Follow Dharma

Some great thinkers quote scriptures and speak of lofty principles such as dharma, moksha, etc. They say, life is worth living only when a certain path of dharma is followed and certain rules and regulations are strictly followed. They suggest certain path of salvation and advise us to follow rituals. But, there are so many paths here that no one knows for sure which one is the right one, or the best. It is only the daring, who are willing to take risk, ready to tread the unknown, break the tradition and willing to take a new path, face adverse conditions and serious consequences or even failure, take a new untrodden path and leave a trail that are sure to be amply rewarded at the end with rare gifts such as peace, unbounded joyfulness (mahat-anand), supreme bliss, Liberation (mukti) from further embodiment, and immortality. ‘Free will’ is given to all so that they can choose path suitable to them. There are as many paths as there are seekers.

   Let’s remember the fact that the jiva that takes an elemental body may appear in any form anywhere on this earth. Further, the jiva taking repeated births may appear in its next life in any form, anywhere without any restriction, whatsoever. It may continue to work to fulfil its desires in the subsequent births, too. Hence, Varaha Mihira may be reborn as Galileo, who in turn, may be reborn as Tyco Brahe, Johannes Kepler, and Newton, or Stephen Hawking or a cat or a dog. Nothing prevents the jiva from taking repeated births with new names and forms. Bhaskara may be reborn as Columbus, Magellan, or Vasco da Gama, provided his desire is to physically go round the earth and see for himself the nature of this world which he could not do in the previous birth! Ultimately, neither there is birth nor death, but transformations of matter and spirit! 

   What prevents anybody from taking birth anywhere is a matter of its (jiva’s) desire and attachments, vasanas, only, and nothing else. The Jiva may move freely since it has no bodily restrictions. Hence, all our understandings are based on sheer ignorance of the reality of existence.

   Thus, there is need for rethinking on all these divisions and distinctions of lands, peoples, their languages, cultures, and traditions. The reality is that nothing is real here. Everything is just the nature of the Mind to divide and disintegrate, dissect and differentiate. This is not the true nature of the jiva. The jiva is in the grip of the fickle mind and its ego rules it. If the buddhi takes over and rules the mind with the help of prajnya, the jiva will be in a position to enjoy its duration of earthly stay and make way for a return journey at the earliest. But, how to get back is the problem. The soul that was pristine pure with atomic weight of less than that of Hydrogen got embodied and is now so embedded in the mire of earthly existence that it has become too gross and heavy to rise above the earth’s surface, let alone exit the earth’s dense atmosphere. The forces that bind the soul to the jiva are very subtle like desire, attachment, anger, ego, and instincts, etc. If it has to gain escape velocity it should become so pure and pristine as it was before; its arrival here as energy, spirit, an electrical spark, a photon, is now gross matter. Atman or soul is just not only energy, but the knower of energy, the source of consciousness, and bliss. It is sat, chit and ananda. It is power and has creative energy, knowledge, technology, information, and ability to transform one into another in multitudes of varieties and functions.

   The embodied soul, once assuming an elemental body is destined to stay here. This is the understanding of Sri Madhvacharya that prompted him to state that “there is no salvation to the earth-bound jiva” and it can never utter the word ‘aham brahmasmi’. But, there is nothing wrong in the mahat vakya, the ultimate principle. Whether a student passes the examination with a 100% score or not, the goal is already set. It is left to the jiva to attain to the state of perfection. Sri Madhvacharya probably had in his mind only the fishermen of Udupi and Malpe. But, did he not visit Sringeri nearby and take the darshan of the Divine Mother Shree Sharadamba seated on Shree Chakra, or evenSudarshana, for that matter. The Divine Mother Sharadamba at Sringeri near Udupi blessed a number of devotees with profound knowledge and salvation, liberation, but the Vaishnavaites turn a blind eye and deaf year to all these?

    Thus, there is no end to ignorance of the jiva. Those who stick to a particular philosophy, siddhanta, will get stuck at that level and will not move to higher levels of consciousness during their life. Hence Krishna advices Arjuna to:

   ‘Transcend all limitations, acquired qualities- gunas, and surrender to HIM’. He says, sarva dharman parityajya maamekam sharanam vraja | “Worship Me only, adore Me, I shall take care of you, give you what you want and protect what you have”. Let there be no doubt about it”.