Shri Shri Anandamurti jii
Dharma means “innate tendency” or “nature”. Every object has its nature. The nature of fire is to burn: this is its dharma. From one perspective, eating, drinking, and procreating. natural dharma of animals, are also the dharma. But spiritual practice is associated only with human beings. To differentiate spiritual practice from all other dharma (eating drinking, and so forth), it is known as Bhagavad Dharma. That is to say, the dharma which leads man to God, which infuses in him a craving to attain God, is Bhagavad Dharma.
A natural feeling for Universal Consciousness is in the heart of every human being; the man who does not have it is no better than an animal. I say that in the human frame, if one does not have love for God, one is even lower than an animal. An animal does not have love for God because it is undeveloped, whereas man is an evolved being and should have love for God. Those who want to prosper must follow Bhagavad Dharma invariably.
Bhagavad Dharma is based on three fundamental aspects; expansion (vistara), spiritual flow (rasa), and service (seva). Expansion means to make your mind great. Withdraw your mind from all narrowness. Superficiality and narrowness, whether in you or in society, must be totally and mercilessly eradicated in order to progress. Where there is contraction, there is sin and animality. Where there is expansion, there is virtue, humanity and divinity.
The followers of Bhagavad Dharma consider the entire universe as the manifestation of Visnu (the All-pervasive Consciousness). They are in love with Paramapurusa. They are in love with in that Entity in whose mind this vast cosmos has been created. He has created this universe; even a blade of grass is His manifestation. Thus this spiritual expansion enables man to love each and every object, since he is in love with God. Nothing is hateful for him; all are the expressions of God, all are objects of his reverence. Where there is no spiritual expansion, where there is no narrowness, where people sepaгаte themselves from others by religious walls, you may assume that they are not following Bhagavad Dharma. Bhagavad Dharma has no scope for such divisiveness. Where there is expansion (vistara), there is Bhagavad Dharma.
The Second aspect is spiritual flow (rasa). Whatever happens in the world, whether we call it natural or unnatural, happens by the grace of Paramapurusa. For Paramapurusa there is nothing external. Everything is internal for Him. His psychic waves are our external world. His thought waves, because of their varied wave-lengths, become different things. These thought-waves of Paramapurusa are His Svarasa, His own flow.
Similarly, in the minds of human beings various thoughts create different wavelenghts. The average of the different psychic wavelengths of human beings is their own characteristic wavelength, their svarasa, their own flow. Because of this individual flow, there is difference between man and man; every man has his own feelings and his own desires. Because of the different individual flows there are different ambitions and different angles of vision.
Suppose you are walking along a road. A cobaler will look at your feet, a laundry man at your body and a saloon owner at your head. This is all done according to man’s individal flow. Now according to the Cosmic Flow of Paramapurusa the flow of the entire universe is being decided.
When your individual flow and that of Paramapurusa are not the same, your wish, your ambition, cannot be fulfilled. Man desires many things, of which only one percent is fulfilled. If you desire but God does not, the work will not be done. The individual flow cannot work outside the Universal Flow. What is this flow: When one falls in love with Paramapurusa, one becomes acquainted with His nature. When one knows His nature, one becomes blessed and victorious. People will say. “So-and-so has become victorious”; but truly speaking, he knew the desire of Paramapurusa and therefore he became victorious. Thus the second aspect is to flow one’s own mental flow into the Cosmic Flow. The play of Krsna (the Supreme Consciousness) with the flow of man is the rasaliila of Krsna.
Created beings are to move according to His will. There is no other way. Education, intellect, prestige, all are meaningless and useless if they are not directed in His Flow. The duty of the wise is to love Him and to move in His flow. The wise man should say. “Paramapurusa, I want nothing from you. I want to move in Your Flow. Let Your desire be fulfilled. I want nothing else.”
The third aspect of Bhagavad Dharm is service (seva). You know that when you exchange one thing for another, it is known as business. When you give but do not receive in return, it is called service. This is the fundamental difference between service and business. In many newspapers you will notice advertisements stating that a particular company has been rendering service to the people from such and such a year. This is not correct this is not service. It is business!
The service which a man can do for God is twofold: internal and external. Let us consider external service first. Since the entire cosmos is of God, is His offspring, serving it means serving God. Wherever you are, as a house-holder or a renunciate, you must render service to all created beings, with the ideation that they are all Cosmic Consciousness. Guarding yourself against egoism, you must think that by taking a particular shape, God has given you this chance to serve Him. It is to His credit that in the form of a diseased person, a helpless man or a beggar. He is accepting your service and making you grateful. Had He not come in this form, you would not have been blessed with this fortune. This external service can be performed by all people.
The other form of service is internal service. In japa (repetition of mantra), and in dhyana (meditation), there must always be the feeling that you want to serve Him. If this feeling is present, the mind immediately becomes concentrated in sadhana. Your have to serve and not be served. So take the feeling that you want to serve Paramapurusa. Even through the preliminary stage of sadhana (nama mantra), a sadhaka can attain total liberation (moksa). But one who practices a higher sadhana (such as vishesh yoga) cannot attain liberation if there is no feeling for service, and sadhana is done only for exhibition.
When internal service is not done properly, external service is also not done properly. Therefore, it is said that man will perform sadhana for “liberation of self and service to humanity (Atma moksartham jagat hitayaca)”. In “liberation for self” there is internal service, and in “service to humanity” there is external service. Both are needed. By external service the mind is purified, and with the purified mind internal service can be done,
Every man can expand his mind. Everyone can merge his own mental wave into the cosmic mental wave, Service, internal and external, can also be performed by everyone. Hence Bhagavad Dharma is the social dharma, the dharma for the entire humanity.
The nucleus of the Bhagavad Dharma is the nucleus of the cosmos. Knowingly or unknowingly you are moving around Him. As the earth moves around the sun, and the moon around the earth, so every individual moves around Him. Your sadhana is the lessening of the distance from Him.
One goes on moving according to one’s individual flow. According to man’s own individual flow, his nerve cells, glands and physical body are made. Different individual flows create different physical structures. Consciously or unconsciously, every creature knows internally that it is not separate from that All-pervasive Consciousness. Every creature is repeatedly saying inwardly, “Hamso” and “Soham”, ‘I am He and “He I am”. Adopting physical structures according to their own mental waves, creatures move in the evolutionary flow. God is the nucleus and the creatures are to their own individual flows, with their physical structure, they will go on moving as long as they think that they are separate from Paramapurusa. As long as there is a feeling that one is the drop and not the ocean, there is separation. But the moment the drop thinks it is the ocean, it becomes the ocean.
When “I” and “God” are different, there is aloofness. Once there is love’ there is no difference. You and God become one, service begets love, and love service. As long as this does not occur, one will have to move around. As long as this does not occur, like an ox turning a millstone. But when one is established in expansion, spiritual flow and service, the Bhagavad Dharma, the human dharma, all movement will cease. God and you will become one. Then only will men understand what is the play (liila) of God.
Following the dharma of an animal eating, drinking, procreating and dying – is dangerous for man because through this alone humanity will not progress; on the contrary, crudeness will flourish. Therefore, even if following Bhagavad Dharma is difficult, one must not follow animal dharma. It is better to die following Bhagavad Dharma than to lead an easy-going life following animal dharma.
You must remember that dharma does not mean the Hindu dharma, the Islam dharma or the Christian dharma. They are not dharma. They are sects. The dharma of man is one and same; its name is Bhagavad Dharma. Be established in that, and victory is yours!!!
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