Showing posts with label bhagwad gita. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bhagwad gita. Show all posts
Saturday, November 12, 2011
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Dharma - Part II
Carrying forth the topic of last issue, we will try to present the conclusive definition of the Dharma according to the bona fide authority of Vedic Scriptures. Just to recap, Dharma doesn’t mean a system of faith (or beliefs) but the innate quality of an entity which cannot be separated from the possessor.
This can be illustrated by the example of fire. Heat and light are the innate quality of fire, thus dharma of fire is to heat and illuminate. Coming to Dharma of a person, we would have to delve into the nature or that quality which is common to each one of them. Upon careful analysis and rule of discrimination by exception, it can be safely concluded, that the dharma is Service. Each and every person is serving someone or other. There are so many examples. A wife serves a husband by keeping the house in order and the husband serves the other family members by earning money and livelihood. The children serve their parents by following their instructions. The executive serves the senior executive who in turn serves the area manager who in turn serves the zonal manager. This goes on to country head, regional head, global head, CEO, Chairman who in turn serves to the interest of shareholders whose numbers might spill on from few thousands to few lakhs. Doesn’t matter who one is serving, but without exception all are serving.
The svarupa, or actual identity of the living entity, is described by Lord Chaitanya as Jivera 'svarupa' haya-krsnera 'nitya-dasa': the real identity of the living entity is that he is eternally a servitor of the Supreme Lord. Serve we must, whether dog or god, the decision rests on us. In the modern world of distant and cold relationships many are left without the loving care of family, no one to serve. Such people find solace to their heart by serving the animals. Keeping pets is one of the top suggestions given by psychologists to their mentally disturbed or depressed patients. Because by serving their pets, their dependents, they feel the fulfillment of their purpose of existence. The moment the realization that our eternal constitutional occupation is “service” dawns upon, the next question is “Who to serve?”. If our dharma is to serve then who is that person to be served which serves to our best interests. Knowingly or unknowingly we all are serving someone, but due to ignorance we do not know who to serve. The decision to select a master is a crucial one. An ideal master possesses qualifications like, merciful, affectionate, aware of our needs and desires, capable of providing livelihood, capable of providing protection and tolerance amongst others.
None other than the Supreme Lord fits this description. None other than him is capable of maintaining our lives, giving us protection, tolerating our repeated offences and mistakes since time immemorial.
bhoktaram yajna-tapasam
sarva-loka-mahesvaram
suhrdam sarva-bhutanam
jnatva mam santim rcchati
(Bhagavad-gita 5.29)
Being the supreme controller of all the planets and the enjoyer of all, and best friend of all living entities, who better than Krishna to strike a deal with? Krishna Himself declares Himself to be our best benefactor. The same sentiment is expressed by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu when he says,
tomare loite ami hoinu avatara
ami bina bandhu ara ke ache tomara
"I have descended just to save you. Other than Myself, who else is your friend?"
The master-servant relationship in this world is based on exploitation. The master maintains the servant so that he can exploit the servant for his own nefarious or not-so-nefarious acts. The moment the servant is incapable of serving, the pay cheques stop. But the master-servant relationship between Krishna and his devotees is transcendental. It is not based on exploitation, but based on love, the intense desire to please each other without any motivation. In advanced stages, the love becomes so thick that the identity of the served and the server interchanges naturally.
There are many examples of this in our Vedic scriptures, where the Supreme Master, the master of infinite universes, kindly agrees to be bound by the love and service, and Krishna himself becomes the servant of his servant. This was illustrated by Krishna around the time of the great battle of Kurukshetra. First he became a messenger for his dear Pandavas. Remember the post of a messenger is significant, but nonetheless he remains the servant. But Krishna graciously accepted it. Further on he became the chariot-driver for his devotee and friend Arjuna who was devoid of any enviousness. Krishna also displayed this sentiment when he served his old friend Sudama Vipra in his capital city of Dwarka.
So who do we want to serve, the mean, business minded bosses of this world or the most benevolent and affectionate and capable boss – Krishna? The power to decide rests with us.
