Vedathiri Maharishi SKY or Simple Kundalini Yoga

Vedathiri Maharishi was an Indian Saint who lived from 1912 to 2006.

He dedicated most of his life to develop the Simple Kundalini Yoga or SKY Yoga.
Its highly scientific and practical.
In this post - I will discuss this from a beginner's perspective.

He made famous the tamil verse "Vazgha Valamudan" (வாழ்க, வளமுடன்!) which in English means "Live with Prosperity" or it also can be interpreted as "Be blessed by the divine"!

Vedhathiri Maharishi gave his lifetime to understand philosophy in a scientific and practical manner. He came up with SKY Yoga which includes Simplified Physical Exercises, Kaya Kalpa, Kundalini Meditation (in the form of Mooladhara/Shanti meditation, Agna meditation, Thuriya Meditation, Thuryatheetha meditation and many more).
There are also theoritical discourses and practical methods for Analysis of Thoughts, Moralization of desires, Neutralization of Anger, Eradication of Worries, Blessing and its benefits, Greatness of women and Family harmony.
The topics also include advanced philosopies like "Who Am I?". Maharishi has also given his views on the origin of the world and introduces or uses various scientific terms like Life Force, Biomagnetism, Universal magnetism, Absolute space (Shiva Kalam), Shakti Kalam and various other concepts to provide a self sufficient explanation of "Who am I?".
There is so much knowledge that this school of thought or this school of philosophy is called Vedhatriyam!

....To Be Continued....

Geo Centric Versus Helio Centric Theories - Flat Earth Versus Spherical Earth

I am not a Flat Earth proponent.
I am open minded about both Flat Earth and Spherical Earth.
Both are theories that tries to explain universe's structure. Both of them have their pros and cons.

Most people feel that Earth is spherical globe. It is spinning at a rapid rate around itself and revolving around the sun. Sun itself is revolving around the centre of the galaxy. On top of this, the universe is ever expanding at a rapid rate. But, the point is none of this movement can ever be felt, experienced or measured??? It is strange.

In my view, people are so brainwashed about the helio centric model that they regard "Flat Earth" as a consipiracy theory. They feel anybody saying "Flat Earth" are idiots of the highest order and society will brand these people as folks who have totally lost their mind. Thats reason enough for me to consider the theory important!!

The following video provided one of the best and a very interesting perspective for anyone interested. Its a 5 hour long video. I will try to summarize it in this thread.
Lost History of Flat Earth - 5 hour long video

I am open minded. I am neither a proponent nor criticizer of the flat earth theory. I feel its a good model just like the helio centric model that tries to explain Universe's structure. The reality/truth may be like the helio centric theory or Geo centric theory OR it might be very different from both the theories. We dont know. It is certainly worth studying it in a transparent model rather than calling it eccentric.

Here are the interesting things that is told in the above video I have linked that helped me understand that flat earth theory has its merits.

• The first one hour is focussed on a very tangential topic. The interesting point they make is that photography started off in 19th century (i.e. 1800 to 1900). They show some photos where there are no people in big cities in Europe and Russia. This is certainly strange. Then, there are other photos where people look rural - i.e. no great technological advancements - just cities buzzling with people and horse carts etc.
• Then, they come to ancient buildings and monuments that were built. Our present controllers label this as Gothiac architecture, Renaissance architecture and so on. The narrators of the video state that without power tools, without advanced technological equipments and knowledge, these structures could not have been built. Certainly not by people who have no access to electricity and crude oil to power their travel. They further add that these magnificent structures are today used as Religious instituitions, Parliament or Government buildings etc. But, there are lots of commonalities here - Antenna like structures at the top, domes with super high precision symmetry, central hall, pillars with metals etc.
  
• They then move on to explain that these are Electro Magnetic Generation Factories and not just any super precision art work where people just did it to pass their time.
  
• They then explain how the earth can be modelled as flat.
  
• Earth and solar system can best be described as a semi spherical Bubble within a Cosmos filled with water.
• There is a strong magnetic centre and that emits Electro Magnetic waves. Aether is the 'space' that helps transmit these electro magnetic waves and vibrations and within the Aether, all creations - earth, water, air and fire can be created.
  
• The boundary between the earth's bubble and the outer water cosmos is called the Firmament.
• Ionosphere are layers between the base of the earth and the firmament filled with various gas.
  
