Chapter 3 continued
Swami says,
"Take a palanquin. Before
being transformed into that article, it was a tree, which was changed into
timber and planks and finally into a palanquin.
With every change in form, the
name is also changed. Sitting in a palanquin, no one would claim to be on a piece
of timber or on a tree. Objects undergo change; they are not eternal. They are
not real.
Objects can be distinguished
only by means of name and form; they can be described only by means of their
characteristics. For they are artificial and temporary.
What exactly is a chair? It is
a particular modification of wood, isn’t it? Remove the wood, and the chair
also disappears. Think of the wood, which is the substance, and the
“appearance” of the chair will vanish."
As wood is turned into
furniture and used, Atma Dharma has to be shaped into Grihastha Dharma,
Vanaprastha Dharma, Varna Dharma, Stri Dharma, Purusha Dharma etc.
The stuff is
the same in all; the substance is identical, in every separate form. How can
the substance be used up? It can only be transmuted and transformed and the
various modifications named differently when used for different purposes.
The
Atma Dharma can be viewed piecemeal and compartmentalized for different
purposes, as the wood is hewn and sawn and joined, and arranged and rearranged,
but, it is Atma dharma nevertheless.
So long as the different systems of Dharma
are derived from that ‘Wood’, there is no harm; remember however that the
furniture can never be regrouped into the original tree!
Apply that Atma Dharma
in the fields of worldly activity but do no call the worldly Dharmas, Atma
Dharma! That will be playing false to the Ideal, the Absolute."
In the days of yore, Emperor
Manu is supposed to have made up many such packages and these are collectively
referred to as Manu Dharma.
These packages are very useful at the working or
practical level, but occasions can arise when they may not be clear; in those
circumstances, one has to check out the action contemplated or one’s
interpretation of Manus’ Rule Book by referring to the basic principle or Atma
Dharma. If it does not pass the test, then out it goes.
By the way, this was the
fundamental teaching of Krishna to Arjuna. Arjuna wanted to drop out saying it
is a sin to kill.
Yes, it is a sin to kill, but as Krishna pointed out if by
dropping out one is failing to protect Dharma, a mandated duty, then one is
actually on the side of Adharma! That is what emerges when the acid test of the
Fundamental Principle is applied.
The above topic is summed up
with an essential quote from the same chapter:
"Dharma is the moral
path; the moral path is the light; the light is bliss
(ananda). Dharma is characterized by holiness, peace, truth, and
fortitude. Dharma is yoga, union, merger; it is truth (sathya).
Its attributes are justice, sense control, sense of honour, love, dignity,
goodness, meditation, sympathy, non-violence; such is the dharma that
persists through the ages. It leads one on to universal love and unity. It is
the highest discipline and the most profitable."
Love.
