Srimad Bhagavatham

Yama continued:

Indra, Varuna, Agni, Surya etc. we all are doing our actions depending on the ultimate reality of Lord. The dhootas of that Paramatma are roaming around in all places – their very aim is to protect the devotees of the Lord. Nobody in the world can stop them from that. Dharma is decided by the Lord alone – that is dharma which is associated with the remembrance and surrender to the ultimate reality of Lord. Devas and manushyaas cannot easily understand Dharma. He who sees duality in the world and considers the duality as real will not be able to understand Dharma.

Explanation

As we discussed in the previous day, creation is nothing but an illusion in the ultimate reality of creator who is the substratum of the creation. Since creator has total control over his creation (illusory creation), things happen as a result of his wish and will. This is what the various scriptures proclaim that “fearing him, the Sun shines” etc. All the people in the world whether it is human beings or Gods or yama, all are controlled by the Lord alone.

Since Lord is the total controller of the world – therefore his devotees are being protected by the Lord through his dhootas. These dhootas keep roaming around to protect the devotees of the Lord. This is the greatness of the Lord that he himself remains a servant to his devotees. It is because of this that the Lord proclaims in many places in Gita that he takes care of his devotees welfare at all times. This is also seen in different puranic stories where the Lord has protected his devotees beyond all limitations. Since Lord is the controller of all things in the world, therefore he can protect his devotees from all sorts of troubles. Thus once the seeker surrenders unto the ultimate reality of Lord, the Lord takes care of the seeker’s welfare. Therefore what is required from the seeker is total and unconditional surrender unto the Lord. He should always remember the Lord and offer all actions unto the Lord. When he does thus, the Lord becomes his servant and remains vigilant to protect the devotee. The Lord has shown through different saints experiences as to how he protects his devotees. The story of Ambariksha in Bhagavatham itself is a testimony to the Lord’s statement that he will protect his devotee. The lives of Mira, Swami Vivekananda etc. are proofs of the fact that the Lord protects his devotees whenever they require it.

It may not be that the Lord protects his devotees through the form of Vishnu or Siva – but the reality of Lord is formless and all-pervasive Consciousness. The means through which the Lord protects his devotees is many – the various beings in the world that we see are all manifestations of the ultimate reality of Lord only. Thus we all would have experienced at one time or the other the presence of the Lord through fellow beings and even animals. Thus we find in the life of AMMA that animals gave her food to eat when she was staying outside her house after her parents has sent her out. Cows used to give AMMA milk directly. Crows, eagles and dogs used to get food and give it to AMMA. Thus for a devotee who has total surrender to the reality of Lord, everything is a presence of the Lord. And for such a devotee, help comes whenever required from all quarters.

More than physical or mental help, it is the spiritual progress and upliftment that is really important for a seeker. When a seeker completely surrenders unto the reality of Lord, the Lord himself shows the path to spiritual goal for the seeker. The Lord himself appears to the seeker as a Guru – making the seeker turn inwards to contemplate on the reality of Self or Lord & thereby making the seeker realize his own very nature of Lord. Happiness gained from the external objects cannot give long lasting bliss, peace and contentment to the seeker. It is only through realization of the ultimate reality of Lord that a person gets eternal bliss thereby remaining content with whatever is there & not seeking out anything at all.

Thus a real devotee gains by the presence of the Lord in all beings as well as gains scriptural knowledge about the reality of the Lord through the Guru who is God manifested in human form. Thus a seeker should always strive to be a devotee of the Lord so that he gets liberated from the bondages of the world and sorrow-sufferings in the Lord. Since all are seeking eternal bliss and complete cessation of sorrow, there is no other path to this than realizing the ultimate reality of Lord through constant contemplation of the Lord & becoming a real devotee of the Lord.

Ajamila took the name of the Lord – thereby was saved from death or sorrows in the world. After this, he realized his mistake of forgetting the reality of Lord and luring into worldly sensual pleasures. Thus he contemplated on the reality of Lord thereby merging into the Lord – realizing the ultimate reality of Lord as the one and only thing present in the illusory world.

Thus Bhagavatham here is telling each one of us to follow Dharma which is constant contemplation of the reality of Lord – becoming a real devotee – thereby realizing the ultimate reality of Lord.

