Posted on: 23 Aug 2006
The word Dharma means the characteristic property which stands for the identification of an item. The Dharma of fire is burning by which it is identified as fire. It is the expected natural behaviour of an item in the creation. If the fire is cool, such coolness is Adharma which means that it is not the expected property of the specific entity. The human being in this creation is a specified entity and is expected to show certain characteristic properties (Dharmas) by which he or she is identified as the human being. If the human being shows the characteristic properties of other specified items, it loses its identification. When God created various items in this world, He has assigned certain characteristic properties to be associated with the corresponding items. Therefore the possession of Dharma is the will of God. The balance of the creation is maintained when specified items exhibit their specified properties assigned by God. All the inert items like fire, water etc., are strictly following the will of God. God created this universe for entertainment. The entertainment is disturbed if the natural balance is upset. God has given freedom to the human beings, which is the inherent desire of the souls. God has full freedom to change any characteristic property of any specified item. When He wished, the fire could not burn, the air could not move and the water could not quench even a dry grass blade. Since He is omnipotent, He has unlimited freedom. But the souls have very little potentiality. Their freedom is naturally conditional and limited. The living being has little freedom within its specified boundary of its potentiality. If freedom is not given, it is not a living being. Among the living beings, the human being has full potentiality due to analytical faculty (Buddhi) and thus relatively more freedom is granted to it. The human being should understand the limits of its capability and should freely behave within that specified boundary. Such behaviour is Dharma which is expected by God. If the limits are violated and the behaviour of some other category like animals is shown, the soul is punished and the soul is pushed into the life cycle of animals. Such animal lives in the forest and can have its characteristic behaviour which does not upset the balance of animal kingdom in the forest. But when a human being lives in the society of human beings and behaves like an animal, the society of human beings is disturbed.
The humanity is the most advanced race of the living beings into which God often enters in human form (Manusheem Tanumasritam—Gita). Dharma is called as Pravrutti which is the expected behaviour of the human being with the other co-human beings to maintain the balance of humanity. Only in humanity, the spiritual effort is taken up by some blessed and realized human beings. Therefore the behaviour of the human being should not upset any other human being. Therefore if a co-human being is a devotee of God and a spiritual aspirant, he or she should not be even hurt. God excuses even the atheist who abuses Him but will never spare if the atheist even hurts the devotee. You should not hurt the feelings of any co-human being except in the case of punishment. Even in the punishment, your aim should not be to hurt the sinner but to change him. Even if you are an atheist you must respect the devotees also because they are your co-human beings. Whether you are an atheist or theist, you are expected to maintain the balance of the human society. The highest Dharma is only not to hurt any soul including birds and animals. Even a tree is a living being and you should not cut any green tree. Non-violence towards the living beings is the essence of Dharma (Ahimsa Paramo dharmah). Ungratefulness is said to be the highest sin (Adharma). An atheist who may have any number of good qualities is the highest sinner because he is ungrateful to the creator.
A theist who may have any number of bad qualities is good with reference to such atheist (Apichetsa—Gita). Of course you are expected to be a theist with good qualities. An atheist with bad qualities is the worst, called as demon and will be punished by God immediately. Therefore gratefulness to the creator and not hurting any soul except in the punishment is the essence of Dharma. As long as you are not disturbing the balance of society, God does not distinguish the good and bad qualities applied in the path of the spiritual journey. The hunter who gave flesh as offering to the Lord attained the eternal abode of God. He killed a rabbit which is a harmless animal but neither he nor his family took that flesh. He did not sell the flesh. This sin was excused by God due to lack of selfishness and immense love to God. As long as Lord does not enter into your life, you have to reject Adharma and vote for Dharma. But when God enters your life, you have to vote for God only even against Dharma, if required (Sarvadharman—Gita). Dharmaraja did not tell a lie even though the Lord asked him to tell a lie. He voted for Dharma against God. The result of Dharma is temporary and he went to heaven for some time. He did not go to the permanent abode of God. In fact, dharma need not have any reward because it is expected behaviour. The heaven is only a consolation gift to encourage doing Dharma. Arjuna killed his grandfather Bhishma on the instruction of the Lord and he was permanently associated with the Lord Narayana as Nara. God is the greatest and is beyond even dharma. After all, the aim of Dharma is only not to displease God. In Pravrutti which has no reference to God, you should not displease any co-human being. In Nivrutti, you should please God at the cost of even sacrificing Dharma. In Pravrutti, you should not leave your old parents, your wife and your children. But in Nivrutti, Shankara left His old mother, Prahlada got his father killed, Buddha left His wife and child and Meera left her husband. The result of Pravrutti is not to displease God whereas the result of Nivrutti is to please God. One should not confuse with these two fields (Pravruttincha Nivruttincha –Gita). The expected behaviour (Dharma) differs in these two fields separately. You have to follow Dharma corresponding to the field in which you exist.
