Dharma Vahini - Post 12

Dear All,

Now we move on to chapter 3 of Dharma vahini.

Swami says,

"One cannot escape from disquiet as long as fundamental ignorance persists; mere change of occupation, prompted by the desire for more comfort or the need for satisfying some passing likes, will not give lasting satisfaction. 

It is like hoping to improve matters in a dark room by a mere

readjustment of furniture. 

However, if a lamp is lit, passage across the room is rendered easier even without readjusting furniture. There is no need to interfere with the furniture at all.

So too, in this benighted world, it is difficult to move about truthfully, correctly, and peacefully without knocking against some obstacle or other. How then are you to succeed? 

Light the lamp! Let it reveal the reality; get the light of spiritual wisdom (jnana). That will solve all the difficulties. You may claim that you live according to dharma, but your basic aw is that your acts are not done in the spirit of dedication. If so done, they get stamped with the authentic mark of dharma.

Some clever people might raise a doubt and ask: “Can we then kill and injure in the name of the Lord, dedicating the act to Him?” 

Well, how can a person get the attitude of dedicating all activities to the Lord without at the same time being pure in thought, word, and deed? 

Prof. Veknatraman explains

One cannot claim one is a devotee of God and use that as an excuse to offer to God anything and everything, especially immoral acts. This is not at all farfetched. 

I know for a fact that people pray to God and even go to temples and perform special pujas and what not so that some business venture of theirs, often based on shady practices, would succeed. 

The human mind, said a wise man, has infinite capacity to trick itself! Indeed, just as the mind tricks many into legitimising immoral acts simply by offering it to God, the mind equally offers its own definition of Devotion or Bhakti. Here is what Swami says about this practice:

"Simple folk believe that they have Bhakthi towards the Lord, but they do not pause to inquire whether the Lord has Love towards them! People who pine to discover this are rather rare. That is really the true measure of spiritual success."

Yes, there is no use in declaring our Love for God; the real point is whether God is ready to accept our declarations. In the quote just offered, Swami refers to the devotee pining for the Lord. I know of one example, where the devotee constantly did this; I am referring to the great musical saint Tyagaraja, to whom Swami often makes a reference. Tyagaraja literally lived all his life with Lord Rama, from morning to evening and in many of the innumerable songs he composed in honour of the Lord, the saint wails and cries to have Rama’s attention. That is pining. 

TY

Love, equanimity, rectitude, nonviolence —these are the attendant virtues of the servant of the Lord. How can cruelty and callousness coexist with these virtues? 

To have selflessness, the spirit of self-sacrifice, and the spiritual eminence required for the dedicatory outlook, one must have first won the four characteristics of truth, peace, love, non-violence (sathya, santhi, prema, ahimsa). Devoid of these, mere naming will not make any deed a votive offering.

Acts that are expressions of dharma are deathless, and only those who know that they are deathless can perform them. That is the highest destiny of humanity. Instead of reaching it, people are intent on doing acts against dharma. 

People everywhere degrade themselves from their status as children of eternity (amritha-putra) to that of children of futility (anritha-putra)! Holding nectar in their grasp, they are drinking the poison of sensual pleasure. 

Neglecting the joy of contemplation of the fundamental Atmic reality of the universe, they are entangling themselves in the external trappings of this objective world of appearances. One can only bewail that this fate has overwhelmed mankind!

Love.