Dharma is:

[Arjuna]

I'll get this thread started.

Dharma is:

"God's love transformed into natural law"

Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya

[dharmananda]

Dharma is:

"the question and the answer"



Where do we come from?


God is the source of all things



Why are we here?


We are here because at some point in time our ego shifted our awareness away from God and onto ourselves, creating a desire to be separate from Him, this caused us to create karma and to be born into materiality in a cycle of rebirth



How do we break the cycle of karmic rebirth?


We must let go of all of our desires except one, to be reunited with God



Isn't the ego who we are?


Our false self (ego) and our true self (Atman) are two different things



What is Atman?


We are Atman, eternal awareness, a finite reflection of God's infinite eternal awareness (Paratman)



What is ego?


Ego is false self image. Basically ego is any self image that isn't Atman. So if ones identifies with being male/female, old/young, black/white, all of that is ego because really you are only an eternal soul which manifests as awareness. Everything else is temporary and doesn't matter when compared to the fact that one's true self is eternal and always united with Narayana, the Sustainer of all beings



Why is ego bad?


Ego creates an illusion of separation because one is so wrapped up in oneself you cannot feel the presence of the Divine


Ego also produces an attachment to the senses


Attachment to the senses creates selfish desire


Selfish desire creates suffering because you will always want more, and anything temporary (everything but God) will always disappoint



How do we get rid of ego?


Yoga is the science of union with the Divine through the removal of the ego



What happens when you remove the ego?


By destruction of the ego, we abandon our attachment to that which is illusion (materiality) and return to our natural state of existence (awareness)



What is the next step?


The next step is Self-Realization, this is the understanding that our true self is the Atman and not the ego



What is the final step?


The final step is God-Realization, with awareness untainted by illusion you become aware of your unity with God, the Source of all things (only possible after you have attained Self-Realization (you must know yourself before you can know God))



Why is that good?


Because God is the source of all things, including all love, all happiness, and all peace, unity with God means unity with infinite love, infinite happiness and infinite peace. No more suffering in this life, and no more karmic rebirth ever again!





'The wise is one who searches for God,


the successful is one who finds Him.'


Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharyaji




Namaste

[Dharmapala]

Dharma is the answer to the question



Awareness brings the question 'Why?'

Why am I here? What is the goal of life? Who am I? How can I be happy?


Dharma provides the answer:


God is the source of everything

Man's finite awareness (Atman), is created in the image of God's infinite awareness (Paratman)

Because He is our source, He is always with us

Man's ego is his attachment to materiality, the focusing of his awareness on himself and his internal thoughts (I want)

This attachment becomes an illusion of separation from God by shifting our awareness away from our Source and onto ourselves

Yoga is the scientific destruction of this illusion, returning the focus of our awareness to Him

This is to answer to the question 'Why?'

Why am I here?

Because my ego shifted my awareness away from God and onto myself, causing me to be born into materiality

What is the goal of life?

To shift my awareness back to God through destruction of the ego

Who am I?

I am Atman (awareness), made in the image of Paratman (pure awareness), and continually reborn in a human body in the material plane until I remember that I am not separate from God (the illusion of ego). When I remember this, I will cease to be reborn and will return to Him in the state of perfection from whence I came

How can I be happy?

My natural state is happiness because my source is God and thus I am naturally united with Him, the source of all happiness. I create my own unhappiness by thinking myself separated from Him by concentrating on my ego and material things. When I can let go of my ego and it's attachment to materiality, I will remember that I was always united with Him and will live in a state of bliss



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'The wise is one who searches for God,


the successful is one who finds Him.'


Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharyaji




Namaste


Fantastic! Well said, Dharmananda!

[dharmananda]

I won't take credit for that quote! I think you said what I was trying to say better than I did!

[Tulasi Devi]

A famous quote from the Mahabharta:

Whoever protects dharma will in turn be protected by dharma.

It is our Dharma to understand and practice Dharma.

[Arjuna]

In order for us to realize God it is not enough for us to fervently reach out to God but rather it is the case that God must also reach out to us.

Dharma is:

That Devine operative principal by which when reach out to God we find that God has always been there reaching out to us.

[seeker]

I really like how you explained about the Atman and Parmatman....I just want to ask what do you mean by unity with the Divine...How do u experience that unity?