Hinduism

I am posting on the reading from Huston Smith, The World's Religions. The section that struck me most was the section labeled 'what people want.' After I read this I started thinking about what I want in life. The reading read, "People want four things." They want pleasure- Kama, success- Artha, Duty- Dharma, "liberation" from Samsara- Moksha. I started thinking in my life what I want most. Everyone wants pleasure and success. Yet at the same time Moksha and Dharma seem to be less selfish. The book reads, The reason everyone eventually come to his discovery is not because pleasure is wicked but because it is too trivial to satisfy one's total nature." Sure pleasure is nice, but it doesn't compromise for everything else. When the time comes for an individuals interest to shift to the second major goal in life, which is success. Success consists of wealth, fame and power. The satisfaction of success lasts longer than that of pleasure. In the end, success also has its term. Success can become competitive and unpleasant. Fame and power can't be distributed equally among everyone in the way that mental and spiritual values can be shared. With success you never know when one day the success might be taken away from you. I would want something in my life that is more meaningful than just being successful. With Dharma- Duty, I feel like I could have that. With duty there is the opportunity to help others. Duty bring respect and gratitude from one's peers, but more important however, it is the self-respect that come from doing one's part. In life I think that all four of the goals should be met. With the four of these goals life would be more balanced and not only focused on one part of life.