GOD and Dharma (Righteousness)
Debi
Prasad Choudhary
Los
Angeles, California
10/10/2013
I am a 1Vaishnava. My grand mother belonged to 2Goudiya
Vaishnava Sampradaya, follower of 3Sri
Chaitanya Mahaprahu who was believed to be an incarnation of Sri Krishna in
1486. I have been fascinated by the life and deeds of Sri Krishna from my
childhood. So much so, that at one stage, when I was completing high school and
got an opportunity to receive “initiation for spiritual practice” (4Mantra
Dikhiya) from a renowned Guru Sri 5Swami Chidanandaji Maharaj, I
decided to select Sri Ram as my “6Ista Devata” not Sri Krishna.
Because the life of Sri Krishna was so complex, that at the age of 20, I was
not so sure if all that was divine. Sri Ram looked to me more divine, so I
thought it is safe to adopt him as my form of GOD. This week, I started
thinking again about Sri Krishna, his complex personality and accomplishments.
This gave me an opportunity to think about the “7Sambhabami Yuge
Yuge” statement in 8Srimad Bhagahata Gita. In this blog, I am going
to describe some of it.
Actually, I am a
believer, I believe that GOD exists. But, I do not know, what he does, what
role he plays in our lives, nor I know what he did in past. One guess I can
make safely, that he might have decided all the laws of nature that we are
trying to discover every day leading to Nobel Prizes. In my native language
(Oriya) there is a poetry in which the poet 9Jaganath Das says ”God
becomes satisfied by seeing the divine knowledge in human being”. I think
divine knowledge is the laws of nature, which to me looks more definite that
any other form of knowledge. So, if God created or decided these laws of
nature, he would not like them to be violated.
In my childhood, I heard
that not only GOD but also even GOD-man performed miracles. I was suspicious
from the beginning. I actually, looked for miracles, did not find any until
entered college. I was always worried, because I thought may be I am not doing
the right thing to experience the divine. When I took physics honors in college,
and combined with the reasonable teachings of my spiritual Guru, I started formulating
the role of GOD for myself. The first thing, I had to decide that what the GOD does?
Surely not miracles, just because, I have not experienced one and I have not
met any body yet who has experienced one that I can conclusively categorize as
such. My definition of miracle is simple. If you drop an object from a height,
it must go down towards earth’s surface. That is normal physical law. If it can
be made go away from earth’s surface without applying force, I might call it
miracle. In short, the event must defy the physical laws. So, if that is my
definition, I thought, why should some divine body who made these laws would
ever like to do some thing that do not comply with them. It was a bit confusing
to me. So, than what GOD does? In Srimad Bhagabat Gita, He said, “when ever
there is a decline of Dharma and advancement of 10Adharma, I take
birth to establish Dharma”. This sounded me as a perfect match to the activity
of GOD.
The next problem was
that how do I ascertain that Sri Ram or Sri Krishna was GOD or even Jesus
Christ was son of GOD? They existed long-long ago and there is no way to check
the facts that defined the miracle events accurately. The only way is to read
some of the teachings that are attributed to them. In the contemporary time, we
see that if some body is a powerful person in the society, it is not difficult
to find a group of people who can glorify all qualities that the individual
possesses and describe that person as a some body special. We also find many
GOD-man often called as GODs. So, if that is possible today, why can that not
happen earlier thousands of years earlier? For example, Sri Krishna was an extraordinary
person of his time who possessed the fine skills to sense the “Dharma” the
righteousness that functions the daily lives of every member of the society.
That, which distinguish human from animal. And, through out life, he strived to
uphold it with the tools he possessed. He was admired by the elders of his
time, feared by some and loved by common man. Over time he was described as
GOD, who can do things that no ordinary mortal can perform. As, I think more
and more about him, I am actually convinced that he performed the role of GOD.
So, to be a GOD means the contemporary elders must accept
the individual as such. The individual must possess guts to uphold the Dharma.
This morning, when I was walking to my office, I asked myself, is there any
thing like that in our contemporary world? The immediate thing came to my mind
is the act of Rahul Gandhi, the vice president of Indian National Congress. The
other day, he came out against the proposed ordinance that allowed the
criminals contesting election. Soon after, he publically expressed his out
burst in front of the press, where party elders were arguing in favor of it,
several elder statesman of Congress party praised him and described how brave
and righteous he is. I just wanted to think of it as an event in ancient time,
when there is no press, no fast communication, no concept of democracy. In such
a world, can we not call him as GOD? After all he is good looking, compared to
many contemporary young leaders, elders praise and obey him, he has access to
enormous wealth (money) and physical power. In this incident at least, he did
uphold Dharma. Because, but for him, may be the president of India would have
been forced to sign the ordinance, since 11Gyanis like 12Manmohan
Singh, 13Chidambaram, 14Advani and others, who are
equivalent of 15Bhisma, 16Dronacharya, 17Vidur
actually did not oppose it or even favored it. Neither, younger leaders opposed
it. So, I think, it is an act of GOD. But, can you call him GOD. In the modern
time, it sounds awkward. But, such continued acts may elevate him to GOD-hood
in the modern times as that will make lives of billions of people better by
upholding Dharma.
1Vaishnava:
The worshipers of Vishnu, Hindu GOD – the administrator of the creation.
2Goudiya Vaishnava Sampradaya: One group of Vaishnava that deeply
likes Sri Krishna’s childhood. ISCON followers are examples.
3Sri Chaitanya Mahaprahu:
Leader of Bhakti movement. It is believed that He was the embodiment of
devotion aspect of Sri Krishna.
4Mantra Dikhiya: Some
hindus go through this ritual to start their spiritual practice. At that time,
they accept a sage as their GURU, who gives them a Mantra (a short form of
GOD’s name) to recite.
5Swami Chidanandaji
Maharaj: A modern sage who lived in large part of 20th century and
early 21st century.
6Ista Devata: The favorite
GOD.
7Sambhabami Yuge Yuge:
This is taken from one sentence of Srimad Bhagabat Gita. This says”take birth
in different times”.
8Srimad Bhagahata Gita: An
important scripture of Hindus.
9Jaganath Das: A poet in
Oriya language, who lived, was born in 1490 AD.
10Adharma: This word has
many connotations, but I use it in sense of opposite of Righteousness
11Gyanis: Knowledgeable
persons.
12Manmohan Singh: Prime
Minister of India, who is a scholar and mostly honest person.
13Chidambaram: Finance
Minister of India, who was educated in Harvard University.
14Advan: One of the most
respected leaders in Indian politics with vast mass following.
15Bhisma: A powerful
character in Mahabharata. Known for his courage and stand for righteousness.
16Dronacharya: Teacher of
armory in Mahabharata.
17Vidur: A knowledgeable
individual in Mahabharata who cared to rule of law.
