The many – Puruṣārtha – Practices of Dharma

Krishna said in B.G thus –

“kiṃ karma kim akarmeti kavayo’py-atra mohitāḥ |
tatte karma pravakṣyāmi yaj-jñātvā mokṣyase’śubhāt ||

karmaṇo hyapi boddhavyaṃ boddhavyaṃ ca vikarmaṇaḥ |
akarmaṇaśca boddhavyaṃ gahanā karmaṇo-gatiḥ ||

“what is action? what inaction? Even the wise are perplexed. It is needful to discriminate action, unlawful action and inaction. Mysterious is the path of action”

Action or Karma is mysterious mainly because the underlying dharma that drives karma in a particular direction works in mysterious ways.

In its broad outlines, dharma is very simple. The boundaries of right and wrong are very simple and straightforward in the common walks of life for people of small development, restricted knowledge, and narrow intelligence who lead their lives without a murmur. But for people of higher intelligence, deep knowledge with a desire to evolve to higher grades of humanity and a yearning to perform their duties consistently with dharma, the practice of dharma is very difficult. It becomes difficult because of the fact that while dharma is universal, it is not absolute. It varies depending on the individuals. What is right for one may be wrong for another person. What is right in one situation may be wrong in another situation for the same individual. As Annie Besant says there is “nothing called absolute right and wrong in this conditioned universe”. This relativeness is what makes dharma subtle or sukshma.

This being the case, then how can simple minded people like us understand it and its subtleties? after-all we are also caught between more than one mutually contradictory paths of duty in our mundane lives during which time we would love to demonstrate the understanding of our dharma spontaneously. While the dharma shastras teach us about dharma as a whole, its divisions, and other foundational aspects, they do not seem to convey the subtle aspects well. If we think of our dharma shastras as providing only a skeletal account of dharma, then it is our Itihasas that add flesh and blood to this skeleton through their stories and narrative literature.

Mahabharata and Ramayana are full of situations in which the richness and ambiguity of the concept of dharma is interwoven at every step. As stated by Shri Bala Gangadhar Tilak in his Gita Rahasya, Vyasa uses phrases like “Suksmartha nyayutham” / full of discriminations between subtle positions and “aneka samayanvitam” / replete with numerous critical occasions to describe Mahabharata as a text for showcasing the role of sukshma dharma in our ancient societies and how commoners and intellectuals alike, reacted to difficult circumstances in life.

Mahabharata is full of complex characters who represent ambiguity to its core. Take for example the Pandavas. According to Shri A.K. Ramanujan – be it Arjuna the greatest warrior – who has a nervous breakdown at the start of the battle – or Yudhiṣṭhira-the greatest truth-keeper – who utters a lie (although he is made to do that) which passes as the truth only because it was Yudhiṣṭhira (known never to lie) who uttered it – or Bhima the strongest of men – who could win his battle with Duryodhana only by hitting below the belt – they all fail spectacularly at crucial moments in those virtues which they are known for throughout the world then and now. The Pandavas who were the good guys could only win by all the subterfuges performed by Krishna. All these show that it is not simply dharma which runs throughout the itihasa, but it is dharmasuksmata or subtle dharma that makes the characters act in ways in which they actually did.

In our coming posts , we will see, through Mahabharata, how subtle and relative dharma can be and how difficult it can be for one to practice it as envisaged and demonstrated by our elders.

The many – Puruṣārtha – Dharma-Basic Principles

Any discussion of traditional dharmic thought about a jiva usually revolves around the principles of varna, asrama and puruṣārtha. These three are intimately related to each other and any one cannot be understood without understanding the others. But the notion of puruṣārtha is treated as the most fundamental of the 3 principles from a dharmic point of view. It is also important because as stated by Shri Aurobindo – it breaks down the common misrepresentation – that Indian dharmic culture denies all values of life, detaches from terrestrial interests, and insists on the unimportance of the life of the moment.

The term puruṣārtha comprises of 2 words – Purusa meaning human, soul, and universal being and artha meaning purpose or objective(artha here is different from artha-one of the puruṣārtha). So puruṣārtha means jiva’s purpose/objective/aim of life. The four puruṣārtha are Dharma (righteousness, moral principle), Artha (prosperity, resources, means), Kāma (pleasure, attachment), and Moksha (liberation, bliss).

The pursuit of material prosperity, fulfilment of one’s desire and attainment of liberation are all based on Dharma which is the foundation of all practical life. The word Dharma is derived from the word “dhri” which means to hold together or preserve. It can be translated as “that which upholds”. Krishna in Mahabharatha provides a complete definition of Dharma.

“Dharma protects and preserves the praja. So it is the conclusion of the Pandits that what maintains is Dharma”

While Praja may be fellow jivas for a jiva, its not the same for Krishna. When he says praja, he means the entire cosmos other than himself! From that point of view, Dharma can be seen to have 3 sides to it. Individual, social and cosmic. From an individual perspective, it refers to one’s duty and righteousness in performing that duty. Dr. Radhakrishnan states that any individual can be free from the holds of the past and be fearless of the chances of the future if he abides by his dharma in such a way. Dharma in a society is the code of conduct or morality to be followed to attain social harmony. In a society, it needs to be amply supported by the general conscience of the people. In any culture that has reached its dharmic heights, the underlying dharma would have become a matter of habit and second nature so that the citizens are not even explicitly conscious of it. In a cosmic perspective, dharma refers to the cosmic order and balance. In Vedas, this cosmic order is often referred to as Rta. It consists of laws that govern the functioning of the manifested universe in its creation, sustenance and destruction. But just like any other important principle in our dharma, Rta is much more than what has been said here.

We will look more into the principle of Rta, at the relationship between Dharma, Rta and Sathya in the next post.