• Sun and Moon are likely formed due to the interaction of the Electro magnetic waves with the Ionosphere. Moon is described as a Plasma formation.
  
• Stars are light emitting patterns inside the Cosmos' watery space outside the firmament.
• Earth (Circular base of the half bubble) consists of the 'known' world and an 'unknown' world.
• In the known world of the Earth, you can visualize it as a flattened model of a Globe (Spherical) model. Here, the north pole (artic) will still remain. But, there will be 'no' South pole. Its all Ice - whats known as Antartic.
  
• Beyond the known world (i.e beyond the Antartic ice walls), there lies an 'unknown' or dark world.
  
• The centre of the known + unknown world is the centre of the Earth (also known as the Geographic north) and directly above is Polaris.
  
• All stars rotate around the polaris in anti-clockwise direction and with high precision.
  
• Since the relative position of the stars is fixed, we can use that as a guide to circum navigate the Earth. This is the reason that our ancestors have divided the sky into 12 slices i.e. Aries, Pisces, Acquarius, Cancer, Capricon, etc. They can help in navigating our earth both in the known world as well as the unknown - i.e. beyond the Antartic ice wall.
  
• Sun and moon revolves around the tropic of cancer, equator and capricon causing different seasons.
  
• The 'known' world i.e. the area which recieves the sun and moon light itself is changing. This movement is also super precise and after a given time, different parts of the 'unknown' world will get illuminated. After a great year (i.e. after 25920 years), the sun and the moon would have completed a 360 degree motion and it would have come back to the same point in that circular motion. To help understand this, every 2160 years, 'known' world keeps revolving by 30 degrees around the earth's geographic centre and after 25920 years, it comes back to illuminate the same 'world' that it illuminates today. So, Antartic ice wall is nothing but just a temporary ice structure that keeps melting and reforming.
  

I know this is too much to digest for a society which ridicules and criticizes any new information.
Why is this important? Everything looks ridiculous when you hear the first time.
I feel that this is an important alternate theory. I feel that the current helio centric model also suffers from a lot of inconsistencies.

Let us now see what are the inconsistencies in the popular helio centric model and how the above flat earth theory is able to address those gaps.

• Water cannot curve into a spherical shape. In flat earth, water does not need to 'curve' itself and its just a flat surface of ocean.
• In Helio centric theory, speed of various celestial bodies like earth, moon, sun and planets are extremely high i.e. much higher than even speed of sound. We dont feel any of these movements neither can this be measured. Thats very strange. See this video to get a visualization of how absurd it is to model the various motions of sun, moon and earth!
• No proper video/photo exists of the south pole i.e. the absolute south of the Spherical earth. Its surprising that humans have managed to explore every inch of earth but when it comes to Antartica, ordinary citizens of the world are not allowed to visit it. Also no Aeroplane flies over the south pole, but many Aeroplanes fly daily over north pole. This is perfectly explained by a flat earth model.
• (I am yet to validate) Many Aeroplane flight routes look to be optimal and follow the distances as per the flat earth and not the spherical model. I will add more details here after validating. One video explaining how sub optimal routes are taken by flights assuming a Spherical model
  
• The constellations and the relative positions of the stars do not change. This also is better explained through the flat earth model rather than the spherical model.

Points in favour of helio centric theory:

• The critical point in a flat earth is that distance in the southern hemisphere locations become quite large as compared to helio centric model. There are everyday flights operating between Sydney and Santiago, Chile. This is said to be around 14000 miles and 14 hours of travel time in a global spherical Earth model. The claim (yet to be verified) is that in flat earth, this distance is ~25000 miles. No commercial airplanes can cover 25000 miles in 14 hours is the claim.
  
• I tried to verify the above point. I checked with Google Bard. It says that there are direct flights from Auckland, New Zealand to Santiago Chile. The air distance between Auckland and Santiano is ~6000 miles in helio centric model. Flight takes ~11 hours which seems reasonable.Commercial Flights can fly at ~600 mph.

//To be continued.

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 2: Saankya Yoga

Here in Chapter 2, Sri Krishna summarizes the entire Bhagavad Gita .

