Weekly page from Hindu Dharma: Dharma Alone Protects

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This week's page from Hindu Dharma (see note at bottom) is "Dharma Alone

Protects" from "Religion In General". The original page can be found at

http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part1/chap1.htm.

 

Next week, you will be emailed "Papa and Punya" (from "Religion In General")

 

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Venkatesh

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Dharma Alone Protects

from Religion In General, Hindu Dharma

 

The pipal and the neem are the royal children of Mother Nature's kingdom

of trees. As the new year approaches they shed their leaves, sprout tender green

shoots again not long after. It is all the work of Mother Nature.

 

The custom of marrying the pipal to the neem and of installing the idols of

Vinayaka and Nagaraja under them goes back to the dim past. After the winter

months these trees will be bare and Vinayaka and Nagaraja will remain exposed to

the sun. This is the time when we may sit under the open sky and bask in the sun

because it is now neither too warm nor too cold. When it rains or when the sun

beats down harshly on us, we need to shield ourselves with an umbrella. And when

it is bitterly cold we cannot sit in the open and gaze at the sky. But now, when

the leaves fall and the warmth of the sun is comforting (it is believed that

with Sivarathri the cold season bids you goodbye with the chant, "siva, siva"),

we may sit in the open, by day or at night, to gaze upon the sky. To proclaim

the beneficial nature of this season as it were- when the pipal and the neem are

shorn of their leaves- Mother Nature worships the gods under the trees (Vinayaka

and Nagaraja) with the rays of the ge!

ntle sun.

 

Nagaraja may also be called Subrahmanya. Indeed to the Telugu-speaking people

the name 'Subbarayudu" denotes both Subrahmanya and the snake. The

Tamil-speaking people worship snakes on Sasti, a custom that has existed from

time immemorial. Mother Nature's concern for Vighnesvara and Subrahmanya, the

children of Parvati and Paramesvara, is but an expression of her love for all of

us who too are but the offspring of the same primordial couple. There is a

fullness about this love. As I said just now, when it is neither too warm nor

too cold, Vighnesvara and Nagaraja are exposed to the sun. But, as the sun gets

warmer with the advance of spring, Mother Nature protects these deities from the

heat. How? The trees now burgeon and form a green umbrella over Vinayaka and

Nagaraja. The shedding of leaves, the burgeoning again, all this is a part of

the natural process and according to the immutable law of the universe which has

been in force from the very beginning of time.

 

There is a law governing the behaviour of everything in this universe. All must

submit to it for the world to function properly. Otherwise things will go awry

and end up in chaos. It is the will of the Lord that all his creation, all his

creatures, should live in happiness. That is why he has ordained a dharma, a

law, for each one of them. It is compliance with this dharma that ensures

all-round harmony. While Isvara protects his children from rain and sun, he also

provides them, when needed, with the warmth of the gentle sun. His love for his

children is expressed in the schema ordered by him for the functioning of Nature

and the law he has laid down for trees is a part of it.

 

To be worthy of Isvara's love we must possess certain qualities, certain

virtues. If there is a law that applies to trees, there must be one that applies

to us also. We shall deserve the Lord's love and compassion only by living in

accordance with this law and by working for the well-being of all mankind. What

is called dharma is this law, the law governing the conduct of man. Isvara has

endowed man with intelligence, but it is by using this very intelligence that

human beings keep violating their dharma. If it is asked why they do so, all we

can say in answer is that it is but the sport of the Lord. Man goes seeking this

and that, believing that they will make him happy, and all the while he keeps

violating his dharma. But he will discover sooner or later that it is dharma

alone that gives him happiness in the end.

 

There is something that somehow turns people all over the world towards dharma.

It is this something that inspires human beings everywhere to go beyond their

material needs and do things that appear strange. How? One man reads the Bible,

cross in hand; another smears ashes all over his body; and a third man wears the

Vaisnava mark. From generation to generation mankind has been practicing such

customs even without deriving any perceptible material benefit. What is the

reason for this?

 

Man first earned the means for his daily upkeep. But he soon discovered that

meeting the needs of the present would not be enough. So he tried to earn more

and save for his needs also. The question, however, arose as to what precisely

constituted his "future". As he reflected on it, it became clear that his

"future" on this earth would be endless, that he would not live a thousand years

or ten thousand. So he concerned himself with earning enough to see him through

his life and at the same time leaving enough for his children.

 

What happened to a man after his death was the question that worried him next.

The great men who emerged from time to time in various climes came to believe

that the entity called man did not cease to exist even after his body perished.

The truth dawned on them that the money and property acquired for the upkeep of

a man's body served no purpose after his passing. As a next step they formed a

view of what a human being must do in this life to ensure for himself a happy

state in afterlife. Religious leaders in different countries taught different

ways to achieve this. The cross, the namaz , the sacred ashes, the sacred earth

came to be adopted in this manner by people belonging to different religious

persuasions.

 

" You must look upon the world as belonging to the Lord, and it is your duty to

so conduct yourself as to conform yourself to this belief. This constitutes the

dharma of humanity. Acts dictated solely by selfish interests will push one into

unrighteousness. A man must learn to be less and less selfish in his thoughts

and actions; he must always remember the Lord and must ever be conscious that he

is the master of all this world. " This view is the basis on which all religions

have evolved.

