Guru Punima - 2013
Translated from Telugu (Andhra Bhoomi Daily, July 23)
Sanatana Dharma envisaged only upward evolution for all beings (jivas). The path involves leading a life upholding dharma as the ideal, while living in harmony with the society around. Any being, wherever he is situated, either in a higher or lower stage of evolution at a given time, will eventually reach the highest state. That is the intention of the Creator. This is the path of dharma which can lead every being to the final destination. This is Sanatana Dharma. Nothing goes downward forever, even if it appears to be sliding down momentarily. Small offences by common people in a large country have only minor effects on themselves and they do not affect the nation. On the other hand, if the elders, political leaders, administrators, the rich and the powerful and the learned Brahmanas are sinful and unethical, the whole country suffers. The Mahabharata exemplifies this. The sins of a few people in the highest echelons of the Kuru kingdom caused a devastating war in which lakhs of innocent people and the rulers of fifty odd kingdoms and their armies perished. As long as the people were in dharma, the country was safe. When dharma was forgotten, the country suffered in the form of foreign invasions for centuries by people who are totally inimical to the Indian way of life. The structure of Sanatana Dharma weakened and decay set in. By the time of independence, the country had broken into three pieces. Independence from foreign rule was sought not for the purpose of restoring Sanatana Dharma, but its sole mission was for capturing political power. In fact, Sanatana Dharma suffered more at the hands of the new indigenous rulers, who ascribed all the evils of Indian society to Sanatana dharma, and tried their best to weaken it. The elected governments could not also deliver on any of their election promises – alleviation of poverty, achieving equality in the society, uplifting dalits, guaranteeing social justice or even uniform economic prosperity. On the other hand, they could not settle long standing disputes and created many more new problems. In these seven decades, we climbed down seven steps. We can compare this fall to reaching the lowest world, Patala Loka, mentioned in our Puranas. We are neither happy in the present life nor we made any progress in the spiritual plane. This is the state of dharma in Bharat today. Let us hope that we may not fall further, and try for a new beginning from now on. Let us restart an upward journey. Let us follow a course of justice and liberty, which has Indian-ness (Bharatiyata) as its key character. Let us hope for a corruption and bias-free government, ethics and morality in public life, equality among all, protection of the good and the meek, safety and security for women, children and the old, and climb up to the level from where we have fallen in the coming seven decades. It does not help if few human beings evolve and a follow a path of dharma. Every being in the society should change his course. Such a society existed in this country long time ago, in the Ramayana times, in the Mahabharata times, except during the rule of the blind king Dhritarashtra, and, in fact, till centuries later.
This rule of dharma should not be considered and interpreted as being confined to a narrow religious view. It has nothing to do with religious rituals and dogmas. It is an outlook and a way of life. It needs a change in the attitudes. Such a change can only be brought about by God (in his role as Jagadguru, the teacher of the world). Let us pray to the Jagadguru on this auspicious occasion of Guru Purnima, to let our society awake. God ultimately is the custodian of all dharma. Subham Bhuyat.
