Passage 7

Tap any word for its meaning.

In plain words

1. svadharma 2. paradharma. What is svadharma? It is not kṣatriya Dharma, brahmin Dharma, śūdra Dharma and the like. Sva - that means the Ātma. So the Dharma of the Ātma is svadharma, and the Dharma of the body is paradharma.

In those days Daśaratha's ministers were eight in number. What kind of men were they? Men of morality and integrity, men who had mastered their senses, men who kept to Satya in their word. With such ministers, with gurus like Vasiṣṭha and Vāmadeva, and with a king like Daśaratha, the country would turn into Rāma-rājya even now. Who is meant by Daśaratha? This body itself, with its ten senses, is a chariot. In it dwells a king attached to the Ātma. He is Daśaratha. The guṇas sattva, rajas and tamas are his three wives. To these three wives four sons were born, called Dharma, artha, kāma and Mokṣa. Dharma is Rāma, Mokṣa is Bharata, artha and kāma are Lakṣmaṇa and Śatrughna. Today man forgets Dharma and Mokṣa and scrambles after artha and kāma. This is not the right mark of Bhakti to Rāma. Can God not give a fistful of food to a belly a span wide? He who plants a crop will not fail to water it. We must build up this kind of trust. Without it, however many places we go round, Śānti will not be found. What is the reason? Nowhere in this world is there Śānti. We must turn our sight towards the heart. If we fill the heart with filth and then want Śānti, how will it be found? First we must sweep out that filth and throw it away. If you sweep with a dirty broom, the house too becomes dirty. Our mind itself is a broom. First we must make it pure. It becomes pure only when it is offered to God. So think of Rāma with Prema, remember Rāma with faith. Prema and faith are the chief life-breaths of man.