How can we ensure our Achara Dharma ie transient in nature to be in tune with Atma Dharma ie Permanent ?

Question

How can we ensure our Achara Dharma ie transient in nature to be in tune with Atma Dharma ie Permanent in Nature ? Is it a way too complex a process and the underlying threads, are they very subtle in Nature ?

Are the Ways of Achara Dharma, the practical rightfulness or righteousness like the practicalities of Sun rises and Sun sets, Heaven and Hell, Right and Wrong, Good and Bad, Life and Death, Veda and Vedanta are way too complex, changing and subtle to be in tune with the Real and Permanent Atma Dharma ie aiming Salvation, Moksha, Moha Kshaya, the Cessation of All desires, just like the Sun in the back ground that neither rises nor sets. Scriptures need to be studied deeper into understand the fine threads which perhaps, are not the case with most of the so called practitioners and followers in today's world. May be that also a Divine Art, Tatvamasi.

What's your take ?

Some thoughts on these lingu terms are here in this link, only if you do not understand the lingu style properly.

http://blog.360.yahoo.com/blog-xXSjjhg7er9d7VyaCsYH4qyJveacMoF0?p=167&n=28500

The Question is intended to know your thoughts on the practical aspects of Righteousness or Rightful Action .

Answer 1

Glimpses into some aspects of "What is Dharma ?", into the practicalities of Rightful Action


Ways of Achara Dharma, the practicalities of rightful deeds are so complex and
the underlying threads very subtle in nature to be in tune with the Highest
Righteousness, the Atma Dharma ie of "Moksha", the Moha Kshaya, Cessation of all
the desires ie Salvation. Sathya Sai Baba say,

Life + Desire = Man
Life - Desire = God

In assuaging the tastes and tendencies of desires (vasanas) with our perceived
limited abilities, it would be nice going thru some of glimpses of
Krishnavatara. While going thru these glimpses imagine for the time being Lord
Krishna to be a non - realised one just like any of us. And imagine what could
the light of Achara Dharma (the practical righteousness) ie creeping into us.

Here are some Glimpses from the book, Krishnavatara volumes from 1 to 8 written
by Kulapati K . M . Munshi and published by Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Kulapati
K.M. Munshi Marg, Mumbai - 400 007. Perhaps the whole set of books costs around
Rs. 500 /-.

Sri. Munshi was a devottee of Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba and Sai Baba is said
to have cured him of Paralysis. The whole 8 editions of Krishnavatara portrays
Lord Krishna as a Man, a Great Hero and it is a very inspiring version into the
life of Lord Krishna, may be a nice compiling of modern and ancient values.
Here is a link into Kulapati K. M. Munshi from wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/K.M._Munshi

So here goes a few glimpses from the third volume of Krishnavatara, The Five
Brothers, from the chapter "What is Dharma ?"

........ Krishna deeply appreciated the loving faith which his mother and wives
had in him and maintained his usual self-composure and his cheerful smile. At
heart, however, he was deeply perturbed. He had an insistent feeling about what
the true situation was. The Yadavas had proved a broken reed. The hope of
securing a swift triumph for Dharma, which he had conceived and planned, was
well - nigh gone .......

........ If the Five Brothers did not make their appearance on the stage of the
Swayamvara in a spectacular manner, as he had planned, they would sink as before
into helpless dependants of the Kuru royal family. The fratricidal conflict
might recommence - or nothing might happen at all - for Duryodhana would
completely dominate Hastinapura. In addition Jarasandha - the sworn enemy of the
Arya way of life - might carry away the Princess of Panchala. The pursuit of the
ways of Satya, Yajna and Tapas at ashrams of the rishis, on which Aryadharma
flourished, would wither away for want of protection and without
support.

The more he thought of the predicament, the more he felt that he had missed
something.........

........ He was led into a labyrinth of intricate puzzles. What was his Dharma
for which he was fighting ? And how could he protect it and inspire others with
it in every situation in face of the vast passions and weaknesses released by
man ?

It was a stormy night - rain, thunder, lightning, the sea lashing in giant waves
against the embarkment, the rain falling on the roof as if in a shower of rocks.

A cry suddenly tore the air : " What is Dharma ? " The cry shattered Krishna's
sleep and stirred his dream - world. "What is Dharma ?" - reverberated all over
the earth and in the heavens.

