:

Whatsoever desires are difficult in the mortal world, ask all desires according to thy will. These beauties, with their chariots and lutes—not such as these are to be won by men—be waited on by them, my gifts. Ask me not of death, Nachiketas.

Nachiketas speaks:

Tomorrow these fleeting things wear out the vigour of a mortal's powers. Even the whole of life is short; thine are chariots and dance and song. Not by wealth can a man be satisfied. Shall we choose wealth if we have seen thee? Shall we desire life while thou art master? But the wish I choose is truly that.

Death speaks:

The better is one thing, the dearer is another thing; these two bind a man in opposite ways. Of these two, it is well for him who takes the better; he fails of his object, who chooses the dearer. The better and the dearer approach a man; going round them, the sage discerns between them. The sage chooses the better rather than the dearer; the fool chooses the dearer, through lust of possession. (Selections from the Upanishads, pp. 36-38)

It is obvious from the above slokas that man prefers to remain ignorant by choosing the pleasant things that are evanescent—producers of misery, pain and sorrow. Sex indulgence has affected many with the dreadful fatal disease—"AIDS." Families have been ruined because of human selfishness which is the chief cause of sorrow. Man lives a life of the personal self—of sensuality, failing to recognize the importance of Dharma and its application in daily life, which alone can lead him to attain the "pleasure of greater worth." Saint Valluvar seems to convey this in the above quoted passage from the article "Living the Higher Life."

The fourth in the order of purushartha is moksha, freedom or liberation. Moksha is sought only by a few, in any given generation. Though everyone seeks freedom, only a man of mature mind and a certain insight into life and its struggles, can truly understand moksha.

The Theosophical Glossary defines Moksha as "Liberation"—the same as Nirvana. Nirvana is explained in the Glossary as:

According to the orientalists, the entire "blowing out," like a flame of a candle, the utter extinction of existence. But in the esoteric explanations it is the state of absolute existence and absolute consciousness, into which the Ego of a man who has reached the highest degree of perfection and holiness during life goes, after the body dies, and occasionally, as in the case of Gautama Buddha and others, during life.

H.P.B. explains the meaning of liberation and Nirvana:

When Buddhi absorbs our Ego-tism (destroys it) with all its vikaras, Avalokiteshvara becomes manifested to us, and Nirvana or Mukti, is reached, "Mukti" being the same as Nirvana, i.e., freedom from the trammels of "Maya" or illusion. (S.D., I, xix)

While mentioning "returning Nirvanees" from preceding Maha-Manvantaras, H.P.B. points out:

Vedantins might say "This is not so; Nirvanee can never return;" which is true during the Manvantara he belongs to, and erroneous where Eternity is concerned. For it is said in the Sacred Slokas: "The Thread of radiance which is imperishable and dissolves only in Nirvana, reemerges from it in its integrity on the day when the Great Law calls all things back into action...." (S.D., II, 80)

Mr. Judge points out in Forum Answers:

Nirvana comes to those who have risen up over all delusions and have realized the supreme unity of all; then it may be taken; but if it is then taken for oneself, leaving others in the mire of life unhelped, it becomes and enormous selfishness which later on must result in the being having to do penance in some other manvantara. (p. 97)

"Freedom from what?" is the question. In this Kali Yuga no one seeks freedom from what he wants, i.e., from artha and kama—possessions and pleasures.

From the quotations cited above, it is clear that Moksha does not just mean salvation or release from the cycle of births and deaths, but it means something more. It is freedom from the bondage of matter and our desires, from the bondage of personality which is under the sway of desires. It is called by Patanjali "Isolation of the soul." It is a means by which one realizes the unity of all.

This high state of realizing the One while in a body, cannot be obtained unless one lives a chaste, holy, noble and pure life according to the Dharma he has inherited, lives a life of a householder, perfecting himself by cultivating nobler qualities and elevating the family, nation and race to higher levels of perception. Such a person will also seek artha and kama in the sense that "every object of desire is for the sake of the self alone." Such persons are fit to enter Nirvana. Adi Sankara calls its Atmanubhava—realization or experience of the Atman or Self. If one reaches the state of that "unity," can he accept the bliss of Nirvana when all his fellowmen and other creatures suffer on earth? If he does, then it is considered a glorified form of selfishness. H.P.B. has drawn the attention of all sincere students of Theosophy to the path of renunciation—the path shown by the Buddhas of Perfection and Compassion.

This is expressed by Patanjali thus:

The knowledge that springs from this perfection of discriminative power is called "knowledge that saves from rebirth." It has all things and the nature of all things for its objects, and perceives all that hath been and that is, without limitations of time, place, or circumstance, as if all were in the present and the presence of the contemplator.

Mr. Judge explains:

Such an ascetic...is a Jivanmukta and is not subject to reincarnation. He, however, may live yet upon earth but is not in any way subject to his body, the soul being perfectly free at every moment. And such is held to be the state of those beings called, in theosophical literature, Adepts, Mahatmas, Masters. (Yoga Aphorisms, p. 60, verse 55 and note.)

(Concluded)

No one is truly free who is still attached to material things, or to places, or to people. We must be able to use things when we need them and then relinquish them without regret when they have outlived their usefulness. We must be able to appreciate and enjoy the places where we tarry, and yet pass on without anguish when we are called elsewhere. We must be able to live in loving association with people without feeling that we possess them and must run their lives. Anything that you strive to hold captive will hold you captive, and if you desire freedom you must give freedom.

—Peace Pilgrim