Sanyasa is misunderstood as leaving the family members and the house for the sake of God. This is done only in either in the case of opposition or requirement. Ramanuja left His wife because she insulted devotees and opposed the devotion of Ramanuja towards devotees. If the family members are opposing your spiritual effort, then only such path should be taken. Even then, you must try to change them because even after taking Sanyasa, your duty is only to change the ignorant people into devotees. Ramanuja told His wife thrice not to insult the devotees. Only when the fourth case happened He left her. When you cannot do this duty of changing people in your house, how can you do the same in the world? In spite of your hectic efforts as in the case of Ramanuja and if the opposition still continues, then you can think of leaving your family. Even after going out, you have to spend your time with devotees only. If your family members are already devotees, then you need not leave your house. Shankara and Buddha left their families for a special requirement of God’s work which is the propagation of spiritual knowledge in the world. In those days, one has to travel and reach various places by walk to propagate the knowledge. But today, electronic media are well developed and you need not leave the house for God’s work. Only in the extreme case of opposition, you can think of leaving the house. Your love on your family members cannot be the love on God. But God loves His devotees more than Himself. Thus if your family members are devotees, you can love them as devotees but not as family members. Such love to devotees pleases God than love to Him directly. But you should not love your family members in the disguise of devotees which will be only cheating yourself. Thus you can bring God in every angle of your life. Similarly, you can transform the society into the society of devotees and then your social service will be service to devotees. Meera, Chaitanya Maha Prabhu etc., tried to spread the devotion. This will please God more than personal love to Him. Such social service of converting ordinary ignorant human beings into devotees by propagating knowledge and devotion will lead you to the eternal abode of God. Shankara, Ramanuja, etc., propagated both knowledge and devotion. Mere social service will lead you to heaven only for some time from which you have to return back.
You must realize that the whole world is the kingdom of God as stated by Jesus. Any injustice will be punished by Him and you need not worry about it. Your view of the punishment is revenge but His view of punishment is to transform the soul. If somebody has stolen your money, don’t pray to God to punish that person. Everything is recorded by Him unlike the courts which register the case only when a complaint is given. The enquiry by God takes place immediately. Sometimes you find no punishment from God and you are scolding God. The silence of God means that the enquiry was completed and the judgment was “no punishment”. In the previous birth, you might have stolen money from that person and today you paid along with the compound interest. In this case there cannot be punishment and the enquiry was over. Since you do not know this, you mistake God for His silence. Suppose such background is not there, then you will get your money with interest in some other way which is compensated by God. That person will lose the money along with the interest. You will see it with your eyes. But suppose you cursed that person with revenge, you will receive the punishment in addition to the above. Kauravas stole a share of wealth of Pandavas and finally they lost their whole kingdom. Pandavas gained the total kingdom which is double the share. But Draupadi cursed Kauravas aspiring always for the revenge. She was also punished for this as she lost all her children. Therefore, we should not scold even our enemy even by words or mind. God takes care of the entire case. If the injustice wins, it is a black mark for His administration only. He is well aware of it and will take the necessary action. He is more serious in your case than yourself. Unlike the court, He does not require registration of case or witness or advocate. When Hiranyakashipu tortured Prahlada, Prahlada kept silent and did not curse him in any way. The Lord took very serious action in that case. Thus you have to keep God at every step as the basis in the worldly life also (Pravrutti). Jesus told that unless you excuse others, you cannot be excused by God. Your enemy will be punished if he does not excuse others. Such behaviour which indicates the full faith on God at every step of the life is divine Dharma in Pravrutti or Nivrutti.