In Chapter 1, Arjuna expresses his wish not to fight the war. Sri Krishna starts with a brief yet impactful statement in the second and third shlokas of Chapter 2.
Sri Krishna chides Arjuna by saying "What has happened to you? This is not at all befitting your stature. You have been engulfed by क्लैब्यं (unmanliness or impotence)"

To this, Arjuna again gives a number of pseudo logical arguments (shlokas 4 to 8) like "Drona and Bhisma are my teachers and are worthy of my respect and by killing them, what would I gain?"
Shloka 7 is very important where Arjuna says "I have lost my mental composure" and totally surrenders to Sri Krishna and asks him to guide. (Pruchaami Tvam Sammudha Cetah yat Sreyah Syaat Niscitam Bruhi meh – My mind is confused, Tell me certainly which is the right thing to do?)
This is an important philosophical point that whenever our mind is overcome by negativity, we must surrender to the almighty and seek help. This is a necessary condition to help drive out the negativity in our own mind irrespective of the outcome. That's why it is told that God helps those who seek refuge in him.

From Shlokas 11 to 72, Sri Krishna summarizes the teachings of Bhagavad Gita. He talks about Soul and Rebirth (Shlokas 11 to 30). Then, He explains the duty of Arjuna as a warrior (also referred as Saankya yoga or the analytical understanding - Shlokas 31 to 38). He then explains the process of liberating ourselves from bondages of Karma i.e. the right way to lead our day to day life (Shlokas 39 to 53) . Finally, the concept of Stita Pragna or a person who has attained self-realization is explained in detail (Shlokas 54 to 72).

Shlokas 11 to 30 – Soul, Rebirth or Reincarnation:

Sri Krishna introduces the concept of Soul or Atma to Arjuna (the term 'Soul' or 'Atma' is not used in the shlokas verbatim, but I am using it for reader's understanding). He starts by saying the wise men or learned men neither lament for the living or the dead. The reason is "There was never a time where I (Sri Krishna), you (Arjuna) or any of the Kings (in the battlefield) DID NOT EXIST neither will there be a future time where any of us will CEASE to exist". For many many years, every soul passed from body to body just like we change clothes. Within a body, it will transform from birth, boyhood, old age and death . These are natural and hence not a cause for concern. Happiness and distress are temporary experiences and a person has to be steady or equanimous in both joy and sorrow. Soul is Sat (meaning permanent) and Body is asat (meaning impermanent). Soul is unborn, eternal, ever existing and primeval.

In shloka 26, Sri Krishna also says that if your mind does not accept the above concept of an eternal soul, still there is no reason to lament as anyway, life is assumed to be temporary. The simple point is dont lament on what is temporary.
Notice an important point of Vedas/Shastras/Sanatana Dharma (loosely called Hinduism). There is no force on the individual to accept the theory. The theory is laid out (for example, soul is there and is eternal) but it is every human's free will based on his analytical and practical experiences whether he wants to accept the theory or not. The assumption is that every human will eventually concur with these teachings as the permanent tenets do not change.

Shlokas 31 to 38 – Saankya Yoga:

Now that the concept of Aatma or soul (termed as 'Sat' or the permanent entity within each human) has been explained, Sri Krishna connects the dots to the present use case. Here, he says Arjuna is a Kshatriya (warrior) and he must perform his duty in this role as the cause is just (Sva Dharmam api avekshya – considering your own Dharma, Na Vikampitum arhasi - Don’t hesitate). The war is an opportunity for Arjuna to attain heavenly planets by doing his duty as a warrior. If he wins, he gets to enjoy as a King and if he loses the war, he attains heaven. So the right thing to do is to fight.

Shloka 38 goes one step further where Sri Krishna says "Fight as a duty and not considering happiness, sorrow, loss, gain, victory or defeat. This will not accrue any sin". This is the pinnacle of understanding Karma yoga i.e. how to remain unaffected by Karma or actions that we perform.

Shlokas 39 to 54 – Saankya Yoga's process details:

A brief interpretation of Karma Yoga's tenets is necessary here which will help understand these shlokas easily.

The tenet of Karma Yoga is that in our day to day life, we do actions which can be classified as

• Activities that are good and will lead to good results for the human in future.
• Activities that are bad and will lead to bad results for the human in future.
• Activities which are neutral – This is the recommended way and hence Sri Krishna says Fight without considering emotions or outcomes and do it just as duty (Shloka 38).

Sri Krishna explains the advantage of following a path of neutral Karma.

