Chapter I

Man must dedicate himself to Dharma and be engaged always in Dharma so that he may live in peace and the world may enjoy peace. He cannot acquire real Peace, nor can he win the Grace of the Lord through any means other than the Dharmic life. Dharma is the foundation for the welfare of humanity; it is the truth that is stable for all time. When Dharma fails to transmute human life, the world is afflicted by agony and fear, tormented by stormy revolutions. When the effulgence of Dharma fails to illumine human relationships, mankind is shrouded in the night of sorrow.

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. In the scriptures of the various religions, Dharma is elaborated in the language familiar to the adherents. It is the duty of every man everywhere at all times to pay homage to the Dharma-Narayana the personification of Dharma. The stream of Dharmic activity should never run dry; when its cool waters cease to flow, disaster is certain. Humanity has reached this stage only because Dharma, like the river Saraswathi, flows unseen, below the ground, feeding the roots and filling the springs. Not only humanity, but even birds and beasts have to adhere to Dharma, so that they may be happy and survive in comfort and joy.

Therefore, the waters of Dharma have to be kept flowing perpetually and full, so that the world might enjoy happiness. Disaster now dances madly on the world stage, because Right is neglected and there is disbelief in the essentials of Dharmic life. So man has to understand clearly the very heart of Dharma.

What is meant by Dharma? What is the essence of Dharma? Can Man, common man, lead a happy life and survive if he sticks to Dharma? These doubts confuse the mind of man naturally in the course of his life. Solving them is necessary, even urgent.

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.

Of course, it is a long, long time since the spotless countenance of Dharma has been tarnished beyond recognition. Beautiful fields and groves run wild with neglect and soon become unrecognisable bushland and thorny jungle; fine trees are hewn by greedy men and the shape of the landscape is changed. With the passage of time, people get accustomed to the new state of things and they do not notice the transformation, the decline. This has happened to Dharma also.

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

Books written for children contain illustrations to clarify the text; but they spend their time with the pictures, forgetting what they are intended to make clear; in the same way, the unwary and the uneducated mistake the rituals, designed to illustrate the grand truths, as profoundly real in themselves; they ignore the truth which they were meant to elucidate. Travelers moving along the road rest for a while in wayside shelters but during their stay, they damage by neglect or misuse the very structure that gave them rest. So, too, the dull and the perverse alter the very face of Vedic morality and deceive the world into believing that their handiwork is what the Vedas teach!

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.

Now, who can cure the present blindness? Man has to slay the six-fold beast of Arishadvarga, leading him on to disaster through the pulls of Lust, Anger, Greed, Delusion, Pride and Hate. Thus, only can Dharma be restored.

The Lord was referred to as Dharma by the Vedas and as Vijnana by Buddha. For, in those days, no one liked the word "Veda", as in the times of the Asura called Somaka, when those who followed the Vedas desisted from calling them "Veda". While in mortal dread such behaviour is passable. Yet the Buddha was full of reverence for the Vedas; he was ever infused with God. The Buddha is often spoken of as an atheist, a Nasthika! Well, if the Buddha is a Nasthika, who then is the Asthika, the theist? The entire life of the Buddha is a saga of Dharma. Sankara is criticised by some people as opposed to the path of Dharma and Karma. But Sankara opposed only the Dharma and Karma which have fulfillment of Desire in view. He was indeed the Great Teacher who taught the path of Dharma and Karma, of endeavour impelled by the understanding of the basic Truth.

The adherence of Sankara to Dharma and Karma based on Truth, the faith of the Buddha in the essentials of the Vedas can be appreciated only by those who have the higher vision. Without that, one will be led astray in the interpretation. In order to climb a great height, a ladder as tall as the height is needed, is it not?

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.

In all worldly activities, you should be careful not to offend propriety, or the canons of good nature; you should not play false to the promptings of the Inner Voice, you should be prepared at all times to respect the appropriate dictates of conscience; you should watch your steps to see whether you are in some one else's way; you must be ever vigilant to discover the Truth, behind all this scintillating variety. This is the entire Duty of Man, your Dharma. The blazing fire of Jnana, which convinces you that all this is Brahman (Sarvam khalvidam Brahmam) will consume into ashes all traces of your egoism, and worldly attachment. You must become intoxicated with the nectar of Union with Brahmam; that is the ultimate goal of Dharma, and of Karma inspired by Dharma.

"Sacrifice ajnana and ahamkara at the altar of Jnana, and install Dharma therein"; this is the message of the Veda. Every single unselfish act, which prepares the ground for the merging of the Soul with the Over-Soul, which broadens the vision towards the basic Brahmam immanent everywhere, is a Dharmic act. Each such act is a tiny stream that swells the river of holiness rushing towards the sea of Brahmajnana. Your acts and activities are all rituals in the worship of the Paramathma that pervades the Universe. Whatever is done in an attitude of dedication and surrender is a component of the Dharma, which leads to Realisation. The strategy of the Bharathiya way of life is directed towards the sanctification of every moment and every word, thought and deed, into a step towards the realisation.

You have to understand ancient Dharmakarmas by entering into their symbolic meaning. The spiritual field has many a technical term, with its own special connotation. These have to be clearly understood, so that you can grasp correctly the teaching of the Sastras. Let us take an example: People used to celebrate Yajnas in ancient times; and they sacrificed Pasus or animals in these Yajnas. 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 sacrifice, without man completing its career at the sacrificial 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 it is this that has to be slaughtered. The Lord is known as Pasupathi or Govinda; Pasupathi means the Lord of all Jivas, Pasu meaning Jiva; Govinda means the Guardian of Cows or Jivas, "Go" meaning Jiva. The tending of cows is a symbolic leela of Krishna to indicate His Mission of tending Jivas.

The Sastras have profound inner meanings. The aim of Dharma is to make the Jiva give up the 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 learnt by young and old. Take for instance, the Siva Temple. Right in front of the Idol of Shiva we have the image of Nandi, the Bull. You are told that the Sacred Bull is the vehicle or Vahana of Shiva and, that is the reason for its being there. But, really speaking the Bull or the Pasu represents Jiva while the Lingam is the symbol of Shiva. "No one should pass between the Bull and the Lingam, the Jiva and the Shiva", it is said; for they are to merge in one. Shiva has to be seen through the two horns of Nandi, they say. People when asked the reason for this procedure reply, "Well, it is holier than other methods of viewing the Lingam". But the inner meaning is, "You must see the Shiva in Jiva" - Pasu and Pasupathi are one: Nandi and Iswara become Nandiswara. Both are only two ways of referring to the same entity. When in bondage, it is Nandi; it is Iswara, when the bound becomes free and Nandiswara is achieved; it is worshipped and is entitled to be so honoured. When the Pasu is offered to the Pasupathi, and its separate identity is cast away, that is the true Yajna. 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 towards the goal. When you do not discriminate the process and the purpose of every act, but still go on doing it, it becomes a funny fossilised version. Once, even Prahlada said, "Since it is difficult to destroy egoism, man finds it easy to destroy this dumb animal as a substitute. Animal sacrifice is the manifestation of Thamoguna; it is the path of bondage. The sacrifice of the animal of egoism is the Sathwic Yajna, in the Godward path of Liberation."