1. Let us try to understand the words ‘Sanatana Dharmam’ in their true meaning; 2. This word of the Sanskrit language and so their true meaning too should be understood as meant in that language; 3. Sanatana Dharmam is eternal (beyond the time); 4. Sanatana Dharma is now called Hindu Dharma. The word Hindu was given by the persians to the people who lived on the banks of the river Sindhu; 5. In any Scriptures of Bharatham, there is no such word Hindu, Hindutva, or Hinduism, these are all were the forighner's interpretations of Bharatham and her people then; 6. “Dharyate anena iti dharmah”. That which supports is dharma. That which supports, maintains, nourishes, harmonises, brings together, and unites the inert and the sentient, the individual and the society, nation and the world is dharma; 7. The very substratum of the entire creations is called dharma. PART-3.

Opinion
    24/06/2018
              1285

Sub :-
1. Let us try to understand the words ‘Sanatana Dharmam’ in their true meaning;

2. This word of the Sanskrit language and so their true meaning too should be understood as meant in that language;

3. Sanatana Dharmam is eternal (beyond the time);

4. Sanatana Dharma is now called Hindu Dharma. The word Hindu was given by the persians to the people who lived on the banks of the river Sindhu;

5. In any Scriptures of Bharatham, there is no such word Hindu, Hindutva, or Hinduism, these are all were the forighner's interpretations of Bharatham and her people then;

6. “Dharyate anena iti dharmah”. That which supports is dharma. That which supports, maintains, nourishes, harmonises, brings together, and unites the inert and the sentient, the individual and the society, nation and the world is dharma;

7. The very substratum of the entire creations is called dharma.

Ref :
1. Dharma and Sampradaya by Swami Chinmayananda

2. Essence of Dharma by Swami Krishnananda

PART-3.

* The secret of dharma is hidden within the cave, which means to say it is unknowable, very secret. 

* The right path for us would be the one which has been trodden by the great masters of yore.

* "It is, “The footprints on the sands of time,” as the poet tells us of great ones. This is the supreme mystery of the cosmos."

* Now, is the cosmos a place or a person or a spirit or a condition? What is the universe?

The Bhagavadgita gives us four definitions. Sometimes the universe is regarded as a place. When Bhagavan Sri Krishna speaks of the Ultimate Reality as a kind of place, he calls it dhama – tad dhama paramam mama.

* "Yad gatva na nivartante tad dhama paramam mama (Gita 15.6)" : -

Going where, going whither, people do not return; that is My abode. From this, we may sometimes be given to understand that the Ultimate Reality is a kind of place. But sometimes we say,

* “Aham atma gudakesa sarvabhutasayasthitah (Gita 10.20) : -

"I am everywhere,”

Sometimes Reality is spoken of as a place or a destination to be reached as dhama, as gati, sometimes as a person, Purusha.

Purushah sa parah partha bhaktya labhyas tvananyaya (Gita 8.22);

Isvarah sarvabhutanam hruddese’rjuna tishati (Gita 18.61);

aham atma gudakesa sarvabhutasayasthitah (Gita 10.20).

When Bhagavan Sri Krishna uses the words Ishvara, Purusha, Aham, it looks as if the Ultimate Reality is a person, but sometimes he speaks of it as an immanent spirit. The Atman is defined as an immanent spirit, indestructible, present in everything. But sometimes Sri Krishna depicts it as a transcendent spirit, as Brahma, as Parampada, and so on.

* Fourthly, reality is defined as a state, a condition. It is not a person, it is not a place, it is not even a spirit as we think of it in an anthropomorphic manner. It is only a state. This is brought out by such terms as tithi. Tithi means a condition.

* "Esha brahmi sthitih partha (Gita 2.72)."

This is a condition of Brahman. It is not a place of Brahman. It is a condition of Brahman.

Tithi is a peculiar term. All four aspects or definitions we will find in the Bhagavadgita: as a destination to be reached, as if it is a place; as a person to be loved, adored with bhakti; as a spirit to be contemplated; or as a condition to be realised. All these wonders we have in the Bhagavadgita gospel.

