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Part 1: A Young Yogi's Introduction and Reflections on Dharma Now, I would like to introduce you to our junior yogī, a great bhakta, a wise and very wise soul, our dear Arjuna. He comes from a country where we have two Mahāmaṇḍaleśvaras, so perhaps a third one is in preparation, Kṛveśya. He is the son of our Mangalpuri, so many of you know him. Let us see what surprise he has prepared for us. I would like to introduce you to the young yogī, Arjun Purī. He came from the country where there are two maṇḍalas, from Croatia. He is prepared for something. Now we will listen to him. God bless you. I don’t know, I don’t know, I don’t know. God bless you. God bless you. If we see this one day, as Gurujī said—one in all and all in one—there will be no fighting, no wars. There will be peace, harmony, understanding, and love. Then there is another family, which is our self. It is said: "Kāya nagarka rājā, man indriye tumhārī prajā. Mat kar tu iskī gulām, rājya andriyāmī. Ye nagriye thagaukī, aur thagtehe dhām pilāke. Hosyār reynā bandhe, mat jānā bhūl thagākī. Tu iskāyā nagarka rājā." This body is described as a city, a kingdom, and you are the king of this kingdom. Mind and senses are your people, but do not be their slave. Be careful of them. Do not let yourself be cheated, because there are many cheaters—the negative qualities in our body. They will place temptations before you: jealousy, anger, ego, greed, desires. They will cheat you, and you will lose your kingdom. So the biggest family is this body. Every organ, every cell, the emotions, the intellect, the vivekā, the mind, etc., are invisible principles. You remember last time His Excellency spoke about the mind and intellect, which are not visible but govern us. We do not see our mind or intellect. We do not know where they reside in the body, yet they control us completely. Like invisible forces in the universe, they guide and control. In the last century, people used to say, "Be careful, the big brothers are watching." So you never know from which world they are watching us. All the astral elements—whether we call them angels, devils, goddesses, or unknown forces—are all tied to one principle, and that is called Dharma. So I ask His Excellency, with his great experience—many of you have seen his books—if he can speak something about dharma. Welcome, His Excellency Gaurī Śaṅkar Gupta Jī. The floor is yours. Good evening, everyone. First, I must express my profound thanks and gratitude to Swāmījī for his blessings. It is because of his blessings that we are all together and rejoicing this evening. I would also like to express my profound thanks to Swāmījī and all of you for inspiring me to write this book on the issues of life and existence. When I first came here in May 2010 and spoke during my first talk, I was inspired by Swāmījī and all of you to write something on these issues, which ultimately culminated in this book. I am only a means to write it; the credit goes to Swāmījī for inspiring me. Today, we will speak about the topic given to me by Swāmījī: Dharma. In Sanskrit, we call it dharma; an "a" is added in English, but the actual word is dharma. What is dharma? It is one of the most difficult words to define in all of Indian writings. We will try to analyze it from various angles. First, we always have dilemmas in life: what we should or should not do, what is right or wrong, what is moral or immoral, ethical or unethical. This dilemma is not faced by us alone; it has been faced by some of the greatest saints of ancient times. I would like to start with the Indian epic, the Mahābhārata. This epic is the greatest lesson in defining and understanding Dharma. Let me give three or four examples. The Mahābhārata's origin begins with King Bharata, who had a son named Śāntanu, who became emperor. Śāntanu had a wonderful son named Devrath, a great warrior and a righteous man. Once, King Śāntanu went hunting and fell in love with a young woman, Satyavati, the daughter of a fisherman. He wanted to marry her, but her father put forth a difficult condition: her son must become the next emperor. This put Śāntanu in a great dilemma—a dharmasaṅkaṭ. How could he deny the kingdom to his talented son Devrath for an unknown child? The entire epic starts from this dilemma. Śāntanu could not resolve it. It was Devrath who came to his rescue. Discovering his father's love for Satyavati, Devrath approached the fisherman, who repeated the condition: neither Devrath nor his son could become emperor. There, Devrath took two great vows (vrat): first, he would not take the kingdom; second, he would not marry, so the question of his child claiming the throne would not arise. Thus, he became known as Bhīṣma. Satyavati and Śāntanu married, and the real Mahābhārata begins. This is one of the great dilemmas. Let me give two more examples. When war between the Kauravas and the Pāṇḍavas was almost decided, a question arose: on whose side would Bhīṣma and Droṇācārya fight? Droṇācārya was the revered teacher of both, and Bhīṣma was the elder statesman. The Pāṇḍavas represented righteousness; the Kauravas, evil. Reason dictated that these revered men should fight for the Pāṇḍavas. Yet, they decided to fight for the