The philosophy and meaning of Kama

The Kama, a word derived from Sanskrit which means sexual desires, love or pleasure. In Hindu Literature, apart from these provisions of physical pleasure, it also denotes aesthetic enjoyment of life, affection or love with or without sexual connotations. It is a well-chosen abbreviation of a word kamana. However, this word has a lot more significance in Hinduism. In Hindu tradition, basically there are four goals in human life and one of them is Kama.

The other three are:

Dharma which means ethical, suitable and moral life.

Artha which denotes perceptible prosperity, income, security and means of life.

Moksha which signifies liberation, release and self-actualization.

Together these four goals in life are known as Purusartha. Kama is considered as a fundamental and lively goal of human life when persisted without sacrificing the other three targets of life.

The word Kama first occurred during the Veda period. Because according to a written literature in a book of Rig Veda 10 which describes the formation of the universe by great heat, consisting of a hymn no.129 which states:

कामस्तदग्रे समवर्तताधि मनसो रेतः परथमं यदासीत |

सतो बन्धुमसति निरविन्दन हर्दि परतीष्याकवयो मनीषा ||

Which means: 

Thereafter rose Desire in the beginning, Desire the primal seed and germ of Spirit,

Sages who searched with their heart's thought discovered the existent's kinship in the non-existent.

However, the author of Kama sutra, Vatsyayana describes it as happiness that is a Manasa vyapara (a phenomenon of the mind). He also describes it as a pleasure which individual experiences along with one or all the five senses i.e. hear, see, taste, smell and feel etc. In Kama sutra, kama has also been depicted as many forms of art, dance, and music, along with sex to fulfil the desires of an individual in form of pleasure and enjoyment. 

SIGNIFICANCE OF KAMA IN HINDUISM

In Hinduism, Kama is considered as an essential part of existence. A life without pleasure and desires is considered to be hollow and empty. At every corner of the world, Vatsyayana's book the Kama Sutra is presumed to as a book having creative sexual positions but in reality, it contains only 20% of a portion for sexual position and rest of it describes the philosophy and theory of love. It also claims that Kama is holistic because according to Hindu philosophy it is neither shameful nor dirty in fact it is necessary for human life and for the well-being of an individual. The precedence of four aims varies from people to people and within different age groups. For instance, in a baby or child, education and Kama have highest rank; in youth Kama and artha has priority; while in old age dharma takes precedence.

According to ancient literature, it is believed that dharma was considered to be superior to all the four goals and if it is ignored then artha and Kama may lead to social anarchy. Also in Vatsyayana, Kama sutra is identified with respect to three main goals as follows: artha is superior to Kama whereas dharma precedes both kama and artha.

SIGNIFICANCE OF KAMA IN BUDDHISM

In Buddhism, Gautam Buddha renounced kama (sensuality) in the itinerary to his enlivening. Some Buddhist temporal practitioners rehearse daily the Five Precepts, a commitment to avoid from "sexual misconduct" (kamesu micchacara). Typical discourses also include a more clear-cut correlation to this formula when the Buddha commands a follower to "observe celibacy or at least do not have sex with another's wife."