Sadharana Dharma

[Srinivasakrishnan ln]

In a recent newspaper article, a Swami-ji with a rising following made this opening remark:

http://bit.ly/2xIHD82

QUOTE

As a culture, India has no sense of morality. We have never focused on morals and ethics in this country.

UNQUOTE

It seemed to my untrained eye that the article was downplaying the role that  the  concept of sādhāraṇa dharma  had in people's lives.  I'm sure he had a reason for doing it.

My own interest is in following up on the original sources for the sādhāraṇa dharma as understood by ordinary people.  I mean all those lists of do's and don'ts they teach you in school such as ahiṃsā, satya, asteya, indriyanigraha, śauca, dhṛti, kṣamā etc.  Aren't there some handy verses for this in e.g., Manu?

Thanks,

Srini

[Shashi Joshi]

Yama and Niyama are that only.

Thanks,
Shashi

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[Nagaraj Paturi]

I read that piece by Sri Jaggi-ji. 

He says,

"At times, it appears easy to sermonise on morality and ethics. But morality and ethics appear good only when applied to others, never on oneself. But a person is imbued with consciousness, does not have to be told, “Do this or do not do that”. Such a person will act appropriately and according to a given situation.

Everywhere else in the world they try to tell you what is right and what is wrong. In this country, by contrast, you are not told what is right and wrong. You are only told what is appropriate in a given situation. What is appropriate today may not be so tomorrow. All the embodiments of the divine you worship — Rama, Krishna, Shiva — cannot call be called morally correct figures. They are not. Because it never occurred to them to be that way. But they are the peak of human consciousness.

If you want something indigenous — not indigenous to this nation, but germane to to your being — do not impose rules; do not dictate, “thou shall not”. That is because people will bypass morality at the first opportunity they get. Let us make the necessary effort to see that human consciousness operates in a certain way because that is the only insurance — and the ultimate one — that we have."

Vakyapadiyam has this to say:

इदं पुण्यम् इदं पापम् इत्येतस्मिन्  पदद्वयॆ /

आचण्डालमनुष्याणाम् अल्पं शास्त्रप्रयॊजनम् // वाक्य_१।४० //

( With regard to the two words (concepts) , this is pāpam this is puṇyam, śāstra is of not much use for people of all classes including the caṇḍāla class )

(All people can judge what is pāpam and what is puṇyam by themselves through intuition )

(caṇḍāla lit. those who are the most courageous, providing services that look horrifying to others, comprising of services like caretakers of cremation grounds, hangsmen etc. )

It goes on:

चैतन्यम् इव यश्चायम् अविच्छॆदॆन वर्ततॆ /

आगमस्तम् उपासीनॊ हॆतुवादैर् न बाध्यतॆ // वाक्य_१।४१ //

(Like consciousness, tradition too is eternal, perennial and has been perpetually carried by people. Those who follow such a tradition are not affected (guided) by their own or non-traditional logic in judging this)

For the time-being, if we set aside the issue of tradition, lest we should digress, we may notice that the idea of consciousness is invoked by Vakyapadiyam too. )

Sri Jaggi-ji is probably talking from this kind of understanding. This is an advanced level of understanding. 

This consciousness is considered to be operating among humans through antarātman or manassākṣin equivalent to English conscience. Vakyapadiyam subscribes to innate knowledge school in epistemology. As per this school, conscience too is innate. Empiricist epistemology may hold that conscience, the intuitive ethical/moral sensitivity (among other things) is post-natally acquired. Sri Jaggi-ji's words indicate his subscription to innate conscience. 

But such a high level understanding is not understandable to all. 

People in India too are guided by the morals of their respective villages, tribes, castes, communities etc. enforced by the respective social groups through mechanisms such as public opinion, caste and village panchayats etc. As such, it may be exaggeration to declare,

"As a culture, India has no sense of morality. We have never focused on morals and ethics in this country."

He was probably keeping the apparently 'immoral' aspects in itihāsas and purāṇas. 

Pūjya Vēdavyāsa's Mahabharata is a guide to train people to understand various cultures, customs  such as polyandry, surrogate parenthood etc.,  from a cultural relativist perspective. Sri Jaggi-ji probably is trying to make modern generation understand such things. 

But if not properly received, statements such as "As a culture, India has no sense of morality. We have never focused on morals and ethics in this country.", may be misleading to the less intelligent audience. 

--

Nagaraj Paturi

 

Hyderabad, Telangana, INDIA.