What Is Meant By Sacrifice and Service?
Sacrifice of what? Sacrifice to whom? These two are the important points. Sacrifice proves the real love. Sacrifice of words, mind, intelligence, work and fruit of work are the five items. The sacrifice of the former three items is theoretical devotion which is fruitful only when it is transformed into the sacrifice of the last two items which is the practical love. You can realize this truth in your daily experience as seen in the case of your children. Theoretical love alone will not give any fruit. The theoretical knowledge and theoretical devotion are like water and fertilizer which applied to the service-tree can only give fruits through the tree and not directly. The meals should be associated with the drinking water but offering drinking water only to the guest cannot be charged. Even the hotel does not charge for it. The sacrifice of first three items is offering drinking water and the sacrifice of other two is offering meals. To prove that your bond to God is highest, you have to sacrifice the highest bond. The other bonds need not be tested. The highest bond may be Dharma, money, life, or children etc. Some have highest bond with one of these and they can sacrifice all the other bonds for the sake of that particular highest bond. In such case God competes with that highest bond only to know whether He is higher than your highest. People are saying that God is highest for them. Some say this with ignorance and some tell this knowing that it is not true. In both cases, God proves the truth through the test (Datta Pariksha). God knows the truth but the revelation of truth is for your sake and not for His sake. If you realize the truth, you will try to succeed in the next examination by doing the spiritual effort. Otherwise, you are expecting God to believe whatever you say and react accordingly. All the prayers to God are utterances of lies only and all the worships are the trials to fool God.
Generally the word sacrifice is used in the sense of sacrificing the fruit of work (money or wealth) and service means the sacrifice of work. The saints are not having any wealth because they have dedicated themselves in the service of the Lord. Therefore sacrifice of fruit of work does not apply to their case. Hanuman is a bachelor-saint and so can only do the sacrifice of work. The requirement of the Lord is also very important. To get back Sita, the Lord required only sacrifice of work and the other sacrifice was not required. Krishna was a young boy in Brindavanam and does not require the sacrifice of work because His mission has not started. Gopikas were householders and women who cannot sacrifice the work like Hanuman in a war against injustice. They sacrificed their wealth (Butter) because the boy also requires good food to grow well. The requirement was for the sacrifice of the fruit of the work. Butter was the fruit of their tedious work. When the war against injustice came, the Lord required the sacrifice of work from Arjuna just like from Hanuman. Rama required the service in His personal work whereas Krishna required the service in the work of the devotees (Pandavas). If you take Shankara, the Lord required the service of the four disciples in propagation of knowledge for the welfare of the society.
Similarly Ramanuja and Madhva required the service of the disciples in the propagation of devotion and divine service. Therefore the Lord may sometimes require your service in His personal work or your service in the personal work of a devotee or in the welfare of society. The Lord knows what to do when. His decision is always the best. You should not analyze the Lord because He is beyond logic. Once you have recognized the God, the logic should be dropped. The logic is only used to reject the non-God items posing as God. Logic is very much required in this line. However, once the confirmation was over with the help of logic, you should serve Him with blind faith. You can use the logic for identifying the Lord and the logic is useful here to filter the pseudo human incarnations. The fruit of work (money) is only another form of work. When you work, you get some money as the fruit. When you sacrifice that fruit, it means you have done that work. Alternatively, when you have done that work to the Lord, you have sacrificed the fruit of work. Work is a form of energy. Matter (money) is also a form of energy.
Therefore work and money are one and the same even in the light of the inter conversion of matter and energy as proved in science. One can do any one of these two or both according to his convenience and according to the extent of his devotion. The devotion should not be due to fear from hell expecting the Lord to protect them there. The devotion should not be also for any fruit in return. When there is no aspiration for any fruit and when there is no desire for protection here or there, such devotion is real. Shankara says that the devotion and service should not aspire any fruit here as well as there (ihaamutra phala viragah).
