Sanatana Dharma

[Guest guest]

Namaste,

 

This is an extract from an article I had written some time back and

(though there is a bit of repetition of my previous post) I thought

it might be relevant to the discussion on dharma.

 

 

SANATANA DHARMA - THE ETHICAL DIMENSION

------

 

The problem of morality is one of the most enigmatic problems of

human existence. To most of us that have been fed on modern fare, it

would seem absurd that there could be different and contradictory

moral codes that are valid at the same time. But strange as it may

sound to modern ears, the validity of contrary, and sometimes even

opposite, moral rules is a part of the Eternal Dharma. Moral codes

are not the same for everyone. The fundamental mistake that is often

made while speaking about moral codes is to consider them as being

uniformly applicable to all. But the moral code for a husband is

different than the moral code for a wife, and the moral code for a

hangman is different than the moral code for a priest. In asking

about morality, we are verily knocking on the doors of the Divine

Order, and we must be ready to pause and open our eyes before we

profess to answer them, for the workings of dharma are not easy to

comprehend.

 

What is the meaning of Dharma? In Hinduism, Dharma is not an order

that has been proclaimed by God; it is God Himself in the Natural

Order of the Universe. The word dharma translates to nature, and

therefore the dharma of a thing is the very nature of a thing. It is

the dharma of a rose to be a rose, and the dharma of a tree to be a

tree. Likewise, it is the dharma of a husband to be a husband, and

the dharma of a wife to be a wife, and the dharma of a son to be a

son, and the dharma of a father to be a father. According to the

Vedas, Dharma is Rtam, the meaning that is in Brahman. This world is

not other than the meaning in God that has blossomed into creation

through the unfolding of vivarta. God creates through the sabda

(word) that is in Him, and His creation is the artha within Himself

brought forth into manifest form. Rtam is therefore this world as the

artha unfolded in Brahman, and Brahman remains always the sat – the

truth - of all things in the world. Therefore Rtam is always seated

in Satyam, and the Heart of Dharma is Truth. Rtam is the eternal

nature of the Kshetra in the Kshetrajna, it is the Lower Nature that

is held in the Higher. The Higher is the province of Its Governance

and the Lower is the field of Its Leela, but they are never two.

 

One who clings fast to Eternal Truth

Will attain Ultimate Truth Itself.

The strength of Rta, Eternal Order, is far reaching

It brings wisdom to those that pursue it.

Earth and Heaven owe their existence to Rta.

And the Supreme Powers yield their ambrosial milk,

their treasured contents,

In perfect obedience to the Lord of Eternal Existence.

(Rg Veda.IV.23.1):

 

Now there arises this question: If dharma is the nature of a thing,

and all things in this world exist according to their own natures,

then how indeed can there be adharma in this world? How is it

possible that there may be something that is not in accordance with

its own nature? In order to answer this question, we must recognize

that adharma arises only in a conscious locus that is subject to

avidya. It is only through avidya that a soul may see untruth and it

is only due to the ahamkara wrought by avidya that a jiva may behold

the illusion of the Self as an agent of action.

 

"Actions are wrought in all cases by the gunas of Prakriti. He whose

mind is deluded by ahamkara thinks 'I am the doer.'"(Bh.Gita.III.27)

 

The locus of adharma is therefore the jiva that has chaitanya and

will. A rose can never be anything but a rose because it has no will

to be otherwise. It may appear to be other than what it is only in

the vision of a jiva that is gifted with consciousness and will – and

avidya. It is due to avidya that there arises the great mystery of

this world - that untruth paradoxically comes to be, for it is indeed

a paradox to say that there is in reality an untruth. For if it is,

it is truth, and it can be untruth only by not being. In Advaita

Vedanta, untruth is neither being nor non-being, but is the loss of

genuineness of a thing's being; it is adhyasa, one thing appearing as

another. It is the paradoxical nature of Maya in which there is the

loss of distinction between the real and unreal. The twin poles of

truth and untruth arise in vyavaharika sathya, which is the Truth of

Paramartha filtered through the lens of one's avidya to present a

paradoxical world whose truth can never be determined, for it is

never possible to determine the true nature of something that

partakes of falsity. It is therefore anirvacaniya, epistemologically

indeterminable. The truth of a thing seen in samsara is not found by

looking for it in the thing that is seen, but by removing one's

avidya so that its truth is seen naturally in the Light of the Sun.

