Today’s scientific
world is known for its swift material knowledge and progress. But with the same
swiftness the great majority of people are moving away from non-material
spiritual knowledge. Spiritual knowledge should not be confused with
specific creeds and sects: we see all around us that the social fabric is being
ripped apart by religious fundamentalism, religious intolerance, and
narrow-mindedness. The acts of violence we see inspired by religious fanaticism
could not have been committed by minds inspired with genuine spiritual
knowledge. Those who cultivate the fire of hatred and prejudice in their hearts
are imprisoned in the narrow cells of their religions, or what they have
interpreted their religions to be. They look upon the followers of other
religions with distrust and even malice. Such spite cannot be what the founders
of the various great religions had intended as their gift to humanity: this
hate and exclusivity is harmful not only to those they come into contact with,
but it also—and to a greater degree—spoils their own spiritual state.
Religion (dharma), which was given to humanity to provide a civilized
path for the reformation of character in order that its adherents might reach
the ultimate goal (God), has today seemingly lost track of its purpose. It is
essential, in this environment of religious crisis, to underscore the
similar—in the end, identical—underlying concepts of the various
religions. By this means it is possible to bridge the ever-enlarging gulf
between these different religious traditions and between their followers. This
“gulf” is an imaginary difference: it is the result of sometimes superficial
(exoteric) interpretations of a given religion which begin to dissolve when one
investigates the tradition at a deeper (esoteric) level. When the various
traditions begin to be seen as different statements or paths to the same goal,
the image of religion as a provider of peace and everlasting freedom can be
re-established. This book is a small effort in this direction.
What
is dharma?
What is religion (dharmai)? In
its broadest aspect, dharma means performing one’s sacred duty and
following the traditional ethical codes of the community in which one lives.
Far from being
unnatural or contrived, dharma is a natural quality or trait of an
individual, an inseparable part of the psyche. That deed or duty the result of
which is described as the attainment of heaven is dharma. Noble deeds,
good behavior, benevolent actions are all dharmic in nature. Dharma is
nature, an inherent good tendency, and a daily prescribed moral and social
duty.
Dharma
as Virtue
The Laws of Manu,ii has described the
eightfold attributes of dharma: patience, forgiveness, self-control,
non-stealing, purity, control of the senses, wisdom, knowledge, truth, and
tranquility. In the course of time Jainiii dharma delineates this
list of characteristics as follows: right forgiveness, right restraint, right
purity, right truth, right self-control, right mortification, right renunciation,
right humility, and right celibacy.
For the purpose of
making dharma accessible to all people, Sage Manu has simplified and
condensed the ten attributes of dharma into five ethical laws:
non-violence, truth, non-stealing, purity of body and mind and control of the
senses.iv These
moral laws are found in all the major religions, East and West. Let us first
consider the ethical laws of non-violence and truth.
Complexity
of Dharma Ethics
The Mahabharata (ch.11/13) says:
Non-violence is the greatest of all laws
(dharmas).
This principle of
non-violence is not only essential dharma for religions based on the Vedas,
but is also considered of prime importance in other religions. Buddhism (Dhammapada,
17:3) and Christianity (Bible, Exodus 20:13; Matthew 5:5, 5:7; 5:21;
5:38-39) also require their adherents to practice non-violence just as Sage
Manu did. Taking life, however, is not the only kind of violence. Also,
included within this principle of non-violence is the importance of not hurting
some one’s mind or body. This means not doing harm to any living being. All
people, in this world, agree that non violence is the greatest dharma principle
to be followed.
But now imagine that
someone is trying to take our life or rape our wife or daughter or start a fire
in our house or steal our money. If we are unprotected and some evil person has
a weapon, what should we do? Should we simply ignore that evil person, or just
tell him that non-violence is the most important dharma? And if he does
not listen to us, or pay no heed to our plea, should we try to control him with
whatever power we have?
Manu says:
One should not hesitate to dispatch that
evil person and we should not care if he is a guru, an old person, a child,
scholar or brahmin.v
Under such circumstances,
if you kill someone, you are not considered guilty of the sin of killing,
because in fact the evil person was killed by his own lawlessness. The killing
of a fetus is considered a most heinous act. But if a child becomes dangerously
breached in the womb and the mother’s life is in danger, it is a moral
imperative to sacrifice the child for the sake of the mother’s life.
Non-violence,
forgiveness, compassion and placidity (śanti) are described and
prescribed as virtues in the shastras and sacred texts. However, it is
not advised to remain resigned all the time. For instance, one must protect
children from evil.
Sage Prahlad told
this to his grandson, Bali:
It is not always good to forgive;
neither is it good always to be angry. Even so the scholars spoke about
exceptions in forgiveness.vi
Having addressed
non-violence we should now consider the virtue of truthfulness (satya).
In various parts of the Mahabharata truth is said to be “the highest of
all moral acts.”vii
The Mahabharata says:
If we compare the power of truth with a
thousand grand sacrifices, truth will be greater.
