The Essence of Dharmam (Dharma) - 9. Swami Krishnananda.
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Sunday, November 28, 2021.7:00.AM.
The Essence of Dharmam (Dharma) - 9.
(Spoken on February 11th, 1973)
Post-9.
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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.
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.
Gita : Ch-9. Slo-18.
"gatir bharta prabhuh sakshi nivasah sharanam suhrit
prabhavah pralayah sthanam nidhanam bijam avyayam." BG 9.18:
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Translation :
gatiḥ—the Supreme Goal;
bhartā—Sustainer;
prabhuḥ—Master;
sākṣhī—Witness;
nivāsaḥ—Abode;
śharaṇam—Shelter;
su-hṛit—Friend;
prabhavaḥ—the Origin;
pralayaḥ—Dissolution;
sthānam—Store House;
nidhānam—Resting Place;
bījam—Seed;
avyayam—Imperishable
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Translation of Slokam :
"I am the Supreme Goal of all living beings, and I am also their Sustainer, Master, Witness, Abode, Shelter, and Friend. I am the Origin, End, and Resting Place of creation; I am the Storehouse and Eternal Seed."
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Commentary :
Since the soul is a tiny part of God, its every relationship is with Him. However, in bodily consciousness, we look upon the relatives of the body as our father, mother, beloved, child, and friend. We become attached to them and repeatedly bring them to our mind, thereby getting further bound in the material illusion. But none of these worldly relatives can give us the perfect love that our soul yearns for. This is for two reasons. Firstly, these relationships are temporary, and separation is unavoidable when either they or we depart from the world. Secondly, even as long as they are alive, the attachment is based on selfishness and so it fluctuates in direct proportion to the extent by which self-interest is satisfied. Thus, the range and intensity of worldly love varies from moment to moment, throughout the day. “My wife is very nice….she is not so nice…she is ok….she is terrible,” this is the extent of fluctuation of love in the drama of the world. On the other hand, God is such a relative who has accompanied us lifetime after lifetime. From birth to birth, in every life-form that we went, God accompanied us and remained seated in our heart. He is thus our eternal relative. In addition, He has no self-interest from us; He is perfect and complete in Himself. He loves us selflessly, for He only desires our eternal welfare. Thus, God alone is our perfect relative, who is both eternal and selfless.
To understand this concept from another perspective, consider the analogy of an ocean and the waves that emerge from it. Two neighboring waves in the ocean flow together for some time, and play mirthfully with each other, creating the impression that they have a very deep relationship between them. However, after travelling some distance, one subsides into the ocean, and shortly after, the other does the same. Did they have any relationship between themselves? No, they were both born from the ocean and their relationship was with the ocean itself. Similarly, God is like the ocean and we are like waves who have emanated from Him. We create attachments amongst our bodily relations, only to leave everyone upon death, and journey alone into another birth. The truth is that the souls are not related to each other, but to God, from whom they have all emanated.
In this verse, Shree Krishna takes us above bodily consciousness and its concomitant attachment to worldly relatives. From the platform of the soul, God alone is all our relationships; He is our Father, Mother, Sister, Brother, Beloved, and Friend. This theme is reiterated in all the Vedic scriptures:
divyo deva eko nārāyaṇo mātā pitā bhrātā suhṛit gatiḥ
nivāsaḥ śharaṇaṁ suhṛit gatirnārāyaṇa iti (Subāl Śhruti, mantra 6)
“Lord Narayan alone is the Mother, Father, Beloved, and destination of the soul.”
more sabai eka tumha swāmī, dīnabhandhu ura antarajāmī. (Ramayan)
“O Lord Ram, You alone are my Master, the Savior of the destitute, and the Knower of the heart.” Knowing the magnitude of our eternal relationship with God, we must endeavor to attach our mind to Him alone. Then, the mind will be purified and we will be able to fulfill the condition of māmekaṁ śharaṇaṁ vraja, or complete surrender, which is necessary for receiving God’s grace. To achieve this single-mindedness, we must cut all the present attachments of the mind and replace them with attachment to God.
Hence, the Ramayan states: saba kai mamatā tāga baṭorī, mama pada manahi bāñdha bari ḍorī.
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bijam avyam (BG 9.18): Everything is that only.
“Cut all the strings of worldly attachment of your mind; make a rope of these strings, and tie it at the lotus feet of God.” To help us tie our mind to Him, Shree Krishna here explains to Arjun that the soul’s every relationship is with God alone.
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Gita : Ch-9. Slo-19.
"tapamyaham aham varsham nigrihnamyutsrijami cha
amritam chaiva mrityush cha sad asach chaham arjuna." BG 9.19:
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Translation :
tapāmi—radiate heat;
aham—I;
aham—I;
varṣham—rain;
nigṛihṇāmi—withhold;
utsṛijāmi—send forth;
cha—and;
amṛitam—immortality;
cha—and;
eva—also;
mṛityuḥ—death;
cha—and;
sat—eternal spirit;
asat—temporary matter;
cha—and;
aham—I;
arjuna—Arjuna
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Translation of Slokam :
"I radiate heat as the sun, and I withhold, as well as send forth rain. I am immortality as well as death personified, O Arjuna. I am the spirit as well as matter."
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Commentary :
The Puranas describe that when God first created the universe, He manifested the first-born Brahma and entrusted him with the work of further creation. Brahma was bewildered by the task of creating the materials and the life-forms in the universe from the subtle material energy. Then God revealed knowledge unto him, which is called the Chatuḥśhlokī Bhāgavat (the four-versed Bhagavatam), on the basis of which Brahma proceeded to create the world. Its first verse states very emphatically:
ahamevāsamevāgre nānyadyatsadasat param
paśhchādahaṁ yadetachcha yo ’vaśhiṣhyeta so ’smyaham (Bhagavatam 2.9.32)
Shree Krishna tells Brahma: “I am all that is. Prior to creation, I alone existed. Now that creation has come about, whatever is in the form of the manifested world is my very self. After dissolution, I alone will exist. There is nothing apart from Me.”
The above truth implies that the material with which we worship is also God. When people venerate the holy Ganges, they immerse the lower half of their body in the river. Then they lift water in their palms and pour it into the Ganges. In this way, they use the Ganges water itself to worship it. Similarly, when God is all that exists, then the material for worshipping Him is also non-different from Him. Thus, as previously stated in verses 16 and 17, Shree Krishna reveals that He is the Vedas, the sacrificial fire, the syllable “Om,” the clarified butter, and the act of offering. No matter what the form and sentiment of our devotion, there is nothing apart from God that we can offer to Him. Nevertheless, it is the sentiment of love that pleases God, not the material of the offering.
It is everything.
Amrityush cha sad asach chaham arjuna (BG 9.19): I am everything.
gatir bharta prabhuh sakshi nivasah sharanam suhrit prabhavah pralayah sthanam nidhanam
tapamyaham aham varsham nigrihnamyutsrijami cha amritam chaiva mrityush (BG 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.
What is it? Nasadasi’nnosadah sitta’dani’? (Nasadiya Sukta 1): 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, the king’s happiness. 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.
To be continued ....
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