Vedas have multiple parts – 80% of Vedas are about Yagnas where a human desirous of some outcome, performs Yagna. Yagna means offering to please the perticular God - i.e say Varuna/Indra for rain, Chandra, Surya for other desires etc. Sri Krishna says do not think that this is the end of the journey, the yagnas performed are just intermediate milestones for a human.
Rather doing work or duty and surrendering the outcome to God is the ultimate wisdom. Essentially, Sri Krishna is summarizing the Vedanta (5% of Vedas which talks about the ultimate goal of liberation from misery). Sri Krishna goes on to say that we have to transcend the three material modes of nature (Sattva, Rajas and Tamas).

Shloka 47 is very important where Sri Krishna says every human has the right to perform his duty but is not entitled to the fruits of action (or outcome). This should not be misunderstood. What He is saying is that you should set goals, do your work according to your own nature and simply surrender the outcome to God. Surrendering means accept the outcome as God's will. It does not matter if outcome was favorable or unfavorable to our mind. The other way to explain is perform your duties in equanimity (equanimous to both success or failure). This is the only way to not inherit any Karmic bondages on one's own account and by doing action in complete devotion, God will absorb the Karmic reactions whether it's good or bad. When one's karmic account has come to NIL i.e. there is no good or bad debt in a particular human soul's Karmic account, the soul will become free from the cycle of birth and death and attain Mukti (Shloka 51).

Shlokas 54 to 72 - Stita Pragna – Man of steady consciousness:

Arjuna asks "What are the attributes of such a self-realized person – Stita Pragna? How does he behave?"

Lord Krishna answers "Stita Pragna is always satisfied in the self alone. He is free from all attachments like happiness, sorrow and is unaffected (mentally) whatever good or bad may happen. As mind is unstable, wavering or prone to distractions, Self-realized person keeps his mind engaged with devotion to God and hence restrains himself from sensual or activities of passion.

Emphasizing the importance of staying away from sensual pleasures, Sri Krishna says that is the seed which finally brings the human all miseries. He expands this by saying sensual pleasures leads to attachment (Sangah) or craving. From Attachment, lust (Kaama) or addiction develops.From this lust, anger (Kroda) develops. Anger leads to delusion (Sammoha), which leads to bewilderment of memory (Smriti Vibramaha). When memory is confused, intelligence is lost (Buddhi nasha) and person falls again to the material pool.

Thus a person should give up sensual pleasures, should act in devotion to God. Further, this means he should act with the understanding that he owns nothing permanently and become free from Ego (false identity that 'Ego' is everything and wants to own everything).

If one leads a life in this way and is situated in this mindset or understanding even while dying, he attains Brahma Nirvana (i.e. he becomes liberated).

Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1 summary

Chapter 1 Arjuna Vishada Yoga:

In this chapter, Minister Sanjaya explains to the king Dhritarashtra that the armies of both Pandavas and Kauravas are assembled in Kurukshetra for the war. Everyone is blowing their conch to signal the start of the war. Famed warriors like Drona, Bhishma are fighting the battle on the side of Kauravas. Krishna is the charioteer for Arjuna. Arjuna, though one of the greatest warriors of his time, suffers a mental breakdown.

This is the biggest take away of Chapter 1.

Even the best of the best will undergo mental confusions, breakdowns at critical junctures in their life.
Arjuna asks Krishna to drive him to the center of the battlefield and argues with Krishna that he does not want to fight this war. The arguments he puts up here 'apparently' looks very convincing.

• Argument 1) I can only see misfortunes as a result of this war
• Argument 2) I cannot see how any good can result from killing my own cousins and relations.
• Argument 3) I do not desire any subsequent victory, kingdom or happiness by killing my own relatives.
• Argument 4) Teachers, Fathers, Sons, Grand Fathers, Maternal uncles, In laws, Grandsons and others are placed in opposite sides of the war. I need to kill them or get killed. What pleasure will we (Pandavas) derive by killing Kauravas?
• Argument 5) Killing is sinful and wrong. Kauravas may not realize this, but we are educated enough to realize this.
• Argument 6) If dynasty is destroyed, the family tradition is lost for the next generations.
• Argument 7) The next generations will be unwanted progeny due to wrong deeds of the war on the women in the society.
• Argument 8) Ancestors of these unwanted future generations will also suffer as no one will do the requisite ancestral yagnas or worships (Pindodaka kriya). Hence unwanted people and their ancestors (including Pandavas) will go to hell.
• Argument 9) Driven by desire of royal happiness, we are committing sin.
• Argument 10) I think it's better Kauravas kill me unarmed in this battlefield.