This can be illustrated by the example of fire. Heat and light are the innate quality of fire, thus dharma of fire is to heat and illuminate. Coming to Dharma of a person, we would have to delve into the nature or that quality which is common to each one of them. Upon careful analysis and rule of discrimination by exception, it can be safely concluded, that the dharma is Service. Each and every person is serving someone or other. There are so many examples. A wife serves a husband by keeping the house in order and the husband serves the other family members by earning money and livelihood. The children serve their parents by following their instructions. The executive serves the senior executive who in turn serves the area manager who in turn serves the zonal manager. This goes on to country head, regional head, global head, CEO, Chairman who in turn serves to the interest of shareholders whose numbers might spill on from few thousands to few lakhs. Doesn’t matter who one is serving, but without exception all are serving.
The svarupa, or actual identity of the living entity, is described by Lord Chaitanya as Jivera 'svarupa' haya-krsnera 'nitya-dasa': the real identity of the living entity is that he is eternally a servitor of the Supreme Lord. Serve we must, whether dog or god, the decision rests on us. In the modern world of distant and cold relationships many are left without the loving care of family, no one to serve. Such people find solace to their heart by serving the animals. Keeping pets is one of the top suggestions given by psychologists to their mentally disturbed or depressed patients. Because by serving their pets, their dependents, they feel the fulfillment of their purpose of existence. The moment the realization that our eternal constitutional occupation is “service” dawns upon, the next question is “Who to serve?”. If our dharma is to serve then who is that person to be served which serves to our best interests. Knowingly or unknowingly we all are serving someone, but due to ignorance we do not know who to serve. The decision to select a master is a crucial one. An ideal master possesses qualifications like, merciful, affectionate, aware of our needs and desires, capable of providing livelihood, capable of providing protection and tolerance amongst others.
None other than the Supreme Lord fits this description. None other than him is capable of maintaining our lives, giving us protection, tolerating our repeated offences and mistakes since time immemorial.
bhoktaram yajna-tapasam
sarva-loka-mahesvaram
suhrdam sarva-bhutanam
jnatva mam santim rcchati
(Bhagavad-gita 5.29)
Being the supreme controller of all the planets and the enjoyer of all, and best friend of all living entities, who better than Krishna to strike a deal with? Krishna Himself declares Himself to be our best benefactor. The same sentiment is expressed by Sri Chaitanya Mahaprabhu when he says,
tomare loite ami hoinu avatara
ami bina bandhu ara ke ache tomara
"I have descended just to save you. Other than Myself, who else is your friend?"
The master-servant relationship in this world is based on exploitation. The master maintains the servant so that he can exploit the servant for his own nefarious or not-so-nefarious acts. The moment the servant is incapable of serving, the pay cheques stop. But the master-servant relationship between Krishna and his devotees is transcendental. It is not based on exploitation, but based on love, the intense desire to please each other without any motivation. In advanced stages, the love becomes so thick that the identity of the served and the server interchanges naturally.
There are many examples of this in our Vedic scriptures, where the Supreme Master, the master of infinite universes, kindly agrees to be bound by the love and service, and Krishna himself becomes the servant of his servant. This was illustrated by Krishna around the time of the great battle of Kurukshetra. First he became a messenger for his dear Pandavas. Remember the post of a messenger is significant, but nonetheless he remains the servant. But Krishna graciously accepted it. Further on he became the chariot-driver for his devotee and friend Arjuna who was devoid of any enviousness. Krishna also displayed this sentiment when he served his old friend Sudama Vipra in his capital city of Dwarka.
So who do we want to serve, the mean, business minded bosses of this world or the most benevolent and affectionate and capable boss – Krishna? The power to decide rests with us.
Monday, August 1, 2011
Dharma - Part I
Dharma is often a topic of debate or discussions among people. Different people have different interpretations of it. Some say it is humanity, some say it is Nationality and others say faith is Dharma. Yato mat tatho path. As many people are there, as many will be interpretations.
Dharma is a Sanskrit word, and the English word that comes closest to it is Religion. The dictionary meaning of religion is “a particular faith”. Let us see the original meaning of Dharma from the scriptures the authority on Dharma.
The scriptures say that Dharma is the intrinsic nature of an entity. By entity, it is meant living or matter. Dharma is that quality which cannot be separated from its possessor. In other words Dharma is the root of it’s identity. Srila Prabhupada used to give example of fire. The dharma of fire is heat and light because, heat and light cannot be separated from fire. In case these two qualities are not present then it is not fire, but something else. Similarly the dharma of sugar is sweetness. The two cannot be separated.
