Destiny and Divine Grace

The Mahabharata and Ramayana, which are the most precious jewels of India, are like vast oceans. If we look at these oceans from one side, we will have only a limited view, but if we climb up a hill and have a look at them, we get a fuller view and a better understanding of them. What we have to do is to delve into them and try to explore and understand the treasures contained in these big oceans. Ramayana and Mahabharata are very sacred books, which will directly tell us about many things, especially the ways in which we have to conduct ourselves. Ramayana and Mahabharata will help us in our daily life, like our two eyes. We are not able to know the true value of these jewels and we think that Mahabharata is merely a battle between the sons of two brothers, and that Ramayana is a story wherein a demon stole away the wife of Rama and Rama again won her back. It is not like that and these two epics are like the heart and the head of India, are as vital to India as the heart and the head are to a human body.

In the lecture delivered to you this morning, you have been told that, “Swadharmo Nidhanam Sreyaha, Paradharmo Bhayavaha.” This means that in carrying out one’s own dharma, even if one perishes, it is far better than taking to dharma not belonging to oneself. The latter path is beset with fear. We must try to first understand what dharma is. Then, we can try to know what is our own dharma or ‘Swadharma’. In the word Swadharma, there are actually two words, ‘Swa’ and ‘Dharma’. First comes the ‘Swa’, then comes ‘Dharma’. These two are different words. They are not one word, but we use the words together. ‘Swa’ means ‘I’; ‘I’ means ‘Brahma Tatwa’. Therefore, by the word ‘Swa’, we have to mean ‘Brahman’ or ‘Brahmatatwa’. ‘Dharma’ means Right Conduct. So, Swadharma means the path of the Brahman or the path of the Supreme Being. That thing that comes straight out of our heart must be considered as dharma. Between dharma and Sathya, there is yet another thing. The prompting that comes out of the heart or the feeling that emanates from the heart is called ‘Ruta’. Ruta means the feelings and the ideas. They are of paramount importance. They set out all the guidelines for action and have a determining influence. So, the feeling that has been shaped in the heart, when it comes in the form of speech, is called ‘Sathya’ or Truth. If whatever is implied in these words, is put into practice, that is called ‘Dharma’. We can say that Dharma is that, which is born from the heart, that which is then expressed in the shape of words and that which is then put into practice.

Dharma is not a thing that can be determined by each and every person, as per his whim. Some may say that the Dharma that comes out of one’s heart is his Dharma; how can it become the Dharma of God? So, in your heart – not the physical heart, but the spiritual heart – you must try to locate and cognize the Atma Tatwa. The word ‘I’ belongs to Atma and never to the body. Thus, Dharma is that, which comes from our heart and which is to be put into practice by us. We try to put it into practice, according to the ideals of our culture and try to live up to that ideal. The ‘Vyavaharika Dharma’ or Dharma relating to the daily routine will be changing from day to day. Those things that will be changing from day to day are not real Dharma. Dharma is not changeable, it is eternal, it is immutable, it is truth. If it is changeable, why should we establish such a Dharma? Should we act according to it? Rama has been described in the Ramayana by the statement ‘Ramo Vigrahavan Dharmaha’, Rama is the Embodiment of Dharma. Even though Rama has a physical body, the Dharma, which He lived and set as an example and established in the world for eternity, is the eternal Dharma and unchanging truth.

All these things that begin with the word Swa have been born in the sanctity of our heart and they are not connected with the physical world. ‘Swadharma’, ‘Swabhava’, ‘Swecha’ are words, which begin with ‘Swa’. When we think of these words, they will certainly tell us about our nature and about the Atma that is within ourselves. Swadharma is the Dharma of the Atma. Swabhava is the nature of the Atma. So also, Swecha means the freewill of the Atma. Swecha in the ordinary usage means freedom or liberty. We should not take it in the ordinary sense. Swecha means the will of the Atma. If we take it in the true sense and follow it up, we will be much benefited by our action.

Brahman is described as having the nature of wisdom. That is why it has been said that the end of wisdom is freedom. So, freedom means Jnana Tatwa or the light of wisdom, but not the unrestrained way in which we try to live our lives in this world. There are many things, which we have to learn from our Puranas, from our Ithihasas, from our Vedas, and from the sayings of elders. For everything, speech is the authority. We are taking shabda or sound of the word as authority or proof. For all the words, Sathya or truth is the real basis.