Saying thus, he discards his bow and arrow, overcome with mental confusions. Clearly, a great warrior Arjuna is experiencing a mental breakdown at a crucial juncture as the war is about to start. He 'does not want' to fight the war and wants to run away. Arjuna uses several arguments even in subsequent chapters which again looks very convincing but that’s the beauty of Bhagavad Gita. Krishna 'corrects' him each time on what is the right thing to do. This is done in several ways – by educating Arjuna on the bigger picture of life, the ultimate goal of life, how a right thing needs to be pursued even if it's not easy or not convenient.

This knowledge is not meant to be used only for one use case i.e. Arjuna fighting the war. Rather, the eternal knowledge of life is brought out through this use case. If the greatest of the great can experience this breakdown, all human beings at some point in their life or at regular intervals will experience a mental breakdown. The person will be unable to distinguish between rights and wrongs and how he should be performing his duties in the right way. Further, notice that during these confusing times, mind just seems to run away with arguments that seems valid. But, on close introspection later with an open mind, the realization dawns that they are all pseudo arguments to convince ourselves to run away from our duties. These psuedo arguments of our mind will not stand the test of truth and time.

Sample shloka

धृतराष्ट्र उवाच |
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः |
मामकाः पाण्डवाश्चैव किमकुर्वत सञ्जय ||1||

dhṛitarāśhtra uvācha
dharma-kṣhetre kuru-kṣhetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ
māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāśhchaiva kimakurvata sañjaya

Dhritarashtra said: O Sanjay, after gathering on the holy field of Kurukshetra, and desiring to fight, what did my sons and the sons of Pandu do?

Link to Chapter 2.
Link to home page.

Summary or Essence of Bhagavad Gita

Summary in one paragraph:

Do your duty (work) without getting attached to the outcome. Outcome (Success or failure) does not matter as long as we have put in our best efforts. We need to do our duty with complete devotion to God and accept any result of the work done (success or failure) as God's will after putting our full efforts.
One common misinterpretation after reading the above can be that since a person should not get attached to the outcome or the results (success or failure), we need not set goals. This interpretation is incorrect and the right way to see it is that Goals have to be set and they need to help in our evolution . We have to do our duties to help reach the goal. Both our efforts and God's grace is necessary in any work we do. Once we have put our best efforts, we should accept any outcome whether it is success or failure.

The above principle is discussed in Bhagavad Gita as Bhagavan Sri Krishna takes us through the eternal knowledge of the soul or the life that extends beyond Janma (this particular birth and death cycle), the ultimate purpose of any Jeevatma (soul) and the attributes of the Paramatma (Supreme soul). Bhagavan Sri Krishna also talks about how the soul gets entangled in infinite birth and death cycles due to its association with Prakriti (material nature). He says that liberation from this cycle of infinite birth and death is the right goal of life. This can be done by several methods including Saankya Yoga, Karma Yoga, Bhakti Yoga or Sannyasa Yoga. These Yogas or paths are not independent and the tenets can be combined to achieve liberation.

Bhagavad Gita has 18 chapters and 700 shlokas/verses. There are many popular books and audios that gives both translation and interpretation (purport).

• Bhagavad Gita as it is translated by Srila Prabhupada - Dvaita school of philosophy
• Bhagavad Gita translated by Gita Press Gorakhpur
• Bhagavad Gita translated by S. Radhakrishnan
• Bhagavad Gita translated by Swami Swaroopananda, Swami Tapasyananda, Swami Ranganathananda – Advaita school of philosophy

In addition, there are discourses from Chinmaya mission and several other organizations. Sages from time immemorial have given their translations and interpretations in various languages. For Tamil discourses, search for names like Krishna Premi Anna, Nochur Venkatraman. For discourses in English, search for discourse by Prof. Mahadevan or Velukudi Krishnan. This link has quite a few discourses. Commentaries from enlightened persons (Bhasyam like Adi Shankara Bhasyam) are also available.

In this blog, I am trying to invoke reader's interest in spirituality by summarizing all the chapters of Bhagavad Gita in English.

Every human being has the choice of free will and may agree or disagree with what Bhagavad Gita says. With age and maturity , the person will be able to experience the truths told in Bhagavad Gita and eventually understand, agree and practically experience the statements of the Paramatma/Supreme Creator. Here aging refers to spiritual aging that may be trillions of rebirth!! That's why Lord Krishna concludes his discourse to Arjuna saying "I have told what needs to be told and it is now your wish to take it or leave it". So, it respects the human free will and does not force anything on the Jeevatma or the reader. Bhagavan also says that even if a human takes the wrong path or a sub optimal path, he will learn and ultimately attain liberation. Hence, my request to the reader is to read and understand with an open mind. If you are new to spirituality, several contents will look either surprising or illogical but as life progresses, it will make sense.

