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by Sri Bmal Mohanty
VOL No. 6
December 2000
The
Universal Problem
Understanding the Creation
CHAPTER
EIGHT - DHARMACARAN Part one - WHAT IS RIGHTEOUS LIVING? ..
"Based
on lectures by Sri Bimal Mohanty"
When we talk
so much about our goal and our endeavor to achieve it, as our primary
concern, it is proper to define what is exactly we are called upon to
practice. We are asked to walk the path of Dharma, to lead a life confirming
to the divine norms. In other words we are asked to practice Dharma all
the time.
What is Dharma really in common man's parlance? Is it worship? Is it practice of austerity and renunciation? Is it study of all the religious scriptures? Or is it all these and much more?
The word Dharma ( loosely translated as religion) is a vast subject lending itself to great many interpretations. From highly scholar and philosophical interpretations to simple commandments, many things are also understood as Dharma.
However the Sanatan Hindu Dharma or the religion applicable universally, and as expounded in our philosophy has always tried to give dharma a meaning with only one single objective in mind. If life's goal is to develop towards Satchidananda, the ultimate truth, its realisation and the permanent bliss, then Dharma can not be anything but conducting oneself towards this goal.
But the life itself is a mixture of complexities. It is continuously torn between what appears to be right but not right. What appears to be pleasure-giving but turns out to be a packet of sorrows. What we think as happiness, it gives way to unhappiness in the next moment. It shakes the mind, disturbs its tranquility and its determination.
Therefore Dharma has to be something that would provide protection against these vagaries, against going astray and against disintegration.
Therefore
our seers simply stated:
Dhriyate yena so dharmah.
That, by which it is held together is Dharma indeed. Dharma holds things together.
