Svadharma is Sadhana

Normal life is spiritual

I met a few youths at Hyderabad when I went there for a one day program. They all came with so many questions and issues related to their struggle in life, spirituality, religion, social and cultural issues.

One among them told me that due to his responsibility towards his mother, who lost his father recently and became very much disturbed, he cannot give much time for other kinds of spiritual activities like participating with other bhaktas.

In response I said: What you are doing is exactly what God also expects from you. Your dharma as a son towards your parents, particularly to your mother should be your priority (not at the cost of your studies). And I consider this is true spirituality and also a sadhana. God never expects us to worship Him or come to Him to spend more time at the cost of our respective dharma. Amidst worldly responsibility one should learn the truth about spirituality.

Spirituality is not keeping away from mundane activities and needs. But doing them all as per the respective dharma is the mark of true spirituality.

Recently another young man in another group asked this question:

…what does – Life through the spirit – mean to us and how do we live this way

As per my understanding we cannot live a life through the spirit.  Does this ‘spirit’ mean our own Individual spirit [atman] or Spirit of Bhagavan?  When we try to understand our life through certain technical terms which were created, understood and conveyed in the original language to another, itself is a complicated process.  Then entering in hair splitting analyses and explanation will take a toll on our own atman.  The very normal life that I live each day is ‘Life through the spirit’, if I want to experience and express it in that way.  But there is no need for me to experience and express that way.  I once read a book: Normal Christian Life by Richard Umbrand.  I think Umbrad has clearly pointed out how a normal life that we live as humans itself is a ‘Life through the spirit’.  Of course some reflections often based on our personal convictions, faith/bhakti etc. might help to have some checks and balances, but living a complete life ‘through the spirit’ as if there exists one looks a bit utopian for me.

Changing the word ‘Christian’ I would say, Normal human life itself is a Life through the spirit or a spiritual life.  We cannot divide our life in watertight compartments and try to live each life separately.

‘By Standing, walking, sitting and laying [viz., by all kinds of activities] I always think you’, said Abhirami Bhattar.  ‘Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer as oblation to the sacred fire, whatever you bestow as a gift, and whatever austerities you perform, O son of Kunti, do them as an offering to Me.’ Says Sri Kirshna in Gita [9:27].@  ‘So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God’, says Sevanand in 1 Cor. 10;31.

Dayanand Bharati

Gurukulam, 10-4-2024

यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोषि ददासि यत् |
यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम् || 27||

yat karoṣhi yad aśhnāsi yaj juhoṣhi dadāsi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kuruṣhva mad-arpaṇam

yat—whatever; karoṣhi—you do; yat—whatever; aśhnāsi—you eat; yat—whatever; juhoṣhi—offer to the sacred fire; dadāsi—bestow as a gift; yat—whatever; yat—whatever; tapasyasi—austerities you perform; kaunteya—Arjun, the son of Kunti; tat—them; kuruṣhva—do; mad arpaṇam—as an offering to Me

yat karoshi yad ashnasi yaj juhoshi dadasi yat
yat tapasyasi kaunteya tat kurushva mad-arpanam

Translation

BG 9.27: Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer as oblation to the sacred fire, whatever you bestow as a gift, and whatever austerities you perform, O son of Kunti, do them as an offering to Me.

Commentary

In the previous verse, Shree Krishna stated that all objects should be offered to Him.  Now He says that all actions should also be offered to Him.  Whatever social duties one may be engaged in, whatever vegetarian food one may be eating, whatever non-alcoholic beverages one may be drinking, whatever Vedic rites one may perform, whatever vows and austerities one may observe, should all be offered mentally to the Supreme Lord.  Very often, people separate devotion from their daily life, and look on it as something that is only to be performed inside the temple room.  However, devotion is not to be restricted to the periphery of the temple room; it is to be engaged in at every moment of our life. 

Sage Narad defines bhakti in this manner:

nāradastu tadarpitā khilāchāratā tadvismaraṇe paramavyākulateti

(Nārad Bhakti Darśhan, Sūtra 19)

“Devotion means offering your every activity to God, and feeling intense separation if ever you lose remembrance of Him.”  When works are dedicated and mentally delivered to God, it is called arpaṇam.  Such an attitude metamorphoses the mundane activities of material life into divine service of God.  Swami Vivekananda expressed this attitude toward work when he declared: “No work is secular.  Everything is devotion and service.”  Saint Kabir stated this in his couplet:

jahañ jahañ chalūñ karūñ parikramā, jo jo karūñ so sevā

jaba sovūñ karūñ daṇḍavat, jānūñ deva na dūjā

“Wherever I walk, I feel I am circumambulating the Lord’s temple; whatever I do, I see it as service to God.  When I go to sleep, I meditate on the sentiment that I am offering obeisance to God.  In this way, I remain ever united with Him.”  Without realizing its significance, many people say the following verse in temples:

kāyena vāchā manasendriyair vā buddhyātmanā vānusṛita-svabhāvāt

karoti yad yat sakalaṁ parasmai nārāyaṇāyeti samarpayet tat  

(Bhagavatam 11.2.36)

“Whatever one does with body, words, mind, senses, and intellect, in accordance with one’s individual nature, should be offered to the Supreme Lord Narayan.”  However, this act of offering is not to be done at the end of the work by merely reciting mantras, such as śhrī kṛiṣhṇāya samarpaṇam astu, etc., as is done in the Vedic rituals.  It is to be done while performing the action itself, by maintaining the consciousness that we are working for the pleasure of the Lord.  Having stated that all works should be offered to Him, Shree Krishna now lists the benefits of doing so.