Monday, October 27, 2008

What is Dharma?


The Sanskrit word Dharma represents the ultimate truth of the universe. Dharma is to do one's given duty with responsibility and devotion. Anything that you do with dedication in the righteousness and in the correct path is called Dharma. The sanathana dharma defined in the Buddism and Hinduism is a universal concept of brotherhood, right and a justified way of existense. Dharma is a way of living. It is the structure on which the spiritual restlessness of the country exists. One way, in the modern context, it can be defined as the Law of the universe.
According to me, Dharma is nothing but your in conscience. Doing what you feel right is your dharma. Sometimes, withstanding evil and tolerating wrong doings is also against the dharma. Times immemorial had representation of the ways in which the evil had been destroyed in various eras. Be it in any religion, the basic dharma is to do what is required to withhold the righteousness of the world. Dharma is a way of understanding the nature. Imagine, if the nature do not go by its normal way and ends up in earthquakes, floods, tsumani's and destroy the mankind. Dharma is similar to nature in all means. The Doctrines of Jainism, Buddism and Hinduism defines dharma as a tradition. This tradition which enables us to attain Moksha, Mukthi or Nirvana, which is nothing but an individual libralization. The moksha is not to the body, but to the mind. A new realisation from the materialistic mankind. Who ever consciously believes in the Dharma and always thrive for victory over evil is closer to God.
"" Verily, that which is Dharma is truth.
Therefore they say of a man who speaks truth, 'He speaks the Dharma,'
or of a man who speaks the Dharma, 'He speaks the Truth.'
Verily, both these things are the same."
(Brh. Upanishad, 1.4.14)""
Dhaaranaad dharma ity aahur dharmena vidhrtaah prajaah, Yat syaad dhaarana sanyuktam sa dharma iti nishchayah", Dharma upholds both this-worldly and the other-worldly affairs (Mbh 12.110.11).- From Mahabarath, Krishna's words to Arjuna

Sunday, October 26, 2008

Do we need Spiritual Leaders?

This is one question that came across every spiritual leader, be it Swami Vivekananda, Chinmayananda, Satya Sai Baba or Sri Sri Ravishankar. This is like asking if a train can run without a guard, a ship can sail without a captain, or a class can go without a teacher.
The direct answer is YES. Because, the spiritual leaders are required to remind us various things that we other wise forget to acknowledge in our ordinary lives. Spirituality is a way of living and the very essence is to know how to control one's emotions and manage lives without negative perceptions. Spiritual leaders are those people who define the righteousness, set a way of practice, proclaim the methods to manage our thoughts and provoke us with the effective speeches that transform our thinking. All this people would have undergone a kind of enlightenment, empowered by a practicing what they preach and determining their own way of understanding God and oneself. To me, its a kind of dawn over my zooming thoughts, a kind of realisation of what I am, and a kind of understanding the reality behind my various thought processes. The vivid knowledge areas, and various processes that control and define our lives, and the kind of people we interact, and the kind quest that makes us search for an eternal blessing and transformation from this materialistic world. Almost all of the spiritual leaders at one point had been doubted as con man. What an ordinary person fails to understand is that these spiritual leaders are far above all these materialistic things that happen to them in life, after they become what they are to the world around. Its like a fully fed man, being given more and more of food. It doesn't make any more sense of the extra food that the person gets. Similarly spiritual leaders are the people who have attained a saturation and anything beyond is just meaningless and questioning their worth or wisdom is equally a useless endeavour.

Saturday, October 25, 2008

What is my Religion?

What defines my religion? By birth, I belong to one religion, the religion of my parents. By education, I belong to the religion of my teachers. By career, I belong to the religion of my employer. By virtues, I belong to the religion of my friends and people around me. By inner conscience, I belong to the religion that lets me live in peace and tranquility.
Overall, I belong to the religion called " Humanity" - the name of my spiritual religion. The religion of humanity lets me live in the way my consciousness and inner-self determines the right path and beliefs and faiths that guard me and guide me always. This is my world and myself to enjoy the humanity because what ever may be the faith or the way of prayer, ultimately the destination is a belief in a super power that is guiding the mankind. The super power is not seen, not heard, or not met... The super power is only believed. It is the belief and faith, faith in an unseen God, which in turn is nothing but the judgement of your heart, mind and soul, to make you go in the righteousness of the world.