Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world, according to many scholars, with roots and traditions more than 4,000 years. Today, with about 900 million followers, Hinduism is the third largest religion behind Islam and Buddhism. Hinduism explains human’s entire life in four different way namely:
Kama – satisfies the desire for worldly pleasures
Artha – collecting property
Dharma – religious practice
Moksha – attaining freedom through God-consciousness
Among the four goals of life, kama is the lowest goal because it exists for humans as well as animals. Artha is better than kama because it only exists among human beings.
The third goal, Dharma is actually a training ground for self-sacrifice. Kama and artha are based on the nature of greed and selfishness. Dharma is not selfish. Thus, Dharma is more noble than kama and artha.
The life of a Hindu includes the performance of a series of religious duties or Dharma prescribed by the scriptures. In fact, a Hindu also needs to follow Dharma to seek worldly pleasures and wealth.
Moksha, which means ‘freedom’ can be achieved only with God-consciousness. Hinduism believes that God is all-encompassing and that divinity exists in all human beings.
Divinity exists in everyone, but its manifestations are not the same. The goal of spiritual practice is to highlight this divinity in one’s life.
When this divinity is fully manifested in a person, then that person is said to have attained God-consciousness and he is also said to have attained Moksha. Divinity is the true nature of the human self.
It becomes the essence or basic root of human existence. One can abandon everything, but not something that is fundamentally its own. This divinity will be revealed at some point.
So, everyone will reach Moksha someday. A person who has advanced in the spiritual life will probably attain Moksha in this life or during his death. Others may need several births to achieve independence.
With sincere and diligent efforts man can attain moksha in the near future. Still, there is no doubt that everyone, whether they are conscious or unconscious, is heading towards Moksha.
