PURUSHARTH: AN INTEGRAL CONCEPT OF VEDIC EDUCATION

ABSTRACT

Max Muller said, "one thing is certain namely, that there is nothing more primitive more ancient that the rymus of the Rig Veda, whether in India or in whole Aryan world."Man is the most intellectual being in the creation. He is endowed with the power to receive knowledge, to think, to imagine, reflect & speculate about his past as well as his future. Down through the ages knowledge has been handed down from the matter of this master to discipline & this master to discipline & thus from generation to the next. In this hierarchy of education, the Vedas are the first to revealed, the other being evolved from them.

The Purusharthas are described as the psycho-moral bases of Vedic theory. They are concerned with the understanding, justification, management and conduct of affairs of the individual’s life in relation to the group in and through Ashramas. These help the individual in getting psychological training and preparing himself to deal with the actual society. According to this theory four purusharthas are there as aims of life, viz., ‘dharma’, ‘artha’, ‘kama’ and ‘moksha’, ‘moksha’ represents the end of life, the realization of an inner spirituality in man. ‘Artha’ refers to the acquisitive instinct in man and signifies his economics-wealth getting activity. 

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