Bhagavatham also says that he who sees duality in the world will not be able to find out what is Dharma. This means that he will not be able to see the all-pervading Lord amidst illusory objects of the world. Thus if a seeker wishes to realize the non-dual underlying reality of Lord among the illusory duality perceived, he has to renounce the notion that the duality which he see is real and contemplate on the reality of Lord as pervading all things in the world. Upanishads thus proclaim that he who sees duality as real will go from death to death. Such a person will be born again and again – entering into the ocean of samsara – as he forgets the underlying reality of Lord & goes by the external names-forms which are mere illusions in the reality of Lord.

Let us all try to not be deluded into the duality perceived – instead let us all try to be real devotees of the Lord so that the Lord will always be present to protect us and lead us to realization of our own very nature of Lord.

We will continue with the discussion between Yama and his kinkaras next.

We will try to analyze on Dharma-Adharma today and the view of the scriptures on the same. This is a very vast and controversial topic. We have already discussed this a number of times but still recollecting, refreshing and remembering what DHARMA is really important for a seeker as then he will be able to know what to do and what not to do. Moreover when this theory becomes clear, there will be no confusion between good actions-bad actions, action-inaction etc.

The general concept of Dharma is that it is those action which are as per the Vedas. Any action which is condemned in the Vedas is an adharmic action. But this defintion is valid only till the seeker is at the action level - trying to gain some fruit out of the action. Action or ritualistic part of Vedas is meant only to purify the mind and thereby make a seeker eligible to apprehend the ultimate reality of Brahman propounded in the scriptures. Thus action has no direct relationship with the spiritual path instead is just a step which makes a person eligible and efficient enough to go fast and smooth in the spiritual path.

It is therefore important to remember that defining dharma as per actions is not complete but incomplete. For a real seeker, any action which is selfless and done as an offering to the Lord is DHARMA. The word DHARMA means that which upholds the reality. The reality is upholded by the mind when it focusses itself on the reality & throughout contemplates on the reality. Thus DHARMA is that action which helps a seeker to contemplate constantly on the ultimate reality of Lord. That action which takes the seeker away from the reality (seeker's mind) is ADHARMA. Thus if a person does the bad action of cheating or telling lies but remembering the Lord & offering this act of cheating to the Lord, that action is a DHARMA. But if a person does the action of helping out the poor but with egoistic attitude and forgetting the reality of Lord, that action is ADHARMA.

To make this clear, let us analyze on ACTION and KNOWLEDGE as propounded by the Lord in Gita.

Sarvam karma akhilam partha jnaane parisamaapyathe
"O Arjuna! All actions end in knowledge"

Yathedhaamsih samiddhognih bhasmasaat kuruthe arjuna
jnaanaagnih sarva karmaani bhasmasaat kuruthe tathaa
"O Arjuna! As fire burns firewood completely into ashes, similarly the knowledge of the ultimate reality of Lord burns all actions into ashes".

DHARMA and ADHARMA with respect to action is valid only until there is ACTION. But that action which is selfless, offered to the Lord and done with the knowledge that everything is the Lord alone ceases to be an action. Thus it cannot be classified as action at all - thus the definition of dharma and adharma based on action fails.

The Lord's one of the final statements at the end of Gita is thus:
Sarva dharmaan parityajya maam ekam sharanam vraja
Aham tvaa sarva paapebhyo mokshayishyaami ma suchah

Renounce all actions and take refuge in Me alone -- I will take care of all your sins, dont worry.

This is not a mere statement but a fact which each devotee, each seeker can experience in his life. Here the Lord doesn't say to follow DHARMA instead he is instructing the seeker to renounce all dharmaas and take refuge in the Lord alone.

Thus what is really required is constant contemplation on the Lord & not separate-distinct actions to be performed. Once a person gets the knowledge that everything is the Lord alone & there is nothing but the Lord alone, actions cease. Thus in that case, there is nothing but constant remembrance of the Lord alone. This is what is real DHARMA - that which leads a person to realization of his own very nature of Lord.

Thus DHARMA is nothing but constant contemplation of the Lord and it doesn't depend on the action that the seeker performs -- but it depends on the attitude of the seeker & as to whether the thought of the Lord is associated with the action.

