(*)

Dharma: Basis of Human Life

Swami Paratparananda (**)

(*) Published in Nov/Dec 1984 issue of the “Vedanta Kesari” magazine

(**) Swami Paratparananda was the Editor of Vedanta Kesari magazine (1962-1967)

(Sooner or later man discovers that the pleasures the senses bring him are extremely
transient and even counter-productive. It is Dharma that puts him in touch with the
supersensual world of Reality, and raises him from the existence of the brute, to the life
Divine. Swami Paratparananda, Head of the Ramakrishna Ashrama, Argentina (**), and a
former Editor of the ‘Vedanta Kesari’, explains how Sri Ramakrishna stresses that the main
ingredient of Dharma or religious discipline is renunciation—external, if possible, but
internal, categorically.)
(**) From 1973 to 1988.

Various are the meanings of this Sanskrit term, Dharma. For

instance, righteousness, the innate nature of a thing, duties by birth and
station in life, are some of them. We shall deal here with the first-
mentioned, viz., righteousness, rectitude, or religion as it is sometimes
defined. Of course, in India, religion includes duties according to varna
and asrama (birth and station in life), though such a concept is nowadays
not so strictly practised or adhered to. Religion or Dharma is something
more than mere conformity with social obligations, restrictions or rules;
more than mere dogmas and creeds. Social rules and moral codes may,
nay, do change according to time and place. For example, what is
regarded as immoral in some countries may be accepted as totally normal
or natural in others, and so on. But mere morality is not the be-all and
end-all of man. It is only the means to reach something higher,
something eternal, and this something is the subject of religion or
Dharma. One may call this subject as God, or Spirit, or by any other
name.
The question that arises in the mind of the modern man is: what
role can religion play in the present age of science and technology? Can it
survive the attacks of there forces? We must remember that science and
technology deal with matter, things perishable and not eternal. Matter,
however long it may last, one day gets destroyed; it cannot last for ever,
cannot be permanent. Having been composed of elements, it must return,
sooner or later, to its elements; and that which is not permanent cannot
give lasting happiness. Man never gets lasting happiness. Man never gets
satisfied with wealth; the more he has, the more he hankers after. So
also is the case with sense pleasures. The body may grow weak, but the
craving for them does not leave man. Aptly has Bhartrihari said in his
Vairagya Sataka: bhogâ na bhuktâ vayam eva bhuktâh, “The worldly
pleasures were not enjoyed by us; on the contrary, we ourselves have
been devoured.” 1 And he adds: trsnâ na jirnâ vayam eva jirnâh, “Desire
is not enfeebled, though we ourselves have debilitated.” 2 He continues:
valibhir mukham âkrântam pâlitena ankitam sirah, gâtrâni sithilâyante
trsnaikâ tarunâyate, “The face is covered with wrinkles, the head painted
white (because of the grey hairs), the limbs have grown weak, though
desire alone is rejuvenating.” 3 This is the condition of man given to sense
satisfaction. Science and technology have not yet found out methods to
stop or prevent this decline or deterioration of the physical and mental
forces of man, nor bring to him contentment that can last even under
adverse circumstances like infirmity and senility, etc.
However, we do not say that there are no people who ignore the
realities of life and try to enjoy the pleasures, as the ostrich, which when
hunted clown, it is said, runs as much as it can and then sinks its head
into the sand and believes that there is no further danger nor enemy. For
such people this world is all that exists. In the Kathopanishad, Yama says:
“The hereafter never appears before the foolish people, befooled by the
delusion of wealth. Those who think that: ‘this is the only world and there
is no other’ come under my sway, again and again.” 4 Swami Vivekananda
says, “Only the fools rush after sense-enjoyments. It is easy to live in the
senses. It is easier to run in the old groove, eating and drinking; but what
these modern philosophers want to tell you is to take these comfortable
ideas and put the stamp of religion on them. Such a doctrine is
dangerous. Death lies in the senses. Life on the plane of the Spirit is the
only life, life on any other plane is mere death.” 5 Here we find the answer
also to those who want to make religion comfortable, adapted to the
sense plane.
Man seeks happiness and thinks that he can get it in the sense
objects; but, sadly, he finds that what happiness these objects can give is
of very short duration, and that he has to earn it at a very great cost. He
begins with tremendous optimism, but as he grows old, he gradually
becomes a pessimist. Swami Vivekananda declares: “Real happiness is
not in the senses but above the senses; and it is in every man. The sort
of optimism we see in the world is what will lead to ruin through the
senses.” 6
Again, however much man try to ignore the fact that suffering,
physical and mental, is inevitable on the sense plane, and plunge
headlong in it, a day will come when he must ask himself: “Is this all? Is
this the goal of human life to live like plants and animals for a few years
and die?” It is a must, for as long as man retains the thinking faculty, he
cannot but put these questions to himself when faced with dire and
insuperable circumstances. And this thinking should load him to self-
analysis and gradually to religion; for having suffered on the sense plane
he has no alternative but to attempt to get consolation from something