Knowledge, Devotion and Service
The knowledge is the information about God, about yourself and about the path through which you can please the Lord. You must know the actual form of God and His correct address. You must also know that you are not God. If you are already God (as Advaita philosophers say), there is no need of Sadhana because if you are God, every human being is God. When you are the goal already, what is the need of any spiritual effort? Then what is the real path to please the God? The answers for these three questions (Triputi) about the three items that is God, yourself and the path to please God consist the knowledge or Jnana Yoga. When you get more and more details about the goal, you develop more and more interest on the goal and such interest is called as devotion. Rukmini got full information about Krishna from the sage Narada. The information inspired her and she was fired with love on Krishna. This love on the Lord is called as devotion. The word love is used in the case of any one or anybody other than God. To distinguish the love on God, a separate pious word “Devotion” is used. The devotion is at two levels. One is theoretical and the other is practical. The theoretical devotion alone is fraud. However, it is valid if it is associated with practical devotion. The practical devotion (service) must be associated with the theoretical devotion just as the plate of meals is associated with a cup of drinking water. Service should be according to the requirement of the Lord. Some devotees think that the service for the welfare of the society should be the aim of God. But God is above the society. God is not for the society, whereas the society is for the God’s entertainment. His wish or desire is the guiding light for your line of service. If you think that God is for society, He will ask you to do His personal service.
Ramayana is only personal service to God. Killing of Ravana became inevitable and was not the main goal. If killing Ravana is the main goal, Rama would not have asked to return Sita so that He will go back from the war. Therefore if you have confirmed the Lord, you should not apply logic, and you should become His slave (Daasa) like Hanuman without logic. The aim of your service should be to please God and not to please the society. In fact your family is a very important part in the society. You should not sacrifice your family for the sake of society. You need not also sacrifice the family for God if your family consists of devotees. Only in the extreme case of opposition, you can sacrifice the family for the sake of the Lord. It is a very rare case but still such rare case is not ruled out. God in human form and the devotees are to be served. Among the devotees, the liberated souls who are recognized by their firm faith and continuous service and sacrifice are the best. Such liberated souls are more than God because God treats them more than Himself.
Shankara gave a lot of importance to knowledge. He said that if knowledge is complete, the goal is achieved (Jnanadevatu Kaivalyam). You may think that the knowledge cannot give the fruit directly and it should give devotion which leads into service. But if knowledge is complete, the devotion, the service and pleasing God are automatic spontaneous consequences. Rukmini got all the information about Krishna from Narada which is the stage of knowledge. Then she developed attraction to Krishna which is the devotion. By the devotion, she could attain Krishna. Gita said that one can attain God by devotion. But achievement is not the final goal. Pleasing the God is the final goal. For her devotion, the aim was to serve Krishna and not to become queen of Dwaraka. The devotion of most of the devotees is only to attain some fruit. That is not real devotion. The real devotion expects service. Service to God itself is fruit and there cannot be another fruit for the fruit. Rukmini being the incarnation of Maha Lakshmi sat at the feet of the Lord and pressed His feet. That was the aim of Her devotion. The Lord made Maha Lakshmi as the deity of the infinite wealth which is this entire universe. Generally, even with little wealth, the eyes come up on the head. But being the possessor of such infinite wealth, she sits at the divine feet of the Lord and acts as a slave. She is giving us message that the fruit of the devotion should be service to Lord and not attaining the wealth. Service is the proof of devotion which is the practical philosophy. The importance of knowledge (Jnana Yoga) is that if the knowledge is intensively complete, the determination and the subsequent service are spontaneous. Therefore there is no gap between the complete knowledge and practice. If the realization is complete, practice (service) is a spontaneous consequence. There is no time gap and there is no need of any effort. When the knowledge is intensive and complete, such state is said to be realization. If the knowledge is not deep and not complete, we should not use the word realization. Often people think that knowledge and practice are different. It is not correct. If the knowledge (Jnana) is complete, devotion (Bhakti) is spontaneous effect. Such devotion is also intensive and complete. The immediate consequence of such devotion is service.
