Pranam
*Purushartha by birthrhari by paramananda part 5*
1 What is our Purushārtha? pourushēna prayatnēna yōjanīyā shubhē pati.
By free-will, we have to direct the Vāsana to Shubha Mārga. That is said
here - pāpē ratim mākrudhāh, ashubha vāsanām tyaja. Since Vāsanās are
developed in time, they will not go suddenly. They have to be unwound in
time only. That is why they say in ‘HABIT’, when you cut the ‘H’, ‘ABIT’
will remain. When you cut the ‘A’, ‘BIT’ will remain. When you cut the ‘B’,
‘IT’ will remain*. Therefore, Vāsanās cannot go that easily. Therefore,
first of all, think twice before developing Durvāsanās. ( samnje) *
Therefore,pāpē
ratim mā akrudhāha; Then, satyam brūhi; everywhere the subject is
understood to be yourself - tvam. So, tvam satyam brūhi - may you speak the
truth. That means you may not speak untruth. It is verbal honesty. As I
have often said, here the stress is not in speaking all the truth because
certain truths, if spoken directly may hurt a person and it may become
Himsa. A person is a lame person or deaf or blind and I call him a lame
person. Now, I have not spoken untruth, but by using that word, I have hurt
the person. Because the rule is that speech not only should be truthful,
but it should also not hurt another person. satyam brūyāt priyam brūyāt na
brūyāt satyam apriyam. You do not speak eventruth if it is going to wound
the other person. Then, you have to find out indirect methods of
communication. It is possible. Where there is a will, there is a way.
Therefore, all truths cannot be spoken. If the truth is harmful, one need
not tell a lie. One can keep quiet. Therefore, never speak untruth. Either
speak truth or keep quiet. Therefore, Satya Kathanam is equal toAnruta
Varjanam. The word Satyam has two meanings. One is in the context of
transaction. In the context of Dharma Shāstra, Satyam is verbal honesty or
integrity. It is a verbal discipline. It is a speech discipline. In
Sanskrit, we call Vyāvahārika Satyam. In Taitrīya Upanishad - vēda
manūcchāchāryōntē vāsina manushāsti satyam vada, dharmam chara - there,
Satyam is Vyāvahārika Satyam. It is a value. Whereas, in the same Taitrīya
Upanishad, 2ndvalli, brahma vidāpnōti param tadēshābhyuktā satyam gnyānam
anantam brahma. There, the word ‘Satyam’ is totally different from the word
‘Satyam’ in satyam vada. When you talk about Satyam Gnyānam Anantam Brahma,
the word Satyam is not a speech discipline. Satyam is the name of Brahman,
the truth, which is the primary illuminator, Sākshi Chaitanyam, Ātma
Chaitanyam,
Advitīyam, Pāramārthika Satyam. So, Satyam in the context of ethics means
Vyāvahārika Satyam, speech discipline. The word Satyam in Vēdānta Shāstra
means Pāramārthika Satyam. That is Brahman. When you say the truth is God,
which one are you talking about? What is the meaning of truth when you say
truth is God? It is not the Vyāvahārika, but it is the truth (T), which is
the Chaitanyam. If you take truth as Vyāvahārika truth (t), we cannot say
truth is God. We should say truth is a means to attain the Lord. It is one
of the values which will take you to the Lord. Therefore, here satyam brūhi
refers to Vyāvahārika satyam brūhi.
If Vyāvahārika Satyam itself is not there, where is the question of
accomplishing Pāramārthika Satyam? Therefore, the Upanishads say that the
one who is not truthful in his speech can never gain Brahma Gnyānam.
satyamēva jayatē nānrutam.Two meanings are given for this. One is the
normal meaning which means, the truth. There,satyamēva jayatē means
Vyāvahārika Satyamonly. In fact, everywhere you have to see where to apply
Vyāvahārikam and where to apply Pāramārthikam. So, satyamēva jayatē - truth
wins. Shankarāchārya comments and says that the truthful person wins
ultimately. Normally, we think that victory is a Vyāvahārika victory in
battle or in court or in family. That is also the right meaning. But there
is a second meaning. satyavān mōkshamjayatē - the truthful person alone
ultimately wins Mōksha. In the material world, he may be a failure because
the society is corrupt. He may not be successful in the material world, but
a truthful person will get spiritual victory, which is Mōksha. Therefore,
satyam brūhi for the sake of attaining Mōksha; Also, satyam brūhi-one has
to speak the truth if transactions in life should flow smoothly. All the
transactions can go smoothly only if everybody tells the truth. Suppose,
you ask somebody - where is pure drinking water available? The person who
asks expects you to tell the truth. A normal transaction and interaction is
possible only if a person is honest. I was reading a story in one Sanskrit
magazine. A father interviews a young person to choose him as his son[1]in-law.
