GEMS FROM THE
Beach 2: First steps in the Ascent to the Divine
Wave 6: An Overnight Capsule of Dharma ( Part III)
Does Dharma compensate for adharma?
Another question of Dhritarashtra is: Do dharma and adharma cancel each
other? Does one destroy the other in the life of an individual? The answer is
important for the understanding of Hinduism. No, Dharma and adharma do not cancel each other in
the case of an individual who performs actions without detachment. Whatever puNya-karma one does, one reaps the fruits of that puNya and whatever pApa-karma that one does one reaps the consequences of them
also. The two coexist.
[Note by VK: In the context of modern practice, it is significant to
note that when ill-gotten riches find their way to the Hundi of the Lord of
Tirupati, probably in the expectation that the ills of the sources of the
riches will be washed off, Sanatsujata tells us that you may get puNya for your
donation to Tirupati but your sins in acquiring those riches would still have
to be accounted for in toto!]
It is not as if you compensate for your sins by doing good. The compensation is only in terms of vAsanA and not in terms of the fruits of your actions. That
is why in the Gita (Ch.9 -21) the Lord says: Ascending to the heavenly worlds
by their puNya-karmas they enjoy in the heavens the
divine feasts of the gods; having enjoyed in paradise larger facilities, the
reward of their good deeds exhausted, they return to mortal existence (to
pursue their path on the ladder of evolution, either upwards or downwards
axcxcording to their vAsanAs). Coming back to human existence
is necessary here; for, animal existences, for instance, are only a passing
phase in the journey of the soul. Man’s
body is precious. It has the highest evolutionary value because of unique brain and spinal
centres. Only man can grasp the loftiest aspects of divinity and make efforts
to rise in the ladder of evolution. Exceptions are rare.
Vedas and Rituals.
Does study of the Vedas erase sins or not? The answer is No. The sins that
one commits have to be atoned for and consequences experienced. The study of the Vedas will only point the
way to salvation. So the next question arises.
Then why Vedas? Because they
are the ones which show you the right way. Man has the need to be released from the
apparently eternal cycle of deaths and births. The need for Moksha is taught by
the Vedas. They tell you the right attitude to rituals. The rituals are for the purification of the
mind. Unless the mind is purified even the teaching of the Vedas would not take you far. What is
the value of rituals? “What is the significance of pure tapas?” is the next question. The tapas,
-- askesis, that is – itself has to be faaultless. What are the faults or
defects in doing tapas, or penance? The answer comes very elaborately.
Thirty-one steps
In the style of all ancient religious and spiritual literature of the orient,
Sanatsujata classifies the faults in doing rituals, tapas or penance in a
systematic way, which gives tremendous insights into what Hinduism actually
wants from you in terms of your daily mental attitudes and training. These are
steps which are not necessarily sequenced. The teacher here lists twelve defects to be avoided, seven pitfalls of the human mind to be warned
against and twelve
positive virtues to be
cultivated in earnest.
The twelve defects which have always to be avoided are:
Wrath, lust,
greed, delusion, desire to know about material happiness, non-compassion,
jealousy, unashamedness, sorrow, desire, envy and disgust.
Human failings which are to be condemned ever are:
Sensual
pleasure-seeking, being immersed in trivialities, regretting after giving,
miserliness, feeling of weakness, gloating over one’s own lineage, and hate or
distrust for women.
The twelve positive virtues are:
Knowledge,
Truth, Self-control, scholarship, absence of intolerance, shamefulness for the
vices, patience, absence of jealousy, sacrificial ritual, giving, courage and
calmness.
Vedas versus Knowledge.
The question is now raised. What is the result of mastery of
the vedas? The answer is scholarly. Truth is One. That
is all what the Vedas are supposed to reveal.
The root word ‘vid’ from which the word Veda is derived,
has several connotations: to be, to exist, to know, to be conscious of, to
enquire, to gain. The One that exists is
the the Ultimate Supreme Consciousness. The thing to know is that One without a
second. That has to be enquired into.
And by that enquiry you reach the highest gain, namely Moksha. This is all
there is to know from the entire Vedas. Instead of learning this single lesson
from the Vedas one keeps on going round and round the truth. Thus the Vedas
became a vast ocean of words. Truth does
not need so much scholarship. Those who possess scholarship of the Vedas are
called Brahmins. But the real Brahmins
are those who are firmly established in that One Truth.
There is no single knower of all the Vedas. By knowing the Vedas one
does not know what is to be known. The knower of the Vedas knows only what the
Vedas say; but the knower of the Truth is different. By studying the Vedas one gets to acquire
knowledge but neither these knowers nor the Vedas themselves know the
Reality:
Yo veda vedAn sa ca
veda vedyaM na tam vidur-veda-vido na vedAH (Sanatsu: II – 43).
Even then, it is the Vedas which point to that Reality for the knower
of the vedas to become the knower of Brahman. The Vedas cannot make you the
knower of Brahman. Let us not confuse understanding with a larger vocabulary.
Like the branches of a tree which help to indicate the direction in which to
look for the archlike streak of the moon two days after new moon, the Vedas
only show you the way. Only when your
conviction of a truth is not just in your brain but also in your Being can you
vouch for its validity.
Important note: There are four significant shlokas (II – 41
to 44) in this context in Sanatsujatiyam, which should be read and enjoyed in
the original, along with Shankara’s commentary.
Go to Four Gems.
Why is knowing the Vedas not knowledge?
This eloquent testimony against the inability of the vedas to take you
across the ocean of samsAra comes from no less a person than the foremost
brahmin, knower of Brahman, first progeny from the mind of Creator BrahmA and
one of four such sons of BrahmA who had their spiritual insight by a direct
inspiration fm the Dakshinamurti form of Lord Shiva, the form itself being a
manifestation for this very purpose of giving, not only knowledge of Brahman,
but the state of being Brahman. So much is talked about the inability of the
vedas expressing themselves about Brahman, because, the very nature of Brahman
is an abstraction.
Abstraction is a concept which we very often meet with in Science,
particularly in the field of Mathematics. But the abstraction of Mathematics
and that of Vedanta have a distinct difference between themselves which put
them totally apart. The abstraction of Mathematics – like Infinity for instance
–can be put in precise words and so, can be communicated not only effectively
but by exact language and symbolism. Not so in Vedanta. The abstraction which
leads to Brahman can never be put into precise language – that is the sorry
predicament of the Vedas themselves, as can be seen from such statements as “From
which all speech retreats; not having reached it (even) by the mind”:
Yato vAco nivartante
/ aprApya manasA saha // (
To know that such is the case is itself right knowledge,
that paves the way for an intuitionistic experience of the Supreme
reality that is Brahman.
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Mar.5, 2007 Copyright Ó V. Krishnamurthy