There is a short story. Once Maharśi Vishvamitra (Maharśi means “great sage”) was crossing the River Ganges with Ráma and Lakśmańa on his way to Mithilá. You all know that Saḿskrta literature is divided into four categories: kávya (poetic verse), puráńa (fictive tales), itikathá (history) and itihása (benevolent history).

Kávya: Kávya is defined as “vákyaḿrasátmakaḿ kávyam.” When a story is explained in a lucid way, in a very systematic way, it is called kávya. It may or may not be factual, it may or may not be educative, but it must be narrated in a very lucid way.

Puráńa or fictive tales: What is puráńa? It is that branch of literature in which all compositions are fictive and have an important educative value. The sage Vyása Deva composed eighteen puráńas for the sole purpose of mass education. He depicts various stories about different gods and goddesses. But as the stories are not true he felt some remorse in his mind after writing them. Deeply saddened, he apologized to Parama Puruśa;

Rupaḿ rúpavivarjj itasya bhavato’yaddhyánena kalpitaḿ
Stutyá’nirvacaniiyatá’khiloguro dúriikrtá yanmayá,
Vyápitvaḿcr nirákrtaḿ bhagavato yattiirtha yátrádiná,
Kśantavyaḿ jagadiisho tadvikalatá dośatrayaḿ matkrtam.

“Oh, Parama Puruśa, you have no form and yet I have depicted the various goddesses in various forms. I have described ten-armed gods, four-armed gods and so on. My sole intention was to educate the common people but in that endeavour, oh formless Lord, I have tried to limit You to the bondage of form. This is my first mistake. My second mistake is that even though You are beyond all qualities indeed, all qualities are under your control – I have composed many eulogies and hymns extolling Your various qualities, but that has only belittled Your greatness. My third mistake is that even though You are omnipresent, I have said that God acted in a certain way during a certain pilgrimage. I have confined You to a specific place. This is an error on my part as the whole universe is Your place of pilgrimage. You exist everywhere, yet I have wrongly tried to limit You to a few places of pilgrimage. So, oh Lord, I beg Your forgiveness. Please pardon me for having made these three mistakes in a moment of mental weakness.”

This is a puráńa. Even though it is not factually true, it has great educative value. The Rámáyańa is one such puráńa. Its story is not factually correct, but is very educative.

Itikathá: Itikathá is a chronological record of events. That is, events are recorded in a sequential order and propagated for public knowledge. In Saḿskrta, itikathá is also called “purákathá”; “itivrtta” and “purávrtta”. In English it is called “history”.

Itihása: Itihása is that part of itikathá whose study leads to human welfare. It has immense educative value. A study of the entire history may not be beneficial for the reader, but that little portion of history which we call itihása is definitely beneficial for human welfare. Itihása has no English synonym. The “History of India” is wrongly translated as “Bhárat barśer itihása”. It should be translated as “Bhárat barśer itikathá.” So the fourth type of literature is itihása which is of great educative value. It has been said;

Dharmárthakámamokśáthaḿ niitivákya
Samanvitaḿ Purávritta kathájuktamitihás apracakśate.

“Itihása is that portion of itikathá which assists people to attain the four vargas – kama (psycho-physical wealth), artha (psychic wealth), dharma (psycho-spiritual wealth) and mokśa (spiritual emancipation) – and which contains the moral code of conduct.”

The Mahábhárata is a good example of itihása. That which is taught in schools in the name of itihása, however, is mainly itikathá or history. What do people attain from the study of itihasa? They attain the moral code of conduct and an inner understanding of the four vargas.

The first varga is káma, the fulfilment of physical necessities. In order to survive, human beings need food, clothes, shelter, medicine, education etc. If these basic necessities are not provided, life becomes unbearable. This first varga, this fulfilment of physical necessities, is káma. How does one learn about it. By studying itihása. And how can those minimum necessities be provided to all? Through the implementation of a social ideology: through itihása. In order that these basic necessities might be provided to all, I was forced to formulate the theory of PROUT under pressure of circumstances. Before everything else, one must first provide physical food to a hungry person. Once the physical needs have been satisfied one may impart spiritual knowledge and instruct him or her to sit in meditation. Yes, we will certainly not provide food to antisocial people who jump from tree to tree like monkeys; we will certainly make them sit in meditation. But before that we’ll have to make provisions for their food, winter clothes, shelter, medical treatment etc. Without fulfilling these basic necessities it will be impossible to promote the collective welfare of the human race.

It has been said,

Varttamáneśu vartteta.

No one should try to move ahead ignoring the present.

This was the clear instruction of Shiva. In Ananda Marga also we have not ignored this advice and thus I have formulated PROUT philosophy. No one can deny the importance of PROUT. If they do, they are denying their very existence. So káma is the first of the four vargas.

The second varga is artha. Artha is the fulfilment of needs in the physico-psychic sphere. Through artha the physico-psychic needs are relieved temporarily. That which brings permanent relief from these needs is called paramártha. Artha is temporary, paramártha is permanent. Here artha does not mean money. Of course, money is also loosely called artha because it brings temporary relief in the physical sphere. That’s why money is called “artha” in Saḿskrta. Furthermore, whenever people don’t understand the meaning of a word – the word “kadali”, for example – there is a certain want in the mind. And as soon as one learns that “kadali” means “banana”, that psychic want is removed. Hence, the meaning of a word is also called “artha” in Saḿskrta because when one comes to know what a particular word means, the want is removed from the mind. So “artha” means “money”, “meaning” and that varga through which physico-psychic needs are fulfilled.

