DHARMA VAHINI (Stream of Righteousness) by BHAGAWAN SRI SATHYA SAI BABA Falling into a-dharma Dharma is not an ordinary affair. One who does not practice dharma is as bad as dead; one who practices it is of the divine nature. Now, there is need to turn people on to the dharmic path by means of the traditional methods of good advice, tempting them with the attractive consequences of following the path, threatening to dissociate from those who do not, and inflicting punishment as a last resort (traditional methods of sama, dhaana, bheda, and danda). In ancient times, people never gave up the practice of dharma, even when threatened with death at the point of the sword. Now, without even the slightest pressure from others, people slide down and fall into a-dharma. Indeed, dharma is interpreted in various confusing ways, and those who strictly follow the real dharma are obstructed, laughed at, and treated as worse than dried-up grass. Those who anxiously adhere to dharma are branded as cheats, hypocrites, and ignoramuses. Such calumnators do not know what dharma is or what its principles are. Unfortunate individuals! They have no capacity to grasp the meaning of that word. You can judge for yourself how dharma can be understood by people who do not know even the literal meaning of the word. What can people born blind know of the sun or its rays? Of course, they can feel the heat when the rays of the sun fall on their bodies, but they can’t have an idea of the nature of sun, its form, its shape, its brilliance, etc. So too, for a person who has no conception of dharma, who has no faith in dharma, the joy derived by its observance is incomprehensible. To dilate on dharma before such people is as useless a venture as blowing a conch before people who are stone-deaf. They can only see the conch at the lips of the person blowing it, but they can’t hear the least bit of sound. So, when dharma is taught to people or extolled, care must be taken to see that they have the faith, earnestness, and eagerness to practice it. Only such must be handled and sought to be corrected. Later, by the promptings of their own experience and the joy they derive therefrom, even the ignorant will plant the seedlings of dharma in their hearts.
Posted on: Tue, 29 Oct 2013 13:56:07 +0000
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