Objective of life

Objective of life
CHENNAI: The Vedas, which are the scriptural authority for Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism), envisage a holistic perspective of life for human beings and hence the two sections, the Karma kanda and the Jnana kanda, prescribe rituals and practices to realise the four ends of human life necessary to enjoy happiness in this world and liberation from bondage after this life. This fourfold scheme is known as Purushartha and they are Dharma (righteousness), Kama (sensory pleasures), Artha (wealth) and Moksha (liberation).

How do the Vedas envisage realisation of these ends? If a man is given a healthy physique and mental-intellectual acumen, and also blessed to live a full lifespan of 100 years advocating Dharma, he would be able to realise all the Purusharthas and also the ultimate goal of Moksha. What is the import of the Vedas? Their intent is to explain the Supreme Reality, which is beyond the ken of the human senses and the mind-intellect, and hence also beyond the other means of knowledge like inference, with which all other knowledge is gained. All the other scriptural texts were based on the Vedas, said Sri K.V.Seshadrinatha Sastrigal in his discourse.

The Vedas are eternal in nature and during creation it was sound which first manifested in space (Akasa). The Vedas are hence known as Sabda (sound), and as their Mantras were "heard" by the seers they are called Sruti. Lord Krishna has pointed the secret behind why spiritual knowledge can be gained only from the Vedas, "I am the sustainer and ruler of this universe, its father, mother and grandfather, the one worth knowing, the purifier, the sacred syllable Om, and the three Vedas?Rg, Yajur and Sama." The Vedas are metaphorically described asthe breath of the eternal. Sankara has explained that their eternal nature is due to the fact that a human being did not compose them. They prescribe sacraments for a human being from birth to death, and the initiation into the Gayatri mantra (Upanayana), after which Vedic study is pursued, is called second birth because biological birth is the result of Karma and initiation is rebirth as Gayatri's child, which makes possible the individual's progress spiritually to realise the goal of liberation.