The third varga is dharma which fulfils the psycho-spiritual necessities. Not only do human beings have physical needs; they have more subtle ones as well. Those who have no desire for any of the physical necessities sometimes leave their homes and embrace the life of a monk. Why should they make such a choice? Why would a prince become a renunciate? What sort of desire prompted Mahaprabhu Caetanya to accept the life of a sannyasi? What prompted Buddha to relinquish his beautiful kingdom? They all had no further physical desires. There was no further need for káma and artha in their lives. But why did they choose to completely give up their worldly lives? The reason is that there was a very deep desire in the back of their minds. When people reach a subtle level of existence, they realize that they are hopelessly ignorant. Having just entered that higher stratum, they are unable to understand the subtler expressions of life. This leads to a longing for the spiritual. This is the third varga, dharma, which leads to the fulfilment of the psycho-spiritual necessities.

The fourth varga is mokśa. When human beings attain the fullest expression, they feel that it is a liability and become eager to return the gift to Him from whom it came.

Tava dravyaḿ, Gobinda tubhyameva samarpaye,
Nivedayámicátmanaḿ tvaḿ gatih parameshvara.

[Your objects, O Lord, I offer unto You. I surrender myself up to You, as You are the Supreme Terminus, O Lord.]

This is the last stage. It is called mokśa or salvation. Itihása is that literature which prepares the mind for the fulfilment of all four vargas. Itihása in the true sense of the term is not taught in schools and colleges. Remember that the Ramayana is a puráńa, it is educative fiction.

To return to the original story. Vishvamitra was going to Mithila with Ráma and Lakśmańa. Remember that I have already told you that the Rámáyańa (from which the story has been taken) is pure fiction and thus one should not expect it to be consistent with reality. It is educative, no doubt, but nor factually true. When they reached the other bank of the river they saw to their amazement that, at the touch of the holy feet of Ráma, their boat had been transformed into gold. The astonished boatman exclaimed, “Good heavens, what an amazing thing. He must be an extraordinary person.” He ran home and narrated the astonishing incident to his wife who immediately grabbed as many things as she could carry – kitchen utensils and the like – and rushed to where Ráma was standing. She placed all the objects at his feet to convert them into gold. To carry all the wooden furniture to the boat, get it converted into gold and then carry it all back again was a Herculean task. Things become a lot heavier when they are converted into gold! So, the boatman’s wife had aches all over her body and pains in her back and hands, and soon the poor wife was no longer able to carry the load. But under the spell of greed she wanted to acquire more and more gold. People do their utmost to bind themselves with the worldly bondages and often fall prey to this greed instinct. So even though her back was badly aching she was unwilling to stop carrying the wooden furniture to get it converted into gold. This is just like the condition of gluttons at a feast who, even after eating so much that they are completely full, still manage to stuff one or two more pieces of rasagolla (Indian sweet) into their mouths. If ever such people get a chance to eat at others expense, they are ready to eat for days together. The boatman’s wife was suffering from a similar psychic ailment. Even though she was no longer able to carry the load, she was helplessly goaded on by greed.

The poet Rabindranath Tagore has said:

Jaráye áche bádha, cháráye jete cái
Cháráte gele byathá báje
Mukti cáhibáre tomár káche jái
Cáhite gele mari lage

[I am tied to so many bondages.
I want to get rid of them.
When I try to do so, those bondages affect me.
When I approach You with the prayer of liberation from those bondages,
I feel extremely ashamed.]

This can be said about all ordinary human beings. Then the boatman said to his wife, “Stop this folly! How much longer will you be able to carry the load! You’ll get deeper and deeper into difficulty. Your greed for gold will never end and you’ll probably die under its weight. You’ll never be able to satisfy your greed so stop this folly, stupid woman!” “Yes, may be I am stupid,” she replied, “but now I am helpless. There’s nothing I can do about it.” The boatman advised, “Instead of carrying all the loads of wood and gold, why don’t you simply carry those two feet which have such extraordinary qualities and at the touch of which everything gets converted into gold?” So she went up to Ráma and said, “Well, you’ll just have to come along with me.” At first, Ráma was unwilling to go, but due to her insistence, he finally agreed and sat down in the boat. Then, strangely enough, the boatman’s wife forgot her desire to get everything converted into gold and became totally absorbed in the thought of those two feet. Having attained the ultimate thing, why should she bother about the gold? Now she could get anything converted into gold whenever she wished.

The boatman’s wife said, “Ráma, please leave something with me as proof of your visit to my house.” So Rama gave her four delicious fruits. She asked what they were, where they were grown, what they signified, and what their names were. Lakśmańa told her the names of those four fruits. They were kama, artha, dharma and mokśa. Lakśmańa further said, “After attaining these two feet, one needn’t look for the four vargas, they will come to the recipient automatically. One need not worry about them.”

One who is a genuine devotee should not worry about all these things about the attainment of these Vargas. I have formulated PROUT to resolve the defects and discrepancies which exist in the mundane world. There was no necessity to think about the attainment of the Vargas in the past, nor is there in the present, nor will there be in the future. To prevent the possibility of future problems and inconsistencies arising I have formulated PROUT.

Then everyone said to Lakśmańa, “Your elder brother has given fruits, so you should give us at least one.” Lakśmańa replied, “What can a poor man like myself offer you? I only have one fruit which I will be happy to give you.” “What’s that fruit called?” they asked. Lakśmańa told them. “Unless and until you hold this fruit in your hand, you will never be able to attain the other four.” “Please tell us what it’s called,” they said impatiently. “Please give it to us so that we may attain the four others.” Lakśmańa said, “You know I’m a very poor man. The name of my fruit is devotion.”