You might have heard that of all the mandalas or the regions, the ‘Dhruva Mandala’ is the highest. We generally think that Dhruva Mandala is a place where Dhruva, the son of Uttanapada, lives, but it is a mistake. Dhruva means Truth. So, Dhruva Mandala means a region that is higher than all the other mandalas. That is why the saying has come that, “Truth is God.” So, to attain the truth or the form of the truth, which is called the Parabrahman, we have to follow the truthful path, the path of truth. Whatever state we want to obtain, we have to follow the kind of path suited to it. So, if we want to reach the stage of Sathya, but follow the path of falsehood, we can never go to the sathya state. I shall give you a small example. When water is put in water, it will certainly get well mixed. There will be no difficulty. But, when oil is put in water, they do not mix properly. Water will be separate and oil will be separate. Therefore, when sathya or truth is combined with sathya or truth, then there will be real sathya. But, if we mix untruth with truth, it will be just like trying to mix oil with water.

Many people have tried to comment upon our great Indian books and they have expressed many contradictory and conflicting views. I shall cite here an example. Dayananda Saraswati established what is called the Aryasamaj and gave certain ideas through that samaj. Though what Dayananda Saraswati gave us are really good ideas, in certain instances, they have some complex meanings also. On account of this, many people discussed what Dayananda Saraswati is alleged to have said and they never tried to understand him in the right spirit. From time immemorial, there has never been a dearth of critics in our country. Because there are no competent people in India, who can denounce the critics and their criticisms and oppose them, in some respects, India has come to the present stage. Indians are not people, who do not know the real situation. They know what there is in the Vedas, Puranas, Ithihasas, and other texts. They were rather indifferent and felt that there was no need to challenge the ideas that have been expressed by people, who are not real scholars. But, we should not be indifferent like that. If we leave a small plant to take its own course, it will grow up into a big tree and sometimes, it spreads its thorns also around it.

Once, Dakshinamurti wanted to teach the people the real spirit of God and also, he wanted to enjoy himself. He took a tree as his guru; he took a river as his guru; so also, he took a stone as his guru. He took nature as his preceptor and began to travel with joy. After some time, he reached the shore of an ocean. He sat on the shore of the ocean and was contemplating. At that time, a little dirt had fallen in the ocean. As soon as it fell in the ocean, the ocean became very furious and sent wave after wave and repelled that dirt to the shore. Dakshinamurti got angry with the sea. He said, “What is this? This dirt is a very small thing and the ocean is a very expansive one. Can it not contain this small piece of dirt in itself? How selfish is this ocean?” Generally, elders do not say or do anything without reason. So, he thought that because the ocean is very respectable, perhaps what it did was to give him some message; therefore, he felt he should not be angry with the ocean and prayerfully asked that he be given the reason for this and thus, make his heart and mind peaceful. Then, the ocean spoke thus, “I am very expansive and very large and in me are born many, many animals and creatures. Therefore, I always wish that my form should be very clean. If I give place to dirt, though it be very small, tomorrow it will make all my form unclean. Therefore, I did not want to give place to that little dirt and wanted to throw it back to the shore.” This Dakshinamurti compared to Samsara or family. So, if in the family, we give place to a mean idea or a mean quality, it will certainly grow and will cover up and enmesh the whole family. Therefore, people leading a family life should try to see that not even a small, mean quality enters it. Samsara does not refer to family life alone. Our life itself is a Samsara. So, in this life, we should never give place to things that will mislead us or that will make us unclean.

Indians should never go against any religion or any idea or anyone’s feeling. Some people and some religions of other countries tell us that all of us are the children of God and so, we must live peacefully like brothers. India and our religions have taught us the saying, “Ishwara Sarvabhootanam,” or the Lord is in all the living creatures. Our culture teaches us that not only human beings, but insects, animals, and all living things should be treated equally and all of them should try to live on a common basis. Indians worship the Bodhi tree. The meaning of this worship is that even trees have something good in them, that they have fragrance which indicates good. We are worshipping animals also; some people worship the Lion. It is called the vahana or the carriage of Devi or Lalitamba. We worship the cow. We worship all these, because we think that godliness is not only in human beings, but also in animals. So, among animals, we select the best of them, because we see God in them. Indians worship even snakes, which are considered to be very poisonous and harmful. To others, it may seem ridiculous that we worship the trees, the animals, and the poisonous snakes. However, it has a very significant meaning that in all these things, we see Godliness and treat all of them equally. So, our real religion points to unity and not to diversity. Indian scriptures and the Puranas teach us the highest truth.

