An Objective View & Way of Life

An Objective View & Way of Life - this is the topic on which Swami Dayanand Saraswati gave a series of lecture from 12th to 16th December 2011 in Dubai. I attended the lecture on three days and give below some of the points highlighted by Poojya Swami during the lecture:

We have a confused self identity and lead life with lot of subjectivity. Reducing subjectivity marks growth. We have to live life with an Objective View on everything that we do. Be objective to be sane.

Cow will remain vegetarian even when it is sent to America. It is programmed to live as a Vegetarian biologically. There is no immoral cow. A human being because of the choice made available decides to become a non-vegetarian.

We are all born related – we have grand parents, parents, brothers, sisters, etc. – and all of them were already in this world before we came in. We are connected at birth to various people and to Eshwara.

Purushaartha comprises of four elements Dharma, Artha, Kaama and Moksha.
Dharma – Duty, Profession or Vocation performed in a proper way without hurting others. Artha – Security – economic freedom. Kaama – Pleasure including ego satisfaction. Listening to classical music is one way of deriving pleasure. People also listen to other forms of music and today the whole world is listening to “why this kolaveri di”.

Dharmaarthakaama – Achieving economic freedom with ego satisfaction by adopting religion without hurting others.

In a TV Interview one of the callers asked Swamiji “Why are you growing a beard”. Swamiji said “I am not growing. It grows”. If you ask me “Why are you not shaving your beard” I might have a reason to explain.

You grow by giving to others. By grabbing from others you become small. Swakarma means my contribution. Duty is a thing to be done by you while Responsibility is enforced on you.

Bhagavad-Gita Chapter 18, Verse 46 –Yathah pravrithir boothaanaam yena sarvam idham tatham sva-karmanaa tham abyarcya siddhim vindati maanava – the literal translation of this verse is – From whom is the existence of all living entities, by whom all this is pervaded; through worshipping Him, by ones own actions prescribed according to qualification, a man achieves perfection.

At the beginning of every action you invoke with a prayer to the God and at the end of every action you dedicate the result to the God.

Duty is the word used frequently by Indians to denote what they do for a living. When a person is going for office work he says “I am going for my duty”. When you travel out of India and go abroad you see on landing in the foreign country at the Airport – Duty Free and when you come out of the Airport you see signage of “Heavy Duty Vehicles” and “Light Duty Vehicles”.

Symphony is made up of several people each playing different musical instrument and each one of them plays a significant and important role in the Symphony. The entire society in which we live is like a symphony. We have to play different roles. We assume the role of an employee when we are at work and when we get home we have to assume the role of a son, father, brother, husband, etc., with respect to various individuals in the family. In role play the person never undergoes a change it is only the role that keeps changing.

Drama Artist acts as a Beggar and enjoys begging on the stage. He enjoys crying while begging and gets the satisfaction when the audience appreciates his acting. Though he is not a true beggar in life he does the role of a beggar very well on stage because he knows that he is playing that role which is not his true self. There is a distance between the person and the role and the knowledge of such distance in the mind of the person does the trick. You need to know how to distance the person from the role. Enjoy the role. There is no role without problems and hence face the problems and find solutions. A drama without a plot is not a drama. An objective way of enjoying role play is the way of life.

Dharma and Karma are like a coin. One side of the coin is Dharma and the other side is karma. There cannot be objectivity in confusion or error. What cannot be given up is Duty. Swakarma is Swadharma. You can never rub against Dharma without Dharma rubbing against you.

Punya – result of Karma. Paapa – is not sin. Punya and Paapa are both results of an action. It represents the Pleasant and Unpleasant situation respectively. Being at the right place at the right time is Punya. If we are not at the right place or if we are at the right place but at a wrong time it is because of the Paapa. In the western countries they attribute it luck. Conductor of a Bus says “right” and you are “left” and hence you end up missing the bus.

Swami said he prefers to be called as Swami and not Swamiji as there is a scam in India involving the 2G. It was hilarious when he said 2 G, 3 G and hence SwamiG.

Free Will is your choice. You can use or abuse or disuse your Free Will. Use Free Will without causing any hurt to others – that is Dharma. Not abusing free will is Wisdom. Free Will accounts for Punya and Paapa. When we use the Free Will without causing any hurt to others we get Punya and if the Free Will is abused we earn Paapa. When you go against Dharma you face Karma.

Swami made a reference to the recent issue in Australian Cricket and said “Ricky Ponting is doubtful of being selected. Our Harbajan Singh is recommending for his selection – we don’t know if Harbajan is recommending Ricky’s selection in Australian Team or is indirectly hinting at his own selection to the Indian Team”. He also said it is Punya or Paapa which determines the score of a batsman and that is how the batsman will either score a Duck or a Century.

You have to create Punya in your day to day life. Prayer is one of the actions to create Punya. Seeking help is intelligent living. Kaayena, Vaacha, Manasa – Threefold Karma to produce Adhrishta.

To be objective is to acknowledge the hidden variables in life. Nithya karma – daily routines. Poortha Karma – fulfilling the needs of the community. Poortha Karma can earn Punya. Use Free Will to reach out and grow in the form of giving to others.

It takes knowledge to acknowledge. Way of life is not going to be different from the view of life.

I must have done some good deeds in the past and earned Punya to attend the lecture of Swami Dayanada Saraswati. It was highly educative and informative. His lecture was delivered with ease with a sense of humour and he also touched upon current affairs.

T.P.Anand
Dubai, U.A.E.
18th December 2011