Vamana Purana — Rules of Purity (Shauca), Shloka 19
Rules of Purity (Śauca), Permissible Foods, and the Duties of the Householder and Forest-Dweller
धर्मो ऽस्य मूलं धनमस्य शाखा पुष्पं च कामः फलमस्य मोक्षः असौ सदाचारतरुः सुकेशिन् संसेवितो येन स पुण्यभोक्त
dharmo 'sya mūlaṃ dhanamasya śākhā puṣpaṃ ca kāmaḥ phalamasya mokṣaḥ asau sadācārataruḥ sukeśin saṃsevito yena sa puṇyabhokta
ಧರ್ಮವು ಇದರ ಬೇರು, ಅರ್ಥವು ಇದರ ಶಾಖೆ, ಕಾಮವು ಇದರ ಪುಷ್ಪ, ಮೋಕ್ಷವು ಇದರ ಫಲ. ಓ ಸುಕೇಶಿನ್, ಇದು ಸದಾಚಾರದ ವೃಕ್ಷ; ಇದನ್ನು ಸೇವಿಸುವವನು ಪುಣ್ಯಫಲಭೋಗಿಯಾಗುತ್ತಾನೆ.
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FAQs
The verse integrates the four puruṣārthas into a single ethical hierarchy: dharma must be the foundation; artha and kāma are legitimate only when rooted in dharma; mokṣa is presented as the highest fruition of a life disciplined by sadācāra.
This is not sarga/pratisarga/vamśa/vamśānucarita-manvantara narration; it functions as dharma-upadeśa embedded within the Purāṇic frame. In pancalakṣaṇa terms it is ancillary instruction (upabṛṃhaṇa) rather than a core lakṣaṇa.
The ‘tree’ metaphor makes moral causality organic: dharma as root sustains artha and kāma (branch/flower), while mokṣa is the ripened fruit—implying that liberation is not opposed to worldly life, but is its mature culmination when lived rightly.