Purposeful Life with सत्य, धर्म, ऋत
Universal and personal Truth and righteousness
Elsewhere I wrote on Truth (Plain Truths blog) that the truth remains the same irrespective of time and space. It is called satya (सत्य) in Sanskrit. It is a single homogenous universal existence. That existed before the ‘big bang’ some 14 billion years back as per our modern-day scientists. It is going to exist even after the so-called doomsday, the big freeze, etc., events in the future.
When the truth is practiced it is termed as Rta (ऋत). Rta is personal truth or the truth practiced and experienced. This individual or personal truth seems to vary based on place and time. What is summer in the northern hemisphere may be winter in the southern hemisphere. Also, the Rtu (season) has a distinctively different appearance from the other seasons. But the year (samvatsara) has an equal amount of heat and cold, rain and dryness etc.,
Even though the universal Truth (satyam) is unchanging like a year, the individual truth (Rtam) like seasons appears to give all the experiences that are mutually contrasting with each other.
Only by practicing the truth, it can be experienced by the individual. Even if all the 7 billion humans on this pale blue dot (Earth as it appears from the space) reject the satyam it is unharmed. Even if all the 7 billion of them practice something not the truth it can’t be termed as Rtm as it has no basis in satyam. It is only anRtam or untruth. So, when the truth is not followed, or untruth is followed both results in anRtam only. While Truth remains constant and unchanging, individuals can experience both truth and untruth making the contrast between truth and untruth.
dharma (धर्म) is the balance which holds the individual truth (Rtam) and untruth (anRtam) with respect to the eternal truth (satyam). Once again, let me reiterate, dharma that holds the whole of existence together as a whole, is not a subject matter of anybody’s acceptance or rejection. Only its right understanding and practice leads to the prosperity of individuals.
The purpose of human life is to achieve the right understanding of righteousness according to one’s own nature and living accordingly to achieve perfection. This is called svadharma. Universal life supports the existence of this wonderful world for the purpose of achieving perfection in all individual beings. I wrote about the two kinds of dharma on the concluding post on yOga vEdaAnta.
Right understanding is important for righteous living. The human form of life with its distinctive quality of vivEka i.e., ability to discriminate is very precious. Let all of us celebrate it by achieving perfection individually by realizing it!