Now, I shall try to answer the doubts that have arisen in the minds of some of the students, because these doubts if left unanswered, grow bigger and will go on pestering you, with bad results. Therefore, I want to clear all your doubts. One student mentioned about ‘Prarabdha Karma and Sanchita Karma’, the consequence of all our actions and asked whether with the grace of God, these can be overcome, especially the bad part of it. We should not try to worship God only for the sake of overcoming the consequence of all our actions. If you worship Him to get His grace, Prarabdha, Sanchita, and all other Karma will become ineffective by themselves. Before trying to rectify these things, first try to know what is Prarabdha, what is Sanchita, and what is Agami Karma. Prarabdha Karma is that, which we are presently undergoing and experiencing. Sanchita means all the past Karma. Agami refers to Karma that will follow in the future. Prarabdha is in between the Sanchita and Agami, and we are experiencing this Prarabdha on account of the previous Sanchita Karma. The result of what we do now will come in the future. I shall give you a small example from our daily life. We have got a store room in which we stock all our rice. We have already the old stock of rice in the store. So what we have stored in the room is called Sanchita. When we want to cook, we remove some rice from the store room and begin to cook it. What we bring from the store room for cooking today, is called Prarabdha. What we cook now and what we eat today will pass out of our body, tomorrow. Sometimes, what we eat may come out in the shape of a belch. Therefore, we cannot escape from Prarabdha, we must experience it in this life. In the store room, there is only rice. When we bring it, we will be able to convert it into many preparations. In this way, we can make the rice into food, we can make it in the form of ‘Pulihora’; we can cook it in the shape of ‘Chakrapongal’, it can be made into ‘Daddhojana’, we can make from it ‘Idlies’ and also ‘Dosas’ and so on, all of which are names for different preparations from rice. We never change the base, which is always rice. You have to start any preparation with rice only. Even though there is Sanchita, if you try to behave in a sathwic way, in a pious and good way, you will be able to change even Sanchita. You may say that in the rice store, there are big stones. They are the results of our bad actions. They are in the store mixed with the rice. Before we cook, do we not try to remove away the stones from the rice? So, it is quite necessary that when we experience Sanchita, we can overcome the bad effects to some extent or to a great extent and make them clean, just as we make the rice clean.

Here is another example. Prarabdha can be compared to the dust that follows in the wake of a bus. When the bus is going, the dust also will be following it. So, when the Karma, which can be compared to the bus, is running, the Prarabdha, which can be compared to the dust, will be pursuing it. When the bus stops and does not travel, then the dust comes and falls over it. But, when the bus does not stop and keeps on running, the dust will be only at a distance. So, when we are satisfactorily doing our daily duties without interruption, the dust or the prarabdha will be at a distance and behind us without affecting us. You may ask how long can we travel in a bus? We have to stop somewhere. It is not so. This road is of three kinds: work, worship, and wisdom. This work is related to Karma and dust will be only there. You may take this as a village road. But, if you pass some distance, then you will have a better road, a tar road. When the tar road comes, the dust will never fall on the bus. If you go still further, you shall reach the trunk road, the highway. So, the road of karma is called the village road. Bhakti or worship is the town road or the tar road. Wisdom is the highway, wherein there is no possibility of the dust coming. When we are following only the path of Karma, this Prarabdha will never come to an end. But, if we do the Karma in a way that we perform all actions for the pleasure and for the satisfaction of God, in worship and dedication to Him, no Prarabdha will trouble us.

