Dharma Vahini - Post 17

DHARMA

Dharma is sometimes translated as religion: Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianity, Islam, and others. Dharma is not denominational religion, necessarily.

Please forget the old definition of dharma as some religion. It is not any kind of ism. It is an ultimate law that keeps the universe in balance, keeps the body, the mind, your reasoning, society and everything in a state of perfect integration so that you feel that you are existing as a total individual and do not feel that you are a mix-up of several parts heaped together in a confused manner.

A person is born on this earth to perform certain duties. The soul houses itself into the physical vehicle that is the body which most suits for performing these duties. The physical work that a person needs to do, the duties of the person on this earth plane are termed as the Dharma of the person. Dharma is a difficult term to translate into English, but can roughly be translated as the rightful duty of a person.

ARTHA

The material needs of the body are a very important concern indeed.

Artha is the pursuit of material wealth, which brings material comforts to a person. People sometimes believe that the path of spiritual growth and pursuit of material wealth are mutually exclusive, or even that a spiritual seeker needs to be in poverty. But that is not true.

If we look at the Universe, it is a reflection of abundance. Nature is abundant in everything; poverty is nothing but a state of consciousness. If abundance is the quality of the Divine, how is pursuit of abundance in contrast with the pursuit of the Divine?

If one is in poverty, in a state of constantly worrying about how to support and feed, if that is what the focus is on, how can one pursue spirituality?

Only when there are no worries is one able to focus their attention to the goal of union with the Divine.

The important thing to remember is not to be attached to the possession or attainment of wealth. It can be either transcended or sought with detachment, and with awareness.

The important thing to remember is not to be attached to the possession or attainment of wealth. It can be either transcended or sought with detachment, and with awareness.

When done in this state of mind, the pursuit of wealth is not different from the pursuit of the Divine, because one sees abundance or wealth as a form of the Divine. And in this state of detachment, one recognizes when one has attained their financial objectives, and hence the desire to pursue automatically dies away, paving the way for Moksha.

KAMA

Then, there is another thing: the aesthetic longings of the human personality.

One cannot be happy merely by eating, drinking, putting on clothes, and having a house in which to stay. Even such a person will not be a complete person; there are other requirements which are of a vital nature – the desire-filled nature of the individual.

Kama is fulfilling one's desires.  Desires are in various forms -- to be wealthy, powerful, sexual needs, recognition, service, etc.

For a person to evolve spiritually and to reach the ultimate destination, the barrier of desires needs to be crossed. This can be done either by fulfilling the desires, or by sublimating or transcending them. Suppressing of desires is certainly not recommended because it is like a fully coiled spring that is held down by force, it can erupt unpredictably causing undesirable consequences.

As one becomes aware of their desires and one goes about fulfilling them in awareness and without judgement, one soon reaches the stage of being able to sublimate them. The Divine, the Universe, lends a big hand in the process.

MOKSHA

Then, together with all these, there is also the aspiration for moksha, attainment of God, which is a fulfillment, finally, of the whole complex of desires, physical as well as vital. 

That also is to be taken care of with great caution, as the one conditioning everything else. The method by which you can hook together these three types of impulse and the final aspiration harmoniously, that procedure of the cementing of all these sides of human nature is called dharma, or the law of harmonization of the aspects of the whole of life, with all its relations in human society.

As all the rivers must eventually lead to the sea, there are many spiritual paths leading to the same destination.  Some paths are shorter than others; some are more arduous than others. The path can be difficult to navigate, and the path may not always be visible. A guide, in the form of a Guru is needed to traverse this path, someone who holds the person and shows them the Way to their inner Guru. It is Ekatvam's mission, and it is the Dharma of Amma and Swamiji to help people find their way to Moksha.

All these four facets of life have to be brought together into a focus of attention at the same time. These are known as the purusharthas, or aims of existence, the final objectives of life known popularly as dharma, artha, kama and moksha, i.e., moral value, economic value, vital value and eternal value.

For  DHARMA and  MOKSHA, a man should always constantly do Purushartha (efforts) and should never leave it to Prarabdha.

As for ARTHA and KAMA he should totally leave them to Prarabdha as he is going to get only that much of wealth (ARTHA) and enjoyment (KAMA) which is destined in his Prarabdha (luck, fate, fortune) and nothing more in spite of all his Purushartha (efforts).

But unfortunately due to the ignorance of this law of Karma he goes in the wrong direction and ultimately he has to lose everything at the end of his life.

Instead of making any Purushartha (efforts) for (1) Dharma and (4) Moksha, he totally neglects it or leaves it to Praradbha only.

While for (2) Artha (wealth) and (3) Kama (enjoyment), he strives all his nerves and makes strenuous efforts (Purushartha) all throughout his life day and night and crazily hankers after them even when he is not going to get anything more than that is destined in his Prarabdha. Thus he fails in both the ways in life by making efforts in opposite and wrong directions.

Human body is given to acquire all these four: (1) Dharma, (2) Artha, (3) Kama and (4) Moksha, in proper sequence.

Hindu religion and its scriptures are not against having Artha (wealth) and Kama (enjoyment of wealth). A man is supposed to be and should be wealthy enough but that wealth must be earned and accumulated only and only through the medium of Dharma-ethics, through pious deeds and not by unethical crooked means and sins. That is why

·      DHARMA is given number 1 (one) in the sequence and wealth comes second.

· Wealth (ARTHA) earned through the medium of DHARMA (ethics and pious deeds) will lead you to worship and wisdom. While the wealth earned by unethical means and sins through crooked ways would lead you to wine and women.

·      With the wealth acquired through the medium of Dharma he is permitted to enjoy all the amenities of life and satisfy his KAMA, of course, within the limits of Dharma. This permission is given not to fall into the pit of passion and to indulge and stoop into the enjoyment for sense gratification; but just to make him realize that it is insatiable and therefore he should try to overcome it.

·      Ultimately when he will realize the fruitlessness of enjoyment for sense gratification which is insatiable, immediately he will realize the fruitfulness of Moksha. Consequently and subsequently he will renounce and will turn his face for self-realization and liberation from the cycle of birth and death i.e. MOKSHA which is the final target, the ultimate goal and also the main purpose for which he is gracefully given the human body by God.

This is how we have to consider the ways of bringing together the aspirations which are dharma, artha, kama and moksha in our practical life.

Thus, the flow of these 4 Purushartha is as under:

  

Thus, the entire life in this phenomenal world is also led by such a human being as a travel / journey from Atma Dharma to Moksha. 

In the next post, we will relate the 4 purushartha to the 4 stages in life.

Love.