In Advaita Vedanta, avidya is not a thing to be removed; it is the

sleep of looking at the world with unseeing eyes. Awakening is the

opening of the eye – the Third Eye. In the sleep of samsara, the will

wills in ways contrary to the truth. This defiant act of the will is

adharma. The will cannot change the Truth, but it can present the

Truth in Time as the balance of justice in the Dharma Chakra. It is

the Wheel of Dharma that governs the actions of all beings and

bestows upon them the results in accordance with their actions:

 

"He who follows not here the Chakra thus set in motion, who is of

sinful life, indulging in the senses, he lives in vain, O son of

Pritha." (Bh.Gita.III.16)

 

The field of dharma is the field of human action. Human action arises

only in samsara wherein a jiva is subject to avidya. The jiva's

agency for action cannot exist in the Light of Knowledge:

 

"O Arjuna, as a blazing fire reduces pieces of wood to ashes,

similarly the fire of Knowledge reduces all actions to ashes."

(Bh.Gita.IV.37)

 

Samsara is the journey of the soul in the deep sleep of avidya. It is

called the anadi bija nidra, the beginningless sleep without end. It

is Maharatri, the Great Night of Darkness. Its end is not an end in

time, but is the opposite of sleep which is the Awakening into the

Light of Eternity. In samsara, the Bliss of Self is masked by avidya

and the soul is therefore always trying to attain the inner ecstasy

that it has lost, and hence arises its first purushartha, kama, the

pursuit of pleasure. Kama is essentially the pursuit of the erotic,

and while its most common goal is sexual pleasure, it is also the

pursuit of beauty and art because the absorption attained by the soul

in aesthetics is the merging of subject and object, which is the

essence of the erotic. The subject is the purusha in the body and the

object is prakriti, and in absorption he enjoys union with her. This

is the reason why aesthetics, or gandharva shastra, is the

overarching paradigm of kama shastra. Again, in samsara, the soul

that is essentially one with the Infinite Brahman is 'contracted'

into the limited self within the body, and it is always trying to

make up for the loss of its innate infinitude and hence there arises

the second purushartha, artha, which is the pursuit of wealth,

objects, fame, etc. Avidya is beginningless – no one knows when it

all began – and the unpaid debts due to other beings that it has

accumulated in its journey have to be repaid and thus arises the

third purushartha, the pursuit of dharma. And when the soul has tired

of being tossed about in this ocean of samsara, it yearns for the

freedom of eternity and the seeking that arises from this yearning is

the fourth purushartha, the pursuit of moksha. Thus there arise in

the field of human activity the four purusharthas – kama, artha,

dharma and moksha.

 

Sanatana Dharma is divided two-fold in accordance with the two-fold

directedness of human actions, the directedness to kama, artha and

dharma, comprising and the path of works, and the directedness to

moksha being the path of renunciation. It is this two-fold Eternal

Dharma that holds the universe in place including both the stability

of the created world and the preservation of the esoteric path for

the soul to fly from the shadow of the ephemeral to the Light of the

Eternal. Regarding this, Sri Shankaracharya writes:

 

"The Lord created the universe, and wishing to secure order therein

He first created the Prajapatis (Lords of the creatures) such as

Marichi and caused them to adopt the Pravritti-Dharma, the Religion

of Works. He then created others such as Sanaka and Sanandana and

caused them to adopt the Nivritti-Dharma, the Religion of

Renunciation, characterised by knowledge and indifference to works.

It is the two-fold Vedic Dharma of Works and Renunciation that

maintains order in the universe." (Shankara's Gita bhashya,

Introduction).

 

The Eternal Dharma seen through the lens of Time is the Wheel of

Dharma. Under the governance of the Wheel of Dharma, the soul

acquires various bodies as it journeys through time. But the various

bodies that a soul acquires are eternally existent in Brahman. They

exist as the artha in the Purushartha. The soul in samsara merely

comes to reside in these bodies as given to it by its own past

actions. The Yoga Sutra says:

 

"Good and bad deeds are not the direct causes in transformations, but

they act as breakers of obstacles to nature, as a farmer breaks the

obstacles to the course of water, which then runs down by its own

nature." (Yoga Sutra,IV,3).