His daughter is of marriageable age and therefore, he interviews. He asks
various questions. Where are you working? What is your position? What is
your salary? He answers everything and the father is thrilled because the
prospective son-in-law seems to be a wonderful person, well educated, well
positioned, good salary, etc. Then, he comes to his character. He asks - Do
you drink? He says - No. Do you smoke? He says - No. He enlists a few of
them and asks about all the possible vices. He says nothing is there. Then,
this person was very happy. He thinks he is the best son-in-law possible in
the world. Then, finally he asks - whatever I ask, you say that you don’t
have that habit. Now, you tell me, do you have any bad habits? That person
says I have only one bad habit. Now, he thinks that he has almost chosen
him as his son-in-law. Every human being will have one or two bad habits. A
perfect person is God alone. Therefore, he has decided to rule out even if
he has one bad habit as it doesn’t matter. He asks - what is that? He says
- off and on, I tell lies. That is only the bad habit.
vācyam śraddhā samētasya pr̥ccatasca viśēṣataḥ | śraddhā hīnasyastu
prōktaṁ āraṇya ruditōpamam ||
If a person does not have humility, never teach him. If you are
teaching him, it is like crying in the wilderness. Your teaching will not
enter. Now, the question is - how do I convey my humility and faith in the
teacher? Unfortunately, humility and faith are mental characteristics. I
cannot show it outside. I cannot see your mind. Therefore, how do I know if
you are humble or not?Is there any Shraddhōmeter like a lactometer?
apūjya yatra pūjyantē pūjyapūjāvyatikramaḥ | trīṇi tatra prajāyantē
durbhikṣaṁ maraṇaṁ bhayam || (skandapurāṇa, mā॰kē॰3/48)
If a person does not respect someone who deserves respect, that is Pāpam.
Similarly, if a person respects the one who does not deserve respect, then
that also is improper. trīni tatra pravartantē - three things happen in
that house. They are Durbhiksham, Maranam, and Bhayam. We studied these
verses in our school in Subhāshitam and our Sanskrit teacher used to give
the example. We buy the Vibhūti and Kumkumam and they are very cheap. We
can just get a pack of Vibhūti for five or ten rupees. Where do you keep
the Vibhūti? We keep it in the Pūja room. You also buy the shoes. What is
the price of shoes? It will be around Rs. 600. Now, you paid Rs. 600 for
the shoes and you paid Rs. 5 for Kumkumam. Therefore, somebody said - you
paid so much for the shoe. Therefore, the shoe must be kept in Pūja room.
You paid very little for Kumkumam. Therefore, let it be kept where shoes
are kept. It does not work like that. Even though their costs are
different, what has to be kept where, that has to be kept there only. So,
the Smruti says - samāsamābhyām vishamasamē pūjātaha. If there are four
Brahmanās in a Yāga and if one is Ēkavēdi, another is Dwivēdi, another is
Trivēdi and another is Chaturvēdi, then the rule is - first Pūja and
Dakshina should go to Chaturvēdi alone. They should not say - after all,
all the people are going to get Dakshina, how does it matter?
No. There, the proper order is important. Therefore,
follow the rules of Dharma Shāstra when you honor people. Therefore, mānyān
mānaya; When I say Dwivēdi, Trivēdi, I do not mean the name because we find
many Trivēdi’s as ministers and all those things. They may not even know
what the three Vēdās are. Here, by Trivēdi I mean one who has learnt the
three Vēdās. Then, vidvishaha api anunaya - may you be kind hearted even
towards the enemy. May you be pleasant. So, anunaya means be pleasant in
your behavior, even with regard to enemies. They might have the problem of
enmity. They might dislike you. It is their problem.
As long as you are concerned, never develop hatred towards them.
If they are harming us consistently, we may avoid self defense. We need not
get hurt because of them. We may physically avoid each other, but mentally,
I don’t reject anyone. You may often require physical rejection. We may
have to physically keep away from a person with a contagious disease. They
might be our own family members.
Physical rejection is not the problem. The problem is mental
rejection which is called hatred. You avoid that. That means in my prayer,
when I say lōkā samastā sukhinō bhavantu, I should not say lōkā samastāha
except that person. When I say lōkā samastāha, I should include everyone in
my heart. Therefore, vidvishaha api anunaya; For Sanskrit students,
vidvishaha is dwitīya vibhakti, bahuvachanam. vidvisham - vidvishou -
vidvishaha. vidvēshti iti vidvit - object of anunaya. May you be pleasant
hearted even towards your enemy. prakhyāpaya prashrayam - may you express
your humility through external action. It is not merely an inner attitude.
