Buddhist Gems 12
Dharmadeva
What is dharma? That which sustains the unit being is dharma. And the
practical side of dharma is expressed in the words A'ca'ran'a't
dharmah, that is, "Dharma is the assemblage of all your conduct" --
the way you eat, the way you speak, the way you perform spiritual
practices. If your conduct is good, dharma is with you; if your
conduct is not good, dharma is not with you. And if dharma is not with
you, what comes about is your physical, mental, and spiritual ruin.
Now you may say that your soul or consciousness (a'tman) cannot be
ruined. That is correct, but your a'tman will not remain in the form
of a'tman. It will become crudified.
In the first stage of dharma, the greatest helping factor is niiti
(that which has the capability to lead). In other words, the function
of niiti is to help dharma, to help dharma'caran'a [practice of
dharma]. Therefore niiti plays a vital role in the life of a spiritual
aspirant (sa'dhaka). But niiti is not the culminating point of life,
it is simply a starting point. In order to enter a house one has to
pass through the gate, and this passing through the gate is niiti. But
one has not gotten into the house simply by passing through the gate;
to get in, one has to knock on the door. The entering into the house
after knocking on the door is dharma sa'dhana' (dharmic spiritual
practices). Just to be a moralist is not enough, it only provides one
with a passport to enter the house. As said above, A'ca'ran'a't
dharmah ["Dharma is the assemblage of all your conduct"], and the
first phase of your conduct is niiti. Therefore those who are bereft
of niiti cannot be dharmic, and those who are dharmic cannot go
against niiti.
Now the question crops up whether niiti is a relative factor or an
absolute factor. Niiti is not cent percent relative, but it is not
absolute, either, because niiti does not have any direct relation with
Parama'tman (Supreme Soul/Consciousness) -- it cannot by its own force
help one attain God. Niiti is a happy blending of relative and
absolute.
The final goal of dharma is Parama'tman (Supreme Consciousness), so
for a dharma sa'dhaka there can be no other end.
...
A mother tries to coax and cajole her crying son, and offers him some
toys to divert his attention, so that she can work in the kitchen. The
child stops crying and forgets his mother for the time being. But if
he is a bit naughty, he will again resume his effort to reach the
breast of his mother. He will throw away the toys and cry for mother
only. And the mother ultimately has to come and take the child on her
lap. A devoted sa'dhaka is like this child. He or she will say, "O
Father, this world that I see all around is a plethora of toys. This
world took its birth at a certain time, so it will also come to an end
at some time or other. This world has not been given permanently to
anybody." If God is asked whether God has given this world-toy to
anybody forever, He will not be able to answer, for God does not give
things forever. God gives with the right hand and takes away with the
left.
Lord Buddha has said, Konuha'sa kiimananda nittam pajjalite sate. This
means that Parama'tman (God) has given you a rope, one end of which
you are holding, and on the other end of which God has lit a fire.
Sooner or later the fire will burn all of the rope and your hand as
well. Hence one should not ask anything from Parama'tman (Supreme
Consciousness - God).
Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
NIITI AND DHARMA
SUBHA'S'ITA SAM'GRAHA PART 21
18 July 1967
DMC, Delhi
---
Human beings wish to express themselves in so many ways through the
different inferences of sound, touch, taste, form, and smell. And they
wish to derive joy from the many inferences they receive from the
external world. They exclaim in joy, "How tasty this dish is? How
delightful its smell! How delicious the vegetables."
It is a fact that human beings are connected with the material world
through the inferences (tanmatras). But the human capacity of
assimilating these inferences (tanmatras) is rather very limited. For
example a very loud or very soft sound cannot be perceived by the ear.
Human beings can only perceive the medium range of tanmatric or
inferential vibrations. Lord Buddha called it "majjhima' ma'gya", the
middle of the road. It is a fact. The poet Giirish Ghosh said in this
context,
"A'lga' ta're bol ot'hena' ta'nle chenr'e komal ta'r
If you don't tune the string tightly enough you won't get the required
note, and if you tune it too tightly it will break.
Those of you who play string instruments are well aware that if the
strings are tuned too high they will break, and if they are too loose
they can't produce the proper notes. Although the human mind can be
compared to the strings of an instrument, it would be more precise to
compare it with a cloud which fills up the sky, bringing all objects
within its domain. How does the human mind expand? It can best be
explained with the analogy of the cloud. Imagine there is a tiny patch
of cloud in a corner of the sky. Gradually it expands its size until
it covers the whole sky. This is ectoplasmic or mental expansion.
As the mind expands in all directions, it brings all objects within
its periphery. It is essential for the mind to maintain a perfect
adjustment between itself and its objects. The other day I told you
that the mind always seeks an object and jumps from object to object
depending on the degree of attraction. Take the case of this bolster
beside me. If I pick it up and move it from left to the right will the
mind remain associated with it for the entire duration of its
movement. Remember, before I said that the mind remains attached to
the object for which its attraction is greater. In the case of the
bolster the mind is more attached to having it on the right side then
the left because that will be more comfortable, and thus its
preoccupation is with putting the bolster on the right.
In the ekendriya stage, which is the third stage in pratyahara
(withdrawal of mind in meditation) one expands one's ectoplasmic
sphere just like a cloud filling the sky - whenever the cloud passes
over an object it brings it within its sphere of influence. But this
is not so in the case of the Supreme Consciousness (Parama Purus'a).
Whenever the Supreme's mental sphere increases, numerous entities
emerge within the Cosmic Mind, remain in a state of flow for some time
and subsequently dissolve back into the Cosmic Mind. The microcosms
which are created, maintained and dissolved within the Cosmic Mind are
qualitatively almost the same manner as the Supreme Consciousness
(Parama Purus'a), but of course they differ quantitatively. The Cosmic
Mind is extremely vast; the unit mind is tiny. The unit mind only
expands in the ectoplasmic sphere, like the cloud filling the sky, and
in the process of expansion brings other unit minds within its sphere
of control. When it expands tremendously it can also assert some
influence on the Cosmic Mind.
Suppose two people, Mr. A and Mr. B, have small minds. After the
practice of deep meditation Mr. A succeeds in expanding the periphery
of his unit mind and can influence the mind of Mr. B. Not only that,
he can also influence the vast mind of Parama Purus'a. This endeavor
for mental expansion is called Vidya' Tantra.
The scientific process of expansion of mind is called Tantra. Tantra
is derived as tan + trae (root verb) + da, and literally means to
attain liberation through expansion. Suppose you are sitting immobile
in one place having have been bound by ropes. Now you can either free
yourself by cutting the rope with a knife, or by taking such a deep
breath to expand the chest that the rope snaps. On the path of Tantra
one expands the mind to snap the bondages of vrttis (propensities),
ripus (fetters), pashu's (enemies of the mind) etc. This is the goal
of Vidya' Tantra.
Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
19 April 1981, Calcutta
Ma'nasa'dhya'tmika Sa'dhana'r Staravinya's
[Stages of Psycho-Spiritual Sa'dhana']
EKENDRIYA -- 1
Ananda Marga Philosophy in a Nutshell Part 6