A Dialogue on Bhakti, Dharma and Poverty

A Dialogue on Bhakti, Dharma and Poverty

Most of the issues in life are related to relationships. Even those which are not directly related to relationships eventually end up being connected to them. For example, out of the three dukhas (sorrows), though two are related to relationships (adyatmika (inflicted by oneself) and adibhoutika (by others or outside oneself)), the third one (adidaivika, inflicted by God or external phenomena) is not related to relationships. Yet, all solutions to that problem are based on relationships. For example, the Tsunami tragedy belongs to the third category of dukha (adidaivika), and all the post-Tsunami sorrows can only be addressed through relationships with others.

So, all the issues in life are related to relationships. Though this is a blessing in many ways, it naturally brings many problems, as every relationship has its own inherent issues to deal with. Bhakti helps me to overcome these issues because bhakti, derived from the root ‘bhj,’ denotes relationship. So, our bhakti with God means our relationship with God as a Person.1 The same is true with other kinds of bhakti (like pati bhakti, desha bhakti, raja bhakti, etc.). Here, we need not question why there is no term like ‘patni bhakti,’ which I will address later.2 The main point in such relationships (based on the concept of bhakti) is to focus our attention on the person (God, husband, king, etc.) rather than the issue. Once we learn this basic principle, we will begin to focus more on the relationship than on the issues and problems that accompany it.

For example, when an issue confronts me, I think, (seek advice, help), pray, and plan to face it. However, in the end, when I realize that a few issues are not going to work as I expect or to my satisfaction, I begin to focus on God through my bhakti (relationship). This helps me to remember how God helped me handle several issues in the past (which went against my expectations, desires, and needs) and to TRUST Him in the same way to overcome the current issue. This trust helps me to focus on my relationship (bhakti) with God and relaxes my mind from the issue.

In the same way, when any issue related to our relationships with others confronts us, bhakti helps us focus on the relationship (viz. with that person) rather than the problems. So, bhakti is not merely a religious concept but very much an integral part of our lives. Once we learn this, we can easily handle both issues and relationships.

One illustration will help me communicate this: My mother brought lots of coconuts when she returned from Chidambaram after staying a month with my brother. As they began to spoil, she pestered me to make her favorite ‘tuvayal’ (another form of chutney). I knew that once I made it, she wouldn’t eat much. As I didn’t want to waste time, energy (fuel), and materials, I kept postponing her request. Finally, when I had to throw away two coconuts as they had completely rotted, my mother became furious and demanded that I make ‘tuvayal’. Eventually, I made it, and as I predicted, the next day she said she couldn’t eat it anymore and told me to give it to Narayanan (who serves here). But my bhakti (relationship) with her helped me not to become upset but to understand her as a Person and relax my mind. Because aged people don’t have the same taste or liking all the time. A thing they liked in the past or today may not appeal to them the next day. Though this is true for everyone, both babies and aged people experience this more. My relationship with her helped me understand this and serve her in a better way (day by day).

Db. January 31, 2012

1. Bhakti is not a concept or principle, but like ‘friendship,’ it is based on a relationship. Without a friend, friendship would remain only a concept. The same is true with bhakti. In deshabhakti (devotion to the nation), though no person is involved, at least in India, the nation is always personified as ‘Bharatmata’.

2. See my article on ‘woman’.

Swamiji

Thank you for the note on Bhakti. I have a few questions.

How is bhakti related to Dharma? 

How does one guard against bhakti of any kind becoming idolatry? It seems the same desire and gift for a relationship with the other can lead to unhealthy affection (idolatry). With oneself or with our pet image of God or with another person, thing, or animal.

Just a comment on adidaivika – often, the poor bear the brunt of these natural tragedies because they do not have the means to build the right structures, are usually pushed by the educated and rich to the least habitable areas of cities and the coastline, live in flood-prone and vulnerable areas because they do not have the choices that others have, live in high-density housing so infectious diseases spread easily, etc., etc. – therefore, adidaivika is not entirely natural and random in its impacts. It is skewed in its impacts on the poor more than others because of the perverted politics of depraved human society.

The poor (often Dalits and tribals) eke out a living on marginal lands away from the river basins and irrigated land. They cultivate lands that are generally infertile and are also close to forests, contending with wildlife incursions. So, what seems like adidaivika is not that natural after all, even in growing one’s food. Blessed are they that mourn; blessed are the meek, for they shall be comforted and will inherit the earth!

Shanti

Chakravarthy G.J 

Feb. 1, 2012

Dharma is somehow fundamental to every human concept. For example, ‘what is the dharma of a bhakta’? It is total surrender and complete trust in God. Dharma, in a sense, is like a ‘suffix’ to every word related to human endeavor and concepts, like: raja dharma, pati dharma, patni dharma, putra dharma, mitra dharma, etc. There may not be a word like ‘dharma pati’ (like dharma patni), but a husband should have his own dharma (pati dharma). In other words, ‘bhakti’ stands for relationship, and dharma for ‘duty’.

Bhakti is always based on a relationship with a person who can reciprocate that relationship. Certain terms cannot be translated into English to communicate the root meaning. For example, these days we often hear: I love that food; I love this music. But when I first heard such words in the past, I often thought, ‘How can one really love food or music? One may like it, but love is possible only with people.’ In the same way, bhakti is centered on a relationship with a person. According to me, even ‘devotion’ is not the correct translation for ‘bhakti’. One may even ‘love’ a dog (to use modern expression) but can never have bhakti for it. There is no point (just for the sake of argument) in saying that animals also reciprocate our love. They do it based on instinct and not on a relationship. As I tried to explain, bhakti is not exclusively a religious or spiritual term but could be extended to all (or some) other relationships.