In many cultures, humility as an attitude is there, but they do not have a
physical expression of humility whereas in our culture, there are so many
actions said to indicate our humility.
prāṇaṁ vāpi parityajya mānamevābhirakṣatu anityō bhavati prāṇa
mānaṁ ācandratārakaṁ Even by giving up your life, you should protect your
honor because anityō bhavati prānaha[1]life is short lived whereas, the
honor, the glory of the family is eternal. That is the argument Krishna
gave to Arjuna also. sambhāvitasya cha akīrtihi maranādatirichyatē -
Arjuna, you and your family have got such a wonderful name. If you withdraw
from the battlefield, after thousands of years, people will come for a camp
in Rishikesh and will talk about your cowardice. You might have run away in
one century, but poets will write it and people will be reading it.
Therefore, it is worse than Maranam.
Therefore, preserve your honor. Then, duhkhitē kuru dayām - may
you show sympathy, compassion towards suffering people. Compassion should
not be merely at the mental level. It should again express in the form of
reaching out either in the form of financial help or physical help or
simple verbal help - just sharing the difficulty. snigdhajana samvibhaktam
khalu dukham sahyavēdanam bhavati. Kalidas tells in Shākuntala -
snigdhajana samvibhaktamdukham. When a person shares his sorrow with
somebody else, the sorrow shared is sorrow halved.
Therefore, without any expenditure, I can just spend some time
with a sick person. That itself is an expression of sympathy. Sympathy
should not only be a feeling, it should be expressed in action. Therefore,
duhkhitē dayām kuru.That is possible only when my mind is sensitive enough
to feel the sufferings of the other person. I should be able to temporarily
pluck me out of myself and I should be able to stand in his shoes and go
through his pain, exactly as he will go through. The more sensitive I am,
the more I will feel the pain.
My sensitivity should reach such a level that I should be incapable
of passing a suffering person without feeling the pain. So, that
sensitivity, that sympathy, that empathy is here called Dayā. So, dayām
kuru. People think that compassion is not there in Hinduism and we have to
learn compassion from Buddhism because Buddha showed compassion. They say
we have to learn compassion from Christianity because Hinduism talks about
Karma. They say - What do Hindus do? When somebody else suffers, they just
pass through and say it is his fate that he is suffering. They say fatalism
has made Hindus rock hearted without any compassion. We should remember
that the Law of Karma is not an obstacle to our expression of compassion.
Law of karma is to accept the suffering without resistance. At the same
time, compassion is helping a person to tide over, to get over that
suffering. Therefore, compassion is very much in our scriptures. Our
problem is not with the scriptures. Our problem is that we don’t follow
what is said there. Therefore, it is very clear. dayām kuru - show
compassion. If all these virtues are there, ētat satām lakshanam - such a
person is called Sath Purushaha. He is not a Gnyāni, he is not even
Muktaha. He is an ideal candidate for Vēdānta. Therefore, every Gnyāni must
have all these virtues.
It says - vidyā vinaya sampannē brāmhanē gavihastini shunichaiva
swapākēcha panditā sama darshinaha. That is why they said that a Sanyāsi
who is out of a society does not recognize these status differences. He
should not also. Therefore, what is a rule for a Sanyāsi, outside the
society is not a rule for a Grihastha, inside the society. Therefore, a
Grihastha in society has to respect status, whereas a Sanyāsi, who is
supposed to be out of the society, has to treat everyone with Samatvam. He
might be rich or poor. He might be a Prime Minister or a Chowkidar.
There must be Samatvam. Therefore, Shankarāchārya says don’t mix up
these two. What is valid in society, it is not valid in Nivrutti Mārga
(Sanyāsa) and what is valid in Sanyāsa is not valid in society. Therefore,
mānyān mānaya is a rule for a Grihastha in the society. Similarly, Kīrtim
Pālaya; Protect your honor and avoid dishonor - Apamānam. So, love, honor
and shun dishonor is the Dharma Shāstra rule. Once you come to the Vēdānta,
once a person comes to Nivrutti Mārga, the rule is - mānāpamānayō stulyaha
stulyō mitrāri pakshayōh amānitvam adambhitvam. In Grihastha, the rule is
to protect your honor. In Sanyāsa, the rule is to give up the sense of
honor. That is why you will find some of the virtues which are acceptable
for Grihastha do not go along with the Self-Knowledge. There will be some
contradiction with regard to some values. When a person comes to Vēdānta,
they will be equal to Māna and Apamāna. But when he goes to the society as
a Grihastha, he cannot treat Mānam and Apamānam equally.
om̐ pūrṇamadaḥ pūrṇamidaṃ pūrṇātpūrṇamudacyate pūrṇasya
pūrṇamādāya pūrṇamevāvaśiṣyate || om̐ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ | KR IRS 2622
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