From the examples of Dhruva and Markandeya, we know how Karma can be overcome. Markandeya’s parents were to have a son, who would live only for 16 years. But, from the time of the birth of the child, not only the child, but the parents also were worshipping God in great devotion and the effect is that they could change even the sankalpa of God and as a result, Markandeya could live forever. There is this capacity of changing the sankalpa of even God by devotion. We need not be afraid of Prarabdha or Sanchita. If we think that the effect of the Prarabdha Karma is inescapable, then what is the use of worshipping God? Even though Prarabdha is there, the grace of God will certainly remove to a large extent the bad effects from the Prarabdha. Here is a small example for this. There is an injection bottle. It will be written on that, that the medicine inside can be used up to 1970. That bottle is there even in the year 1972 and the medicine is also there in the bottle, but the medicine will have no power. It cannot serve its purpose. So, in the same way, that in our destiny there may be the medicine of Prarabdha, but by the grace of God we can weaken its effect, blunt its effect. Even though it is there, it cannot trouble us. We can become beneficiaries of God’s grace; we need not be afraid of either Prarabdha, or Sanchita, or Agami. If God is pleased with our worship, He will certainly annul the bad effects of Prarabdha and Sanchita. Therefore, the most important thing we have to try is to earn the grace of God by which we can overcome all these bad effects.

Another question is what we hear of the Kaliyuga. We must try to make the best of our present age only and try to do good things and live happily in this world. Past is past and it will never come again and we are not sure of the future. Present is not permanent. It will be always changing and moving. That is why we say, “Be good, do good, see good – that is the way to God.” Try to be good, fill your heart with good, and lead a good life and the result also will be good. When one falls sick, it is not in any way useful to feel sorry over it. After falling sick, it is necessary that we should somehow try to take proper medicine and get over the sickness. Instead of weeping over the disease we have got, it is better to try and get it cured and help the body to get well. So also, instead of feeling sorry for the bad things that are happening in this Kaliyuga, we must try always to be good and remove the bad from this world. We are seeing many bad things and distractions among the students nowadays. You are all students and you have to try to remove all of those distractions and bad things. Try to be good so that you may reap happiness as a result. Truly speaking, these distractions are not created by students themselves. All the students are basically good. But, even in the hearts of the students, there are some possibilities for these bad qualities also to enter. Students should not give place to bad associations and bad ideas, and they should try to be good and also try to make others good. The right way of leading a good life in this world is the spiritual, moral, and ethical way. So, we must care for these three paths, the spiritual, the moral, and the dharmic. You always think that ‘Pratyaksha’, what we see directly, is the only proof and authority. But, Pratyaksha Pramana is not the only proof in this life. There are many things that are beyond the capacity of the human intellect and mind. We must first try to know what is not known to us. Then, it may lead to the welfare of the humanity. I shall give you an example about the ‘Vikara’ or the bad quality of our mind. A medicine as a finished product may cost only a little, but how much amount will have been spent for research on it and its discovery? As the science of medicine is progressing and advancing, the diseases also are growing faster and faster. If there is one doctor for each house, there are four patients in each house. If there is one lawyer for each house, there are many disputes and quarrels between the four brothers living in the same house. In this context, it is just madness to think that we are going forward in the field of medicine and also, in the field of law. It is not the law that we have to develop; it is love that we have to develop. Spirituality asserts that there is law in love. Where there is love, there is no possibility either for hatred, or for disease. When there is no love, there will be hatred towards others and that hatred will develop into a big disease. Jealousy, anger, and ego are the biggest diseases. If you want to keep yourself aloof from these three diseases, you must try to love everybody.

When one of the girl students spoke in the beginning, she addressed others as ‘friends’. This friendship may develop into anything. Therefore, I asked her not to address others as friends. In the life of students today, this friendship is spreading along a blind path and without restraint. So, instead of considering others as friends, if you consider them as sisters and brothers, we know that towards a sister we shall never develop a bad feeling. Students must try to consider one another as brothers and sisters, and not mere friends, because even in friendship, sometimes there are bad meanings and bad interpretations. When Swami Vivekananda introduced a new form of address, instead of addressing them as ‘Ladies and Gentlemen’, he addressed them as ‘Brothers and Sisters’. It was quite new to the foreigners and they were so much touched and moved by that gesture, that they applauded incessantly for 15 minutes. Of course, nowadays too, we are addressing the audience as sisters and brothers, but that feeling is not there in our heart even for the time we are on the platform. What we do not feel in our heart should not be expressed outwardly. We must give place to true feelings from our heart and we must try to practise good things in our life.