Mind set: Duty, destiny, dharma

Generousfriends took me along to New Delhi’s Siri Fort Auditorium for a concertcommemorating the fiftieth anniversary of Dr Martin Luther King’s visitto India When during thecourse of the evening, the musical luminaries on stage launched into ‘WeShall Overcome’ I gladly joined in, but in Hindi: ‘Hum HongeKaamyaab’ As I sang, I remembered three men with whom I associate thatsong — Dr King, Naseeruddin Shah, and my mentor, the Aghori VimalanandaIn Sanskrit,dharmaliterally.means that which is established, that which is firm. Often equatedwith religious creed or dogma, a human’sdharmais what he or she was born to do, for alldharmais ultimatelysvadharma,an individual’s personal path through existence Dr King, for instance,was born to help lead the United States toward freedom from racialdiscrimination Though this may not have been the original aim of his life, eachstep he took led him towards his tryst with his destiny One of the mostcritical of those steps was his trip to India, and his exposure.toGandhiji’s dharma.People follow theirdharmawhen they follow the internal compass that directs their wanderings through theforest of the world, a GPS system generated for each of us by the pre-existingkarmasthat we bring with us into our embodied existences When you act according tothe dictates of your personaldharma,Providence will assist you, even when (or especially when) yourdharmaputs you at odds with the conventions or prejudices of others Attempt to cleaveinstead to a course that violates your.intrinsic nature and you will find theworld resisting your efforts.“Dharmo rakshatirakshitah (Protected, dharmaprotects)”, says Manu The less-often quoted second half of the verse goeson to add: “Destroyed,dharmadestroys” Life would be easier if a childappeared in the world with itsdharmaprinted prominently on its brow But because this is not the case, we each haveto discover ourdharmasfor ourselves Ideally our parents and teachers study us carefully as we grow,and train us in the way we should go, even if that differs in significant.detailfrom the way of life they follow. But that is only the ideal In practice, mostadults try to force children to follow the path they follow themselves, whetheror not that path is right for that child Pursuing adharmathat is not your own may not seem injurious in the short run, but in the courseof a lifetime it will inevitably damage you in some way Lord Krishna emphasizesthis when he tells Arjuna, “Svadharme nidhanam sreshtam, paradharmebhayavavah”, which means it is better to follow your personal dharma evenunto.death; to live another’sdharmaculminates in fear. Manyindividuals succumb to the pressure to conform, and fall into lockstep withtheir elders and peers; only a few dare to strike out boldly on their own, asdid Vimalananda Though born in Mumbai into a Gujarati Vaishnava community,Vimalananda refused to call himself a ‘Hindu’, pointing out rightlythat that word appears nowhere in any sacred Sanskrit text He rejected theconcept of ‘Hinduism’ as vehemently as he defended the concept ofdharma: “Ekam sat; vipra bahuda vadanti”,.which means all paths leadultimately to the same Supreme. Vimalanandadid not believe insampradaya,that is sects or sectarianism, but insampradaha,which is complete incineration "Burn down everything within yourself that isgetting in the way of your perception of Truth!” he said When pressed, hewould describe himself as a ‘Vedic’, a devotee neither of Vedicritualism nor of neo-Vedanta, but rather of therishisthemselves, whose tireless penances enabled them to receive the Vedic hymns viadirect perception of divine reality Vimalananda.would tell those who came tohim for guidance to “carve out your own niche”; to determine forthemselves which path to God works best for them, and to move though the worldaccordingly. In his own life, Vimalananda used his inborn guidebook to navigatethe vicissitudes of mundane reality, staying on the course he knew to be rightfor him despite persistent disapproval from othersFollowing your dharma willeventually provide ample rewards, but it may not make your life any easier; infact, it may make your life much more difficult Trying to satisfy hisfather’s cravings, Bhishma Pitamaha swore a vow whose unintendedconsequences included the creation of the sibling rivalry.that terminated in thegreat war of the Mahabharata, during which he was himself slain. Incited byKrishna to protect himself and his kin, Yudhisthira deliberately misled his ownguru to help Arjuna kill his teacher, the very worst of the mahapatakas ormortal sins Even though Karna knew that Duryodhana followed the wrong path, hecould not desert his friend Instead, he fought his blood brothers and diedbecause he remained true to the only man who treated him like a brotherHeroes like Karna are preparedto die while performing their perceived duty rather than turning away.topreserve their lives. Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata put it this way:“I prefer to die on my feet than to live on my knees” Terroristssurely believe themselves to be doing their duty, but mere conviction is notdharma, for terrorism involves sacrificing the lives of others, and dharmasometimes requires its followers to sacrifice themselves or their loved onesLike Nargis in Mother India, gunning down her own son to prevent him fromdescending further into adharma, Bharat Mata cannot tolerate adharma in.any ofher children, be they Hindu, Muslim, Christian, Sikh, Jain, Parsi, Jew, Bahai,animist or other, particularly when that unrighteousness is cloaked in the nameof religion. The mill of karma grinds slowly, but grinds extremely fine; truthwill most certainly triumph, however long it may take (and it may take decades,or centuries): “satyam eva jayate”As a youngster I learned tosing ‘We Shall Overcome’ as I watched Dr King march for freedom; butthat song really only came alive for me when I listened to it sung as ‘HumHonge Kaamyaab’ in the final scene of the movie Albert Pinto koGussa Kyon AtaHai The image of Naseeruddin Shahstanding tall,.knowing the heavy price he would have to pay for his stand, hasstayed with me over the years as a true representation of India’sfundamental philosophy: the search for one’s own path through life, andthe resolve to follow that path come what may.