Dharma has many meanings. One of them is nature. It is the nature of fire to burn, of wind to blow and water to wet and flow. Nature is synonymous with duty. Because of our nature, we have duties. It is the nature of snake to eat the toad, the nature of the toad to eat fish and the nature of fish to be caught and eaten by the eagle. Man is not his body but his soul. His soul is a spark of the Immense and Endless Light of Divinity. The nature or dharma of the soul is bliss, love, peace and joy. It is our innate nature or dharma to love and be loved, to be happy and give happiness and to be one with God as we are part of God. When our ego overtakes us and we believe that we are the body, we acquire information, theories, schools of thoughts and chart out differences between ourselves and others. As the amount of the information acquired increases, the ego also grows and the distance between man and man and between man and God increases. We must learn to let go book learning and follow our innate nature or dharma. Life would be so very simple, loving and fulfilling. This story of the cat and the rat illustrates this truth:
There was a famous warrior who was an adept in sword fighting. One night, as he was about to sleep, he saw a rat near his pillow. The rat glared at him with beady eyes and the man jumped up and tried to kill the rat with his sword. Even though he hit many times, he missed and his sword broke. He became afraid and thought: This is no ordinary rat. It seems very mysterious!
His wife saw him scared and perspiring. She was angry with him and shouted at him: You stupid fool! Whoever heard of killing a rat with a sword? Go get your cat and let it chase the rat. Your cat is a warrior’s cat and is trained in many things. She is trained in rat catching and skilful. The cat was brought in but the rat was extraordinary. He jumped directly at the cat’s eyes. The cat dodged and ran off. She was trembling like her master. Till now no rat had ever attacked her. Then the king’s cat was called. She was a master rat catcher and well known all over the country for her knowledge and skills in rat killing. She too was defeated by the rat!
Then the king’s cat suggested the use of the services of a cat who was an ordinary cat and not at all famous. This cat slept the whole day. She was very mysterious. She knew nothing about the art, the technique, the methodology and the philosophy of rat catching. She had never been to any school or university. She was a plain, ordinary cat but rats were afraid of her. Wherever she slept, no rat dared to come in. The secret behind her ability was her faith in herself – she was a cat and it was her nature to catch rats.
So this ordinary cat was brought in. She was quiet and not in the least impressive. She went into the house, caught the rat and brought it out. When questioned by all as to how she did it, she answered: I do not know any art. I am a cat. It is my nature to catch rats!
It is our nature to love God. Bhakti brings in meditation. Meditation is our natural stage. It is not an art or skill. It is just done. When we go into words, schools of thoughts, discuss philosophy, theosophy etc without actually doing things as per our nature, we lose our basic nature of being in bliss, love and peace. Let us go within ourselves and be in our natural state of love. The SitaRam Mantra and mediation, the teachings of the Guru helps us to be in our natural state of love and bliss.