In the Tatittariya
Upanishad (1/11/1) truth is given the superior place and the other sacred
duties (dharma) are described as secondary:
Speak Truth. Follow your moral duty.
In the Mahabharata
there is a story where the Grandsire Bhisma was lying on a bed of arrows
before his death. He taught the essence and importance of truth, and advised
Yudhishthira, the oldest son of Pandu to act only in accordance with truth. Truth
indeed is the essence of dharma. Similarly, a great emphasis is also
placed on truth in other religions such as Buddhism and Christianity. The
literal and essential meaning of truth is ‘that which always is, is permanent,
is eternal, and which never lacks.’
In the Bhagavad-
Gita Lord Krishna tells Arjuna (2:16):
The unreal [that which does not exist]
never is. The Real [that which truly exists] never ceases to be. The conclusion
concerning these two is truly perceived by the seers of Truth.
Truth is always
triumphant; non-truth is conquered.viii The shastras constantly
and rightly praise truth. We should nevertheless carefully see whether there
are any exceptions to speaking the truth. Let us consider the situation where a
murderer with a weapon is chasing an innocent person with the intent of killing
him. If the fleeing person hides near us, should we tell the truth if the
villain asks us the whereabouts of the fleeing person? Should we speak truth
and contribute to that innocent person being killed, or should we speak a lie
and protect the life of that man? In such an instance, speaking truth incurs
the sin of violence, and telling a lie incurs the good results associated with
non-violence. So we see that there are exceptions—which are only apparent
exceptions—to telling the truth. Again, let us consider that a certain child is
sick and the doctor has advised that child to stay away from certain foods. The
child, of course, does not understand and desires to continue eating the same
foods. By eating the same foods, the child’s sickness will increase. The mother
tells the child the particular food is not in the house, and that she will give
it to him when she goes to the market. In this case, the mother’s false speech
protects the life of the child. Here again we have a paradoxical example: a
non-truth fulfills the law of non-violence (ahimsa, literally,
non-harming).
Compare this to the
following reference from the Bible:
The letter [of the law or dharma] brings
death; but the spirit [of dharma] gives life. (2 Corinthians 3:6).
One must be careful
not to commit a crime simply to obey an outward rule.
Non-Static Laws of Dharma
What is one’s dharma
in reality? The laws of dharma are not static. They depend on the
circumstances, culture, the time period and the upbringing of the person. In
other words, culture specific values are involved. In the actual, experience of
life, there are many occasions when untruth instead of truth is the appropriate
behavior or dharma. It happens sometimes that violence instead of
nonviolence will protect a life, and this will then be the appropriate behavior
(dharma). In the Mahabharata it is said that to protect a family,
an individual family member may be sacrificed; to protect a village a family
may be sacrificed; and to protect a country, an entire village may be
sacrificed. But to protect one’s own soul (atman), the whole world
should be sacrificed (forsaken). [The same principle is stated in Christian
scriptures. The Bible: Mark 8:36-37].
The Bhagavad-Gita underscores
the need for doing one’s own duty:
Better is one’s own duty (dharma)
performed imperfectly than the duty (dharma) of another performed perfectly. It
is better to die performing one’s own duty (dharma), for it is dangerous to
follow the duty (dharma) of another (3:35)
Paradoxically, in the
Gita it is also said:
Abandon all dharmas; come to Me alone
for refuge. Do not grieve, for I will release you from all evils. (18:66).
When compared, these
two quotes from Krishna seem contradictory in nature to most people. They are
forced to think: “Is it good to sacrifice our own self for our dharma or
should we abandon our dharma and take refuge only in God?” In such a
difficult situation, man becomes frozen into inaction. [We have seen an example
of this in the story at the beginning of the Gita where Arjuna becomes
immobilized by his dilemma.]
When confronted with
these seeming contradictions, we begin to experience ourselves, that the path
of “dharma is subtle,”ix and that “it is unfathomable and too
difficult”x for us to comprehend. Therefore, to understand the subtle
secrets of dharma, we need a Sat Guru (genuine, true, and authentic
spiritual teacher) to guide us in the difficult moments [as Lord Krishna guided
Arjuna in the time of his dilemma.].
Lord Krishna guides
Arjuna in the Bhagavad-Gita:
Learn that by humble reverence, by
inquiry and by service, the wise who have seen the truth will instruct you in
knowledge ( 4: 34).
Various
Definitions of Dharma: Dharma as Inherent Nature
Another meaning of dharma
in addition to ‘virtue’ and ‘law’ is ‘quality,’ ‘inner essence,’ or
‘nature.’ We cannot separate the inherent quality from the possessor of that
quality. If we were to we separate the quality from its possessor, the one who
possessed it would no longer live. For example, the nature of fire is heat or
burning and the nature of ice is cold. Each sense organ also possesses one
particular quality. The nature of the eye is to help one see. The nature or
quality of the ear is to help one hear. The quality of the skin is the sense of
touch; the quality of the tongue is taste; and the quality of the nose is
smell. Atman (the very nature of theinner self) also has its particular
quality: spiritually ascending movement.