 

When a soul casts off one body and is yet to acquire another, it

retains the impressions gained from its past births. These

impressions are its sukshuma sharira, the subtle body. When a person

dies, the soul merely disengages itself from the gross body; its

gross eyes are gone, but its sense of sight is not gone; its gross

ears are gone, but its sense of hearing is not gone; its hands and

legs are gone, but its sense of grasping and locomotion are not gone.

These are part of its sukshuma sharira – the subtle body - with which

it wanders about from birth to birth. The sukshuma sharira is the

body comprised of the inner four sheaths out of the five sheaths that

an embodied being in this world possesses. The five sheaths of an

embodied being are the annamayakosha, the pranamayakosha, the

manomayakosha, the vijnanamayakosha, and the anandamayakosha. The

inner four sheaths from the anandamayakosha to the pranamayakosha

remain with the soul even when the soul disengages itself from the

gross body. That is why a person is said to die when prana leaves the

body. Prana presents itself as breath in the gross body, but it is in

actuality the life-current that animates the gross body through the

manifestation of breath. Now, all of nature is composed of the three

gunas – rajas, sattva and tamas. The gradation of bodies in the world

depends on the admixture of the gunas that are in them. The

distribution of the gunas in the sukshuma sharira – the impressions

from its actions in its previous lives - determines the body that the

soul is given by the Lord's Chakra when it is reborn into this world.

Lord Krishna says in the Gita:

 

"The four varnas have been created by Me according to the

distribution of the gunas and the karmas; though I am the author

thereof, know Me as non-agent and immutable." (IV.13)

 

The dharma of a soul is to follow the dharma of the body given to it

by the Wheel of Justice. The dharma of a soul that is born as a man

is to follow the dharma of a man, and the dharma of a soul that is

born as a dog is to follow the dharma of a dog. Right and wrong

actions of a soul depend on the body that it possesses at the time

when it is performing those actions. That is why Shankara, the

sannyasi, was not polluted by loss of celibacy even though he had

sported with the queens of Amuraka when occupying the body of the

king.

 

To know what dharma is, it is necessary to know what swadharma is

because it is a thing's swadharma that is the reference against which

actions are measured as right and wrong. Now, this world is name and

form, and to know a thing is to know the name and the form that is

true to the name. To know the true form of a thing is to know the

intrinsic attributes of the thing. The intrinsic attributes of a

thing – the attributes that are one with it - is its swadharma. It is

the swadharma of fire to burn, and of water to flow. (Action is also

an attribute of a thing, for we do not see mere action in this world,

but see it as the attribute of something that is acting.) The

swadharma of all things lies in the artha that is the Divine Rtam in

Brahman. It is the name and the meaning – the form that is true to

the name - as it exists eternally in Brahman. The body that a soul is

identified with in a given birth has its own intrinsic nature – its

swadharma - and it is the dharma of a jiva to act in accordance with

the swadharma of the body and the station that it naturally comes to

possess in the world. Men and women are not given their bodies and

stations by accident. The Wheel of Dharma has given it to them due to

their past-actions and the duties of the bodies and stations they now

occupy are the actions required for balancing the actions of the

past. By following dharma – by being true to the swadharma of the

bodies and stations given to them - they would be repaying the debts

accruing to them from their past actions. Thus, the injunctions of

dharma regarding the duties of stations for men and women are not

mere normative principles; they are the prescriptions derived from

the workings of the Dharma Chakra. These duties, laid down in the

Dharma Shastras, are the manners in which the debts accruing from

past lives may be repaid. The actions required to repay these past

debts are called nitya karma, the necessary duties of a man or woman.

There is no choice but to perform them because there is no choice in

the matter of repayment of debts. In performing them - by being true

to the station that one is born in - one repays the debts of the past

and becomes free to that extent from one's past karma. One then lives

lightly, for the flavour of a live lived according to dharma is

sweet.

 

"madhu vAtA rtAyatE madhu ksharanthi

sindava: --- gaavO bhavanthu na: "

 

To follow dharma is to act in accordance with one's swadharma. It is

being true to the name one bears. In deviating from one's swadharma,

one is not true to the name that one bears. Being true to the name is

to conform to Rtam, the meaning that is in Brahman. In the great

Confucian Way of the Tao, this principle is called the Doctrine of

Rectification of Names.

