20. Tattvajñānārthadarśanam
The twentieth and final value of jñānam is tattvajñānārthadarśanam, which translates to keeping in view the ultimate purpose of the knowledge of Truth.
The Sanskrit compound breaks down as follows: tattva means “Truth” (the irreducible reality of everything), jñānam means “knowledge”, artha means “purpose” or “goal”, and darśanam means “sight” or “vision”. Therefore, this value is the practice of never losing sight of Self-knowledge as one’s primary and fundamental goal in life.
Here is a comprehensive breakdown of this value based on the teachings:
The Four Human Pursuits (Puruṣārthas) To understand the purpose of this knowledge, one must first look at the four fundamental goals that drive all human pursuits (puruṣārthas):
- Dharma: The pursuit of ethical standards, right behaviour, and merit.
- Artha: The pursuit of security, which includes wealth, property, power, and fame.
- Kāma: The pursuit of varied pleasures, sensory delights, and physical comforts.
- Mokṣa: The pursuit of liberation—complete freedom from the hands of time, change, grief, and the human sense of limitation and inadequacy.
The Unique Purpose of Self-Knowledge When we analyze Self-knowledge (ātmajñānam or tattvajñānam), we find that it does not serve the first three goals. Knowledge of the Self does not produce wealth (artha) or sensory pleasure (kāma); those are gained through specific actions and efforts. Nor is it pursued simply to be a “good person” (dharma). Self-knowledge serves only one purpose: mokṣa (liberation).
Mumukṣutvam: The Value for Liberation Consequently, tattvajñānārthadarśanam is essentially the value of mumukṣutvam—the burning desire for liberation. A mumukṣu (seeker of liberation) is someone who clearly sees that all achievements of security and pleasure fail to provide lasting completeness. Like a salmon swimming upstream against all odds to return to its origin, the mumukṣu keeps their vision firmly fixed on the ultimate freedom found in the Truth of their own being, refusing to compromise or settle for lesser, limited goals.
Why Knowledge is the Only Means to Freedom A mature seeker eventually realizes that knowledge is the absolute and only means to liberation. The reasoning for this is highly logical:
- The freedom a human being truly seeks is limitlessness.
- Limitlessness cannot be created, manufactured, or produced by any action, because any action (being limited in time and scope) can only produce a limited result.
- Therefore, if we are fundamentally bound and limited by nature, absolute freedom would be impossible.
- However, if limitlessness is our true, ever-present nature, our feelings of limitation can only be the result of ignorance.
Because the problem is purely ignorance of an already accomplished fact, no amount of physical effort or action can solve it; only knowledge can dispel ignorance. By holding firmly to tattvajñānārthadarśanam, the seeker focuses their life on gaining the knowledge of the Truth, perfectly preparing their mind to discover that they are already the complete, limitless being they have always longed to be.