18 chapters can be broadly categorized into 3 categories:

• Karma Yoga and Dhyana Yoga - Chapter 1 to 6 talks about how a human being should act on his duties in the materialistic world. Putting it in more simple terms – How to act in day to day life that helps the mind to become mature. How can a human free his mind from unnecessary distractions and meditate (Dhyana) his mind on spirituality.
• Bhakti Yoga – Once a human being has got maturity that spirituality is necessary, his mind will have more time due to the practice of Karma Yoga and Dhyana Yoga. But nature of mind is such that it needs to focus on 'something', otherwise it's easy to get distracted in non-spiritual pursuits. In Chapter 7 to 12, Bhagavad Gita focusses the importance of doing everything with Bhakti and surrendering the outcomes (success/failure) to God rather than getting attached to the outcomes.
• Chapter 13 to 18 discusses the same process explained above in more detail. Here, it explains how the human being is constituted by the 3 modes of nature (Sattva - Goodness, Rajas - Passion, & Tamas - Ignorance) in different proportions. This is what gives unique identity to the individual. The activities that a human performs like Yagna, Tapas and Daana also can be categorized into the 3 modes of nature (i.e. same Sattva, Rajas and Tamas). Human being has to evolve gradually by limiting his activities of Tamas and Rajas. He has to predominantly do activities in the Sattvic mode (Goodness mode). Ultimately, he will transcend the 3 modes of nature and realize the ultimate goal of liberation. Bhagavan re-assures in chapter 18 that anyone in any Varna (i.e. Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya or Shudra) can aim for the ultimate goal and can attain it.

Background:

Before jumping into Chapter 1, if the reader does not know the historical context, here's the quick background.

Pandavas are the five sons of Queen Kunti and King Pandu – namely Yudhisthira, Bhima, Arjuna, Nakula and Sahadeva .

Kauravas are Pandavas' cousins . King Pandu's elder brother is Dhritarashtra. He is blind by birth and hence asks his younger brother Pandu to rule. But after Pandu's death, he is ruling the kingdom along with his 100 sons. Duryodhana is the eldest. Duryodhana and 99 siblings are Kauravas.
Pandavas lose a gambling match to Kauravas and they are banished from the kingdom for 14 years. They fulfill their duties in exile and return back after 14 years and ask for a share in the kingdom. Kauravas due to greed are not ready to share the kingdom with Pandavas which is their rightful duty. They snub the Pandavas that they will not even give 5 villages and hence to forget their share of the kingdom.

This necessitates the war where Pandavas and Kauravas are assembled with their armies to fight the battle of Kurukshetra .

Krishna at this point is a well-wisher and a consultant to both Pandavas and Kauravas. He offers himself as consultant to one party and his armies/weapons etc to the other party in the war. Pandavas choose him and Kauravas choose his armies/weapons. Krishna further does not play any role as a warrior, but helps in the role of a Charioteer to Arjuna (3rd Pandava sibling).

With this background, lets jump into Bhagavad Gita Chapter 1.

Practical Spirituality - Part 3 - Men who lead Dharmic life

 

For overview, begin here.

Practical Spirituality - Part 3 - Examples of people who followed Dharmic path: 

 

The following personalities were in the path of Dharma. They might have made some mistakes, but certainly they understand the Dharma principle and tried living according to it. Not all were fully liberated or enlightened, but there were on the right path.  A very important point is not to give significance to the personality themselves as the person/human is temporary i.e his mind/body are not permanent and eternal. Also, remember that the person's mind itself may change over a period of time. So, dont conclude that the person has to be 100% dharmic in every way. There is no human being on earth who has done only right things all throughout life. See if the person applied dharmic principles in a difficult situation or not. Give importance in what is being said - Is it right or wrong - This right or wrong (also called Dharma) is eternal and universal and hence that is what we should pay attention and adopt in our life. The incentive is that if we follow Dharmic practices, we are blessed with mental clarify and health. If we do not follow Dharmic practices, our own mind gets clouded with negative thoughts of guilt, anger, helplessness, etc  

 

SN Goenka 

 

SN Goenka (who re-discovered Gautham Buddha's Dhamma path) was a very Dharmic person. In his initial days, being in a business community, he made a number of mistakes but when he realized it, he changed for the better propagating the path of Dhamma to the world. He is credited for re discovering the lost path of Vipassana meditation which was maintained in its pristine format by dedicated Guru/Shishya parampara in Burma (Myanmar).  