 

Dharma is Rtam, the meaning that is in Brahman. In speaking truly

about the world, it is the dharma of speaking the truth. In being

true to oneself, it is the dharma of acting according to one's

swadharma. Men and women follow dharma by being true to their

swadharmas, to those actions that are contained in the meanings of

the words `man' and `woman' as they exist in Brahman. These are the

duties that govern the dharma of men and women in the field of His

Leela. But men and women are not merely men and women, they are also

many other things that men and women may be such as sons and

daughters, fathers and mothers, kings and queens, priests, warriors,

servants, maids, lords, ladies, physicians, nurses, drivers, prison-

keepers, and many other things. They may be Hindus or Christians or

Muslims or Buddhists or Zoroastrians or Pagans. It is not in the

swadharma of a king to choose to be a thief or in the swadharma of a

wife to choose to be a public woman. They would cease to be a king or

wife in so far as they choose these occupations, and thus they would

be violating their dharma. But if a king were to choose to slay the

enemy in battle, he would be acting in accordance with his swadharma

because it is in the nature of a king to slay his enemies in battle.

He would not cease to be a king on account of slaying his enemies in

battle. Likewise, if a wife were to choose to be a mother of her

husband's children, she would be acting in accordance with her

swadharma because it in the nature of a wife to be a mother of her

husband's children. She would not cease to be a wife on account of

being a mother of her husband's children. Thus it is that the dharma

of men and women is given by the swadharma of the bodies and stations

that they possess. Now there are stations that are given to men and

woman by birth, and there are stations that they come to occupy by

the choices of their free will. But in using their free will, they

would be following dharma only by choosing their occupations in

accordance with the swadharma of the bodies and stations that they

already possess by virtue of the Wheel of Dharma. Those who

understand the natures of samanya and vishesha see that they would

remain true to the sameness of the stations given to them by birth by

choosing only those occupations and duties that are inherent in the

swadharma of these stations. Their duty is to be true to the dharmic

stations that the Dharma Chakra bestows them with in the taxonomy of

the universe - for it is by performing the actions of the stations

they naturally occupy that they would be true to what they are, and

they would thereby be true to the Eternal Dharma. It does not

therefore behove a man or woman to strive to be other than what his

or her swadharma is because that would be a dereliction of his or her

dharma. Lord Krishna sums up the gist of the Eternal Dharma in a

single verse in the Gita:

 

"Better one's own duty, though devoid of merit, than the duty of

another well discharged. Better is death in one's own duty; the duty

of another is productive of danger." (III.35)

 

This then is a brief overview of the basis of Hindu Dharma. Now, with

this background, we shall attempt to provide a reply to the question:

How is it that Hinduism sees the different moral codes of the

different religions as being valid at the same time? I believe that

the nature of Sanatana Dharma itself provides the answer to this

question. Each religion is a vishesha religion (vishesha dharma) that

is revealed by God to select peoples in this world in accordance with

the swadharma of these people (the intrinsic natures of these

specific people) and it is the dharma of each religion to follow its

respective swadharma as revealed to it by God. The moral codes for

different religions may be at variance with one another depending on

the natures of the people to whom these religions have been revealed,

but they are each the appropriate prescriptions of dharma for them

considering their constitution. Just as it is the dharma of a king

to slay his enemies whereas the dharma of a sannyasi does not permit

him to kill even a worm, and both these are in accordance with dharma

notwithstanding the contrary natures of their actions, similarly the

moral codes (or governance of actions) of different religions may be

different and even contrary to one another and yet they may all be in

accordance with the One Eternal Dharma. This is the basis of the

Hindu universal outlook regarding the validity of different moral

codes that exist in different religions.

 

 

RETURN TO DHARMA-KSHETRA

------------------------

 

What is it that ails the Hindu today? Why has the Hindu now become a

caricature of his old self? Why does the Hindu today take the lesser

truths of the sciences to justify the higher truths of his religion?

Why does the modern Hindu mask the great revelations of his religion

under silly and infantile clichés? Why has the Hindu become a shadow

of those foreigners without whose support he cannot even pronounce

the truths of his own religion? And above all, why has the Hindu lost

the vitality and the supreme courage with which he once laughed at

the chimera of the world and even faced death as a mere bubble in the

sea of life? Is this the Hindu that is descended from the race of

Harishchandra and Yajnavalkya?