Kauravas. Why? Because both had taken a vow to protect the kingdom of Hastināpur and had to fight for the king, whoever he was. They faced a dharmasaṅkaṭ. The third example is the Bhagavad Gītā. This is a discourse by God Himself, Śrī Kṛṣṇa, to resolve Arjuna's dilemma. Arjuna, a great warrior and scholar, stood on the battlefield and declared he would not fight. He said, "How can I kill Bhīṣma Pitāmah? How can I kill Droṇācārya, people of great learning who must be revered?" He told Kṛṣṇa, "I am not going to fight." The entire Bhagavad Gītā is the result of this dilemma, instructing Arjuna on what is right and wrong. Not only we, but even the greatest characters in history have faced this dilemma. Consider practical life: someone married falls in love with another person and is in a dilemma. Or a manager must dismiss a poor worker but knows the worker's family will starve—again, a dilemma. Even yesterday, with bad weather, some wondered whether to come or not, including myself. We face a variety of dilemmas daily. How to decide is guided by the concept of dharma. In a given situation, what is right for you to do, your duty, what is moral and ethical, is Dharma. The word dharma comes from the Sanskrit root dhṛ, meaning "to hold." Anything that holds you together is dharma. If you do right, you feel collected, together, not guilty. You hold yourself. When you do wrong, your inner being falls apart; it does not hold you together. Thus, dharma is defined as what holds you together: your body, soul, and mind are together if you act per dharma. There are many definitions of dharma in Indian writings. Dharma applies not only to humans but to natural forces. As Swāmījī said, what holds this cosmos together? It is Dharma. For example, the dharma of the sun is to give heat, light, and energy; to rise and set at particular times; to create seasons. If the sun abandoned its dharma and did not rise for a week, what would happen? The dharma of water is to quench thirst. Heated, it becomes vapor, forms clouds, travels with wind, and falls as rain or snow, giving life, crops, lakes, rivers. If water abandoned its dharma, what would happen? The dharma of fire is to burn; of the earth, to rotate, revolve, and provide fertility. If they abandoned their dharma, what would happen to humanity? So, there is dharma for every force in the universe—natural forces, humans, animals, insects, all living beings. Let me confine myself to humans. Dharma appears in various forms: at a higher level, as morality and ethics; then as etiquette, interrelations, and human behavior. For example, when you come here, you decide what to wear, eat, and how to live—what is right behavior, right clothing. That is Dharma. When you behave with your spouse, what is the correct, moral, and ethical approach? That is decided by Dharma. Similarly, interactions with colleagues or friends are guided by Dharma's rules. Unfortunately, there are no set rules for every behavior. We face millions of situations that cannot be defined by specific rules, but there are fundamental laws. The Manusmṛti gives ten basic principles to decide right and wrong. The first is patience (kṣamā): do not hurry; give time; do not decide in a rush. The second is forgiveness (śama): forgive others; do not seek revenge. As Mahatma Gandhi said, "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind." The third is control over the senses (dama): desires are infinite; satisfy needs but control desires. The fourth is purity (śauca): act with good faith and right intention. Even donating money with an intention to hurt is wrong. The fifth is reasoning (dhī): apply pure, correct reasoning; weigh consequences before deciding. The sixth is knowledge (vidyā): gather all possible information about a situation to act correctly. The seventh is truthfulness (satya): act with a feeling of righteousness in your heart. The eighth is absence of anger (akrodha): you cannot take right decisions when angry. Right decisions require patience, reasoning, and proper thinking. These are like ten commandments to guide our conduct when making decisions. Part 2: The Ten Principles of Dharma and the Nature of Right Action The first principle is Dhṛti, which is patience. The second is Śama, which is forgiveness. The third is Dama, which is self-control. The fourth is honesty in one's behavior. The next is Śauca, which is purity. Then comes control of the mind and senses. These are two different things: one is Dharma, and one is the mind. Then there is Dhī, which is reasoning. Then Vidyā, which is knowledge or learning, and Satya, which is truthfulness. Finally, there is the absence of anger, Krodha. These are the ten basic guidelines for conducting ourselves in any given circumstance. When deciding what is wrong and right, ethical and non-ethical, it is crucial to understand that these concepts change with two principal elements: time and place. What is right for you to do here may not be right to do at home or in a church. Right and wrong are fundamentally the same, but their expression changes based on location. Your behavior when meeting a government minister differs from when you take blessings from Swamījī. Our behavior is contingent upon the place and the country. What is right in Hungary may not be right