Once he understood the path of Dhamma, SN Goenka went out of the way to teach Vipassana in India. India in his days had a lot of contemporaries like Osho, Sai Baba, ISKCON etc. All were teaching different strategies for enlightenment. It is SN Goenka's trust in the Dhamma/Dharmic path that helped him overcome lot of challenges in establishing the infrastructure across the world and reestablish the practice of Vipassana meditation as practiced and taught by Gautham Buddha 2500 years ago.  

 

 

A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupada 

 

Srila Prabhupada swami was a very Dharmic person. He was initiated into the Gaudiya Vaishnava parampara by his Guru Srila Bhaktisiddhanta Sarasvati Thakura. After Srila Prabhupada completed his duties as a Grihastha, he was initiated into Sannyasa and he became an independent monk away from his family. He published books on Bhagavad Gita, its essence and propagated the message. Based on the suggestion by his Guru earlier in life, he travelled alone to the USA to propagate the message of Bhagavad Gita and the scriptures. He had no money, no permanent place in USA. Yet, he was able to initiate Krishna Consciousness among hundreds of Americans who were attracted by his devotion and sincerity. He established the ISKCON organization that today is there in every country. He was able to face enormous challenges of physical health, independent living in old age and was able to achieve these due to his mental clarity by following Dharma.
There are some comments attributed to Srila Prabhupada regarding Black people being inferior to White people OR women being inferior to men in certain aspects. As I said earlier, dont judge the person. See all the good and Dharmic things he did for his entire life!

Mahatma Gandhi 

 

When it comes to politicians, I have seen the debate never ends. Mahatma Gandhi is both hailed as a hero and there are equal criticisms of his strategies. Mahatma Gandhi was a very Dharmic person atleast in some of the challenging times.

He did make mistakes in life and he was ready to accept it as mentioned in his auto biography – My experiments with Truth. There were a number of mistakes that he did not acknowledge - For example - he openly expressed loyalty to the British Queen and the Britishers many a times. Its well know that in 1910s, he actively engaged in recruiting Indians to fight for British in World war 1. Around 1.1 million Indians fought in the British side and ~1 lakh Indian soldiers lost their lives. Violence in any form is wrong and hence, it has to be condemned and in this case, Indians had nothing at all to do in World war 1. This was sheer political opportunism which is certainly not Dharmic. There were times where he was not consistent in this Dharmic stand as he was soft when British initiated the violence (or in rare cases, Muslim leaders initiated violence) but was harsh against Hindu leaders when they initiated violence. I reiterate here that violence initiated by anyone is wrong. It can be justified only in the rarest of rare cases when every other negotiation has failed and the person should state his dharmic stand and then fight. (Such an example of Bhagwan Krishna asking Arjuna to fight is mentioned below).

But, let us see some examples where Mahatma Gandhi indeed upheld Dharmic principles.  

Mahatma Gandhi had immense compassion for fellow human beings which is a hallmark of a Dharmic person. He opposed the partition of India and called out the evil intentions of the British ruling both the countries by proxy and what was happening was just 'transfer of power' and not freedom/independence. If he had not spoken out the facts, he could have easily become the Prime minister/President of the country. But, he did not negotiate with the British on the uncompromisable aspects of Freedom. On 14th and 15th Aug 1947, he was fasting against the partition even though majority of the politicians and public did not care. He again fasted against the Hindu/Muslim riots that were triggered by the British in secret collusion with the Indian and Pakistani Governments. That shows his infinite compassion. He ultimately paid the price for this with his own life and none of his children or grandchildren could ever become politicians. You can see what a great man Gandhi was by sacrificing his own life, future of his children but doing the right thing for the country, countrymen and Freedom. That is Dharma. 