 

No religion teaches us to live according to our whims and fancies; no religion

asks us to acquire wealth and property for our personal needs alone. If a man

believes that he alone is important, that he is all, he will live only for

himself. That is why all religions speak of an entity called God and teach man

to efface his ego or I-feeling. "Child, " they tell him" , "you are nothing

before that Power, the author of this universe. It is he -- that Power -- who

has endowed you with intelligence. Your intelligence, your intellect, must guide

you on the path of dharma, righteousness. For this purpose, you must look up to

this Power for support. " The great importance attached to bhakti or devotion in

all religions is founded on this belief, the need for divine support for

virtuous conduct.

 

Ordinarily, it is not easy to develop faith in, or devotion to, God expressed

in abstract terms. For the common people devotion must take the form of

practical steps. That is how ritual originated. Sandhyavandana, the namaz and

other forms of prayer are examples of such ritual. The religious teach people

their duties, how they must conduct themselves to God in the very midst of their

worldly life.

 

"Love everyone. Live a life of sacrifice.Serve mankind. " Such are the

teachings of the various religions. If a man lives according to these tenets, it

is believed that his soul will reach God after it departs from his body. Those

who to Advaita or non-dualism declare that the soul will become one

with the Godhead. According to another system of belief, after reaching the

Lord, the soul will serve him and ever remain happy as the recipient of his

compassion. There is no need to quarrel over the nature of the final state. "By

following one path or another we attain the Lord. And that will be the end of

all our sorrows, all our frustrations and all our failures in this world. There

will now be nothing but bliss, full and everlasting. " No more than this do we

need to know for the present.

 

If the Paramatman is to draw us unto himself we must, without fail, perform our

duties to him as well as to the world. It is these duties that constitute what

is called dharma. Dharma it is that serves us when we dwell in our body and when

we cease to dwell in it. It serves us in life and afterlife. When we are in this

world we must do that which would take us to a desirable state after we depart

from it. We take an insurance policy so that our relatives will be able to take

care of themselves when we are gone. But is it not far more important to ensure

that we will be happy in our after life? Dharma is after life insurance. But in

this life too it is dharma that gives us peace and happiness.

 

 

There need be no doubt or confusion about the dharma we ought to follow. We are

all steeped in the dharma that our, great men have pursued from generation to

generation. They have inwardly realized eternal beatitude and we know for

certain that they lived without any care, unlike people in our own generation

who are always discontented and are embroiled in agitations and demonstrations

of all kinds. All we need to do is to follow the dharma that they practiced. If

we tried to create a new dharma for ourselves it might mean trouble and all the

time we would be torn by doubts as to whether it would bring us good or whether

it would give rise to evil. It is best for us to follow the dharma practiced by

the great men of the past, the dharma of our forefathers.

 

Man is subject to all kinds of hardships and misfortunes. To remind ourselves

of this, we eat the bitter flowers of the neem on New Year's Day-that is on the

very first day of the year we accept the bitterness of life. During the Pongal

ceremony, which is celebrated almost towards the close of the year, we have

sugarcane to chew. If we have only sweetness in the beginning we may have to

experience bitterness towards the end. We must not have any aversion for the

bitter but welcome it as the medicine administered by Mother Nature or by

dharma. If we do so, in due course, we will learn to regard any experience, even

if it be unpleasant, as a sweet one.

 

Great indeed were the misfortunes suffered by Sri Rama during his exile in the

forest. To a son going on a long journey the mother gives food to take with him.

Kausalya does the same when her son Rama leaves for the forest, but she does so

after much thought, for she wants the food to last during all the fourteen years

of his exile. And what is that food? Kausalya gives Rama the eternal sustenance

of dharma. Raghava, she says to him, "it is dharma alone that will protect you,

and this dharma is what you yourself protect with courage and steadfastness. "

It is the escort of dharma that the mother provides her son sent out from his

kingdom.

 

Yam palayasi dharmam tvam dhrithaya ca niyamena ca

 

Sa vai Raghava-sardula dharmastvamabhiraksatu

 

It was dharma that brought victory to Rama after all his struggle. If a man

treads the path of dharma he will win universal respect. If he slips into

adharma, unrighteousness, even his brother will turn a foe. The Ramayana

illustrates this truth. Sri Rama was regarded with respect by the vanaras. What

about Ravana? Even his brother Vibhisana forsook him.

 

Dharma --- and dharma alone is our protecting shield. How did Ravana with his

ten heads perish and how did Sri Ramachandra rise with his head held high as

Vijayaraghava (the victorious Raghava)? It was all the doing of dharma.

 

One's religion is nothing but the dharma practiced by one's forefathers. May

all adhere to their dharma with unwavering faith and courage and be rewarded

with everlasting bliss.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Note:

Hindu Dharma is a translation of two volumes of the well known Tamil Book

"Deivatthin Kural", which, in turn, is a book of 6 volumes that contains talks

of His Holiness Sri Chandrasekharendra Saraswathi Mahaswamiji of Kanchipuram.

The entire book is available online at http://www.kamakoti.org/ .