Passage 5

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In plain words

Man does not stop at all to consider how sacred this Dharma is. Dharma is most sacred, and for that very reason it is the support of man.

That is why Kṛṣṇa began the Bhagavad Gītā with Dharma at the very start: "Dharmakṣetre kurukṣetre." A heart that is pure, of whatever kind, … this Dharma, never holds back. Duryodhana, ready for war, comes to bow to his mother Gāndhārī. When he bowed to his mother, the mother blessed him. "Yato dharmas tato jayaḥ," she said. "Where Dharma is, there victory comes, my son," she said. She did not wish him victory. Mothers today keep hoping that victory, and victory alone, will come to their own son, even when their sons are wicked, evil and steeped in vile ways. Is this the mark of a true mother? He came to his guru and bowed. And the guru spoke. "Yato dharmas tato kṛṣṇa yato kṛṣṇas tato jayaḥ," he said. That is: "Where Dharma is, there is Kṛṣṇa; where Kṛṣṇa is, there is victory," he said. That is, Dharma is the very form of God. Before setting out for the forest, Rāma came to Kausalyā and bowed. "My son, no one can protect you. Only your Dharma will protect you," she said. Dharma means: this orthodoxy that says "Do not touch! One must not touch!" … whatever others might do to you that would cause you pain, that deed you must keep from doing to others. Whatever others might do to you, however they might behave towards you, that would make you glad, that is how you must behave towards others. Must others alone honour you, while you need not honour others? So we must believe in the divinity in all as Dharma made manifest, and cherish it.

The world today rests only on virtuous women and men. When will such virtuous women and men grow in number! Women and men become virtuous only when they have purity of heart and good character. On what do such purity of heart and character rest? They rest on morality and integrity alone. These rest on the spiritual truth. So morality and integrity stand on the spiritual truth itself. Today self-confidence itself is seen nowhere. People act as though they have self-confidence, but they make no effort at all to practise it. So only when one puts a good thing into practice, whatever it be, is that purity of heart.

The world today rests on three things. Kāvi … khākī. What is kāvi? The renunciation that teaches Dharma to all mankind has dwindled away. Their culture has died out completely. Khādī means … among these rulers morality and integrity are vanishing completely.