Religious Views

‘DHARMA’ means ‘that by which we are enabled to fully understand the reality’. In regard to such understanding all objects are found to be divided into two broad classes viz. Those that are living and those that are devoid of the principle of life. We are living beings. We see the world as its observers. We act independently on our own initiative. But in our present estimation life-less objects cannot do all this. Knowing, willing, feeling are the natural functions of the living. The non-living do not appear to possess these functions. These functions of the living are exercised in two different ways viz. positively by the srauta process, that is by the descent of the transcendental reality or the descending method, - and negatively, by the ordinary method of empiricism or the ascending process based on perception of the external world by the channels of the senses. Both of these methods have been employed from eternity in the attempt to obtain the knowledge of the reality. The Sreemad Bhagabat, the unconcocted commentary of the Brahma sutra, says -

But the dharma can be known by the positive, descending or srauta method. Or it may be put thus - the knowledge regarding the synthetic reality being recited and heard, by a succession of such recital followed by such consequent manifestation to the sense of hearing, has always been appearing in this world. It is of course possible to undertake the investigation of the reality by the negative method, the method of difference or the progressive method on the basis of the experience of external objects perceived by the senses;-but by such methods the reality cannot be fully known.

Hence the Srimad Bhagabat also says -

‘Thou unconquered Vishnu Who art beyond the reach of the mind and of words, those who giving up the path of abstract reasoning based entirely on the experience of external, material (non-spiritual) objects gained by means of the senses with the resolve ‘I must in a reverent spirit, because it is worth listening to, hear kirtan (recital)’ from the holy mouths of sadhus (the uncontaminated) who are free from the fourfold disqualification of error, inadvertence, deceit and deficiency of the organs of sense and are fully experienced in the delineation of transcendental reality, and with body, mind and speech discarding all egotism pass their lives ever intent on Thy sanctifying story, - such persons placed in whatever circumstances in this three-fold world knowing Thee rightly, even Thee Who art unconquerable and so very difficult to be known, are enabled to make Thee submit to loving devotion.’

Thus we find that the full view of the reality by the complete cessation of all delusions is not obtainable on the path of abstract reasoning - it is attainable on the road of the Spiritual Guide and disciple of by listening to kirtan. The shastras and pious custom have proclaimed this road as being that of bhakti or devotion. Sruti (i.e. hearing) is another name of the Veda. Abandoning that srauta path or allegiance to the Veda, acquiring knowledge with the instrumentality of the organs of the sense that mutually contradict one another and deceive at every step, and adopting under the impression that it constitutes our main warranty, the testimony of direct perception, inference or tradition etc, that is to say all evidences with the exception of that of the authoritative sources or of the Veda, the position that we take up is liable to be rendered untenable by a cleverer dialectician. By such method we shall never be able to gain the absolute knowledge. Comte the famous philosopher, who was born in one of the countries of the west, professing this reality of matter has left us to an abundant differential exposition by the method of induction resting on his own materialistic personal experience. Although he professes to be a realist his method of exposition resting entirely on the experience of material objects has necessarily failed to make any approach to the transcendental reality. In like manner most philosophers or religious sects conceiving that the objective to be reached is the undifferentiated Truth, as opposed to differentiated matter, are endeavouring to approximate the same with the help of personal experience, the product of the material senses of each.

But such efforts, notwithstanding any success in elaborately embellishing the particular body of opinions of their respective sects, those thinkers have only helped to increase or consolidate the narrowness of clique, party or sect. For the reason that all those religious or philosophical speculations are not making for universal harmony or unity by basing themselves on the principle of one Absolute Truth that it is narrowness that has been spread by their means. All those bodies of sectarian opinion also shift to an ever-increasing distance from the basic ideal of the knowledge of one Absolute Reality, instead of harmony, are erecting steadily under the name of equality vast dividing barriers. If we enquire for the cause of this we find that sectarian differences are the product of the differences of inclination due to the great force of the mental function. There is no doubt about the fact that such differences of inclination are a second nature in the case of beings that have, from time that has no beginning, their faces turned away from God. The various schools of opinion having arisen in advocacy of the variety of inclinations due to differences in the experience of the world gained by the exercise of the external senses and narrowness being thus generated, mutual differences and hostilities have gone on steadily increasing. It is for this reason that the different religious or philosophical views are technically styled sampradaic vadas (sectarian controversial theories or creeds).

On a little reflection we find that the ultimate object the attainment of which is the aim of those theories or creeds is one or other of the four purusharthas (principal ‘objects of human life’) viz. Dharma, artha, kam and moksha (religious merit, worldly prosperity, desire of sensuous enjoyments and emancipation). All those efforts for the attainment of these ‘objects of human life’ are based on external or non-spiritual (achit) knowledge of the reality obtained by means of the senses.

