“Poverty of being is revealed when we try to overcome it by covering it up with possessions, with the worship of success and even virtues. Then things, property, come to have great significance; then class, social position, country, pride of race assume great importance and have to be maintained at all costs; then name, family, and their continuance become vital.”
— J. Krishnamurti
When Vikram Sarabhai was six or seven, he asked his father for a toy while vacationing with his family in England. His father Ambalal replied that he was running short on money and that if he had enough at the end of the trip, he would buy it.
Vikram forgot about the topic until the family set sail from England and reached the Italian port of Brindisi for refueling. When he remembered, Vikram asked his father if he had money left over, to which Ambalal replied, “Oh God, I did.” Then, in all seriousness, Ambalal offered to take Vikram back to England and buy the toy. (Vikram declined.)
As a person born into so much wealth and who obtained his Ph.D. from Cambridge University, why did Vikram not take the easier route of settling in a foreign land where he could amass more fame and fortune? In 1966, he explained the reason:
“Through experience we know that conditions of work in India within our own specialized scientific fields rarely match the facilities available in several other countries… some get frustrated striving against heavy odds. Others leave the country. But those who can apply their insight to the problem of community and of the nation discover an exciting area of activity where effort is rewarding even when the results show slowly.”
(Source: Vikram Sarabhai: A Life)
His efforts for community and nation led to, among other remarkable achievements, founding ISRO and setting up Operations Research Group (India’s first market research organization), IIM Ahmedabad, and Electronics Corporation of India. All this while enjoying the finer aspects of life, like expensive cars and vacations, tasteful interiors for his homes, and so on.
Knowingly or unknowingly, Vikram was pursuing purushartha: the objective of man, which comprises dharma, artha, kama, and moksha.
- Dharma: pursuing one’s true calling.
- Artha: “means of life,” or resources and activities that lead us to the state we want. This includes a career, making a living, and prosperity.
- Kama: fulfilling sensory pleasures and enjoying life, affection, or love (with or without lust) without violating dharma and artha.
- Moksha: liberation or release. This could be freedom from bondage in this life or from rebirth.
Kautiliya points out the importance of balancing all three viz., dharma, artha, and kama, since they’re mutually connected, and excessive focus on any one aspect will harm all three including the one being pursued.
(Prosperity fosters love and virtue cannot be practiced, poverty breeds vice and hate. Without finer pleasure, we turn into robots, unable to appreciate the beauty of life. And our true calling keeps us rooted so that money and pleasure don’t become a curse.)
Much of our misery today stems from the pursuit of lust or pleasures (kama) or name, fame, and riches (artha) at the expense of everything else. It’s better to balance all aspects.
Study philosophy. Carry out the duties that life has assigned to you, without complaint. All this while enjoying life’s pleasures. This is how you avoid “poverty of being.” And this is how you attain moksha without striving for it.