The universe, therefore, is everything. We can regard it as a person; it will speak to us as a person. We can regard it as a condition of consciousness. We can regard it as a place. Or we can regard it as a spirit. It is everything.

* "Amratam caiva mrutyusca sad asac caham arjuna (Gita 9.19)" : -

I am everything.

* "Gatir bharta prabhuh sakshi nivasah saranam suhrta,

prabhavah pralayah sthanam nidhanam bijam avyam (Gita 9.18)" : -

Everything is that only.

* "Tapamyaham aham varsham nigruhanmyutsjami ca, amratam caiva mrutyus  (Gita 9.19)" :-

 I am death and immortality both, day and night combined. Immortality and death are both shadows of this Supreme Being. Even immortality is regarded as a shadow only. It is not Ultimate Reality. Immortality and death are both shadows, as it were, cast by the Supreme Being. - not existence, not non-existence. Existence and non-existence – both it is, and beyond that also.

Such is the grandest, supreme structural pattern of the universe. It is not so simple as physicists conceive. And that is the determining factor of our conduct in daily life. You can imagine how difficult it is to live in this world, and how difficult it is to conceive what dharma is, because dharma is nothing but the inward growth into the concept of this relevance of our personality with the cosmic existence. That is dharma. Inward growth is dharma. It is not an external performance of a routine or activity. Now, what is this inward growth? It is the growth into knowledge.

Yesterday we had a musical performance. The music was so beautiful; all were thrilled. While listening to that exquisite music, I was thinking of the levels of happiness explained in the Taittiriya Upanishad.

* "The lowest happiness is of food and sex. That is human happiness. This is one unit of human happiness, says the Taittiriya Upanishad."

* "We have got plenty of it, and so we regard it as a unit of happiness. Higher than that is the happiness of music and dance. That is Gandharva-loka."

 The Taittiriya Upanishad tells us that Gandarva-loka is higher than the human world. We will not think of food and sex when we are in the ecstasy of music and dance. Even a king will not think of it.

* "But higher than that is the realm of pure thought. That is Pitri-loka."

 The beauty of literature, for example, is higher than the beauty of music. When we read Shakespeare we will be simply transported. We will not like to hear music at that time because the mind is in a still higher realm. Or read some passages from the classics of Tamil scholars. I am not a Tamil scholar, but I have heard of the greatness of their masterpieces. Only those who know Tamil will appreciate it. Wonders are revealed in treasures of Tamil literature. Literature is higher than music, while music is higher than the pleasure of physical contact.

Higher than the pleasure of pure thought and literary beauty is the pleasure or the delight of knowledge, Brihaspati-loka. Higher than that is the pleasure or delight of spirituality. That is divinity, godliness. So ultimately the Upanishad tells us that spirituality is the highest happiness. Lower than that is knowledge. Lower than that is literature and learning. Lower than that is music and art. Lower than that is the happiness of physical contact.

So dharma is connected with this tremendous mystery of the gradation of happiness and reality. Gradation of happiness is gradation of reality; the higher the reality, the greater is the happiness. Reality is bliss, sat is ananda. Such being the case, dharma is an inward growth into the nature of reality. It is not performance of an external action. Dharma is, therefore, an awakening of oneself into the consciousness of a more intimate contact with being.

* "Now I come to another aspect of the subject. What is this being? Why do we say ‘being’? Because the universe is being. It is not becoming."

Western philosophers and psychologists are wont to say that the universe is becoming, but Indian metaphysics tell us that it is being. If it is becoming, it should be a process. Hegel and Whitehead are the protagonists of this theory of process in the Western world.

* "But what do they mean by a process? It is a movement, but a movement of what? Of the universe. Towards what?"

* "Movement is inconceivable without space, but space is a part of the cosmos, so we come a cropper."

* "How can we conceive of a universe of process unless there is space intervening between the parts of the process? And when the space also is a part of the process itself, how can there be a process?"