The gratification of one’s senses or selfish desires is the fulfilment of such efforts. The inexperience displayed in the investigation of the absolute reality by thus mistaking the material for the spiritual knowledge gives rise to the endeavour to effect a compromise between matter and spirit by simply placing them under one and the same category. It is this that is responsible for the increased narrowness of the different speculative schools and religious sect; that aim at the attainment of the aforesaid four ‘objects of human life’.

The acharyya (teacher by his personal example) of the doctrine of ‘undifferentiated intelligent reality’ (chinnirvishesa vada) Shree Shankara adopting the system of worship of the five gods (panchopasana) has effected a compromise between religious merit, worldly prosperity, sensual gratification and emancipation. In the pancharatra (system inculcating five different knowledge) work Purusha Samhita it is laid down that man worships the Sun (Surya) for obtaining religious merit, Ganesha for worldly prosperity, Sakti (female energy) for sensuous gratification and Siva or Rudra for emancipation. In their opinion, on the attainment of success (siddhi) consequent on a course of worship which is a pursuit of the temporary (amitya) in which the object of worship which is to be understood by the worshipper as being really unreal or temporary (achit or anitya), the difference between, or the specifications of, the worshipped and the worshipper disappears, and with this ‘realisation of unity’ (advaita-siddhi) or the ‘undifferentiated state’ (nirvishesa) the ultimate object of desire is gained. For this reason the form of the worship of Vishnu that is based on selfish desire (e.g. At certain places the worship of Dadhivamana for getting rid of disease, sorrow, fear) is also classed with the ‘worship of the five’;-- in the case of such Vishnu--worship also the end that is desired is the ‘destruction of the worshipped’ or ‘the attainment of the undifferentiated Brahman in the form of the complete elision of the individual self.’ Therefore we see that the ‘worship of the five’ based on these doctrines can by no means ever be the ‘highest (parama) duty’, or ‘the eternal (shashvata), permanent (sanatana) and constant (nitya) dharma of the jiva.’

Hence the Sreemad Bhagabata has said that by means of which bhakti (devotional faith) in the adhokshaja (the transcendental Godhead) is aroused is the highest dharma of man. Such devotional faith possesses two distinguishing features viz, - (1) it is ahaituki (causeless) (2) it is apratihata (un-interrupted); and it is only by such devotional faith that the soul is well satisfied. The word adhokshaja that has been used in the passage quoted means ‘He by Whom the knowledge that is born of the senses is transcended’. That is to say ‘He who exists beyond the scope of all knowledge of the jiva that is born of the senses’ ;-- He is Sree Krishna. To him is assured ‘the right reserved’ of enjoying Himself in ways that are beyond the reach of the knowledge born of the senses of horizontally moving animal, man, gods etc. The love (preeti) towards this transcendental reality that is produced by the practice of the highest dharma is known as bhakti (devotional faith) - seva (service), which is not based on any adventitious cause and which is ever uninterrupted. And the worship that is ordinarily found enacted of the object of worship based on the desires for religious merit, worldly prosperity, sensuous gratification and emancipation, is not suddha bhakti (pure devotion); and the temporary excitation of bhakti (devotion) that is due to peculiarities of place, time or object, being interrupted and distortable by time, is therefore also not pure devotion. The devotion that is causeless (ahaituki), or in other words, which is based on the desire for the exclusive love for the transcendental object of worship, and which is un-interruptable or without intermission, by such devotion alone the satisfaction of the ‘soul’ (atman) is obtained. Here the word ‘soul’ does not mean merely the perishable body ‘made up of the five elements’ (pancha-bhautika) with the ten organs of sense, nor does it mean the mind (manas) ‘the eleventh sense’ the propeller or ruler of the aggregate of the sense-organs. All effort by the body or the mind of the jiva is only gratification of the senses of the jiva and is not the love of the transcendent. The service of the transcendent or devotion is not really gratification of the senses. The Sree Narada-pancharata says by means of all the senses (hrishika) exclusively to desire the love of Vishnu Who is the Lord of all the senses, is devotion. This devotion is not covered up by the twin conditions of gross and subtle matter, and by reason of its ending in signifying the service of Vishnu it is suddha or free from impurity. It is on account of the predominance of the knowledge born of the senses and aversion to the service of the transcendent, that the impulse of pure devotion and the ‘soul’ have been covered up, in the state of bondage of the jiva, by those two gross and subtle conditions.