These ideas of defending the dharma are probably based on the injunction in the Manu Smriti, repeated in the Mahabharata as below.
धर्म एव हतो हन्ति धर्मो रक्षति रक्षित:
It means that he who defends Dharma is defended by the Dharma whereas he who opposes Dharma is himself destroyed by the Dharma.
In other words Dharma is the the law of Truth that governs creation and all its creatures, including man. It is Dharma that saves man and not the other way round. It means that he who lives by the Dharma is protected whereas he who tries to destroy Dharma is himself destroyed.
Dharma is the power of the Divine that organises creation and directs its unfolding in the individual as well as the cosmic play. Can the Divine and His Power be destroyed? Can Truth be destroyed? Besides what is meant by saving Dharma? The only way is to live it. Slogans, activism, politics, governments cannot save Dharma. They have their role and their role is to themselves live by the dharmic principles in governance, that is all. So too the individuals who seek to defend the Dharma must live by its high and noble truths, its lofty principles and ideals. It is these individuals and groups who live the Dharma that can save it and be saved by it.
But to do this we must first read, think, understand the books of Dharma such as the Vedas, Upanishads, Gita and countless other related scriptures. Living the dharma does not mean tikka, bindi, vrat, upwaas, or wearing sari and salwar. It does not mean engaging blindly in rituals. These things are at best the most externals, at worst they are chains that prevent us from going to the real core, the truth that alone can save. Indians were doing these things,already when we were taken over by the barbarians from the West. We must introspect as to the real causes. India’s decline was due to Mayavada placing individual moksha as the ultimate goal. We shunned the world as a snare forgetting the great teaching of the Gita that it is the lila of Vasudeva. We shunned the path of Shakti in favour of barren gyana. But true gyana not only liberates us but also gives us power. We have forgotten true Hinduism and associate it with kitchen and the old Victorian morality. India fell because we were divided and we were divided because we lived for narrow selfish interests, for family and money, a life given to pleasure of the senses. Have we changed now? This is the question we must ask. One does not become a hindu simply by birth or name, not even by certain beliefs. One becomes a hindu when one no more lives for small and limited selfish gains but for large and mighty aims as our ancient forefathers. One becomes a hindu when one has shaken off all fear, – fear of life as well as fear of death. One becomes a hindu when one knows that the Divine is everywhere and in everything. It is these things that will save the Hindu and the world. It is not just India but the world that needs Sanatan Dharma if it must survive. But for that we who are Hindus must become living examples, brand ambassadors of the Sanatan Dharma. Nothing less is needed and nothing else will save.
Sri Aurobindo’s words help us.
‘To raise the mind, character and tastes of the people, to recover the ancient nobility of temper, the strong Aryan character and the high Aryan outlook, the perceptions which made earthly life beautiful and wonderful, and the magnificent spiritual experiences, realisations and aspirations which made us the deepest-hearted, deepest-thoughted and most delicately profound in life of all the peoples of the earth, is the task next in importance and urgency……
We say to the individual and especially to the young who are now arising to do India’s work, the world’s work, God’s work, “You cannot cherish these ideals, still less can you fulfil them if you subject your minds to European ideas or look at life from the material standpoint. Materially you are nothing, spiritually you are everything. It is only the Indian who can believe everything, dare everything, sacrifice everything. First therefore become Indians. Recover the patrimony of your fore-fathers. Recover the Aryan thought, the Aryan discipline, the Aryan character, the Aryan life. Recover the Vedanta, the Gita, the Yoga. Recover them not only in intellect or sentiment but in your lives. Live them and you will be great and strong, mighty, invincible and fearless. Neither life nor death will have any terrors for you. Difficulty and impossibility will vanish from your vocabularies. For it is in the spirit that strength is eternal and you must win back the kingdom of yourselves, the inner Swaraj, before you can win back your outer empire. There the Mother dwells and She waits for worship that She may give strength. Believe in Her, serve Her, lose your wills in Hers, your egoism in the greater ego of the country, your separate selfishness in the service of humanity. Recover the source of all strength in yourselves and all else will be added to you, social soundness, intellectual pre-eminence, political freedom, the mastery of human thought, the hegemony of the world.”
Affectionately,
Alok Da
