Foundation of Life

Once there was a Sage sitting beside the river. He saw a scorpion that has fallen into the river. Sage put his hand inside the river to rescue it, only to be stung. After some time, the scorpion again fell into the river. Once more Sage rescued it only to be stung at the end. A man is observing all this, asked Sage, why are you rescuing this nasty creature again and again? The Sage replied, it's the dharma of a scorpion to sting but it's the dharma of a human being to save.

Do you notice something?

The Sage used the word dharma but what is the meaning of dharma? We use words like this every day without knowing their underlying meaning. Let's explore them one by one.

Dharma derives from the root word dhri which means to support. Dharma implies support from within, the essence of a thing, it's a virtue that makes it what it is. It's a law that expresses and maintains the unity of creation.

Is there anything that supports your life, the life of your family, or the entire world?

The teachings of the great sages imply that penetrating below the senses, they found out not a world of solid, separate objects but a ceaseless process of change. Matter coming together, dissolving, and coming together in different forms. Below the flux of things with name and form, they found something changeless. An infinite, indivisible reality in which the transient data of the world cohere. They called this reality Brahman: the Godhead, the divine ground of existence.

Brahman is the one who knows Brahma. The Brahma is the infinite, changeless reality that exists within each of us. The one that exists within me also exists within you. A feeling of oneness. Loving others means loving yourself and vice-versa.

The core teaching of spirituality is:

1. There is an infinite, changeless reality beneath the world of change.

2. The same reality lies at the core of every human personality.

3. The purpose of life is to discover this reality experientially, to realize God here on Earth.

Nothing can be achieved without desire. Desire is the fuel of life. Desire is not the problem but the selfish desire is the root cause of all evils. Action without selfish motive purifies the mind, the doer is less likely to be ego-driven later.

You might be thinking that why does Selfless action lead to Self-realization?

It's not the good action being rewarded to realize the divine nature. We aren't bargaining with God. An activity that involves ego can't purify consciousness as it goes on creating new karma in the mind. Practically, we are entangled in what we do. Selfless action purifies our consciousness because it doesn't involve any ego. No new karma is created, the mind is working out the karma it has already accumulated.

The great sage Shankara illustrates it with an analogy of the potter's wheel. The ego's job is to go on incessantly spinning the wheel of mind and making new karma pots, new ideas to act on, fresh desires to pursue. When this pointless activity stops, no more pots are made but for a while the wheel of the mind spinning out of the momentum of the past's karma. Eventually, the wheel does come to stop, dissolving the mind's process in Samadhi.

Consciousness is the light that burns in the chambers of your heart.

Shraddha is which is placed in the heart. A person is what his shraddha is. All that we are is the result of our thoughts. A man is made and molded by his thoughts. A thought is a response to the conditioning and the memory. Be very selective of what you are putting in your mind. Thoughts are the packets of potential energy. They grew more and more solid when favorable conditions are present or when obstacles are removed. They become desires, then habits, and then ways of living with full consequences.

Wisdom is knowing the long term consequences of your actions. A thought is a seed that can grow into a deep-rooted, wide-spreading tree. It's more difficult to uproot the wide-spreading tree and terribly difficult to undo the lifetime of negative thinking, which can extend up to many people's lives. It's difficult to unlearn something than to learn in the first place. The body always follows the mind. Positive actions are the result of positive thoughts and optimism.

Karma is the web of cause and effect. The law of Karma states that every event is both a cause and an effect. Every effect has consequences of a similar kind which in turn have further consequences and so-on. Every act is a result of some previous karma. You are the creator and destroyer of your life. In fact, you can control your destiny. Don't throw the responsibility on someone else, Be brave and Lead!

Rise, rise and rise until lamb becomes a lion.

Maya is the creative energy that makes unity appear as the world of innumerable separate things with name and form. It appears as if you are different than me. Of course, on the physical level, you are different but on the spiritual level, the same changeless entity exists within each of us. Anything that divides is sin. On the contrary, anything that unites is holy. Things that seem to be unrelated once connected form a bigger whole. Life is unity.

Ego and Maya are related to each other. Ego is I am, am-ness. It creates division. That is why it is false. Ego wants something special, something rare, something that doesn't usually happen, that has happened to you, not to anyone else. It wants something extraordinary. If your success boosts your ego then it acts as a hindrance to your spiritual life. As you climb the ladder of success, be more humble and stay grounded. A tree full of fruits always bends towards the ground. Be like that tree, vast number of skills yet down to earth. It will make you successful both in the spiritual world as well as in the material world.

Kabir said,

When the seeker is there, the sought is not;

When the sought is found, the seeker no longer exists.

Someone asked Kabir, what kind of meeting is this?

This is a very deep and beautiful statement. Here, Kabir is talking about Ego. As long as, Ego exists how can you become one with the Universe. When the ego disappears then only you are one with existence. When the seeker is there, his ego exists, how can he attains unity. When unity is attained, his ego vanishes and so the seeker.

Samsara is the cycle of birth and death. Life is like a school, one can graduate or one can skip a grade and stay behind. As long as a debt of karma remains, a person has to keep coming back for further education. This is the basis of Samsara, the cycle of birth and death.