Scenes - vague, confused and shapeless - came before him. Men floated by,
rising, mingling and vanishing. Vrindavan with its leafy trees, grinning monkeys
and dancing peacocks. And he abandoned Radha, fresh like a kunda flower, whom he
loved as his life, to a lonely fate. Was this Dharma ?

The royal wrestling ground at Mathura. Men, women and children shouting,
straining their eyes, gesticulating. He was pounding the b'oody face of the
tyrant, Kamsa, dragging his dead body along the ground, the people hailing him
as a saviour. But he had killed his maternal uncle. Was that Dharma ?

Big Brother and himself were running away from Mathura, finding safety in
Gomantaka across the barren hills of Sahyadri. They were afraid of Jarasandha's
destroying Yadavas because of them. Was it cowardice ? Was it Dharma ?

At the foot of the Gomantaka Hill, Balarama was ready to smash Jarasandha's
skull. He intervened and stopped Big Brother's mace in mid career, and thus
saved the life of the emperor, the source of all adharma (non-righteousness) in
Aryavarta. - to the undoing of many righteous kings, the closing of numerous
homes of learning and piety, and the ruination of thousands of families. Was
that Dharma ?

On the outskirts of Kundinapura, He lifted Princess Rukmini into his chariot,
kidnapped her, inflicted wounds on her pursuing brother. The swayamvara became
an occasion for the gnashing of teeth and wailing of women. The heart of the
good natured Bhishmaka was broken. Rukmi (brother of Princess Rukmini) was
driven to self - imposed exile. Was that Dharma ?

Hastinapura. He threw his weight against Duryodhana struggling to right the
wrong done to him. He came in the way of karna, the unfortunate man, wronged by
his mother at the moment of his birth and by men, who braved his misfortunes
with noble fortitude, retrieving the gold of skill and status out of the dust by
sheer ability and character. Was that Dharma ?


The Palace of Kampilya. Drupada and his children opened their hearts to him. He
accepted their confidence, but refused to take the risk of fighting the Kurus,
planned a spectacular Swayamvara which was likely to end in complete failure.
Was that Dharma ?


Krishna shivered in his sleep. Opening his eyes he saw the loving eyes of
Rukmini fixed on him. He tried to smile and fell asleep ......

Again he saw men and women coming in endless processions, shouting, grimacing,
praying, wailing, talking of Dharma, waiting to know what it was, himself unable
to give a satisfying answer. He heard himself asking these men and women: " Do
you know Dharma ? "

"Yes", said one, "I know it." And he was a profit-mad skin-flint. He had the
face of Satrjit, but a little twisted and much more sinister. "I buy Dharma", he
said, "from the Brahmans (Priests), even from the gods. I feed my family. I
worship at the shrines. For I alone know how to gather riches and to give them."

"Your Dharma is the child of greed. I know you not", Krishna heard himself
saying, and let him pass by....

"I know Dharma," claimed another, marked by the emblems of sanctity. "I am
pious. I have shrunk from the ways of sin, never murdered, never stolen, never
whored. My way is the only righteous way."

"Your Dharma is the child of fear. I know you not," said Krishna and let him
pass by......

The third came, a dare-devil, "I know my Dharma," he said. " I have destroyed my
enemies, for whoever opposes me is of the seed of sin. I perform sacrifices,
give in charity and thereby my victory to the world. I feed the Brahmans
(Priests) and my praises are sung by them."

"Your Dharma is the child of vanity. I know you not," said Krishna and let him
pass by .....

Then there came before him one who was meek and resigned. "I know Dharma, no one
else does," he said. "It is humility. Unresisting, I suffer wrongs cheerfully. I
bear hunger, thrist, cold, even misfortune. That is the privilege of the meek in
spirit. Theirs is the glory of Dharma."

"Your Dharma is the child of slave mind which does not know the divinity within
him. I know you not", said Krishna and let him pass by.....

Then came another, sly as fox, and said; "I know my Dharma
...................................

.....................And yet another .......... "I know my Dharma. I do not care
what I do - I murder, steal, avenge. But I chant the glories of the Great God
and turn my sin into a song. I know, He will forgive me, however wicked I am. My
God is merciful." ..................

.............. " My dharma is not to resist evil. I shall suffer in silence and
shall inherit the kingdom of heaven. Let the wicked seek their foul destiny.
They are no concern of mine............

