Title: The spiritual theory of human pursuits: an integrative view of four life goals

Authors: Sukhada Sukhada; Shatrunjay Rawat; Sharda Nandram

Addresses: Indian Institute of Technology, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi, 221005, Uttar Pradesh, India ' International Institute of Information Technology, Prof. C R Rao Road, Gachibowli, Hyderabad 500 032, Telangana, India ' Nyenrode Business University, Straatweg 25, 3621 BG Breukelen, Netherlands

Abstract: Every human being has a desire to be happy and to attain continuous happiness. These desires and goals, collectively, along with the means that help achieve such goals, are termed puruṣārtha chatuṣṭaya. This paper aims to explain these four ultimate life goals by delving into the original Sanskrit sources and provides a hermeneutic analysis of their antecedents. It shows how dharma, artha, kāma, and mokṣa together form an integrative framework for human life, connecting ethical conduct, material well-being, desire, and liberation, and showing how they form a whole as 'a theory of life'. Such a theory is designed to inspire a way of sustainable living with inbuilt corrective behaviour based on a consciousness where there is space for everyone and everything to coexist. To grasp it, however, requires a shift in our mindset to understand why we do the things we do in the first place, in order to redesign how we act to confront even the more wicked problems we face in this era.

Keywords: puruṣārtha chatuṣṭaya; Trivarga; Chaturvarga; Dharma; Artha and Kāma; Mokṣa; human pursuits; spiritual theory; knowledge creation; mindset.

DOI: 10.1504/IJICBM.2026.154071

International Journal of Indian Culture and Business Management, 2026 Vol.38 No.1, pp.1 - 19

Received: 26 Jan 2024
Accepted: 01 Feb 2024
Published online: 11 Jun 2026 *

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