Shankara says that knowledge and devotion are not separate (Paramartha Jnana Lakshana Sampannam Bhaktim). Therefore it means that complete knowledge means complete devotion. The proof of devotion (love) is only service as you can see in the case of your children. Your love on them is expressed only through service to them. In their case, there is no theoretical love. You are not chanting the name of your child, you are not singing about your child. All these forms of false devotion appeared only in the case of God. I say it is false because there is no sacrifice or service as found in the case of children. Therefore devotion itself means service Therefore knowledge; devotion and service are the three alternative words for the same meaning. Shankara preached about knowledge. Ramanuja preached about devotion. Madhva preached about service. This means that Shankara, Ramanuja and Madhva are the three incarnations of the same Lord Datta. Thus if knowledge is intensive and complete, you have reached the goal as said by Shankara. The Lord praised the knowledge at the very outset in the Gita. Therefore concentrate on the divine knowledge and propagate it so that all other souls also reach the goal along with you.
These questions are very important in the sense that the elaborate answers for these questions constitute the entire divine knowledge I have preached so far! The answers given here are very brief, touching some main points only.
A Divine Miracle
(When the message of Krishnashtami was typed by Gayathri and Manasa, the scent of sandal paste came from Swami. After a long time only, the emission of the divine scent was observed. Swami told “The scent indicates the presence of Lord Krishna in His body, who was always scented by application of sandal paste as sung by Jayadeva “Chandana charchita neela kalebara…”. It means that knowledge has come from Krishna directly”. After receiving the message, Sri G Lakshman at Bombay, got the smell of Panchaamrutam. Lakshman asked everybody whether anyone brought the same. Nobody brought it. When Lakshman told this to Swami, Swami replied “As you lick the Panchaamrutam from the hand without leaving any trace, you must swallow this divine knowledge with full interest. This is the significance of these scents”).
Final Stage of Divine Knowledge
The final stage of the entire divine knowledge is expected to be the practical service to the Lord who comes to this earth in every human generation, without aspiring any fruit for such service and sacrifice rendered by you. The complete example for this is Hanuman. You must understand the Philosophy of Hanuman which should lead you in recognizing the present human incarnation on this earth and to participate in His service without aspiring any fruit in return. If this philosophy of Hanuman is not understood, there is no use of the temples of Hanuman and various methods of worship of Hanuman. Of course, they serve the purpose of giving you the inspiration to fix your concentration on Hanuman. But what is the use if you have not gained the real guidance from Him in the spiritual path? You are going to the school regularly in time. You have the uniform and all the books. You have good teachers in the school. But what is the use of all this when you do not learn the knowledge from the school? The entire life of Hanuman is only sacrifice and selfless service to the human form of the Lord. You shall be ashamed of your entire path of worship. You are asking all types of boons with very wide range starting from this world to the upper world. Initially He has fulfilled some of your desires which are proper because the health, mental peace and wealth are necessary as the basis for spiritual effort. But you are not satisfied with the basis and you are proceeding in to the wrong line from the basis, in which you desire for more and more worldly comforts which in excess are called as luxuries. After achieving the basic needs you must travel in right line by learning the philosophy of Hanuman. He got a job under the king Sugriva and settled Himself with the basic needs. Then He searched for the human incarnation and He was waiting in Kishkindha for the Lord in the human form.
What have you done? Did you search for the human incarnation? He was not worshiping the statues in the temples with all the unnecessary extra rituals, which are manipulated by the priests for their benefits. Of course, the statues and shrines serve the purpose of inspiration about God and seeing the statues and photos (Darsanam) is sufficient. Of course, the extra rituals which are the various methods of worship to the statues in human form also serve the purpose of removing egoism and jealousy towards human form provided you are suffering with egoism and jealousy. But Hanuman was not at all having such egoism and jealousy. He never remembers His strength and feels Himself as zero. But what about you? You never remember the defects and limits of your little strength and always feel yourself as a hero. You are not at all searching for the Satguru who is the human form of the Lord that exists in your generation. The Lord is impartial to any generation and so comes in every generation in human form. The human form of Lord came to Hanuman and He recognized the Lord in the very first sight it self. In your case even if the human incarnation comes to you and shows some proof to you, you are not recognizing the Lord. You will say that all the proof is only illusion or magic. After recognizing the Lord, Hanuman used Himself for the work of the Lord. In your case, even if you recognize Him, you try to use Him for solutions of your personal problems. Hanuman never discriminated the social service and personal service of the Lord. He simply did the service according to the will of the Lord. His aim was always to please the Lord by His service to the Lord in whatever way the Lord wished. In your case even if you enter in to the service you will start criticizing the Lord, if He involves you in His personal work. You will immediately say that He is not the God since He is selfish. Hanuman never criticized Rama even in His mind when Rama told Ravana that in case, Sita is returned, He will go back. If you are in the place of Hanuman you will immediately say that if Rama returns after getting Sita what will happen to the society that is suffering by the cruel deeds of Ravana? Such question never rose in the mind of Hanuman because the aim of the spiritual effort is only to please the Lord and nothing else. In fact, He does not need your help either in His personal work or in the social work. His family and this entire world constitute the divine drama meant for His entertainment only. He is testing your attitude towards Him and the basic strength of your recognition. If the recognition is determined without any doubt, such doubts will not come to your mind. Hanuman did not ask for any vision or for any miracle. Arjuna called as Nara representing yourself (Nara) asked for the highest vision from Krishna as a proof. Hanuman believed Rama without any such proof. He is the blessed soul as per the statement of Jesus “Blessed are those who believe Me without proof”.