Dharma
as Religion
Another translation
of the Sanskrit word dharma is religion. In Arabic this is called majhab,
and in English it is called religion; in Sanskrit it is called dharma. The
English word “religion” is derived from the Latin language: the prefix re- means
“back” or “again” and the root lig means “to bind.” Religion, binds us
back to our source, to unite us with God and other human beings (Similarly, we
find that the Sanskrit word yoga, meaning path or method of union, is
related to the English word “yoke”). Santmat (the path and teachings as taught
and practiced by saints) delineates the path of union of soul with the Divine.
The teachings of the saints explain the re-uniting in the following ways:
Returning
to the Source through Inner Journey is Our Dharma (Natural Tendency)
The individual soul
has descended from the higher worlds [the Realm of the Divine] to this city of
illusion, bodily existence. It has descended from the Soundless state to the
essence of Sound, from that Sound to Light, and finally from the realm of Light
to the realm of Darkness. The qualities (dharmas, natural tendencies) of
the sense organs draw us downward and away from our true nature. The nature of
the soul (atman) draws us upwards and inwards and establishes us in our
own true nature.
To go back to our
origins means returning: withdrawal from the sense organs in order to go upward
(by withdrawing consciousness) from the darkness to the realms of light and
sound, in other words, to go inward from the external sense organs to the depth
of the inner self. (Both of these expressions are exact special metaphors that
signify the same movement). The natural tendencies of the soul (atman)
are to move from outward to inward. The current of consciousness which is
dispersed in the nine gates of the body and the nine senses, must be collected
at the tenth gate. The tenth gate is the gathering point of consciousness
therein lies the path for our return. It is also known as the sixth charka, the
third eye, bindu, the center located between the two eyebrows. This is
the act by which we leave the gates of the sense organs and become established
in the soul. We travel back from the Realm of Darkness to the Realm of Light,
from the Light to the Divine Sound, and from the Realm of Sound to the
Soundless state. This is called turning back to the Source.xi This
is what dharma or religion really intends to teach us. This is the
essence of dharma.
Many thousand years
ago when Krishna was teaching Arjuna, there existed only the Vedic dharmaxii.
Christianity, Islam, Jainism, Sikhism and the other religious paradigms did not
yet exist in any culture. There was only one dharma (religion) for all.
There was not a question of “my dharma” as opposed to “your dharma”
[here the word dharma is used in the sense of religion]. Yet Krishna
teaches to follow one’s “own dharma.” Here the word dharma does not
imply the term religion, but rather, is referring to one’s own inherent
tendencies, the inner nature. In reality, the dharma of our senses is
not really our own dharma because following the cravings of the senses
only satisfies the nature of the sensory organs. Our optimal dharma is
to follow the dharma of the soul (atman) by turning inward and
returning to the source. Krishna advises Arjuna to leave the sense- dharma
and seek instead the dharma of atman, which truly concerns
our spiritual progress. Thereby, one becomes established in one’s own nature.
The ideas concerning
turning back to our own source are not the invention of the author of this book,
but are to be found in the teachings of the saints and sages. Here are some
quotes from the various saints and sages who refer to the idea of turning back:
Sant Kabir says:
By withdrawing (from the sense organs)
and becoming absorbed in one’s own self the infinite light dawns and manifests…
Turn inward and move forward by
gathering your dispersed mind…
When the water of a vessel (individual
soul) merges back into the river (God) then we call this the state of supreme
wisdom….
Guru
Nanak Dev says:
[Beholding] the inverted lotus which is
full of nectar [indicating the joyous experiences within], now my mind goes not
elsewhere.
Sant Gulal Sahab says:
Go inward and see the light permeating
within…
Sant Tulsi Sahab says:
Looking inward go inward and see the light permeating within…Lo-
by closing the eyes, and behold the burst of light…. Saint Dadudyal Ji
says:
O benevolent one! Enter in your inner
self, and search. He [God] is very near to you. Abandon all your worldly
desires and distractions. By inverting your immature consciousness current
(which tends to get distracted by senses) get established, in the self [within]…
Sant Paltu Sahib says:
There is an upside down well within and
there one finds the burning flame of life……
Goswami Tulsi Das Ji says:
While the world thought that Valmikixiii was
reciting the name of Lord Ram backwards, he became like Brahman. Understand the
power of Name. The great poet Valmiki became purified even by reciting Ram’s
name backward.
Chapter3 https://gurumehi.blogspot.in/2017/02/harmony-of-all-religions-chapter3-what.html
Chapter2 https://gurumehi.blogspot.in/2017/02/harmony-of-all-religions-chapter2-what.html
Chapter1 https://gurumehi.blogspot.in/2017/02/harmony-of-all-religions-chapter1-what.html
Author : Santmat
Society of North America 2006
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