Lord himself says thus about actions:
Api chet suduraachaaro bhajathe maam ananya bhaak
Saadhureva sa mantavyah samyak vyavasitho hi sah

Even he who does the worse action (Lord doesn't mention bad but worse) but remembering the Me alone -- then he is to be considered as SADHU (SADHU is one who is seeking the reality and leading a pious llife) as he is ever steadfast in me.

Here Arjuna might have raised a doubt as to then what about the bad actions he does??? (since realized saints never do bad actions and seeker become realized saints in time) -- the Lord anticipates this doubt and answers this thus:

Kshipram bhavathi dharmaatma shashvat shaanthim nigacchathi
Kaunteya prathijaaneethi na me bhakthah pranashyathi

He very soon becomes a DHARMAATMA (one who does good alone and constantly remembers the Lord) & attains the eternal peaceful state -- O Arjuna! Know for sure that my devotee never perishes.

Thus DHARMA is nothing but constant remembrance of the lord at all times - ADHARMA is forgetting the Lord. Being seekers of the reality, we have to always contemplate on the reality of Lord & never do ADHARMA (which is forgetting the ultimate reality that there is only Lord here, one without a second).

Yama continued:

Brahma, Narada, Siva, Sanatkumara, Kapila, Manu, Prahlaada, Janaka, Bheeshma, Mahabali, Shuka, Yama – these 12 people know what is Dharma. Dharma in the form of the ultimate reality of Brahman is very secret indeed and tough to experience – Experiencing it alone is Amritatva or immortality.

Explanation

Here we find Yama speaking about the number of people who really know the eternal Dharma of Brahman as well as the reality about immortality.

As we have already discussed, Dharma is nothing but knowledge of the ultimate reality of Brahman. As scriptures point out that a person who knows Brahman becomes verily Brahman, therefore Dharma is realizing one’s own very nature of Brahman. As the Lord points out in Gita, out of thousands of seekers very few strive for realization. Out of those thousand strivers, only very few realize the reality. This statement that very few people have realized the reality is not to create fear in the mind of the seeker that it is very tough to realize the reality, but it is to show how great it is to know one’s own very nature of Brahman. It is but a sad truth that even though each and every person is the ultimate reality of Lord, still very few realize it. All others consider themselves as the body, mind, and intellectual complex & get deluded into the same. Once a person forgets his own very nature of Lord, his mind delves in the illusory things of the world. Thus the mind becomes extroverted. Since the mind sees only physical things, therefore it considers itself or its source of Self also as physical. This is how the various chaarvaka systems came into existence who considered either the body as the Self or the sense organs as the Self or the mind as the Self. Only when a person diverts the extroverted mind into its own very source of Lord, does he turn inward & realize his own very nature of Lord. Until then the seeker thinks himself as physical and associated with the body. That this is completely wrong is easily known through the experience of dream and deep sleep when the seeker forgets the physical body and imagines another different body. In the deep sleep state, there is no body at all but still the seeker exists as eternal Existence, Consciousness and bliss. Thus this clearly proves that the seeker is neither the body nor associated in any way with the body.

This knowledge about the ultimate reality of Lord is very secret that even though it is available to each and every person, still very few grasp it and realize it. Thus there are very few people who have realized their own very nature of Lord. Therefore this knowledge is very secret. This is what Yama also points out here by giving the names of 12 people who really know the ultimate reality of Lord. Since it is very secret and sacred, therefore each seeker should strive to realize the Self in this very moment itself. Thus Bhagavatham here is indirectly telling each one of us to realize the reality this very moment itself without any delay.

This knowledge about the ultimate reality of Lord is available to each and every person. The seeker only needs to contemplate on the reality that there is nothing but the Lord alone, one without a second. Contemplating thus, the ignorance veils which veils his own very nature of Lord is completely removed & the seeker realizes his own very nature of Lord. Experiencing one’s own very nature of Lord is what is called as immortality. As long as we consider ourselves as the body, mind and intellect complex, we will think ourselves to be “mortal” because the body, mind and intellect complex itself is mortal. Thus mortality of the body, mind and intellect complex is superimposed on the real “I” which is the Lord alone. Once a seeker realizes his real nature of “I” as distinct from the illusory BMI (body, mind, intellect) complex, he becomes immortal because “I” is that which is ever present & the only entity present.

Thus realization of one’s own very nature of Lord is immortality and this alone makes a seeker immortal and beyond death. Let us all try to realize our own very nature of Lord and become immortal.