The Laws and the Stages of Life in Sanatana Dharmam (Hinduism )- 1 : Swami Krishnananda.

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Monday, March 07, 2022. 06:00.

1.#THE PURUSHARTHAS :

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#Life has been always regarded in India as a process of progressive self-transcendence from the realm of matter (Annamaya-Jivatva) to the realisation of supreme spiritual bliss (Parama-Ananda). 

#Human values and ends in life have been classified into the scheme of the fourfold pursuit (Purushartha) of existence, viz., :

*1. the practice of righteousness and goodness (Dharma), 

*2. the effort towards earning of the necessary material values (Artha), 

*3. the fulfillment of permissible desires through honest means (Kama), 

*4. and the endeavour for the final salvation of the soul (Moksha). 

#This analysis is based on a broad understanding of the different levels of individuals in relation to the Universe.

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##The principle of Dharma is summed up in the Mahabharata as the attitude of not meting out to others what one would not expect others to mete out to oneself. 

*What is contrary to the welfare of one's own self should not be discharged or done in regard to others (atmanah pratikulani paresham na samaoharet). 

*Another definition of Dharma is that it is the conduct which conduces to prosperity here (Abhyudaya) and spiritual blessedness hereafter (Nihsreyasa). 

*That charitable disposition by which one regards others in the world as ends in themselves and not mere means to one's satisfaction may be regarded as Dharma. 

*The practice of Dharma in this sense is more than ritual or ceremony. Morality is superior to external rites. 

*A moral act presupposes a moral condition of the mind within, and the distinction between moral feeling and moral action is the same as that which obtains between character and conduct.

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###The moral perspective is based on a general view of the world as consisting of a larger family than the one with which we are usually familiar. 

*Our existence is bound up with great mysteries and is more complicated in structure than is apparent from a surface-view of things. 

*The world-view which reaches its logical limits sees all beings as constituting a single unit of a universal cooperative life, and the recognition of this fact in the smaller circle of individual and social life is Dharma, or righteousness. 

*A violation of this principle is Adharmam, or unrighteousness. Dharma sustains the organic structure of the cosmos, like the force of gravity which maintains the solidity of a body of matter. 

*Adharma tends towards a rupture of the organism and brings about a condition of what may be called universal ill-health. 

###If Dharma is health, Adharma is disease.

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####Dharma, thus, is eternal law and not the custom or religion of a country or people. 

*All minor Dharmas, which go by the names of goodness and religion, receive the stamp of meaningfulness only when they are in consonance with this Dharma of the Universe. 

*The pursuit of material prosperity (Artha), the fulfillment of one's desire (Kama), and even attainment of salvation (Moksha) are all based on Dharma, which is the rock-foundation of all practical life. 

####None of these efforts can be successful if it is rooted in the primary acceptance of the truth that the individual is co-extensive with the Universe.

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Next - THE ASRAMAS

To be continued ...


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