| |
|
|
|
Written by Sri Swami Chandrashekarendra
Saraswati |
|
|
|
Samskaras such as marriage are akin to making chillies less hot by
tempering them with ghee: they serve to tame the natural urges. We add
ghee to the chilli so that it does not inflame the intestines. Carnal
pleasure and worldly enjoyment are part of life of a householder but
they
are kept within certain limits so that he is not overcome by them. For a
woman a life of chastity and loyalty to her husband, together with the
care of the household, constitutes a samskara that is equivalent to all
samskaras prescribed for her husband put together. All of us must
recognise this fact.
The goal of this nation is Atmic well- being. We must all pray with a
pure
heart to Isvara that we remain true to this goal. As we pray, we must
have
also faith in the Lord's grace. If we keep speaking about the ideals of
marriage and womanhood, one day perhaps people will see the light. As
things stand now, I am afraid that one day our people will be pushed to
the wall. That will be the time when they will realise how they brought
disaster upon themselves. When they have such an awakening they will
recognise the need to find a way out of their predicament. That is why I
keep speaking about the path shown by the sastras.
"What purpose is served today by speaking about varnasrama, child
marriage and so on? "This is a natural question." This is a natural
question. “Three- quarters of it is all gone. Many aspects of our life
are
governed by the laws of the state and these are contrary to the
ordinances of the sastras". This is true. The laws are such as to have
our
hands tied.
We are called a "secular state". It means, we are told, a state does not
concern itself with the matters of religion. It further mans that the
government can interfere only in social matters and not in religious
affairs. But ours is a religion in which all aspects of life, individual
and
social, are woven together. So the laws enacted by the state to govern
social life have an impact on our religion too. Our rulers do not
recognise
or accept this fact. They limit their view of religion to certain
matters and
think that all else belongs to the social sphere and are the concern of
the
government.
All religions contain features that relate to the social life of their
followers. Does the government interfere with them as it does with the
social foundations of Hinduism? No. It is this fact that causes pain.
Though our rulers swear by the principle of secularism, they do not
apply
the same standard or yardstick to all religions. The minorities rise in
protest against measures affecting their religious life introduced by
the
government. “These are against the Qu'ran", the cry is raised. Or, if
the
people affected are Christians, they say: "These are not in keeping with
Christian doctrines". Yielding to such pressure, the government exempts
the minorities concerned from the scope of the measures.
In spite of its claim to being secular, the government thinks it fit to
interfere with anything that has to do with the Hindu traditions.
Representatives of the minority communities come forward to speak in
protest against acts of interference. But what about the Hindus? Even if
a
couple of Hindus speak up they are dubbed "reactionaries" or
"obscurantists" and the government goes ahead with its measures or
laws brushing them aside. Our rulers often proclaim that "a secular
state
means a state that does not concern itself with any religion, that it
does
not mean that the government is opposed to religion as such, and that
the prosperity of all religions is acceptable to the state"., But in
actual
practice what do we see? The government's actions are not opposed to
any religion barring Hinduism. The Hindu religion has become a no-man's
land.
You will wonder why I am harping all the time on sastric matters fully
aware though I am of what is happening in the country.
My answer is that, whatever the present situation be, we cannot foresee
how things will take shape in the future. In the previous generation we
thought dollars grew in the American soil and that people there were not
wanting in anything. But what is the situation there today? We now know
that no other people experience the same lack, the same emptiness, in
their lives as do the Americans. It is only after reaching the heights
of
worldly pleasure that the realisation has dawned on them that the very
pursuit of pleasure has created a void in their lives, an emptiness in
the
very Self. They realise that, floating as they did in a sea of dollars,
they
were drawn to all kinds of evil like drinking, loot, murder and
prostitution.
Now as they have no peace of mind they come to our country in large
numbers seeking peace in our yoga, in our philosophy and in our
devotional music.
We learn from this that what seemed good two or three generations ago
is now seen to be evil. When people realise this they go in quest of
liberation. The government, however well intentioned it be, has
introduced measures that are against the sastras, thinking that they are
good. But some day in the future people will realise that they are
harmful. Even today we see signs of such realisation on the part of
people
here and there. There is a saying: "In the beginning it looked good. It
was
like a colt but as the days passed. Well, it was seen in its true form".
The
same could be said about some of the reforms introduced by the
government, reforms contrary to the sastras. They look fine now but
eventually we will realise that they will lead to a hopeless situation
in
society. Bhagvan speaks of two types of happiness in the Gita. "Yad tad
agre visamiva, parinamemrtopamam." Here the first type is described.
This type of happiness is like poison in the beginning but like
ambrosia,
amrta, in the end. It is the sattvika or the highest type of happiness,
like"halahala", the terrible poison, emerging first and amrta coming up
later. The sastras may now seem to be bitter like poison because of the
discipline they impose on the individual, the family and society, but in
due course they will be seen to be sweet. Now all bonds, all shackles
will
break and the incomparable bliss of Atmic freedom will be experienced.
Here the poison is tasted momentarily but the amrta will be everlasting.
"Yad tad agremrtopamam pariname visamiva", here the second type of
happiness is referred to. In the beginning this type of happiness will
taste
sweet like ambrosia but, with the passage of time, it will turn bitter
like
poison. In America the dollar once tasted sweet like nectar but later
turned bitter like poison. In India too, the reforms that are contrary
to the
sastras "taste" good now but they will be found to be poison in the
times
to come, when both the individual and society will suffer in the absence
of contentment as well as discipline. People will then seek the amrta.
Should they not know where they can find it? But by then the poison will
have gone to their head and they will be in danger. So it is our duty to
tell
them where they can find the amrta. It is for them, for future
generations, that we must keep speaking about the sastras instead of
burying them deep in the earth.
Even though we ourselves do not imbibe the sastric nectar today we must
preserve the sastras to help future generations when they will have
become spiritually weak because of the poison going to their head. This
lamp of the sastras should show the way at least in the times to come.
Nothing can be done now because I have my hands tied. But if I keep
speaking to you unceasingly about the sastras it is because I am not yet
gagged. |
|
|
|
|
