Dharma Vahini - Post 32

Dear All,

In the concluding chapter, Swami deals with pre-requisites of following a dharmic path and certain qualities / attributes necessary for a dharmic person.

Swami gives 3 stages in pursuit of Dharma

Three stages to knowledge of dharma

“The knowledge of dharma is reached in three stages:

(1) You must receive training under wise people (vidwans), who are also imbued with dharma.

(2) You must aspire to attain self-purification (Atmasuddhi) and truth (sathya).

(3) You must realize the value of knowledge of the Vedas (Veda-vidya), the voice of God (Parameswara).

When these three are completed, then one understands the truth and how that truth is to be separated from untruth. This

enquiry into truth has to be done in amity and cooperation; all must be equally eager to discover it for the benefit of all. 

Everyone’s opinion must be tested on the touchstone of dharma, of universal good (sarva-lokahitha). The principles that pass this test have to be specially kept apart, used and spread in the world for the advancement of human welfare. By this means, all will develop joy and happiness in equal measure.”

“All are the same (samithih samaani)”, says the scripture. All have the same claim for spiritual wisdom (jnana) and for the means of attaining it, like education. Therefore, all must do noble and pure deeds.”

Swami continues,

The discipline of truth (sathya)

"If you are careless about the discipline of truth, every duty laid on you by dharma and every action prompted by dharma will hang heavy as a burden. Search for the reality behind all these phenomena and that search will make all dharmic actions light and pleasant. 

The Lord has shaped people so that they are inclined toward God and is delighted at the expansion of their vision and happy when they are moral and virtuous. So, people must serve their best interests by adhering to their basic nature, by concentrating on Brahman, by cultivating truth, and by practicing dharma.

Truth has to be sought and tested by all the canons of reasoning. The discipline consists of:

1. The heroism to observe dharma rigorously (ojas).
   
2. Fearless self-control (tejas).
    
3. The discarding of all feelings of joy or sorrow at the ups and downs of life, with equanimity.
    
4. Having unshakable faith in truth and dharma (sahana).
    
5. Mental and physical health of the most excellent kind, earned by discipline and celibacy (bala).
    
6. The desire and ability to speak sweetly and straight, won by the practice of truth and love.
   
7. Withdrawal of the five senses of wisdom (jnanendriyas) and the five senses of action (karmendriyas) from vice and sin and the sublimation of all the senses for the service of truth (indriya-moha).
    
8. The winning of the overlordship of all the worlds by the self-won domination of the inner world.
    
9. The destruction of one’s prejudices and the pursuit of truth at all times (dharma).

The prayer one has to make is, “May all this be conferred on me” as found in the “Chamaka hymn”.

Dharma brings good to all; it confers bliss (ananda) here and hereafter. It is essential that all humanity today see the glory of this universal dharma. 

Love.

Dharma Vahini - Post 31

Dear Readers,

Continuing on the puranic age, Swami writes,

"Once, Krishna told Uddhava thus: “Austerity, wisdom, renunciation (tapas, jnana, vairagya),  yoga (communion), dharma, vow-keeping ritual (vratha), pilgrimage — the merit acquired by these is acquired by My devotees with even greater ease." Realize how great true devotion is! 

By it means, an outcast can excel even a brahmin! A

devotion-less brahmin is inferior to an outcast endowed with devotion. This is elaborated in the Puranas. That which is described in the Vedas as simply, “Not this, not this (nethi, nethi)”, that which is declared as “beyond the reach of the words, far out of the grasp of the mind”, that which is unreachable by the senses, the mind, or the intellect — such an entity is capable of being felt and experienced by those immersed in meditation. Devotion brings it into the consciousness easily and fills the devotee with bliss.

First, 

·       aspirants have to practice the spiritual discipline related to the with-qualities aspect of God;  

·       this will endow them with concentration and, 

·       later, according to the law of procedure from the gross to the subtle, they can merge their minds in the quality-less Brahman itself. 

The mirage leads the thirsty person far away from the tank; the person then turns away and returns to the place where water is available; reaching the tank, the person becomes competent to drink and slake the thirst (sthula-souram-bhika-anyaya). 

So too, aspirants after liberation (moksha) get the desire for meditation and worship of the formless Supreme (nirgunopaasana); the Lord, who is attached to the devotees, takes up the forms that the aspirants and great souls seek. Out of His bounty, He grants all four goals of human life (purushaarthas). "

Author's note:

As a prelude, as though, to the aspect of Devotion and how Swami has described that a sadhaka can evolve through devotion to meditation on the formless Brahman, Swami willed and the author has already posted on " From Form to Formless", only a few days before. You may read to align that post with Swami's words in today's post easily.

Love.

Dharma Vahini - Post 30

Dear All,

After taking us through the Vedic and the Upanishad eras, Swami goes on to elaborate on the Puranic age thus:-

The Puranic age

The seeds of devotion found scattered in the Vedic texts sprout in the Upanishads and begin to grow with many a blossomful branch in the Puranas.

Well, many are yet confused when it comes to deciding what exactly devotion (bhakthi) is, what the nature of the attitude called devotion is! It is impossible for anyone to demarcate what exactly devotion is and what it is not. 

Devotion has infinite facets. Only pure, tender, tolerant, calm

and loving souls, the very cream of spiritual aspirants (sadhus), the swans (hamsas) sporting ever in the company of kindred devotees, can understand its purity and depth. 

Others will find it as difficult to discover devotion in a person as discovering softness in rock, coldness in fire, or sweetness in the margosa (neem) tree. Devotees hold the Lord dearer to themselves than life, and the Lord is attached to them in equal measure.

Some great people even declare that the devotee is superior to Bhagavan; the farmer loves the clouds more than the ocean, though the clouds only bring the ocean waters to their fields. 

The ocean does not come directly over their crops. This is how Tulsidas describes the relationship between the devotee and God: The clouds bring the mercy, the love, the grandeur of the ocean, and the fragrance of the atmosphere and shower them over the entire land; so, too, devotees carry these great traits wherever they go. Just as gold is dug out of mines, these virtues are part of the divinity in humanity.

The sage Durvasa arrived one day in the court of Ambarisha to test the efficacy of devotion to God. For this purpose, he created out of his anger a demoness, Krithya, for his destruction. 

But the Lord’s discus (chakra), which demolishes the fear in the hearts of devotees, destroyed Krithya and started pursuing Durvasa to the ends of the earth. He fled over hill and dale, lake and stream, and leaped across the seven seas; he tried to take asylum in the heavens, but the foe of a devotee could get asylum nowhere. 

At last, he fell at the feet of God (Narayana) in Vaikunta, an exhausted penitent. However, the Lord declared that He was always on the side of His devotee and that He would never give up the devotee who relies on Him as his only refuge. “I follow the devotee as the calf follows the cow, for the devotee gives up for Me all that is considered desirable by the worldly-minded.”

Continued...

Love.