 

The answer to all these questions is rooted in one simple fact – the

fact that we Hindus have forsaken our dharma. We are caught today in

the gale of a storm and it tosses us about in all directions. The

whirl of the storm is not outside us; it is within us, created by the

vacuum that we have ourselves allowed to birth within our souls. The

malady that plagues Hinduism today is not due to the conquering

Moghuls that came down from the North-West, nor is it due to the

colonial British that came sailing across the seas, nor is it due to

the glitter and kaleidoscope of the modern West; it is due to our own

debilitating weakness and inadequacy. This weakness has created such

an intense vacuum within us that it pulls in all manner of alien

things into our souls. We do not go out to ape the West or to fall

prey to consumerism; it comes pouring into the vacuum within us

because we have stripped ourselves of our wholeness and now the

emptiness in us lets in whatever lies in the vicinity, be they gems

or be they garbage.

 

One of the common remedies prescribed by Hindu intellectuals for the

problem of Hindu apathy is to take the message of Vedanta to all and

everyone. But they ignore the fact that Vedanta is not for everyone.

And moreover everyone does not want Vedanta. Among the four human

pursuits – kama, artha, dharma and moksha – the pursuit of moksha is

only for a select few, for those whose hearts have been stirred by

the Call of the Divine. For others, it is quite natural to follow the

call of kama, artha and dharma. There is nothing wrong with the

pursuit of pleasure; there is nothing wrong with the pursuit of

wealth and fame. But there is something wrong with the pursuit of

pleasure and wealth and fame when they are immoderate and not in

accordance with the dictates of dharma. There has been in the recent

past a markedly skewed propagation of the message of Hinduism which

places an overriding emphasis on Vedanta to the near exclusion of the

Dharma Kshetra within which Vedanta appears as its supreme

revelation. We need to bring about a correction in perspective today

so that all and sundry do not neglect what they believe to be mere

superstitions in favour of the highest goal that they are unable to

pursue and often fool themselves into believing they are pursuing.

Who amongst us has that kind of vairagya that is necessary to follow

the path of Vedanta? The overarching umbrella of Hinduism is Hindu

Dharma and not Vedanta. Vedanta is for a select few, but Hindu Dharma

is for all Hindus. Dharma is applicable even to the aspirant of

moksha because dharma governs every single thing in this world

without exception. It governs even the mukta; the mukta remains free

because he is one with his swadharma which is to be forever free.

What is required today is to return to the Dharma Kshetra – to the

values and way of living that is the necessary pre-requisite for the

welfare of each and everyone that is born a Hindu. The Law of Dharma

is Eternity moving in Time. He who follows the path of dharma lives

harmoniously in the flowing Song of Time. He is stilled in Time, as

it were, and out of the stillness of Eternity his vitality and

courage will once more blossom forth to give Hinduism the vigour that

it is now missing.

 

It is time for us to stand up and speak. There is no need to be

apologetic about our religion. The land of Aryavarta has been sacked

by Hindus and non-Hindus alike and together we have foisted upon it a

constitution that abrogates the ancient Dharma of the land. On this

land of Bharata has been imposed the false ideals of equality and

democracy, and the surrogate shrine of secularism. We have left the

dharma revealed to us by Lord Krishna to bow our heads before the

rabble and the imposter. We have sold ourselves like harlots to every

master that has come to us in the guise of a reformist. We have had

too many cowards and apologists amongst us. It is time to be Warriors

of the Spirit. The Varnashrama of Sanatana Dharma is not something to

be ashamed of. It is the Eternal Truth of Nature, the axle on which

the Wheel of Dharma revolves. We are heirs to the greatest Truth on

earth and to the greatest Way given to humankind. This Gift comes

with a responsibility that we Hindus cannot simply shrug ourselves

of.

 

Glorify eternal truth, but the proof of it is to

Put your creed into your deeds

And practice truth in your action.