in India or Saudi Arabia. You must adapt to the situation within the parameters of those ten fundamental principles. Similarly, time changes what is considered right. What was right twenty years ago may not be right today, and what is right today may not be right ten years from now. For example, twenty years ago you could go to your office on a horse. Today, people would laugh. Today, everyone has a cell phone; not having one can make you seem out of touch. Times change, and you must adjust yourself, but always within the guidelines of those ten principles—there must be honesty, truthfulness, and purity. It is vital to emphasize that Dharma is normally translated as "religion" in English, which is a total misrepresentation. Dharma is not religion; it has nothing to do with religion. Religion is supposed to lead you to the path of Dharma, but whether it does is a different matter. Religion is an organized mode of life based on a particular scripture. You go to a church or temple, perform certain ceremonies at birth, naming, or death. That is how religions behave. It is an external structure that provides an atmosphere to understand the concept of Dharma, but those religious prescriptions and rituals are not Dharma itself. Dharma starts and ends with the individual. Each one of us is a universe. You are a different entity than I am. At birth, you come with the baggage of your past birth, which is unique. Then, from birth until now, each of us has different life experiences, education, parental teachings, neighborhood influences, and interactions with friends and family. I am a different universe; he is a different universe; she is a different universe. Therefore, we cannot apply the same yardstick to everyone. As the saying goes, one man’s food could be another man’s poison. Based on those ten fundamental principles, you must decide for yourself what is right to do in your circumstances. Consider the story of a grandfather and grandchild traveling with a camel in the desert. First, both rode the camel. People said they were cruel for overburdening the animal. So, the grandfather dismounted. Later, another group criticized the grandchild for riding while the old man walked. Then the grandfather rode. Finally, a third group condemned the old man for making the child walk in the heat. Whatever you do, there will be people to tell you that you are not right. But remember this: whatever you do, your inner self should not tell you that you are not right. If your inner self says it is not right, you should not do it. Going against that inner voice means you cannot hold yourself together. The definition of Dharma comes from there. You will feel guilty. The consequences are irrelevant here. You should do what you think is right, irrespective of future consequences. What you do today, thinking it is absolutely right, may prove wrong tomorrow, but that is not your fault. The consequences are not under your control; they are decided elsewhere. In the Bhagavad Gītā, Kṛṣṇa said: "You have the right to perform your prescribed duty, but you are not entitled to the fruits of action." For example, out of generosity, you give 20,000 forints to a poor man sleeping on the road. You act in good faith to help him. He then buys alcohol, gets drunk, and kills someone. The consequence is negative, but you are not responsible. Or, two students: one becomes a doctor, another an engineer. They both pursue their studies diligently. One gets a good job, the other does not. It is not his fault; he took the right decision and did his best. The consequences are not under his control. Dharma gives you the right to decide and act correctly, but the consequences may not be as you wish. In conclusion, Dharma is the ethics of life. It permits us to define what is right and wrong, what we should and should not do. It is like the constitution of a country—it is the constitution of humanity, not confined to one country but applicable to all. As explained, it is also a cosmic law of behavior for all forces and living beings. There are no precise regulations for every circumstance; you must decide for yourself in a given situation. That decision will differ from person to person. What X decides is right may be wrong for Y. Let X and Y decide according to their analysis, wisdom, and thinking, but governed by those ten principles: purity, honesty, truthfulness, and keeping away from desires. Do not be troubled by consequences, as they are not in your hands. Remember, right and wrong can vary based on time and place. Religion is not Dharma; Dharma comes from inside, while religion is external. One very important point: to take a correct decision before you act, your heart and soul must be in a pure condition. If a mirror is covered with dust, you cannot see your face correctly. Similarly, if your soul or mind is covered with dust—with Dveṣa (aversion), with wrong things, with darkness—you will not be able to take right decisions. Your heart and mind should be pure. This is where the ten principles are handy; following them purifies your heart and soul, enabling correct decisions. Therefore, life is not easy. As in the story of the cave: don’t take anything from here, otherwise you will be sorry; and if you do not take, you will also be sorry.