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.
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