Dharma
Niiti has a very close association with dharma. What is dharma? That which sustains the jiiva is dharma. And the practical side of dharma is expressed in the words Ácárańát dharmah, that is, “Dharma is the assemblage of all your conduct” – the way you eat, the way you speak, the way you perform sádhaná. If your conduct is good, dharma is with you; if your conduct is not good, dharma is not with you. And if dharma is not with you, what comes about is your sarvanásha, or sarvátmaka vinásha – that is, your physical, mental, and spiritual ruin. Now you may say that your átman cannot be ruined. That is correct, but your átman will not remain in the form of átman. It will become crudified.
In the first stage of dharma, the greatest helping factor is niiti. In other words, the function of niiti is to help dharma, to help dharmácarańa [practice of dharma]. Therefore niiti plays a vital role in the life of a sádhaka. But niiti is not the culminating point of life, it is simply a starting point. In order to enter a house one has to pass through the gate, and this passing through the gate is niiti. But one has not gotten into the house simply by passing through the gate; to get in, one has to knock on the door. The entering into the house after knocking on the door is dharma sádhaná. Just to be a moralist is not enough, it only provides one with a passport to enter the house. As said above, Ácárańát dharmah [“Dharma is the assemblage of all your conduct”], and the first phase of your conduct is niiti. Therefore those who are bereft of niiti cannot be dharmic, and those who are dharmic cannot go against niiti.
Now the question crops up whether niiti is a relative factor or an absolute factor. Niiti is not cent percent relative, but it is not absolute, either, because niiti does not have any direct relation with Paramátman – it cannot by its own force help one attain Him. Niiti is a happy blending of relative and absolute.
The final goal of dharma is Paramátman, so for a dharma sádhaka there can be no other end. Those sádhakas who think that through sádhaná they will acquire occult powers, are wrong. Or, they may attain supernatural powers, but those powers will not help them to attain Paramátman. Those powers will not satisfy human longings, because even those powers are something worldly. That which we call supernatural is not really so, “supernatural” is rather loose terminology; any power or object which has come within the bondages of the world is not supernatural, but natural. Those who think that sitting in sádhaná they can obtain ańimá, laghimá, mahimá, prápti, prakámya, etc. [names of occult powers], are in delusion. They are simply wasting their valuable time. A devoted sádhaka never aspires for these things. Even if Paramátman comes to such a sádhaka and says, “My child, take all these powers,” the sádhaka will reply, “Paramátman, keep those powers for Yourself. I don’t need them. I want You, and You alone. I long for You and not for Your powers.”
A mother tries to coax and cajole her crying son, and offers him some toys to divert his attention, so that she can work in the kitchen. The child stops crying and forgets his mother for the time being. But if he is a bit naughty, he will again resume his effort to reach the breast of his mother. He will throw away the toys and cry for Mother only. And the mother ultimately has to come and take the child on her lap. A devoted sádhaka is like this child. He or she will say, “O Father, this world that I see all around is a plethora of toys. This world took its birth at a certain time, so it will also come to an end at some time or other. This world has not been given permanently to anybody.” If God is asked whether He has given this world-toy to anybody forever, He will not be able to answer, for He does not give things forever. He gives with the right hand and takes away with the left.
Lord Buddha has said, Konuhása kiimananda nittam pajjalite sate. This means that Paramátman has given you a rope, one end of which you are holding, and on the other end of which He has lit a fire. Sooner or later the fire will burn all of the rope and your hand as well. Hence one should not ask anything from Paramátman.
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