Dharma Vahini - Post 7

Dear All,

We covered 2  aspects in Dharma in previous post.

1) The ideal Dharma

If Swami's gospel is properly understood at the highest level with  purest intellect, then all Karma/ Actions undertaken by a human being with only one Goal- To merge with God, is the real essence of DHARMA. 

2) Misunderstood Dharma 

Main problem with human beings is that instead of keeping the highest Dharma as God realization and then confirming all their actions to that Dharma, we all got too much attached to our actions themselves, without subjecting them to, without clinging them with the highest Dharma of Merger with God. Thus, Dharma got grossly misunderstood in terms of various actions, which have been explained by Swami Above.

With the theoretical understanding of these totally opposite aspects/ understanding of "DHARMA", let us now try and understand, in practical terms, as to how a human being would live/ will act, with the understanding of both approach given above.

1) Human being with conviction about the ideal Dharma ( God realization)

• Such a human being, with conviction that the highest and the only dharma is merger with God, lives always with single pointed focus on reaching God through  his chosen path- Devotion or Self enquiry.
• Let us visualize- with such a single pointed focus on God, when such a  human being sets out in the world and faces various situations, various human beings, various challenges and has to act accordingly,  how will such a person act?
• It is like a King settled in a grand palace, will he ever be affected by the heat / cold/ rain/ wild wind etc.??
• Similarly, a  wise human being, settled in the palace with path towards God realization, will not be affected by the cold/ heat/rain/wind in the form of vasanas of different human beings, in the form of various challenging situations which would cause agitation/ unrest/ crookedness in the mind of any normal human being.
• Such a human being  truly exists as a King heart of heart, no matter whether he is a king or cobbler in reality.

2)  Human being, getting confused that his actions form his Dharma.

• Unfortunately, human beings under this category do not have the protection of / shelter of the palace with path towards realization, as explained in the above case of a human being who has the shelter of Godly path.
• Without the grand conviction that only dharma is realizing and merging with God and all actions should be under this umbrella of / shelter of Godly path, these human beings start interpreting their actions as Dharma.
• It is said that when the Lion is not present, then the jackals and the wolves and monkeys play. 
• Similarly, when the Lion like lofty and mighty conviction for realizing God is not present in such beings, then the monkeys and jackals of Ego - Ahamkara, Chitta-Impressions start playing havoc.
• So, as these beings start indulging in  various actions, the influence of their ego clouds their intellect and they start misinterpreting   various actions, which their ego approves, as real dharma!!.
•  To cite an example, a fellow sai devotee, unable to take up spiritual sadhana as taught by the author, took the excuse that her real dharma is to take care of  her family members and hence, she is spending full time to take care of them, to keep them happy.

Author could only smile and remain silent. 

Can we try and visualise how, a human being in the first       case, with conviction for realizing God, with whole hearted focus on God undertake their actions towards their family?

Such a being would not be deliberating on "how to take care of her family members".

She would be sincere, loving, truthful, dedicated in all her actions, not because any one has given her prescription to be like that but because, She is protected and is basking in the illumination within, by her Godly path, by her Godly thoughts and when one is inwardly in the company of God sincerely, how will her act  be not as pure as that of God?

SUMMARY

Ideal

When you are focussed on God, then all your actions are inwardly, spontaneously influenced by your Godly thoughts and all such actions involuntarily fall under the umbrella/ light of DHARMA

Worldly

When you have not accepted God realization as your only dharma, then you are vulnerable and approach the world without any shield of God and Godly thoughts. You are then a slave to your ego and you try and convince yourself about "correct dharma" which your ego approves.

Thus, each one, convinced of actions suiting to his ego, picks up some portion of Sai literature suiting his/ her actions and projects the same as License for such actions. 

One who likes Bhajan, takes all Sai's quotes on Bhajans and says, "see, Swami has said, In Kali Yuga, only Namasmarana is enough".

One who does service,  picks up all Swami's quotes and says, "See, Swami has said, don't sit and meditate, go out and serve, manava seva is madhava seva".

One who is not able to take up any sadhana, picks up a quote of Sai which he might have given to children and says, "take care of parents, don't  tell lie, work hard", that is enough.... so on and so forth.

(So, what happens in the above examples??? What ever our ego or our vasanas or our tendency approves, we take that as dharma and rope in Sai's quotes to support out ego / vasana based actions. We may actually take up only bhajans / service / meditation etc. But we have to take up all these things in silence, without promoting to others that what we do is the only correct path)

Only when such readers grasp the sense of Sai's vahinis, then

they get a chance to read  Sai defining dharma thus:- "Whoever subdues egotism, conquers selfish desires, destroys bestial feelings and impulses, and gives up the natural tendency to regard the body as the self that person is surely on the path of dharma; that person knows that the goal of dharma is the merging of the wave in the sea, the merging of the self in the Over-self."