.......... "All Dharma is illusion. I eat, drink and enjoy myself as I like. My
body is my only shrine. The pleasure of the flesh are my rituals of worship.
Beyond them there is nothing; after me there is nothing."

"You are the child of demon. I shall never fogive you," said Krishna and in
disgust he turned his back on him......

Suddenly the procession vanished.

Krishna awoke, his heart pounding wildly. Then he smiled to himself. His dream
had told him how men looked upon Dharma.

He knew the Dharma of the rulers of men like Bhishma and Drupada. It was to
defend their people, to feed the starving, to
help the helpless, to foster learning, to uphold the ancient ways of godly
living.

He also knew the Dharma of the family. It created the beautiful bond which
Drupada had woven between himself and his children; it knit the five brothers
together so that they lived for each other and for their mother; it made Rukmini
and Shaibya part of him ; and led his Mother Devaki to see all in her child and
her child in all.

He also knew the Dharma of the Master, who lived only to understand all who came
to him with sympathy and who, by the love he bore them, inspired them to be
better than they were.

All this was Dharma, no doubt, But so also were the Dharmas of all those others
whom he had rejected. It gave each of them something noble to live by - ladders
built out of weakness of the heart so that they might climb to a higher Dharma,
always feeling better than before with each rung they climbed. Men were
differently made and each needed his own ladder. But for that they would have
been demons with smirking lips and a self-satisfied air, as that one in the
procession was, whose body was his shrine, and whose only rituals of worship
were the pleasures of the flesh.........

...... Whilst flashes illumined the room in which he lay, an inner light seem to
come to him as well. He saw clearly, distinctly - what he had been groping for
so long. Life - sinful, wretched, noble, inspiring - was one and indivisible. In
accepting the the mission of fighting for its ennoblement, he had embraced, not
a part of life, but the whole of it.

Unwittingly he had been struggling to fulfil the expectations of all - as a son,
as a friend, as a husband, as a brother, as a warrior, as a leader, as a
defender of the righteous way - at all times feeding the hunger of men and women
for someone to love, to cheer and to inspire ; and they had learnt to gauge the
excellence of other men by comparing them to him. This was the secret of why he
had moved many who, but for him, would have remained stagnant.

That was why, in their ecstasy at finding him what they had hungered for, many
had called him 'their' Govinda; others a redeemer; some .............

Further into the link......

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/athmavidya/message/452

SAI RAM

Answer 2

Hinduism believes in right conduct. Disciple and orderliness, has therefore, been given utmost importance. Dharma is a word, which has several meanings in Sanskrit. Thinking always pure about universal peace, prosperity and happiness is Dharma for the Mind. This is also called Sankalpa. Speaking truth (Sathya) always is a Dharma for our tongue or mouth; Doing always good and perfect action is Dharma for the whole body. Dharma can only be tested from the way a man is able to handle his money and various other desires in life. At the same time Dharma alone cannot be practiced without Artha and Kama. That is why artha and kama are included. There is no connection for us in this world, if there is no artha and kama. In the same context one should know that Space and Time has no relevance without any matter connected to it. It is similar to that. These are difficult to perceive unless a basic ground is created by the seekers. That basic foundation is very important. Without that basic foundation, we cannot build a strong structure.

Answer 3

Might there be some frequency and signature peculiar to the terms you use here that imports better than your native language can?

Dharma implies inclusivity, not exclusivity.

Hereto, is an example of attunement of Dharma. It is not something once or twice remove but rather that which is right where we are -- here and now.

If Dharma were something we absolutely had to know now, by your above example, we would have failed at finding out what this is given all the foreign turns given over to us in terms we cannot understand. See?

That is a stark case of what Dharma is not and should not be.

So for starters, Dharma conveys and does not confound.

Answer 4

If someone spends too much time trying to avoid negative thoughts they will not be able to cope with a negative situation.

I agree that it is likely better to try and find a good balance, but to fully avoid all negative thought is simply unnatrual to humans. Rather it is better to consider the negative and reflect upon it so that you can fully undersatnd it's existance and with that knowledge determine the best way to react towards the best outcome for all.

Bad things happen to good people, a prepared mind can handle any situation, and a skilled mind can turn all situations into hidden blessings.