higher and imperishable.
Now let us see what religion really signifies and what it can do for
us. Religion is a system of disciplines that brings insight into the spiritual
world, by the control of the senses and subduing of the mind. With this
insight, we come to know the real purpose of human life, as also about
the vacuity of the sensual world. Swami Vivekananda points out: “This
universe of ours, the universe of the senses, the rational, the intellectual,
is bounded on the both sides by the illimitable, the unknowable, the ever
unknown. Herein is the search, herein are the enquiries, here are the
facts; from this comes the light which is known to the world as religion.
Religion belongs to the supersensuous and not to the sense plane. It is
beyond all reasoning and is not on the plane of the intellect. It is a vision,
an inspiration, a plunge into the unknown and unknowable, making the
unknowable more than known, for it can never be known.” 7 This appears
to be a paradox at first reading, but if we pause and reflect, we may be
able to grasp the truth behind this statement. The human mind in its
impure form can know only things presented to it by the five senses and
nothing more. That is why the Spirit is called unknowable; but when this
same mind gets rid of its impurity, its attachment and desires, it is
capable of perceiving the unknowable, make it more than known. Asks
Yajnavalkya: “With what will you know the Knower”—vijñâtâran are kena
vijâniyât. This unknown can be perceived only through a pure mind,
asserts the Kathopanishad: Manasaivedam âptavyam, “By mind alone this
is to be realised.” 8
The best testimony regarding the inner life is of those who have
dived deep in it, and they are the men fit to speak on the matter. Let us
see what Swami Vivekananda says about the necessity of this search into
the beyond: “Life will be a desert, human life will be vain, if we cannot
know the beyond. It is very well to say: be contented with the things of
the present. The cows and the dogs are, and so are all animals; and that
is what makes them animals. So if man rests content with the present
and gives up all search into the beyond, mankind will have to go back to
the animal plane again. It is religion, the inquiry into the beyond, that
makes the difference between man and an animal.” 9 Replying to the
question what religion can do for us, he affirms: “Salvation does not
consist in the amount of money in your pocket, or the dress you wear, or
the house you live in, but in the wealth of spiritual thought in your brain.
That is what makes for human progress, that is the source of all material
and intellectual progress, the motive power behind the enthusiasm that
pushes mankind forward.” 10
Moreover, Religion can bestow on us eternal life, bring us Light that
never fails, and grant us constant peace and tranquillity. However,
religion should not be judged from the standpoint of material things or
possessions. Swami Vivekananda remarks: “Again and again you hear this
objection advanced: ‘What good can religion do? Can it take away the
poverty of the poor?’ Supposing it cannot, would that prove the untruth of
religion? Suppose a baby stands up among you, when you are trying to
demonstrate an astronomical theorem, and says, ‘Does it bring
gingerbread?’ ‘No, it does not,’ you answer. ‘Then’, says the baby, ‘it is
useless.’ Babies judge the whole universe from their own standpoint, that
of producing gingerbread; and so do the babies of the world. We must not
judge of higher things from a low standpoint….Religion permeates the
whole of man’s life, not only the present, but the past, present and
future....Is it logical to measure its value by its action upon five minutes
of human life?” 11 " He continues: “Religion has made man what he is, and
will make of this human animal a God. That is what religion can do. Take
religion from human society and what will remain? Nothing but a forest of
brutes.’ 12
From the foregoing we see how religion is intricately interwoven in
the fabric of human existence, nay, the very existence of man depends on
it. And that is why the Lord incarnates whenever there is decline of
Dharma and rise of Adharma, as He Himself says in the Bhagavad Gita.
Now, we shall see what are the disciplines that religion recommends for
attaining the highest state of Bliss Eternal that it promises. The first and
foremost of these disciplines is renunciation; without it man cannot
advance towards the goal. It may be asked: are all people able to
renounce the world? Surely not. Then, is the salvation that religion
promises only for a handful? If so, why, should the majority of mankind
take interest in it? Sri Ramakrishna replies: “It is not possible to acquire
renunciation all at once. The time factor must be taken into account. But
it is also true that a man should hear about it. When the right time
comes, he will says to himself, ‘Oh, yes, I heard about this.’ You must
also remember another thing. By constantly hearing about renunciation,
one’s desire for worldly objects gradually wears away.” 13 Sri Ramakrishna
advises householders to cultivate inner renunciation and love for God, to
be unattached to things of the world, and seek the company of the holy
people. But he categorically says that without renunciation, at least inner,
one cannot reach the Goal.
1
Vairagya Sataka, 7.
2
Ibid.
3
Ibid., 8.
4
Kathopanishad, II.6.
5
Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 5:267
6
Ibid., 283.
7
Ibid., 3:1
8
Kathopanishad, IV.11.
9
Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda, 3:3
10
Ibid.
11
Ibid., 3-4.
12
Ibid., 4
13
Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna (New York: Ramakrishna Vivekananda Center), p.502.