BoS, MIT School of Vedic Sciences, Pune, Maharashtra

BoS, Chinmaya Vishwavidyapeeth, Veliyanad, Kerala

Former Senior Professor of Cultural Studies

 

FLAME School of Communication and FLAME School of  Liberal Education,

 

(Pune, Maharashtra, INDIA )

 

 

 

[Nagaraj Paturi]

I said, 'People in India too are guided by the morals of their respective villages, tribes, castes, communities etc. enforced by the respective social groups through mechanisms such as public opinion, caste and village panchayats etc.'

Within this diversity of moral instructions, the Vidhis and Nishedhas of Vaidika Shaastras are also part. 

The statements of Vidhis and Nishedhas incorporate a consequence for performance and / or non-performance of an action. 

This consequence is either in the form of reward or punishment. 

Common man is motivated either by a desire for reward or fear of punishment. 

Only an enlightened person , a jnaani can know the do or the don't without the help of a code of vidhis (do's) and nishedhas (don'ts) and can be motivated to perform the vihitas and nishiddhas without looking for rewards or punishments. 

Again in Vakyapadiyam, this analysis is expressed in the verses:

या प्रवृत्तिनिवृत्त्यर्था स्तुतिनिन्दाप्रकल्पना /

कुशलः प्रतिपत्ता ताम् अयथार्थां समीहतॆ // वाक्य_२।३१९ //

Words of praise and censure are composed for the purpose of persuading and dissuading (or motivating people towards do's and don'ts). A clever receiver of meaning of such words does not take the meaning of those words literally.   

विधीयमानं यत् कर्म दृष्टादृष्टप्रयॊजनम् /

स्तूयतॆ सा स्तुतिस् तस्य कर्तुर् एव प्रयॊजिका // वाक्य_२।३२० //

 Action which is prescribed as giving a tangible or intangible benefit is praised. That praise is meant only to motivate towards action. 

व्याघ्रादिव्यपदॆशॆन यथा बालॊ निवर्त्यतॆ /

असत्यॊ ऽपि तथा कश्चित् प्रत्यवायॊ ऽभिधीयतॆ // वाक्य_२।३२१ //

Just as a child is dissuaded ( from say, crying) using the threat of a tiger and the like, (a consequence of) (natural or supernatural) harmful effect is mentioned (in statements of 'don'ts) though that effect could be untrue. 

न संविधानां कृत्वापि प्रत्यवायॆ तथाविधॆ /

शास्त्रॆण प्रतिषिद्धॆ ऽर्थॆ विद्वान् कश्चित् प्रवर्ततॆ // वाक्य_२।३२२ //

A wise person even after realising this truth about the consequence of natural or supernatural harmful effect that is mentioned in statements of 'don'ts in shaastra , does not perform the action that is prohibited (because he understands why the action is prohibited)

[Gudsoorkar A G]

Dr Paturiji,

We are indeed very thankful to you for the enlightened exposition on 'Sanatana Dharma', quoting many sources. 

Sent from my iPhone

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[Srinivasakrishnan ln]

Thank you, Paturi-garu, for your various explanations. I do appreciate you taking the time.

Srini

[Nagaraj Paturi]

The Dharma of Ethics, the Ethics of Dharma: Quizzing the Ideals of Hinduism

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1467-9795.00113/full

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ethics in Management: Vedantic Perspectives

 

S. K. Chakraborty

 

https://philpapers.org/rec/CHAEIM-2

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Chapter on Hindu Ethics

in

The Blackwell Companion to Religious Ethics

 here

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Bloomsbury Research Handbook of Indian Ethics

Editor(s): Shyam Ranganathan

https://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-bloomsbury-research-handbook-of-indian-ethics-9781472587770/

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Ethics and the History of Indian Philosophy

Shyam Ranganathan

https://books.google.co.in/books/about/Ethics_and_the_History_of_Indian_Philoso.html?id=x89I_zEGPhkC

 

[Nithin Sridhar]

Namaste Srinivas,

You can refer to my article published in Prabuddha Bharata titled "Samanya Dharma and Spirituality"- https://www.academia.edu/18507697/Samanya_Dharma_and_Spirituality

Regards,
Nithin

[Srinivasakrishnan ln]

Thank you. I'll read this article.

Srini

--

[Anand Hudli]

Please see the article on sAmAnya dharma:

http://lists.advaita-vedanta.org/archives/advaita-l/1999-May/010175.html

Anand

[Nagaraj Paturi]

All these references go to contradict Sri Jaggi-ji's words;

"As a culture, India has no sense of morality. We have never focused on morals and ethics in this country."

Is that right?

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