Skip to main content

Swami Mitranandaji - Same Action, Same Situation, Different Dharma: Duryodhana vs Arjuna

June 18, 2013


Pujya Swami Mitranandaji was in the Chinmaya Seva Centre recently and answered questions raised by study group members. The session got off to a fantastic start with this question.

Question: Can we understand the complexity of dharma?


Swami Mitranandaji: Dharma can be expressed as a formula: Right Intention + Right Action = Dharma.
Right intention, wrong action is adharma and so is wrong intention, right action. Of course, wrong intention and wrong action is adharma.

Suppose, Duryodhana had approached Śrī Kṛṣṇa and said, "What is the meaning of this battle? Why fight? I want to wander around like a mendicant", Śrī Kṛṣṇa would probably have said, "You are right. Do it." That is Dharma for Duryodhana. Yet, when Arjuna said the same thing, Śrī Kṛṣṇa taught him the Bhagavad Geeta because for Arjuna that was adharma. So, on the face of it, we have the same situation, same Kŗşņa, yet a different answer. Therefore, it is right that dharma is a complex topic. So, how do we understand its complexity?

In the Taittiriya-Upanishad, the Guru addresses his students in a convocation address. Keep in mind that these students have already been with the teacher for twelve years studying the scriptures and learning all the complexity of dharma. Yet, in his convocation, the Guru reminds them of all the general rules of dharma i.e. Satyam vada (सत्यं वद or "Speak the truth"), etc. After elaborating on all these general principles, he cautions them that if you are to get stuck and be confused about what is dharma in a particular situation, then approach a wise person in your village or town and consult with him. Remember that the Mahabharata is full of examples of accomplished individuals who emphasized one aspect of dharma but ignored the rest.

So who is a wise person? The Vedic scriptures make it very clear that a wise man is one who is selfless, well versed in Shastra (the scripture), and must have directly experienced the Truth that this entire Universe of objects and beings is none other than Brahman. If this is the recommendation for someone who has studied the shastra for 12 years, indeed, this applies to all of us. That is why the search for a wise man is so important.

Note: The above answer is based on my notes and any errors are entirely mine.

Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Geeta Dhyānaṁ 2 - Vyāsā's Vast Intellect

January 7, 2013 Previously on Geeta Jayanti, I had posted on the eternal debt of gratitude to Mother Geeta that is the basis of Geeta Dhyānaṁ. I love Param Pujya Gurudev 's commentary on the Geeta Dhyānaṁ. Pujya Gurudev's commentary is after the introduction to the Bhagavad Geeta in the commentary on Chapters 1 & 2 published by the the Chinmaya Mission. I personally believe it should be a book by itself. After invoking Mother Geeta, we now pay tribute to the wise Vyāsa Rishi - the Guru whose Jayanti marks Guru Pūrnima every year. Pujya Gurudev starts His tribute to Veda Vyāsā in his commentary on the 1st verse of the Dhyānaṁ. Vyāsa, the father of the Vedās, who, first collected, edited and published the Veda texts and who thereafter, gave us the dialectics of Vedānta in his Brahma Sūtra, himself a great man of realization, was indeed well fitted for the job. The ancient seer had both the mastery of the theoretical science of religion - Hinduism and also the practical expe
Post a Comment
Read more

In every field, let Dharma flourish - क्षेत्रे क्षेत्रे धर्म कुरु

August 9, 2012 Swamini Vimalanandaji has done a series of talks at the Ahmedabad Management Association (AMA) called "406 SMS – Sure Mantras for Success from Bhagwad Geeta" (item 406 at this AMA link ). In this she has a very interesting take on the 1st line of the Bhagavad Geeta. धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे  १-१ dharmakShetre kurukShetre 1-1 <i> on the holy plain of Kurukshetra... </i> Swamini turns that slightly and says,  क्षेत्रे  क्षेत्रे  धर्म कुरु -   kShetre  kShetre  dharma kuru. Swamini goes on to establish that we can use this mantra to make that: "In every aspect of society,  must be pervaded by Dharma" Hari Om and Namaskaar until the next post
Post a Comment
Read more

Geeta in Literature - IF by Rudyard Kipling

September 12, 2011 I came across a nice YouTube video that is an animation of Rudyard Kipling reading his famous poem IF . The full text sourced from wikisource is below: If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too: If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies, Or being hated, don’t give way to hating, And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise; If you can dream—and not make dreams your master; If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim, If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster And treat those two impostors just the same: If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken, And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools; If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And los
Post a Comment
Read more