| From The River Of Heaven |
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| Books By David Frawley |
| VEDIC SOCIAL SCIENCE : THE SPIRITUAL BASIS OF CULTURE | |
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The fourth goal is freedom (moksha), which is our ability to transcend the outer world and our
limited place within it. The external world is produced by time and subject to death. We all seek
something eternal or lasting so that our life has some enduring meaning. Freedom depends upon
knowledge. Hence this is also the goal of knowledge. Through knowledge we can extend
ourselves beyond the limits of our bodies and senses and thereby attain things which even wealth and
power cannot provide. Knowledge, however, is higher or lower. The lower knowledge, that of the intellect, gives us mastery of the outer world. It is only the higher knowledge or self-knowledge which provides for the liberation of the spirit or the true goal of life. How a society defines what is true knowledge is the indication of its ultimate goal and value. These four goals produce four classes or strata of human beings. We can call these the laborers or
working class, the merchants or commercial class, the political and military class, and the intellectual
and spiritual class. We still have them today and while they are not
official castes there are definite barriers between them which are hard to cross over.
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