(Rg.Veda.III.4.7)

 

 

Warm regards,

Chittaranjan

 

 

Notes

-----

 

1. In the Vedic structure, kama shastra, alongwith music, drama,

etc., comes under the category of gandharva shastra. This

classification may be found in the book `The Vedas' by Sri

Chandrasekharendra Sarasvati. In the Dhvanyaloka Locaca,

Abhinavagupta speaks about aesthetic absorption as in essence the

same as spiritual 'pleasure'.

 

2. After Shankara defeated the famed Mimamsa philosopher, Mandana

Misra, in debate, Ubbaya Bharati, the wife of Mandana, challenged

Shankara to a debate on kama shastra. Being a sannyasi and wholly

unfamiliar with that art, Shankara begs for one month's time to come

back for the debate. He then leaves his body and enters the body of

King Amaruka who had just then passed away. Inhabiting the body of

the king, he sports with the queens of Amaruka and learns the science

of erotics. He is even said to have written a book on the subject

called Amarushataka. When he returns after a month, Ubbaya Bharati

concedes victory without a debate. Much later, when Shankara is about

to ascend the Sarvajna Pitha at Kashmir, a voice from the heavens

challenges his claim to the throne on the ground that he had violated

the dharma of a sannyasi by having carnal relationships with women.

Shankara then replies that dharma had not been violated by the

actions performed in the body of Amaruka because what is done in one

body does not attach itself to another body. The way is then made

clear for him to ascend the throne of Supreme Knowledge.

 

3. It is interesting to see that the same two-fold dharma, Pravritti

Dharma and Nirvitti Dharma, appears in China as the Tao of Confucius

and the Tao of LaoTze.

[Guest guest]

praNAms

Hare Krishna

 

I am always at loss to understand these incidents in shankara's

biography...There is no authenticity in shankara's biography written after

centuries of shankara's time by various authors as they are giving their

own interpretation to these incidents...Some major biographies like

mAdhavIya shankara vijaya, biographies written by chidvilAsa, Anandagiri,

BaladEva upAdhyAya etc. etc. drastically differs from one another while

accouting these episodes in shankara's life history. So, these are all not

at all proven facts to accept it as it is!! Here are some of my doubts

about the below incidents:

 

CN prabhuji:

 

After Shankara defeated the famed Mimamsa philosopher, Mandana

Misra, in debate, Ubbaya Bharati, the wife of Mandana, challenged

Shankara to a debate on kama shastra.

 

bhaskar :

 

How can it be?? The agenda of debate between maNdana miShra & shankara was

karma pradhAna pUrva mImAmsa & jnAna pradhAna uttara

mImAmsa/vEdAnta...shankara did not come to mandana mishra to prove that he

is the master of *all sciences* His agenda was to prove that jnAna is

superior to karma. Moreover, shankara did not claim here that he is

*sarvajna* to encourage UbhayabhArati to ask such a stupid & irrelevant

question!! Again, if the topic of kAmashAstra was already there in the

agenda, maNdana himself would have asked the question pertaining to kAma

shAstra is it not??...how can an orthodox housewife like ubhayabhArati in

front of his husband can put question about kAmashAstra to *parapuruSha*??

According to biographies, ubhayabhArati was cursed dEvi saraswati & she

must be knowing shankara has taken saNyAsa without taking gruhasthAshrama,

inspite of knowing this how can she put completely irrelevant question like

that??

 

CN prabhuji:

 

Being a sannyasi and wholly unfamiliar with that art, Shankara begs for one

month's time to come back for the debate.

 

bhaskar :

 

Again, can anybody agree that shankara's intention was to prove *sarvajna*

here?? was he ready to throw off his sanyAsadharma just to show he is

master of all sciences?? shankara came to maNdana mishra to show that by

knowing ONE everything becomes known & not to show that he is also master

in sexual activities & science?? How can a born jnAni, strict adherent of

sanAtana dharma like shankara can accept a totally irrelevant challenge

from a woman like this?? was he not enough educated to show ubhayabhArati

that her questions are complete irrelevant to the context of that debate??

was shankara so stupid to blindly accept this challenge that can cause him

dharma drOha??

 

CN prabhuji:

 

He then leaves his body and enters the body of King Amaruka who had just

then passed away. Inhabiting the body of the king, he sports with the

queens of Amaruka and learns the science of erotics. He is even said to

have written a book on the subject

called Amarushataka.