* " So the universe is not process; it is existence. When space and process combine together, we have a being of the universe and not a becoming of the universe."

So dharma is growth of consciousness into intimacy with the being of the universe, and this being of the universe is God. What is called ‘the substance’ in the terms of Spinoza is also called the Absolute, or Reality, Brahman, Ishvara, or Jehovah. What we call God is nothing but this being of the cosmos behind the becoming of the process, and when we grow consciously into intimacy with this being of the universe, we grow in dharma, so the highest dharma is moksha. The highest dharma or duty of man would be to strive with every nerve of his being towards the realisation of moksha.

* "What is moksha?"

It is the liberation of the consciousness from the notion that it is outside the being of the universe. This is moksha. Moksha is, at the same time, freedom from bondage, contact with Reality, oneness with the universe, performance of one’s duty, and the realisation of the highest bliss. For us, moksha is everything. There is nothing except moksha that one can ask for.

Moksha is not a future attainment which will come to us tomorrow: “Today I will be a brahmachari, tomorrow a grihastha, the day after tomorrow a vanaprastha, the fourth day a sannyasi, and then I will think of moksha.” We have an idea that God is a future tense and a thing of the future, while He is eternal presence. He appears to be a future realisation on account of there being a concept of the gradation of reality. I am deliberately using the words ‘concept of gradation’ because reality by itself has no gradation. There are no degrees in reality. There are degrees only in the concept of reality.

So dharma, the duty of man, the subject with which I began speaking today, is that attitude of consciousness by which we gradually attune ourselves to the being of the cosmos. I have spoken sufficiently about what this being of the cosmos is. It is wonderful. Nothing can be more wonderful than that. And the Bhagavadgita is a grand masterpiece of text as a teaching on the nature of this reality.

The more I read the Bhagavadgita, the more I am wonderstruck because I continue to realise how little I know about it. This discovery concerning the four conditions of being occurred to me only yesterday. After thirty-five years of reading it, this idea struck me. It contains many more treasures which even in a hundred years we cannot discover. It was spoken by the Virat.

* "How can we have any measure of the extent of the knowledge of the Gita?"

So I appeal once again that everyone study the Gita thoroughly – not like a parrot, but with tremendous devotion toward the word of God that is before us. They are flesh and blood, vitality, knowledge flowing as nectar in front of us. Such is the Bhagavadgita. So may I appeal to you all to learn the Bhagavadgita thoroughly by heart, and study its meaning with reverence so that the mystery of it will be known for our ultimate spiritual benefit.

* "This is the concept of dharma, of the duty of man in the universe, the nature of which is thus explained. Dharma has sometimes been regarded as one of the four purusharthas: dharma, artha, kama, moksha. This is the sum and substance of Hinduism."

* The essence of the religion of India is summed up in a phrase : - dharma, artha, kama, moksha. If you are asked by anyone what is Hinduism, simply say, “Dharma, artha, kama, moksha.”

This is Hinduism: a blend of these four concepts of duty. Hinduism is always a blend. It is never a one-sided affair. It has no name. ‘Hinduism’ is not the name of this religion. It is the name that is foisted upon it by Westerners, not knowing what it is. We have no name for our religion. It is not founded by any person. It is universal, capable of absorbing everything into itself like a menstruum. It is sanatana dharma, eternal dharma. It is eternal religion forever applicable to all persons of all creeds and sexes.

Now, dharma, artha, kama, moksha, the concept of the fourfold duty of man, is also very interesting. Dharma is duty, dharma is religion, dharma is justice, dharma is law. Dharma cannot be translated. Artha is material value. Anything that is materially significant for life is called artha. It does not mean merely gold and silver or coins and currency notes. Any kind of material significance or value in life is called artha, while dharma is the law that regulates the acquisitions and operations of this material value and all other values. Kama is the fulfilment of the vital value, the emotional value, and the personal value of the human being. Moksha, I have already explained. I will not say anything further about it because if I do, you will go into ecstasies and go crazy. Let us not say anything further about it.

