Book Title: World of Philosophy
Author(s): Christopher Key Chapple, Intaj Malek, Dilip Charan, Sunanda Shastri, Prashant Dave
Publisher: Shanti Prakashan
View full book text
________________
There are desires that relate to the sense of beauty. Even a rustic has his own idea of beauty. The Indians believe that the idea or desire for beautiful objects is very much essential for a balanced life. "If there is no beauty in life there is no beauty in the world." But the pursuit of such desires must be within the control of man. A man, who cannot control his desires, is almost an animal. It is said that men and animals are alike in certain respects. A feeling or sense of sex, sleep, fear and eating are common to both men and animals.
Already we have seen that man has different kinds of desire. There are certain desires that aim at acquisition of material objects, such as property, wealth, etc. All such desires are desires for Artha. These are desires for economic goods.
If we have desires for sexual pleasure, music, and art we also have desires for getting material objects. These material objects are useful for making our lives more happier and richer. In the absence of material goods one cannot enjoy any of the pleasures of life. For example, one cannot realize his dream of building a beautiful bungalow if he does not have enough money. Kama and Artha always go together.
Poverty is said to be a curse. A poor man's pleasure may sometimes be so simple that one may laugh at him. On the contrary, the rich man's pleasures are so costly that the poor man hates them. Their resources and tastes limit the pleasures of both. What is pleasure for the rich may be pain for the poor and vice-versa. For instance, drinking wine or liquor may be a necessary part of a rich man's pleasure. But the poor may hate it. The reason for this may be that the poor man has not got used to its consumption because of the lack of money. But if at a later stage he also becomes rich, he may also take to its consumption.
Our tastes, values, attitudes and outlook change with circumstances. Our material resources determine all changes. On growing rich the poor man may come to like those things, which he disliked before. Kama and Artha are the values, which an ordinary man cannot give away. These relate him to the physical universe. Balbir Singh says that man in his ordinary life is the play of both Kama and Artha. The most distinguishing feature of man is his spiritual nature. It is by virtue of this nature that man differentiates himself from the animals. All animals have its purposes set for it by nature, but man alone is gifted with the capacity of conceiving different ends and acting accordingly. Eating, sleeping, a sense of fear and sexual pleasures, are all common to both man and animals. It is the sole principle of Dharma that distinguishes man from animals.
Dharma came from root "dhr"- which means to uphold or to support. Therefore when we uphold a moral principle and act upon it we are said to
381