 

bhaskar :

 

This makes our beloved shankara heinous criminal than an ordinary criminal

is it not?? he misused his occult power & kept his *saNyAsa sharIra*

intact just to maintain his sanyAsi status & had fun by entering in another

body!!! My god!! where we are heading here?? This means shankara was an

impostor and was maintaining saNyAsadharma only outwardly (only in kAya not

vAchA, manasA) and we are forced to accept that mentally he was no better

than a charlaton...Kindly confirm whether sanyAsa dharma pertains only to

body of a saNyAsi?? how can mahAjnAni like shankara can take lose exception

like this?? dont you think these are blasphemy & character assasination of

our shankara bhagavadpUjyapAda?? Infact, in mAdhavIya shankara biography,

padmapAda, a direct desciple of shankara asks this question, but what

author puts the words in the mouth of shankara for the justification of his

deed is totally illogical!!

 

CN prabhuji:

 

When he returns after a month, Ubbaya Bharati concedes victory without a

debate.

 

bhaskar :

 

that means her intention was to stray shankara from saNyAsa dharma & not

debate!! Again, in this incident also differet authors give different

versions...

 

CN prabhuji:

 

Much later, when Shankara is about to ascend the Sarvajna Pitha at Kashmir,

a voice from the heavens challenges his claim to the throne on the ground

that he had violated

the dharma of a sannyasi by having carnal relationships with women.

Shankara then replies that dharma had not been violated by the

actions performed in the body of Amaruka because what is done in one

body does not attach itself to another body. The way is then made

clear for him to ascend the throne of Supreme Knowledge.

 

bhaskar :

 

Can anybody think this is the answer that is acceptable to Pundits at

sarvajna pITa?? If the karma phala pertains to one particular body then

one has to exhaust his karma in that body itself there is no question of

carry forward of karma phala at all...According to shankara's (!!??)

assertion, Amaruka without a fault of his own has to bear the fruits of

shankara's karma just because shankara used his body!!this chArvAka style

of answer from shankara can anybody accept?? dont you think these are all

concocted stories fabricated in the books of shankara's biography??

 

Just few of my painful thoughts

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar

[Guest guest]

Dear Sri Bhaskar Prabhuji,

 

 

advaitin, bhaskar.yr wrote:

 

> I am always at loss to understand these incidents in

> shankara's biography...There is no authenticity in

> shankara's biography written after centuries

> If the karma phala pertains to one particular body then

> one has to exhaust his karma in that body itself there

> is no question of carry forward of karma phala at all...

> According to shankara's (!!??)

 

You found pleasure in reading my first post and pain in reading the

second post. I guess life is always bitter-sweet!

 

But I am sorry that I caused you pain. You may ignore these legends

of Shankara if they do not agree with your sensibility. They are not

important to the topic or the arguments given in the article.

 

My intention was only to point out that the code of dharma that

governs our actions at any point in time is given by the (gross) body

that the self is identified with at that time. For example, the same

self is identified with a dog in one birth, and a man in another

birth. The dharma of the man is to act in accordance with the dharmic

actions of a man, and not with those of a dog. It is true that a man

carries the effects of his karma in the subtle body even after

dropping the (gross) body, but that is not what I was talking about.

I was talking about the dharma that determines a person's actions at

any given point in time. The story of Shankara came in useful as an

example to illustrate this fact, that is all.

 

Warm regards,

Chittaranjan

[Guest guest]

But I am sorry that I caused you pain. You may ignore these legends

of Shankara if they do not agree with your sensibility. They are not

important to the topic or the arguments given in the article.

 

praNAms Sri CN prabhuji

 

Oh!! dont think that your whole article (sanAtana dharma) gave me

pain...infact I really enjoyed reading your both articles ...the eloquence

in your articulation is really enviable...but I dont think you have

written that article in the spirit of debate!! have you prabhuji?? what

was the debating issue then?? I thought you have just written your thoughts

on vEdic religion.... pls. clarify...Anyway, what pained me was unwarranted

narrations about our bhagavad pAda's behaviour....I know, these are not

your words and this is what one can find when he wants to know about

shankara bhagavadpAda's life history....but I was wondering how far these

incidents are near to truth & give justice to magnanimity of that noble

stature !!!

 

Hari Hari Hari Bol!!!

bhaskar