Yá Bhagavatá giitá sá Giitá – “The word giitá means ‘that which has been sung by the Lord’.” In the Giitá it has been said:

Shreyán svadharmo viguńah paradharmát svanuśt́hitát;
Svadharme nidhanaḿ shreyah paradharmo bhayávahah.

The commonly-accepted meaning of the shloka [couplet] is that even if one’s own dharma lacks qualities whereas others’ dharma is full of qualities, one should not give up one’s own dharma. Rather, one should die for one’s own dharma instead of accepting another’s dharma. To embrace the dharma of others is dangerous.

But what is the actual meaning of the shloka? What is the real dharma of human beings?

In this world, every entity and idea has its own distinct characteristics by which it can be recognized. Water has the property of making things wet. As long as it has this property, people will call it water. Similarly, as long as fire has the property of burning things, it will be called fire. When it loses this property, it will no longer be called fire. Humans also have a particular dharma of their own which characterizes them as human. It is not enough to have a human body. It is said: Ácarańat dharmah – “Dharma is reflected through one’s conduct.” A pandit whose conduct is not exemplary will not be accepted as a dharmic person.

There are certain characteristics which are common to plants, animals and humans; some which are common to animals and humans; and some which are common to animals and plants. Some people have defined human beings as “rational animals”, but I do not accept this definition. In my opinion, human life is an ideological flow. Human beings should identify themselves with that flow. If a human being is considered to be a rational animal, then could not an animal be defined as a “moving plant”? No, we can never say that animals are moving plants. Animals have their own distinct characteristics. Human beings also have their own distinct characteristics, which are collectively called dharma – mánava dharma [human dharma] or Bhágavata dharma [divine dharma]. With its characteristics such as vistára [expansion], rasa [flow] and sevá [service], this mánava dharma is the true identity of human beings. And those in whom mánava dharma is not expressed are not worthy of being called human beings; they are human in form only.

The first characteristic of mánava dharma is vistára. All human beings want expansion: expansion of body, expansion of mind, in fact expansion of everything. Through physical exercise they seek to develop the physical body, through mental exercise they seek to develop the mind, and through spiritual exercise they seek the expansion of the soul.

The expansion of the physical body takes place as a result of certain special exercises. By means of ardent practice there may be physical development to a certain extent. From birth to the age of thirty-nine, the human body expands naturally. In Sanskrit, the word tan means “to expand”, and thus the Sanskrit term for the physical body for the period from birth to the age of thirty-nine is tanu, which means “that which has a tendency to expand”.

After the age of thirty-nine the body starts to wear out. In Sanskrit, that which has a tendency to wear out is called shariira. So in the second phase, tanu becomes shariira. The body of an old person is called shariira, and the body of a youth, tanu. As long as the nerve cells and nerve fibres remain healthy according to natural laws, the human mind remains alert. The mind of a seventeen-year-old boy is more alert that the mind of a young child. At the age of twenty-four or twenty-five the mind becomes much more alert, but over the age of fifty both the body and the mind start their decline. The power of memory diminishes and people start to forget things. This is the rule.

Through exercise this process of decline may be checked. An eighty-year-old person will be able to keep the memory as fresh as the memory of a fifty-year-old person. In the mental sphere the result may be much more evident than in the physical sphere. By nature, people hear, learn and forget. But after constant mental practice, when the nerve cells become nourished, dhruvásmrti⁽¹⁾ develops. Then one does not forget anything. In exactly the same way, by dint of spiritual practice, one can bring about the expansion of one’s self. Tatra niratishayaḿ sarvajiṋatvabiijam [“The seed of omniscience lies in that stance”]. Human beings become omniscient, become one with Parama Puruśa. This is vistára, the first characteristic of Bhágavata dharma. Nothing is impossible through the practice of sádhaná.

Human beings are the progeny of Parama Puruśa, and thus all His infinite qualities are lying latent in them. If human beings practice meditation they can develop these qualities. A tiny banyan seed will one day become a huge tree. Similarly, a human being can develop into an extraordinary person through the process of sádhaná. This is the spirit of expansion.

The second characteristic is rasa, or flow. An infinite Cosmic flow is in continuous motion in this universe. When humans think they are petty and limited, and allow themselves to be goaded by petty ideas, they become victims of pain and pleasure. But when they let themselves drift in the eternal flow of consciousness, when the human psychic thought-waves flow in parallel rhythm with the Cosmic thought waves, the finite human merges in the infinite Cosmic flow. This is called the rasasamudra – that is, the little human being experiences the taste of the Infinite.

Footnotes

(1) Infallible, permanent memory, particularly of the Supreme. –Trans.