What is ‘idolatry’? Is it mere affection for something else? Our understanding of ‘idolatry’ is always related to not having bhakti for God but for something else or replacing God in our life, etc. But bhakti is multi-centered. There is scope for our bhakti (relationship) with a person, and it need not affect our bhakti for God. In fact, it could even complement each other. In fact, in Uttaraveda, it is well said that if you don’t have love for your fellow PERSON, then you cannot have love for God. Then, can we say our love for our family members is idolatry or that it replaces our love for God? As we have always understood and communicated certain concepts only through the prism of ‘theology’ (religion, doctrine), we narrow down not only their scope but even our lives within that closed frame. As I often say, life is not compartmentalized. Each part needs to complement the other to have a holistic life.

**I don’t think the urbanized elite need to feel guilty, as if they live only by exploiting the marginalized tribes and Dalits.** In the same way, these suppressed people cannot all the time play the victim card as if they have no part in their exploitation. Here, I would like to play the devil’s advocate. All kinds of human exploitation of fellow human beings and nature are *adhibhautika,* not *adidaivika.* There is no point in giving many illustrations to show that these Dalits and tribals cannot escape responsibility for their plight. At the same time, some cosmetic *seva* to redeem their rights by NGOs and others is not going to address their root problems. Now everything is mixed with politics, so their plight is not completely economic exploitation or environmental issues, but many have criminal nexuses. However, no reformation or progress is possible where people are not ready to accept personal responsibility for their contribution to the degradation. Any (cosmetic) help and *seva* done to uplift any suppressed people without acknowledging their responsibility will only produce parasites that suck the already grown tree on its own merit. I am not undermining their plight or denying their problems, but we should first help them recognize that they too are part of their problem. Only then can they cooperate with others to improve their condition.

When we meet next week, I can give several practical examples that I watched in a TV show on DD Bharati (which none of you like or watch). Just one example about the plight of the pavement dwellers in Chennai is sufficient here. As I play the devil’s advocate, I will use more words to put forth my argument.

**When I watched the plight of pavement dwellers (broadcast by DD Bharati), my heart really moved, and I felt very sorry for them.** However, nearly at the end of the program, I learned that the government has given them houses (far away, according to the pavement dwellers), but they refuse to go and live there. Their argument is that they cannot travel each day around 20 or 30 km to do their work. So they endure all difficulties (no safety, particularly for young women, as the husband has to sleep somewhere else, leaving his young wife, sometimes with their children, or in another place, sleeplessness, lack of hygiene, etc.). They use public toilets and bathrooms, wash their clothes there, and even on platforms. And the very platform or road is the toilet for small children and babies. Last night (February 2nd), two cars got burned along with five huts, as one of the huts caught fire when they were cooking inside. I am not sure whether the car owners parked their cars near the huts or the huts encroached on the car parking area, which the owners could never oppose or complain about to the police. They demand some kind of accommodation close to the area where they work. This doesn’t mean they didn’t accept the government flats. Oh yes, they got them and gave them for rent and continue to live on the platform, accusing the government all the time.

On the other hand, even if they have to travel more than 20, 30, or even 40 km each day, they can have a good sleep, provide relatively good safety and hygienic conditions for their family members (particularly elders, as they too are forced to stay with them). Instead of having sleepless nights and poor health on the platform, they could take extra time, spend a bit of money from their earnings, and go and stay in the government-allotted free flats. There is no point in saying that this will force them to spend more and lose their rent. Above all, where is the government going to find that much land to construct enough flats to accommodate all the pavement dwellers near their workplaces? Even if they manage to do so, how will they handle the continuous inflow of migrants from rural areas, who will then occupy the vacant platform dwellings that the current residents vacate (and continue to demand housing again near their workplaces)? Interestingly, even the pavement dwellers have their own associations and groups, where they rent their (extra) place on the platform to new migrants. Police cannot stop it, as they receive regular bribes from such gangs. Not only is living on the platform controlled and regulated by criminals, but even one cannot beg without paying them regularly. I heard that even beggars have their own associations, and begging areas are allotted with a subscription charged based on income. If one beggar wants to move to another area, they cannot do so without the approval of this unorganized association, which is, again, controlled by criminals.

**Let me give another example.** In Tamil Nadu, we have more than 200 *Samattuva Puram* (Unity Colonies), where free houses are given to those living below the poverty line from all caste and religious groups to promote unity among them. But how many people actually live in those houses allotted to them? Here, local politicians, with the cooperation of all other parties (who fought among themselves in elections and in the Assembly), allot those houses to their *benamis* and then give some compensation to evict them and rent out those houses. Many who own the houses rent them out and continue to live in their previous places. Why does no NGO, which often goes to court filing public interest petitions against the government, ever do it against these people? Then they cannot even survive. Though what I say may be a bit difficult to digest, there are several NGOs making good money and a better living in the name of serving others. This was accepted in another panel discussion (about the role of NGOs in *Podigai* on a program called *Karasaram* = *Hot Discussion,* every Tuesday night from 9:00 to 10:00 p.m.) by several NGOs. I am not blaming all, but the way we paint the suffering of the tribes, Dalits, and marginalized Dalits, and the NGOs who fight for their cause, is not all either white or black. There are several gray areas that need to be addressed equally to remove their grievances sincerely. I would be happy if some NGO would actually do a survey of all these *Samattuva Purams* (Unity Colonies, more than 200) and expose the fraudulent practices of the very same suppressed people to awaken everyone. Also, pavement dwelling is not merely a human issue but also a criminal affair that can never be eradicated until this criminality is addressed seriously. Pavement dwellers will remain, like every slum, unless we all awaken to this reality. Dalits and tribals will continue to suffer unless they realize their own contribution to the problem.

—

*Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness; blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness.*

Db. 

February 2, 2012