Nov 5, 2009, 12.00am IST
Nagesh D Sonde.
Dharma is a complex Immutable Principle of avyaya yoga which was first communicated to the Sun.
Having become obscure in the process of transmission over generations, Krishna, conscious of his incarnation of the Supreme, communicates it to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita . Since dharma is difficult to understand, it has been explained in the Dharmashastras in a manner that is both comprehensible and timeless.
Two recent contributions to this column dealt with dharma . The first talked of those who defy the rule of law and suggested that the temporal should be dealt with temporal accountability. The second dealt with dharma on metaphysical grounds, observing events not as facts but as effects that follow causes where you reap what you have sown, as in karmic law
When Yudhishthira is disinclined to kill his cousins lest it should land him in hell, Vyasa admonishes him that desiring dharma , one should not contribute to adharma - unrighteous acts - and advises that killing his cousins is similar to the killing of asuras by the gods, though both were sired by Prajapati. For often, dharma appears in unrighteous garb even as adharma appears in righteous garb. Dharma is that which promotes common well being.
Unlike Duryodhana who justifies his unrighteous action saying that though he knows dharma , he is not inclined to perform righteous acts and though he knows adharma , he is not disinclined from performing unrighteous acts, Yudhishthira tells Draupadi that he performs righteous acts not for gaining benefit but because he is inclined towards dharma as an example set by men of wisdom and being conscious that calumny falls on one who acts with unrighteous intention
Vali's death by Rama's action and Karna's death instigated by Krishna, though they appear unrighteous and vindictive creating disquiet among the faithful and cynicism among sceptics, were in response to temporal events needing temporal response as what was expected from one entirely on an empirical level. Valmiki and Vyasa have primarily dealt with Rama and Krishna on the empirical level, raising their actions in many cases to the metaphysical level.
Rama, considering himself a human being, tells Sita that Ravana was killed to vindicate his honour and remove the stigma on his illustrious family, and not for her release. What was worth doing has been done by him, fulfilling his vow, and wiping out ignominy from his character. It was given to Prajapati to reveal his identity as the Supreme, born to destroy negative forces.
Though Krishna was recognised as Narayana in human form, he reacts more as a human than as God. He assures Kunti of his help to the Pandavas during the Kurukshetra war though everything is up to Divine Will. He tells Utanka Bhargava of his unsuccessful attempts to resolve the dispute between the Pandava s and the Kauravas, clarifying that born human, he acts like a human. When Arjuna requests Krishna to narrate the Gita again, since he has forgotten what was spoken, Krishna expresses his inability to do so since earlier, he was in an exalted state of yoga. At the same time he does not hesitate to show his divine form to the Kauravas to frighten them, and to enlighten Arjuna as Time, the destroyer, engaged in subduing the worlds.
There is not much to be said about those who doubt Rama's or Krishna's spiritual potency. But surely the faithful are free to inquire into that which is concealed as metaphysical intent manifesting in human forms as instruments for Divine Dispensation. Therefore on some occasions, Rama and Krishna respond on a human, empirical level, and on others, as karmadhyaksha , presiding over the Immutable Principle of Dharma - avyaya yoga .
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