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Source: The Hindu (http://www.the-hindu.com)

 

Life based on noble values

 

CHENNAI, NOV. 18. Even very carefully chalked out policies

formulated by able administrators sometimes fail. We have seen on

many occasions, clouds thundering, only to pour into the sea and

vice versa, rains not occurring when really needed. Fully grown

crops are destroyed by cyclones and when everything seems to be

going well, pests invade the fields. Immortal sages have

considered about these problems, and have made a well-documented

observation about different ``Times'' - hard and good, when there

were natural calamities and social as well as political

upheavals. They have observed how men behaved during prosperous

and adverse periods. Ultimately, they have concluded that

whenever people led lives based on noble values such as Truth,

purity, compassion and non-violence, they were happy. Contrary to

this, when they yielded to opposite factors, they met with

sufferings like political turmoil, hurricane and drought. These

``values'' they called as ``Righteousness'' or ``Dharma.'' This

does not mean we can discard science.

 

Sages, on analysis, have concluded that the life-style of people

followed a particular pattern, conducive to one and all and

termed it as ``Dharma''. Their analysis on observing a few

generations and ours, on witnessing the behaviour of few

generations, will not be much different. If there is change, can

we say that the sages are wrong or we have erred somewhere. Does

this mean that Righteousness will change according to time, place

and those who follow it? The ``body of Dharma'' is not Dharma

itself. We cannot recognise a person who has no body, but we can

spot out a body that has no ``man'' in it (we call it a corpse).

After great deliberation, sages have determined that

righteousness or otherwise does not lie in the acts men perform

but in the intentions behind them. A verse was quoted by Sri

Ganapathi Satchidananda Swami in his discourse: ``Those acts

which are done upon the motivation of noble thoughts are acts of

Dharma''.

 

If there is bad intention in the mind, even penance will become

sinful. So is the study of scriptures or performing Vedic rites.

On the other hand, if there is noble intent in the mind, even

taking away other's wealth by force may turn to be meritorious.

Ravana (in the Ramayana) performed a grim penance only to torment

the world. It is sinful. A ruler extorts money from some

``haves'' in the form of taxes. The wealthy may not like it but

still it was collected to provide basic amenities to citizens.

This was done within the framework of law. If these two examples

are kept in mind, we can realise what is ``virtue'' and what

constitutes its ``life''.

 

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