Know Your Soul

How do we understand happiness and our place in this world?

Most of us tend to generate meaning and a search for happiness from mis-shaped perceptions of the ‘wrongs’ in our lives.

To be fully present and effective in realizing one’s place in the world, it might be best to identify what is right and true NOW and from this position change, grow, develop and refine our capabilities.

What helps me define and identify what is right as a path forward is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs and the Vedic Purusharta.

Abraham Maslow

Maslow was a psychologist who developed an understanding of human motivation based in seeking fulfillment and change through personal growth. He called it a “Hierarchy of Needs” and defined self-actualized persons as those who realize, fulfill and express their capabilities.

Maslow said we are always in a state of becoming and are never static however, to authentically realize our potential, we must satisfy base level needs that allow us to reach more refined states of growth and development.

Once base level needs have been reasonably satisfied, we can reach higher levels of refinement called self-actualization of which each person is capable.

Unfortunately, we can be side-tracked if not completely obstructed in meeting our base level needs as life has a way of throwing us those proverbial curve-balls.

Deaths, divorce, illness and job-loss cause fluctuation between levels in the hierarchy. Therefore, not everyone will navigate the hierarchy as a constant vertical up. Instead, we may go down and up; then back and forth between the different levels and types of needs.

Hierarchy of Needs

1. Biological and Physiological needs – Air, food, drink, shelter, warmth, sleep, sex.

2. Safety needs – Protection from elements, security, order, stability, freedom from fear.

3. Love and Belonging needs – Friendship, intimacy, trust and acceptance, receiving and giving affection and love. Affiliating, being part of a group (family, friends, work).

4. Esteem needs – Achievement, mastery, independence, status, dominance, prestige, self-respect, respect from others.

5. Self-Actualization needs – Realizing personal potential, self-fulfillment, seeking personal growth and peak experiences.

6. Cognitive needs – Knowledge and understanding, curiosity, exploration, need for meaning and predictability.

7. Aesthetic needs – appreciation and search for beauty, balance, form, etc.

8. Transcendence needs – Helping others to achieve their self actualization.

Purusharta and the Vedic Chart

The Vedic chart is comparable to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs however it provides us with an astrological map unique to our individual potentials.

Based on our time, date and place of birth, the chart outlines and identifies base level needs as well as places where we can realize our potential through a system called the purusharta.

Puruṣartha is a composite Sanskrit word from purusha and artha and means human being and soul as well as, “universal principle and soul of the universe”. Artha in one context means both purpose and object of desire.

The combination of purush and artha point us toward prioritizing base level needs and how to achieve those potentials as identified in our Vedic Astrological birth-chart.

Pillars of the Purusharta

1. DHARMA – The word dharma has wide implications and while no english word does justice by translation, we can safely say it implies living conscientiously and in harmony with Nature.

2. ARTHA – Seeking security in alignment your life’s purpose.

3. KAMA – Art of enjoying life’s pleasures which does not mean excess or draining the earth’s resources. Kama is practiced in alignment with life’s purpose.

4. MOKSHA – Freedom and liberation from limitations, both internal and external. Liberation is not some posthumous state to be attained after death, it is a state to be attained now.

Vedic astrology and the philosophy of the Purusharta provide a path upon which we know ourselves; guiding our inquiry into the nature of life’s purpose while realizing love, happiness and freedom.

Workshop – Purusharta & Vedic Astrology

In this workshop:

Students identify where the four purusharta (purpose, income, joy and freedom) pillars are in their personal birth-chart with the parallel positions according to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

During the workshop, students use their birth-chart and through lecture and worksheets, map out their base level needs (income and security) and identify personal blocking obstacles.

We discuss strategies in problem solving that lead to higher-level refinements and authentic actualization of joy, family and happiness..

Discover the hidden aspects of your life’s purpose while more fully understanding yourself, the meaning of love, family, service and career.

WORKSHOP DATE:

SATURDAY – FEBRUARY 4, 2016

WORKSHOP TIME:

10:00AM TO 6:00PM

WORKSHOP FEE:

150.00 – Full payment due upon enrollment.

CONTACT: Melanie Farmer at ayurvedicastrologer@gmail.com or Vashon Intuitive Arts.

ENROLLMENT: Go to workshops – https://www.schedulicity.com/scheduling/AAYSR8

PROFILE: Melanie Farmer is a Vedic astrologer, ayurvedic clinical practitioner, massage therapist – yoga teacher, equestrian and artist. She has been in practice over 23 years in the Seattle area and is a Vashon resident.