This brings us to the point that what is our dharma? If we go according to the dictionary meaning, that corresponds to Religion or faith. But we have seen and experienced shifts in our faiths and other’s faiths. It is not uncommon to read or hear about conversions. So possibility of change in one’s faith indicates it is not something innate or the very existence or identity of the person. Hence religion is not dharma.
Someone may question here that why are we denying the authority of dictionary here over the meaning of word Dharma. But there is a need to understand the significance of authority. When a Micro-biology researcher faces an obstacle in field work, who does he approach? One may approach an high-school biology teacher or even a college Zoology or Botany professor. But we see in real life one will take the most obvious choice of approaching the Subject Matter Expert on micro-Biology. Why? Because the SME is an authority in the chosen field. The high-school teacher or college professor may be able to give some pointers, but they would be as generic as the content taught in those levels. Similarly to seek out Dharma we should go to the authority on this subject, and that is Shastra - Scriptures. This Dictionary may give a meaning but it would be vague at best.
That Dharma is the innate nature or intrinsic quality of one’s very existence means it is transcendental to all situations. Since we are the soul which is eternal, it’s dharma is also eternal. Sanatana Dharma! – Dharma that is existing since time immemorial. The body, the external covering of soul is temporary; hence the dharma of body is also temporary. Therefore religion may be attributed to the body, because body is born in a particular family practicing one faith. but soul is transcendental to all such circumstances, hence it’s dharma is also transcendental.
Source: Gems of Wisdom
Dharma is a Sanskrit word, and the English word that comes closest to it is Religion. The dictionary meaning of religion is “a particular faith”. Let us see the original meaning of Dharma from the scriptures the authority on Dharma.
The scriptures say that Dharma is the intrinsic nature of an entity. By entity, it is meant living or matter. Dharma is that quality which cannot be separated from its possessor. In other words Dharma is the root of it’s identity. Srila Prabhupada used to give example of fire. The dharma of fire is heat and light because, heat and light cannot be separated from fire. In case these two qualities are not present then it is not fire, but something else. Similarly the dharma of sugar is sweetness. The two cannot be separated.
This brings us to the point that what is our dharma? If we go according to the dictionary meaning, that corresponds to Religion or faith. But we have seen and experienced shifts in our faiths and other’s faiths. It is not uncommon to read or hear about conversions. So possibility of change in one’s faith indicates it is not something innate or the very existence or identity of the person. Hence religion is not dharma.
Someone may question here that why are we denying the authority of dictionary here over the meaning of word Dharma. But there is a need to understand the significance of authority. When a Micro-biology researcher faces an obstacle in field work, who does he approach? One may approach an high-school biology teacher or even a college Zoology or Botany professor. But we see in real life one will take the most obvious choice of approaching the Subject Matter Expert on micro-Biology. Why? Because the SME is an authority in the chosen field. The high-school teacher or college professor may be able to give some pointers, but they would be as generic as the content taught in those levels. Similarly to seek out Dharma we should go to the authority on this subject, and that is Shastra - Scriptures. This Dictionary may give a meaning but it would be vague at best.
That Dharma is the innate nature or intrinsic quality of one’s very existence means it is transcendental to all situations. Since we are the soul which is eternal, it’s dharma is also eternal. Sanatana Dharma! – Dharma that is existing since time immemorial. The body, the external covering of soul is temporary; hence the dharma of body is also temporary. Therefore religion may be attributed to the body, because body is born in a particular family practicing one faith. but soul is transcendental to all such circumstances, hence it’s dharma is also transcendental.
Source: Gems of Wisdom
Saturday, April 21, 2007
Welcome
It is the world of Omkar a guy from Karnataka, India. Lot of things to be said and discussed. First let me start by explaining the meaning of "OMKAR". What is OM?
It is the holy word used in hindu scripts.
The Katha Upanishad has:
"The goal, which all Vedas declare, which all austerities aim at, and which humans desire when they live a life of continence, I will tell you briefly it is Aum"
The Bhagavad Gita (8.13) has:
Uttering the monosyllable Aum, the eternal world of Brahman, One who departs leaving the body (at death), he attains the superior goal.
Uttering the monosyllable Aum, the eternal world of Brahman, One who departs leaving the body (at death), he attains the superior goal.
I come from a land of incarnations and karma, the India, in South Asia. India is a land which got the oldest civilizatin of the world, the Indus Valley Civilisation, the land which got the sages, scientists, and astronomers in the time when the rest of the world was sleeping. The land which gifted the number Zero to the world and many more wonders are happening till today...
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