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with intense passion. Think of the effort it takes to lift your head when just a few 

months old, and then later to roll over, and then stand up.

Purushartha helps us to define how we can flourish completely. The yoga tradi-

tion says that the degree to which you and I fulfill our unique destiny, in which 

we are mindful and purposefully moving toward our highest state of well-being, 

we support the overall well

-

being of the greater whole. We are all connected. 

Dharma—the desire to fulfill our innate purpose—speaks to how we live in 

harmony with the larger whole of which we are a single part. 
Rev. O’Brian:

 That is key to dharma—understanding that we are here according 

to a divine purpose that is unique to each one of us, but also integral to the 

greater divine plan. 
Rod Stryker:

 That is a very compelling message because, in the Yoga tradition, 

unless we are fulfilling the unique dharma that each of us is born with, we can’t 

be happy. Of all the things we could possibly accomplish in life, none of them will 

lead us to ultimate happiness unless they are consistent with our unique destiny. 
Rev. O’Brian:

 There is a beautiful verse in the Bhagavad Gita that says it won’t do 

us much good to do work that is not ours, even if we can do it really well. 
Rod Stryker: 

The other teaching is that if I am fulfilling my unique dharma, I 

am fully engaged in the process of moving toward fulfilling my unique promise 

and the role I am meant to play in creation, then I am supporting the whole of 

creation. If we are living consistently with that blueprint, that’s called happiness, 

and when we are not living within that blueprint, it’s called suffering. 

The other three goals are in support of dharma and are defined by it. Artha is 

the means by which we will fulfill our dharma. Often it is interpreted as meaning 

“the money I need,” but we can also understand it as the tools we use to fulfill our 

dharma. 

Kama, the third goal, is about the full scan of pleasure—sensuality, sexuality, 

love of beauty, art, music, and friendship. But kama is also the joy of accomplish-

ment. The deeper meaning of kama is what sparks the universe into being—the 

thing that compels us to act and to create. That is a profound idea that says that 

the hunger to accomplish is actually arising from the soul. 

The fourth goal, moksha, is not to renounce the world and transcend it, but 

actually to live in this world and live in it fully—unburdened within our lives. 

Moksha speaks to how we can live without the constant peaks and valleys of gain 

and loss, freedom and imprisonment. 
Rev. O’Brian:

  The traditional model of moksha is the teaching that it is possible 

to be free in the world without the superimposition of patterns in the mind