Hanuman never aspired for any fruit and was not even informed about any fruit. But He was given the highest fruit which nobody got till now! After this Kali Yuga He is the future creator. According to the Veda, the creator (Brahma) must be the maintainer (Vishnu) and also the destroyer (Siva) of this creation. This means that He becomes God for this creation. Therefore, remember that the fruit from God will be a mountain if you do not desire for it even in the dream. If you do not ask for the fruit in words but still desire it in mind, the fruit is reduced to the size of an elephant. If you desire by mind and also ask for it by words, the fruit is reduced to the size of an ant which is negligible. But be careful of one possibility. You should not forget the fruit based on the concept that you will get the fruit in the size of mountain for such path! You should really forget the fruit.
Do not think that the vision gives you the actual form of God. The actual form of God is unimaginable even to the angels who are the divine energetic forms. Therefore, the real form of God cannot be touched even by your logic. How can you see it with your eyes? In the vision you are only seeing the energetic form. The human body is like the cotton shirt and the energetic form is like the silk shirt. The person wearing both the shirts is invisible. You are thinking that the silk shirt is the person that is wearing cotton shirt and that the person (silk shirt) is invisible in the cotton shirt. In the vision the cotton shirt disappears and silk shirt appears. You have not seen the invisible person even in the silk shirt and you are satisfied because you mistake the silk shirt for the person. Even the cosmic vision (Viswaroopam) is a big silk shirt (called as kaphni). Instead of the small cotton shirt, Arjuna has seen a big silk kaphni. The person is invisible in cotton shirt as well as in the big silk kaphni. Does the silk kaphni give the proof of the invisible person? If you recognize the person in the cotton shirt, it is sufficient. Since you are also in the cotton shirt, you are repelling to the same and become fond of silk shirt. You cannot recognize the person in silk kaphni because He is invisible in both. If vision is the proof of existence, then you have failed in both the cases. The proof is the experience of the existence, which can be attained in both the cotton shirt and silk Kaphni. Demons had the vision of the energetic form of the Lord like Brahma etc. But they were destroyed finally. Therefore, vision is not at all important. The realization by experience and the practical service to please the Lord are very important. Hanuman did not ask for any vision.
Hanuman completed the divine knowledge from the angel Sun, who advised Him to catch the Human incarnation and serve Him. His mother was also a scholar of divine knowledge and advised the same. Therefore, you must complete the divine knowledge, which gives you the correct information about the goal and the path. Since, Hanuman got the complete knowledge, no body can mislead Him. He caught Rama (the correct goal), rendered the selfless service (the correct path), and finally got the correct result. The selfless service proves His real devotion. As per the Valmiki Ramayana, which is the only correct authority, Hanuman never worshipped statues or energetic forms, never did any penance, never did any japam, never sang or danced or wept with emotions. The only worship He did was the selfless service without aspiring any fruit. Therefore, if you know the three points (Triputi), that is the essence of the divine knowledge. The points are 1) You are not God 2) The human incarnation present in your generation is the only God for the humanity and 3) The way is to recognize Him and please Him through selfless service without aspiring any fruit in return.