Introduction to Tantra Sastra - Aghori

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INTRODUCTION TO TANTRA ŚĀSTRA
gavata 1 it is said that in the Kaliyuga Viṣṇ u in the form
of Vyāsa divides the one Veda into many parts, with the
desire to benefit men, and with the knowledge that they
are short-lived and of small intelligence, and hence
unable to master the whole. This dharma is the first of
the four leading aims (caturvarga) of all being.
KĀMA
Kāma is desire, such as that for wealth, success,
family, position, or other forms of happiness for self or
others. It also involves the notion of the necessity for
the possession of great and noble aims, desires and ambitions,
for such possession is the characteristic of
greatness of soul. Desire, whether of the higher or lower
kinds, must however, be lawful, for man is subject to
dharma, which regulates it.
ARTHA
Artha (wealth) stands for the means by which this
life may be maintained—in the lower sense, food, drink,
money, house, land and other property; and in the higher
sense the means by which effect may be given to the
higher desires, such as that of worship, for which artha
may be necessary, aid given to others, and so forth. In
short, it is all the necessary means by which all right
desire, whether of the lower or higher kinds, may be
fulfilled. As the desire must be a right desire—for man
is subject to dharma, which regulates them—so also must
be the means sought, which are equally so governed.
The first group is known as the trivarga, which
must be cultivated whilst man is upon the pravṛ tti
1 I, iii, 99.