Weekly page from Hindu Dharma: The Purpose of Religion

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 4/3/02 3:51:26 PM Eastern Standard Time, venky

writes:

 

> All the same it is difficult, to start with, to be without any desire

> altogether. Religion serves to rein in desire little by little and take a

> man, step by step, from petty ephemeral pleasure to the ultimate bliss.

> First we are taught the meaning and implications of dharma and how to

> practise it, then we are instructed in the right manner in which material

> goods are to be acquired so as to practice this dharma; and, thirdly, we

> are taught the proper manner in which desires may be satisfied. It is a

> process of gaining maturity and wisdom to forsake petty pleasure for the

> ultimate bliss of moksa.

>

 

This is the message of virtually all religions, using appropriate cultural

values and associated vocabularies. However, it is the ultimate bliss, first

and foremost, that gives rise to all the other phenomena discussed in the

above paragraph. I do not know why, but hardly a one wants to hear such a

thing. Jesus said such things quite clearly and the whole tribe of

intellectual scholarly Pharisees in his cultural neighborhood managed to

instrument his death in return. TM knows of such a thing and it is so

simple, so very simple, yet it must be learned. So, from my experiences and

from the experiences of many others, indeed, thousands upon thousands, the

above type of soliloquy is of the truth, turned upside down. I shall put

myself in a position to show you, to teach you, personally, anyone who so

desires. And this is not my teaching, I'm just a tiny vessel and instrument

in the currents of life. Indeed, the original teachings stem largely through

that same Sankara who is so highly respected on this list, but obviously a

Sankara of a slightly different experiential orientation and association.

Sankaram, Sankaracharyam . . . After you learn and personally experience

this profound great blessing, then you can and should remark again, what it

is that you have seen, in the same context as above. Such a purport will

then contain many nontrivial modifications, i.e., interrelationships among

subjects and objects will be seen swapped around.

 

jai guru dev,

 

Edmond

 

 

 

[Guest guest]

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

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

http://www.kamakoti.org/hindudharma/part1/chap3.htm.

 

Next week, you will be emailed "Man and Beast" (from "Religion In General")

 

Best regards

for kamakoti.org

 

 

Venkatesh

(this email is being sent on an automated basis)

 

The Purpose of Religion

from Religion In General, Hindu Dharma

 

Religion is the means of realizing dharma, artha, kama and moksa. These

four are called purusarthas.

 

In Tamil, dharma is called "aram"; artha is known as "porul'; and kama and

moksa are called "inbam, " and vidu respectively. "Artha" occurs in the term

"purusarthas", but it is itself one of the purusarthas? What a man wants for

himself in his life- the aims of a man's life- are the purusarthas. What does a

man want to have? He wants to live happily without lacking for anything. There

are two types of happiness: the first is ephemeral; and the second is

everlasting and not subject to diminution. Kama or in barn is ephemeral

happiness and denotes worldly pleasure, worldly desires. Moksa or vidu is

everlasting happiness, not transient pleasure. It is because people are ignorant

about such happiness, how elevated and enduring it is, that they hanker after

the trivial and momentary joys of kama.

 

Our true quest must be for the fourth artha, that is vidu or moksa. The

majority of people today yearn for the third artha that is kama. When you eat

you are happy. When you are appointed a judge of the high court you feel elated.

You are delighted when presented with a welcome address by some institution,

aren't you? Such types of happiness are not enduring. The means by which such

happiness is earned is porul. Porul may be corn, money, house. It is this porul

that is the way to happiness. But the pleasure gained from material possessions

is momentary and you keep constantly hungering for more.

 

Moksa is the state of supreme bliss and there is no quest beyond it. We keep

going from place to place and suffer hardships of all kinds. Our destination is

our home. A prisoner goes to his vidu or his home after he is released. But the

word vidu also means release or liberation. Since we are now imprisoned in our

body, we commit the grave mistake of believing that we are the body. The body is

in fact our goal. Our real home is the bliss called moksa. We must find release

from the goal that is our body and dwell in our true home. God has sentenced us

to gaol (that is he has imprisoned us in our body) for our sins. If we practice

virtue he will condone our sins and release us from the prison of our body

before the expiry of the sentence. We must desist from committing sinful acts so

that our term of imprisonment is not extended and endeavor to free ourselves and

arrive in our true home, our true home that is the Lord. This home is bliss that

passeth understanding, bliss that i!

s not bound by the limitations of time, space and matter.

 

Lastly, I speak of the first purusartha, dharma. Dharma denotes beneficent

action, good or virtuous deeds. The word has come to mean giving, charity. "Give

me dharmam. Do dharmam, mother, " cries the beggar. We speak of "dana-dharma"

[as a portmanteau word]. The commandments relating to charity are called

"ara-kattalai"in Tamil. Looked at in this way, giving away our artha or porul

will be seen to be dharma. But how do we, in the first place, acquire the goods

to be given away in charity? The charity practised in our former birth- by

giving away our artha- it is that brings us rewards in this birth. The very

purpose of owning material goods is the practice of dharma. Just as material

possessions are a means of pleasure, so is dharma a means of material

possessions. It is not charity alone that yields rewards in the form of material

goods; all dharma will bring their own material rewards.

 

If we practice dharma without expecting any reward in the belief that Isvara

gives us what he wills- and in a spirit of dedication, the impurities tainting

our being will be removed and we will obtain the bliss that is exalted. The

pursuit of dharma that brings in its wake material rewards will itself become

the means of attaining the Paramporul. Thus we see that dharma, while being an

instrument for making material gain and through it of pleasure, becomes the

means of liberation also if it is practised unselfishly. Through it we acquire

material goods and are helped to keep up the practice of dharma. This means that

artha itself becomes a basis of dharma. It is kama or desire alone that neither

fulfils itself nor becomes an instrument of fulfilling some other purpose. It is

like the water poured on burning sands. Worse, it is an instrument that destroys

everything dharmic thoughts, material possessions, liberation it self.

 

All the same it is difficult, to start with, to be without any desire

altogether. Religion serves to rein in desire little by little and take a man,

step by step, from petty ephemeral pleasure to the ultimate bliss. First we are

taught the meaning and implications of dharma and how to practise it, then we

are instructed in the right manner in which material goods are to be acquired so

as to practice this dharma; and, thirdly, we are taught the proper manner in

which desires may be satisfied. It is a process of gaining maturity and wisdom

to forsake petty pleasure for the ultimate bliss of moksa.

 

Moksa is release from all attachments. It is a state in which the Self remains

ever in untrammelled freedom and blessedness. The chief purpose of religion is

to teach us how this supreme state may be attained.

 

We know for certain that ordinary people do not achieve eternal happiness. The

purpose of any religion is to lead them towards such happiness. Everlasting

blessedness is obtained only by forsaking the quest for petty pleasures. The

dictates of dharma help us to abandon the pursuit of sensual enjoyments and

endeavor for eternal bliss. They are also essential to create a social order

that has the same high purpose, the liberation of all. Religion, with its goal

of liberation, lays down the tenets of dharma. That is why the great understand

the word dharma itself to mean religion.

 

 

 

 

 

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/ .