If somebody who is very beloved dies, we do not tell his name because if his name is told we will start crying once again. Like that is moksha. Do not utter his name. Gauranga Mahaprabhu could not bear to hear the name of God  because if he heard it he would go mad and cease to be at that moment. “Oh, Hari!” That word is sufficient. The personality will melt and become liquid immediately. Moksha is some such thing. You will become liquid. You will melt if you know what it is. We do not know what it is, and therefore, we remain still solid.

Dharma, artha, kama, moksha. These four are blended together in our religion in a beautiful manner to conform to the gradation of the concept of reality. There is an external universe. Though the universe is a continuum of being ultimately, it appears to be an outside factor for us. As long as the universe appears to be an external factor to our consciousness, it also has to appear as a material something, and it has a value for us.

* "Value or Artha : -That value which we attach to the universe as being something outside our consciousness is artha. It is very important indeed; we cannot ignore it. It includes political values, economic values, and every concrete value that we can attach to material existence."

* "That is artha. We know how important it is. I need not comment upon it."

* "Kama : - is equally important. Kama means the necessity to fulfil emotional demands."

 Psychoanalysis of the West has gone very far in this subject. It is a very interesting subject, which everyone should read and study well, though you need not accept every one of its conclusions. Everything has good in it; everything has some defect also in it. Psychoanalysis is the study of what happens when emotions are repressed, which will also tell you how necessary it is to fulfil emotions. Emotion is a desire that arises in the mind. A longing, a craving, a wish, a preference, a like – that is called an emotion. If you have a tremendous longing and do not fulfil it, you know very well what will happen."

* "Therefore, longings have to be fulfilled under the regulation of dharma."

* "Dharmaviruddho bhuteshu kamo’smi bharatarshabha (Gita 7.11)" : -

* "Arjuna, I am kama which is regulated by dharma. It is not unbridled kama, but kama, or fulfilment of desire, which is justifiable according to the law of dharma."

That God Himself is. If you do not justifiably, rationally and moderately fulfil your emotional needs, you will not be a sane person. You will be an abnormal being, and therefore, it is essential. But you should not fulfil your emotions against the law of dharma. Otherwise, you will be an abandoned person condemned in society. You will be dubbed unethical and immoral. So again we are here in a difficult quandary of living. Life is difficult; it is not a joke. Life is a science, and all science is difficult to master.

Dharma is the law that regulates artha, kama, and the fulfilment of the ultimate need of the soul, which is moksha. Dharma is supreme; there is nothing equal to it anywhere, and dharma is supreme because it is the law of existence. The law of existence is called dharma. It is the law of the Absolute, as satya in the terms of the Rigveda. It is rita, the law of the cosmos in the terms of the Rigveda. It is the law of the government, it is the law of the nation, it is the law of society, it is the law of our family. It is the law of our individual personality, our physical body, our mind, our intelligence, our understanding, and our logical science. It is the understanding, and the law of our spirit. Dharma is everything and anything – the law of the physical body, the law of the vital body, the law of the mental body, the law of understanding, the law of logic, the law of spirit, the law of society, the law of nations, the law of political government, the law of the cosmos, the law of the Absolute, and so everything is determined by it. Justice is abidance by this law.

* "Thus, dharma, artha, kama, moksha are blended together beautifully in life".

* "This blend, beautifully brought out in an artistic fashion, is the religion of Bharatavarsha."