(As repeatedly told by the author, if you have to take Sai literature  for your guidance, read all SS Speaks, read all vahinis, then only you will get the wholistic picture of Lord's Gospel and guidance)

With this, we will move on to the next chapter. From 2nd chapter onwards, instead of reading the entire chapter written by Swami, we will get the most important learning points from each chapter and get deeper in the same.

Love.

God descends, for the restoration  of Dharma 

• When such mauling of Dharma took place, when the face of Dharma suffered disfigurement at the hands of the enemies of God, the Lord responded to the call of the gods and the godly and saved the world from ruin, by restoring Right and Truth in the field of Dharma and of Karma, i.e., in both Ideal and Practice.

Author's Note

(Here, swami Himself guides the author and conveys to the author, just reproduce my own words to explain the above gospel given by myself. Here is what Swami poured on 23.11.1968

Dharma Vahini - Part 6

Dear All,

Let us summarize the learning from the first chapter of Dharma vahini given to the world by Bhagawan Baba

Sai's words (at the highest level)  on Dharma 

• God is the embodiment of Dharma; His Grace is won by Dharma. He is ever fostering Dharma, He is ever establishing Dharma, He is Dharma Itself. The Vedas, Sastras, Puranas and Ithihasas proclaim aloud the Glory of Dharma

• Every man has to acquaint himself with the outlines of Dharma, expounded in the Vedas and the Sastras and the Puranas.

• Whoever subdues his egoism, conquers his selfish
  
  desires, destroys his bestial feelings and impulses and gives up the natural tendency to regard the body as the self, he is surely on the path of Dharma; he knows that the goal of Dharma is the merging of the wave in the sea, the merging of the self in the Over-self.

• You must become intoxicated with the nectar of Union with Brahmam; that is the ultimate goal of Dharma, and of Karma inspired by Dharma.

Author's note:-

(If Swami's gospel is properly understood at the highest level with purest intellect, then all Karma/ Actions undertaken by a human being with only one Goal- "TO MERGE WITH GOD", is the real essence of DHARMA. 

If this is absolutely clear, then all our actions, from the highest level to the most mundane level in his life are to be understood and realized as falling within the jurisdiction of the highest DHARMA as explained above. 

In upanishads, it is declared- One who realizes Brahman, knows everything else along with the knowledge of Brahman.

In the context of Dharma explained by Swami, this message from upanishad has to be understood  thus:- "Once we are God intoxicated, breath and live with the conviction to merge with Lord, then, such a conviction, such a God intoxicated heart automatically deals with all other actions/ requirements in life in perfect way, on its own)

How Dharma has been misunderstood by beings 

• As soon as the word Dharma is mentioned, the ordinary man takes it to mean: The giving of alms, feeding and providing lodging to pilgrims etc., the adherence to one's traditional profession or craft, law-abiding nature, the discrimination
  
  between right and wrong, the pursuit of one's innate nature or the freaks of one's own mind, the fruition of one's fondest desires, and so on.

• Misunderstood by incompetent intelligence, unbridled emotion and impure reasoning, they have been grossly diluted and their glory has suffered grievously. 

• Just as the rain drops from the clear blue sky get coloured and contaminated when they fall on the soil, the unsullied message of the ancient Rishis, the example of their shining deeds, the bright untarnished urges behind their actions are all turned into ugly caricatures of the original grandeur, by uncultured interpreters and scholars.

Author's note 

(Main problem with human beings is that instead of keeping the highest Dharma as God realization and then confirming all their actions to that Dharma, we all got too much attached to our actions themselves, without subjecting them to, without clinging them with the highest Dharma of Merger with God. Thus, Dharma got grossly misunderstood in terms of various actions, which have been explained by Swami Above)

God descends, for the restoration  of Dharma 

• When such mauling of Dharma took place, when the face of Dharma suffered disfigurement at the hands of the enemies of God, the Lord responded to the call of the gods and the godly and saved the world from ruin, by restoring Right and Truth in the field of Dharma and of Karma, i.e., in both Ideal and Practice.

Author's Note

(Here, swami Himself guides the author and conveys to the author- "just reproduce my own words to explain the above gospel given by myself".)

Here is what Swami poured on 23.11.1968.

"For the protection of the virtuous, for the destruction of evil-doers and for establishing righteousness on a firm footing, I incarnate from age to age. Whenever disharmony (asanthi) overwhelms the world, the Lord will incarnate in human form to establish the modes of earning peace (prasanthi) and to reeducate the human community in the paths of peace. 

