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.

Record number of page views - 20/9/2017

Dear All,

We had our all time  record number of page views in the blog yesterday- 218 page views.

Out of the above, 178 page views were from Russia.

The author requests the reader from Russia who has gone through 178 pages on a single day yesterday, to introduce himself/ herself to the blog forum.

Love

Dharma Vahini - Post 11

Dear All,

Let us continue with chapter 2 of Dharma Vahini.

Swami Says,

"Making God into stone - that is the effort being made today! How can such effort lead to Truth, when the real task is to see the stone as God? 

First, the Form of the Godhead has to be meditated upon and imprinted on the consciousness; then, that Form has to be conceived within the stone and the stone forgotten in the process, until the stone is transformed into God."

Basically, what Swami is saying is that one must see God in stone and NOT make God into stone. This is something we must reflect carefully on. 

There are two things here – the symbol and the larger concept that the symbol represents.

The stone sculpture is the symbol while God is the Fundamental Principle. If people are made to think that God is just the stone idol and nothing else, then it can be quite dangerous. 

A state of narrow-mindedness can develop wherein the Principle is totally forgotten and one is trapped in not only trivialities but also in dangerous myths, leading in turn to bigotry, hatred etc.

Let us dig a bit deeper and consider the statement, ‘Jewels are many but gold is one.’ 

Suppose, for the sake of argument, the jewels have all been made of copper and simply plated with gold. Clearly the gold-plated jewels would be worth far less than those made with pure gold. 

In the same way, actions that appear Dharmic but are only superficially so, would be worthless compared to those based on Atmadharma.  

With the above example, we must have utmost clarity on Atma dharma and Para dharma. 

Like any jewel has value only because it is made of gold ( with copper, it is of much lesser value as explained above), all our  so called actions in our day to day life while pursuing our worldly duties would carry any worth ONLY if they are illumined by/ they are taken up in the back drop of/ within the domain of Atma dharma ( God realization)!!. 

Forgetting the Atma Dharma of being aligned to God and evolving steadily to merge with HIM, what ever actions we undertake, will be just a dust in its worth and will carry/ fetch us more and more karma and more and more births to clear those karmas!!

Back to Swami, and let us hear His next quote. 

"What happens when a stone is worshipped as God? The Unlimited, the Ever-present, the All-pervading-immanent Entity, the Absolute, is visualized in the Particular, in the Concrete. 

Similarly, Dharma, which is Universal, Equal and Free, can be spotted and tested in a single concrete act. 

Do not be misled by the idea that this is not possible. Are not many things difficult accomplished by you, things that only increase your anxiety and fear? 

If man is wise, can he not take up instead things that are more worthwhile, which give him peace of mind?"

The basic point Swami is making is simple. He says in effect: “Listen, the devotee may worship an idol, but the idol is simply a device for the devotee to commune with God who is really Infinite. Infinity is a concept difficult for simple folk to grasp but through loving worship of even a symbol, their Love can blossom enormously.” That is the point Swami is really making. Let us try to understand that further. 

Swami helps us out in the following way. He says [effectively] “Consider a stone idol that is supposed to represent God. Is God just the idol, or is the idol a mere symbol of God? If God is only the idol, then, God is finite; but we know God is not finite. Again, the stone can weather and crumble with age due to thermal cycle and what not. Can God be wiped out by weather? Obviously not. 

Let us carry over this idea to ourselves. You see, there are really two aspects to our personality, the body and what the body actually represents. The body is the symbol and it is the temporary aspect; therefore, it is not very important. 

On the other hand, what the body represents is the Eternal Atma, and that is what is important. However, because we cannot see the Atma, we tend to dismiss it totally, and instead regard the body to be our true Self. 

Vedanta says that is not correct; yes, the body is  important, and has been given to us with a purpose; however, it is not everything; at best the Lower Self. The Atma, on the other hand, is everything and it is the True of the Higher Self. 

Thus, to believe that we are merely the Lower Self is as bad as saying that God is only the stone idol. 

On the other hand we should say, the body is there no doubt but that is only a transient aspect of our Real Self; the latter is the Atma, which, if one prefers can also be called the Higher Self. 

The latter point of view is like saying, “Yes God is in the stone idol, and in that sense the idol is a symbol that represents God. However, the idol does not exhaust God! That is because God is everywhere and always is unlike the piece of stone which would cease to exist when the earth ceases to exist.”

Love.