THE END

OPINION :

1. AT PRESENT THE CITIZENS OF BHARATHAM, DO NOT KNOW WHAT WAS BHARATHAM BEFORE INVASIONS AND FOREIGN RULE OVER BHARATHAM;

2. WE KNOW ONLY WHAT THE FOREIGN RULERS TOLD US AS HISTORY OF INDIA; ALL SAID ARE FALSE, NOT REALITY OF BHARATHAM;

3. AFTER OUR INDEPENDENCE, NEHRU DYNASTY RULE, NONE OF THEM BOTHERED TO REVEAL THE TRUTH ABOUT OUR COUNTRY, NEHRU'S DISCOVERY OF INDIA, IS NOTHING BUT WHAT BRITISH SAID THINGS ONLY; 

4. WE HAD A PERIOD CALLED VEDIC PERIOD, WHEN ENORMOUS LEARNING HAPPENED, MANY RESEARCH DONE BY ANCIENT RISHI-S, AND WERE DECLARATIONS, TRANSFERRED TO GENERATION AFTER GENERATION, BY SRUTI ( BY HEARING )

5. LATER THOSE SRUTIS, WERE WRITTEN AS SCRIPTURES, BUT MANY OF THEM WE LOST, DURING SWAMI ADI SRI SANKARACHRYA PERIOD, SWAMIJI : IS NOT AN INDIVIDUAL, BUT AN INSTITUTION, NO SINGLE PERSON COULD HAVE ACHIEVED WHAT HE HAD ACHIEVED IN HIS SHORT SPAN OF LIFE;

6. NO MASTER OR NO PROPHET HAD EVER ACHIEVED SO MUCH, FOR SO MANY, IN SO SHORT TIME, VERY OFTEN THIS TEMPTS US TO CONSIDER THAT SWAMI ADI SANKARACHARYA WAS AN AVATARAM.

7. AFTER CENTURIES OF WANDERING, NO DOUBT RICHER FOR HER VARIOUS EXPERIENCES BUT TIRED AND FATIGUED, BHARATHAM CAME BACK TO HER OWN NATIVE THOUGHTS.

8. SWAMIJI'S WORK, IS NOT FOLLOWED LATER, THE MADAMS ESTABLISHED BY SWAMIJI, FAILED TO TAKE THE TORCH OF TRUE KNOWLEDGE FURTHER.

9. THE PRINCELY STATES, KINGDOMS, DID NOT CARRY FORWARD ANCIENT WORKS TO THE PEOPLE OF BHARATHAM, BRAHMINS AND PRIEST CLASS, DID NOT ALLOW THE PEOPLE TO LEARN, AND KEPT THE PEOPLE OF BHARATHAM IN DARKNESS AND IGNORANCE.

10. THEN FOREIGN INVASIONS, RELIGIOUS CONVERSIONS, BY ISLAM AND CHRISTIAN MISSIONARIES, VERY LONG YEARS, BHARATHAMATHA WAS UNDER CHAINS.

11. AFTER THE INDEPENDENCE, THE STORY WAS NOT DIFFERENT, INSTEAD FOLLOWING OUR CULTURE, NEHRU DYNASTY GOVERNMENT AFTER GOVERNMENTS FOLLOWED BRITISH LEFT OVER THINGS, INSTEAD OF OUR OWN METHODS, AND NEO ENGLISH CULTURE EVERY WHERE, LATER TO HINDI, NEGLECTING OUR DIVINE LANGUAGE SANSKRIT, AND FAILED MISERABLY TO EDUCATE POOR AND BACKWARD CITIZENS, AND BRING THEN MAIN STREAM BY EVERY EFFORTS,

12. THUS THE SANATANA DHARMAM, GRADUALLY BECOME UNKNOWN TO THE PEOPLE OF BHARATHAM, FOLLOWING STUPID SECULARISM, THE NATION STARTED NEGLECTING, FORGETTING,UPANISHADIK CULTURE AND SANATANA DHARMAM; BY THEN, ADHARMAM STARTED TO SHOW THE HEADS BY POLITICAL PARTIES AND THEIR CORRUPTED, CRIMINAL POLITICIANS THROUGHOUT THE NATION.

NOTE :-

SWAMI CHINMAYANANDA AND KRISHNANANDA WORKS IN THIS MADE  BHARATHAM, A STARTING POINT, BUT NEEDS TO PUSH FORWARD, IT IS OUR DHARMAM TO MAKE PEOPLE AWARE THE GREATNESS OF OUR NATION.

JAIHIND
VANDEMATHARAM