At the present time, strife and discord have robbed peace and unity from the family, the school, the society, the religions, the cities, and the state. 

The arrival of the Lord is also anxiously awaited by saints and sages. Spiritual aspirants (sadhus) prayed and I have come. My main tasks are fostering of the Vedas (Hindu scriptures) and fostering of the devotees. Your virtue, your self-control, your detachment, your faith, your steadfastness: these are the signs by which people read of my glory. 

You can lay claim to be a devotee only when you have placed yourself in my hands fully and completely with no trace of ego. You can enjoy the bliss through the experience the avatar confers. 

The Avatar behaves in a human way so that mankind can feel kinship, but rises into his superhuman heights so that mankind can aspire to reach the heights, and through that aspiration actually reach him. Realizing the Lord within you as the motivator is the task for which he comes in human form."

Love.

Dharma Vahini - Post 5

Symbolic meanings of spiritual terms and acts

You have to understand ancient pious actions (dharma-karmas) by entering into their symbolic meaning. The spiritual eld has many a technical term, with its own special connotation. These terms have to be clearly understood so that you can grasp correctly the teaching of the scriptures (sastras).

Take an example. People used to celebrate sacri cial rites (yajnas) in ancient times, and they sacri ced ani- mals in these rites. But the animal is only a symbol. It was not the dumb creature that had to be cut to pieces. The animal leads a life of sacri ce, even without its career being completed at the sacri cial pole! The animal that has to be disemboweled and offered is different.

In the spiritual vocabulary, animal means “the body consciousness”, “the I-consciousness”, and this is what has to be slaughtered. The Lord is known as Pasupathi or Govinda. Pasupathi means the Lord of all individuals (jivas), pasu meaning individual; and govinda means the guardian of cows or individuals, “go” meaning indi- vidual. The tending of cows is a symbolic play of Krishna to indicate His mission of tending individuals.

The scriptures (sastras) have profound inner meanings. The aim of dharma is to make the individual (jiva) give up attachment to external nature and the illusion that it causes and to make it realise its reality or rather, un- realise what it has now taken as real so that it may stand revealed in its genuine identity.

These meanings must be learned by young and old. Take, for instance, the Siva Temple. Right in front of the idol of Siva is the image of Nandi, the bull. You are told that the sacred bull is the vehicle (vahana) of Siva, and that is the reason for its being there. But, really speaking, the bull (pasu) represents the individual (jiva) while the lingam is the symbol of Siva. “No one should pass between the bull and the lingam, the individual and the Siva,” it is said; for they are to merge in one. Siva has to be seen through the two horns of Nandi, they say.

When asked the reason for this procedure, people reply, “Well, it is holier than other methods of viewing the lingam.” But the inner meaning is, “You must see the Siva in the individual” —the bull Pasu and Siva (Pasu- pathi) are one. Nandi and God (Iswara) become the Lord of individuals (Nandiswara). Both are only two ways of referring to the same entity. When in bondage, it is Nandi; when the bound becomes free and union with God is achieved, it is God. It is worshipped and is entitled to be so honoured. The true sacri ce (yajna) occurs when the bull (pasu) is offered to the Lord of animals, Pasupathi, and its separate identity is cast away. The significance has now been forgotten.

Today, these symbolic acts have changed beyond recognition. The practices of today and the principles of yesterday are far apart. Even the smallest detail of secular life has to be inspired by the higher ideal of spiritual fulfillment. Then, even simple folk can be led step by step toward the goal. When you do not discriminate the pro- cess and purpose of every act, but still go on doing it, it becomes a funny fossilized version. 

Once, even Prahlada said, “Since it is dif cult to destroy egotism, man nds it easy to destroy this dumb animal as a substitute. Animal sacri ce is the manifestation of the quality of inertia (thamoguna); it is the path of bondage. The sacri ce of the animal of egotism is the pure sacri ce (sathwic yajna) on the Godward path of liberation.”

Thus, the highest goal (paramaartha) of those ancient days is turned into the fool’s goal (paaramaartha) of these days! Every one of the ancient practices, which were once full of meaning, has grown wild beyond recogni- tion. Branches have shot out in various directions. It is now impossible to pluck the tree by the roots and plant a new one. So, the existing tree has to be trimmed and trained to grow straight. The highest goal has to be constantly remembered and not diluted into the lowest. 

End of chapter -1 

In the next few posts, we will try and get deeper into what Bhagawan means in the 1st chapter . We pray to Sai to reveal the inner meaning of His gospel in depth!!!!

Love.