Another example, when his contemporaries out of ignorance or self-interest promoted vaccines, he outrightly said vaccines are not 'Dharmic' . It contains ingredients that are not aligned with nature. In his days, the vaccine for small pox was made out of weakened small pox bacteria and the serum of the cow which he considered as unethical to inject into a healthy person. He stood against vaccines and did not bother about what the society considered as 'normal' or 'acceptable'.  Link to the book Guide to Health 1921  

 

 

Rights/Wrongs and FAQS: 

 

Eating vegetarian Vs non vegetarian debate: 

 

Eating non vegetarian is against Dharma as this means you kill animals who can experience pain. Only under exceptional situation, when say a fisherman is not able to grow any plant/tree and eat fruits/vegetables and only for his necessity of food, he catches fish and eats, it can be considered as a neutral thing which does not violate Dharma. Eating non veg when other sources are available or for the taste is adharmic/wrong.  

Non Vegetarians use the argument that plant is also a life. So, a farmer is 'killing' the plant and vegetarians are also eating this. This is a fair argument. If one has to be Dharmic, he should eat only fruits and vegetables which are grown off the plant/trees and not kill the plant or the tree at its root. As an exception, if he is 'killing' the plant itself, he should sow another plant so that life grows again.  

The point is you should consume food to make yourself mentally pure. Hence, in some sects of Jainism, Hinduism (including ISKCON) - consumption of Onions, Garlic and vegetables grown under the ground is forbidden.  

Similarly, consumption of milk can be done if you are living in synergy with the cows. You are helping the cattle graze the food, giving shelter and looking after it in the right way. You are using the excess milk from cows for your consumption. This is fine.  

But, modern day rearing of cattle itself is not right. They never have sufficient spaces for cattle to graze in the sun, they inject hormones, regulate births and slaughter cows which are completely adharmic. We should not be consuming milk if the right procedure is not followed.  

 

Killing small insects Versus killing another human etc. 

Both are against Dharma. Killing another human requires a lot of negative energy in your mind and hence is more sinful. Killing any being intentionally – even a bacteria/virus say through a sanitizer, killing a mosquito/ant is wrong. Dharma cannot be selectively applied for your benefit. If you have done so, accept it and try not to do it in the future. Maybe, use a mosquito net or prevent the ants by applying some powder near the ant hole so that it does not disturb you. Avoid, don’t kill. In case of bacteria, virus etc., realize that our human cells and the trillions of bacteria/virus form an eco-system and there is no need to avoid/harm them.  

 

Choosing Work and job: 

Work and earn money from ethical jobs – Say Agriculture, Services that help others like plumber, security, electrician, Teacher, Preacher, Healer, Doctor. Make sure that in each of the profession, you are doing it in ethical way and not following corrupt practices. Otherwise, you are breaking Dharma. For example, as a doctor, you are prescribing tests or medications merely for profit and self-interest is breaking Dharmic rules.   

Neutral industries – Software, Agents/Brokers, etc. – Here, you need to careful that the end product is helpful to people and not harmful.  

Industries you need to be careful – Weapons industry, Army/Navy/air force, Industries that promise you quick money like stock market, etc.  

Say you are in the Army and you 'need' to kill people and that’s your duty. That’s not wrong, PROVIDED you are mentally clear that you have tried all other options like negotiations, opening a peace channel and helping the other person regarding spirituality, mental peace and health. When all other options have failed, you can use weapons to neutralize enemy with a clear mental conscience that you are doing this for the greater good and this action is a temporary action and the goodness of this action is temporary.  

This is the advice of the Hindu scripture – Bhagavad Gita. People wrongly interpret this as we can kill 'if' we are Kshatriyas or 'if' we are in battle field fighting a war. Realize that Bhagavan Krishna preaches that Arjuna should fight this Dharma Yuddha (war) after Pandavas have tried every other option – They went on exile, hiding, tolerated the evil plans of Kauravas when their home was set on fire or when Draupadi was insulted. After fulfilling every commitment as they lost a gambling game of dice, they rightfully asked for their share of kingdom to rule. This was for the sake of the people and not for themselves. They were denied even five villages by Kauravas. This made the Kurukshetra war inevitable. It is known as the war to establish Dharma as there was a clear distinction in the intentions of Pandavas (Righteousness) and Kauravas (Evil). Hence, it is called Dharma Yuddha.  

But, most wars today fought in Kashmir, Palestine are not Dharma Yuddha as there is no clear distinction between who is right and who is wrong. Say, for Kashmir, the parties - Government of India, Pakistan and the so called Independents in Kashmir are all funded by the same International bankers due to their vested evil interests and hence there is no party who is fully right. We can convert it to a Dharma Yuddha by being transparent about our intentions to support the ordinary Kashmiri citizens realize freedom.