“Good and bad, which are part of the illusion created by Hari, cannot be removed without worshiping Hari. Keeping this in mind, worship Rama and renounce all desires.” (Dohavali, 127)

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हरि माया कृत दोष गुन बिनु हरि भजन न जाहिं
भजिअ राम सब काम तजि अस बिचारि मन माहिं

hari māyā kṛta doṣa guna binu hari bhajana na jāhiṃ
bhajia rāma saba kāma taji asa bicāri mana māhiṃ

1. Kama

The literal definition is “desire”. This Sanskrit word might also be translated as “lust” and “sex life.” On a higher level of understanding, the different definitions are actually identical. This is because kama as material desire reaches its height of intensity in sex interaction. The basis for any system of regulation, with values and a corresponding requirement of sobriety, is control over kama.

2. Kriya

This is action. It is doing something, as opposed to remaining stationary. It is acting as opposed to staying put. The living being is spirit soul at the core, and associated with the vibrancy of life is a tendency to act.

3. Karma

This is action with a corresponding result. They say that karma can be good or bad, but the context is the body. In the higher understanding, a person within the system is actually bound. They are tied to the results, which are either shubha or ashubha, auspicious or inauspicious. It is something like moving forward or lagging behind.

4. Dharma

This is righteousness, duty, honor, or religiosity. Dharma is like the system of values applying to a particular group, society, or even period of time. For instance, they say that the dharma for this specific age of Kali is the chanting of the holy names: Hare Krishna Hare Krishna, Krishna Krishna, Hare Hare, Hare Rama Hare Rama, Rama Rama, Hare Hare.

…

What role do these factors play when following bhakti-yoga? It is supposed to be the yoga of devotion. It is worshiping the Supreme Personality of Godhead, in a mood of love. Worship implies action. There must be an accompanying system of right and wrong. As the action is with a purpose, there is a desire.

Does this not mean that kama, kriya, karma, and dharma play a role? At the same time, the conclusion of the instruction in Bhagavad-gita is to abandon all varieties of religion. Sarva-dharmān parityajya. The object of worship offers this recommendation. This is God, the person who institutes dharma in the first place, advising to give up all kinds of dharma.

सर्व-धर्मान् परित्यज्य
माम् एकं शरणं व्रज
अहं त्वां सर्व-पापेभ्यो
मोक्षयिष्यामि मा शुचः

sarva-dharmān parityajya
mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja
ahaṁ tvāṁ sarva-pāpebhyo
mokṣayiṣyāmi mā śucaḥ

“Abandon all varieties of religion and just surrender unto Me. I shall deliver you from all sinful reaction. Do not fear.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 18.66)

Goswami Tulsidas adds to the confusion by placing good and bad on an equal level. Guna and dosha, which are like the two sides to purpose-driven work [karma], are supposedly part of the illusion of the Supreme Lord. The same Krishna, who is also known as Hari, creates this veil of illusion, and within that energy there are two endpoints that get identified as good and bad. Heaven and hell. Progressing and regressing. Moving up and falling down.

If we are to abandon dharmas and put good and bad on an equal level, what exactly are we supposed to do? Does bhakti-yoga involve sitting motionless in an empty place? To be free of desire, should we keep the mind empty? Are we not supposed to move? Is it not wrong to fail to intervene when emergency situations arise? How is protecting innocent people not good? How is harming undeserving victims not bad?

A simple way to weave through the complexities is to think in terms of interest. We already have desires. We already carry out work because of those desires. We already enjoy or suffer the consequences to that work. We already have systems of right and wrong designated for various classes of men and the different circumstances they find.

The difference in bhakti-yoga is interest. The recommendation is to abandon kama where it is defined as interest at the personal level. Give up karma in the sense of developing a future body, deha. Follow action, kriya, that is aligned with a transcendental interest. Understand that all forms of dharma are actually derivatives of the original tendency towards worship of the Almighty. It is the derivative dharmas which should be abandoned.

By shifting interest from the material to the transcendental, everything incorporated in the new way of life aligns with the single dharma. We have desire, but it is for serving Hari. We have action, but it is for uplifting the general population, through providing an ideal example of how to live. We follow action with consequences, but the guaranteed long-term implication is release from the cycle of birth and death. It is karma only in the visible sense, for the purposes of identification. We follow this transformed way of living as a kind of system of right and wrong. We follow the one dharma that is service to Hari in a mood of love.

गतसङ्गस्य मुक्तस्य ज्ञानावस्थितचेतसः
यज्ञायाचरतः कर्म समग्रं प्रविलीयते

gata-saṅgasya muktasya
jñānāvasthita-cetasaḥ
yajñāyācarataḥ karma
samagraṁ pravilīyate

“The work of a man who is unattached to the modes of material nature and who is fully situated in transcendental knowledge merges entirely into transcendence.” (Lord Krishna, Bhagavad-gita, 4.23)

In Closing:

Applying to both me and you,
The single dharma true.

All others to leave behind,
Because some illusion to find.

Like from good to ascend,
Or from bad to descend.

Entire system by Hari created,
Through worship properly reinstated.

Categories: dohavali 121-160, the four, the maya of hari

Tags: bhakti, dailyprompt, life, poem, poems, poetry, yoga