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Dharmma
Dharmma means that which is to be held fast or kept – law,
usage, custom, religion, piety, right, equity, duty, good works, and
morality. It is, in short, the eternal and immutable (sanatana)
principles which hold together the universe in its parts and in its whole,
whether organic or inorganic matter. "That which supports and holds
together the peoples (of the universe) is dharmma." "It was
declared for well-being and bringeth well-being. It upholds and preserves.
Because it supports and holds together, it is called Dharmma. By Dharmma
are the people upheld." It is, in short, not an artificial rule, but the
principle of right living. The mark of dharmma and of the good is
achara (good conduct), from which dharmma is born and fair
fame is acquired here and hereafter. The sages embraced achara as
the root of all tapas. Dharmma is not only the principle of right
living, but also its application. That course of meritorious action by
which man fits himself for this world, heaven, and liberation. Dharmma
is also the result of good action – that is, the merit acquired
thereby. The basis of the sanatana dharmma is revelation (shruti)
as presented in the various Shastra.– Smriti, Purana, and Tantra. In
the Devi Bhagavata it is said that in the Kaliyuga Vishnu in the form of
Vyasa divides the one Veda into many parts, with the desire to benefit
men, and with the knowledge that they are short-lived and of small
intelligence, and hence unable to master the whole. This dharmma is
the first of the four leading arms (chaturvarga) of all
being.
Kama
Kama is desire, such as that for wealth, success, family,
position, or other forms of happiness for self or others. It also involves
the notion of the necessity for the posses-sion of great and noble aims,
desires, and ambitions, for such possession is the characteristic of
greatness of soul. Desire, whether of the higher or lower kinds, must,
however, be lawful, for man is subject to dharmma, which regulates
it.
Artha
Artha (wealth) stands for the means by which this life may be
maintained – in the lower sense, food, drink, money, house, land, and
other property; and in the higher sense the means by which effect may be
given to the higher desires, such as that of worship, for which artha
may be necessary, aid given to others, and so forth. In short, it is
all the necessary means by which all right desire, whether of the lower or
higher kinds, may be fulfilled. As the desire must be a right desire – for
man is subject to dharmma, which regulates them – so also
must be the means sought, which are equally so governed.
This first group is known as the trivarga, which must be
cultivated whilst man is upon the pravritti marga. Unless and until
there is renunciation on entrance upon the path of return, where
inclination ceases (nivritti marga), man must work for the ultimate
goal by meritorious acts (dharmma), desires (kama), and by
the lawful means (artha) whereby the lawful desires which give
birth to righteous acts are realized. Whilst on the pravritti marga
"the trivarga should be equally cultivated, for he who is addicted
to one only is despicable" (dharmmartha-kamah samameva sevyah yo
hyekasaktah sa jano-jagha-nyah).
Moksha
Of the four aims, moksha or mukti is the truly ultimate
end, for the other three are ever haunted by the fear of Death the Ender.
Mukti means "loosening" or liberation. It is advisable to avoid
the term "salvation," as also other Christian terms, which connote
different, though in a loose sense, analogous ideas. According to the
Christian doctrine (soteriology), faith in Christ’s Gospel and in His
Church effects salvation, which is the forgiveness of sins mediated by
Christ’s redeeming activity, saving from judgment, and admitting to the
Kingdom of God. On the other hand, mukti means a loosening from the
bonds of the sangsara (phenomenal existence), resulting in a union
(of various degrees of completeness) of the embodied spirit (jivatma)
or individual life with the Supreme Spirit (paramatma).
Liberation can be attained by spiritual knowledge (atmajnana)
alone, though it is obvious that such knowledge must be preceded by,
and accompanied with, and, indeed, can only be attained in the sense of
actual realization, by freedom from sin and right action through adherence
to dharmma. The idealistic system of Hinduism, which posits
the ultimate reality as being in the nature of mind, rightly, in such
cases, insists on what, for default of a better term, may be described as
the intellectual, as opposed to the ethical, nature. Not that it fails to
recognize the importance of the latter, but regards it as subsidiary and
powerless of itself to achieve that extinction of the modifications of the
energy of consciousness which constitute the supreme mukti known as
Kaivalya. Such extinction cannot be effected by conduct
alone, for such conduct, whether good or evil, pro-duces karmma,
which is the source of the modifications which it is man’s final aim
to suppress. Moksha belongs to the nitvritti marga,
as the trivarga appertain to the pravritti marga.
There are various degrees of mukti, some more perfect
than the others, and it is not, as is generally supposed, one state.
There are four future states of Bliss, or pada, being in
the nature of abodes – viz., salokya, samipya, sarupya,
and sayujya – that is, living in the same loka,
or region, with the Deva worshipped; being near the Deva,; receiving the
same form or possessing the same aishvaryya (Divine qualities) as
the Deva, and becoming one with the Deva worshipped. The abode to which
the jiva attains depends upon the worshipper and the nature of his
worship, which may be with, or without, images, or of the Deva regarded as
distinct from the worshipper, and with attributes, and so forth. The four
abodes are the result of action, transitory and conditioned.
Mahanirvvana, or Kaivalya, the real moksha, is
the result of spiritual knowledge (jnana), and is
unconditioned and permanent. Those who know the Brahman, recognizing that
the worlds resulting from action are imperfect, reject them, and attain to
that unconditioned Bliss which transcends them all. Kaivalya is the
supreme state of oneness without attributes, the state in which, as the
Yogasutra says, modification of the energy of consciousness is extinct,
and when it is established in its own real nature.
Liberation is attainable while the body is yet living, in which case
there exists the state of jivanmukti celebrated in the
Jivanmuktigita of Dattatreya. The soul, it is true, is not really
fettered, and any appearance to the contrary is illusory. There is, in
fact, freedom, but though moksha is already in possession still,
because of the illusion that it is not yet attained, means must be taken
to remove the illusion, and the jiva who succeeds in this is
jivanmukta, though in the body, and is freed from future
embodi-ments. The enlightened Kaula, according to the Nitya-nita, sees no
difference between mud and sandal, friend and foe, a dwelling-house and
the cremation-ground. He knows that the Brahman is all, that the Supreme
soul (paramatma) and the individual soul (jivatma)
are one, and freed from all attachment he is jivanmukta, or
liberated, whilst yet living. The means whereby mukti is attained
is the yoga process (vide ante).
Siddhi
Siddhi is produced by sadhana. The former term, which
literally means "success," includes accomplishment, achievement, success,
and fruition of all kinds. A person may thus gain siddhi in speech,
siddhi in mantra, etc. A person is siddha also who
has perfected his spiritual development. The various powers attainable –
namely, anima, mahima, laghima, garima,
prapti, prakamya, ishitva, vashitva, the powers
of becoming small, great, light, heavy, attaining what one wills, and the
like – are known as the eight siddhi. The thirty-ninth chapter of
the Brahmavaivarta Purana mentions eighteen kinds, but there are many
others, including such minor accomplishments as nakhadarpana siddhi
or "nail-gazing." The great siddhi is spiritual perfection. Even
the mighty powers of the "eight siddhi" are known as the "lesser
siddhi," since the greatest of all siddhi is full liberation (mahanirvana)
from the bonds of phenomenal life and union with the Paramatma, which is
the supreme object (paramartha) to be attained through human birth.
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