The Vedantha, the Adhyatmic Sastras, Dharma - all invite man to live and
act as Bhagavan, and not as bondsman. Then, all acts become Dharmakarma and not
Kamyakarma (acts done with intent to gain the fruits thereof). The shackles of
bondage cannot be avoided by a mere change of the type of activity. They can be
avoided only by changing the point of view from the Deha to the Deva, from the
Created to the Creator. The moral qualities also will be rendered stronger,
thereby. Some persons hold the opinion that being employed is bondage, while
sitting at home without any specific work is freedom! This is a sign of want of
intelligence. When employed in a job, one has to obey the superior officer.
But, can one escape the demands and compulsions of relations even while at
home? Well, even when one is amidst friends only, can he avoid the necessity of
acting according to their fancy? Can one be free at least from the need to take
care of one's own body and cater to one's own comfort? How then can man feel
free, while in the cage of bondage? All life is a prison, whatever the
difference between one type of sentence and another. It is so, as long as the
attitude of identifying the Self with the body is there.
That is why once Sankara said, "the egoism based on the body is
what is meant by Naraka or Hell". Egoism of this kind is just another form
of the contra-Divine attitude. Who can remove all the thorns and pebbles from
the face of the earth? The only way to avoid them is to move about with
footwear. So too, with the Vedanthadarsana or Philosophy of Vedantha. With the
vision fixed on Sathya or the Reality, with full faith in the Brahmam which is
your own essential nature, you can by-pass the need to transform the external
world to suit your ideal of happiness and Sathyadharma can be attained. He who
tramples down egoism and declares with conviction thus: "I am not the
bondsman of this body, which is the repository of all types of servitude; the
body is my bondsman. I am the master and the manipulator of everything, I am
the embodiment of freedom", is already liberated. All codes of duties must
help in this process of the destruction of the ego; they should not foster it
and make it grow wild. That is the road to freedom. If a person, finding life
with the son miserable, goes to the daughter and lives in her house, that is
not winning freedom! That's only a way of feeding the ego. This search for
sensual happiness cannot be elevated into "Dharma".
After all, what is a home for? For the enjoyment of the bliss derived
from the contemplation of the Lord, for getting the opportunity to meditate on
the Lord undisturbed. All the rest can be ignored, but not these. The True
Dharma of the individual is to taste the bliss of merging with the Absolute,
and attain true Liberation. A person who has reached that stage can never be
bound, even if he is put in the grimmest of prisons; on the other hand, for a
person who is the slave of the body, even a blade of grass can become an
instrument of death. The true Dharma is to be immersed in the Atmic Bliss, the
Inner Vision, the steady faith in the identity of one's real nature with the
Absolute, and the realisation that all is Brahmam; these four are the authentic
Dharma. In this physical existence as particular individuals, these four are
named for the convenience of practice (but yet saturated with the Inner Dharma
of Atmic Reality) Sathya, Santham, Prema and Ahimsa, so that particularised
individuals who are only personifications of that Absolute can follow them in
daily life. The mode of pursuit of Dharma, now as in the past, is to adhere to
these high principles in every act and thought. The Sathya, Santham, Ahimsa and
Prema of today are but the Unintermittent immersion in the Atma, the Vision
fixed on the Inner Truth, the Contemplation of One's Real Nature and the
Knowledge that all is Brahmam, the one and the only. These, the Fundamental and
the Derived, must be co-ordinated and harmonised. Then only can it be termed
Atmadharma.
It does not matter what your activity is, or what name and form you have
chosen. A chain is a chain whatever the material it binds, whether it is iron
or gold, is it not? So too, whether the work is of this type or that, so long
as the Atma Dharma is the base, and Atmathathwa the root, it is Dharma beyond
doubt. Such work will bless one with the fruit of Santhi. When the waves of
egoist fear or greed drive one forward, either into the privacy of the home, or
the loneliness of the forest, or to any other refuge, it is impossible to
escape suffering. The cobra does not cease to be a cobra, when it lies coiled.
Then too, it is cobra nevertheless. In daily practice, when acts are motivated
by the basic Principle of the reality of the Atma, every act becomes stamped
with the seal of Dharma. But when acts are motivated by convenience and selfish
interest, the Dharma becomes pseudo Dharma. It is a variety of bondage, however
attractive it may be. Like prisoners in a jail pushed in a single file by
warders, either to the court of trial or the dining barracks, the prompting of
the senses pushes the bondsman forward either to a place of sorrow or to a
place of relief.
Why, even the feeling, "That is a friend" or "This is an
enemy" is an error. This delusion has to be given up. The Lord, the
embodiment of Prema, is the Only Constant Friend and Relative, Companion, Guide
and Protector. Know this and live in that knowledge. This is Dharma built on
the bedrock of Understanding, that is Life built on the bedrock of Dharma.
Ignoring this fundamental basis, when attention is concentrated on external
polish, the goal moves beyond reach. Attachment to the world can be destroyed
only by attachment to the Lord. Why complain that the ground cannot be seen, when
what you have been doing all the while is to fix your gaze on the sky? Watch
the ground and look at the sheet of water that reflects the sky, - then you can
see, at the same time, the sky above and the earth below. So too, if you must
adhere to Sathyadharma (which after all is the practice of the Immanent Atmic
Principle) you must see, in every act the reflection of the Glory of the Atma;
then, attachment to the Lord will transmute the attachment to the world into a
pure offering. The goal should not be altered or lowered; that is to say, the
essentials should be kept intact. Dharma does not depend on the various names
and forms that its application entails; they are not so basic; it depends more
on the motives and the feelings that direct it and canalise it.
Dharma Vahini, chapter II
Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
