Hinduism (Dharma is for Permanent Moksha)

Dharma is for permanent moksha

In Hinduism, the highest pursuit in life is to attain liberation (moksha). However, karma, the fruit of action, and samsara, the cycle of rebirth, prevent us from acquiring this liberation. To eliminate these two obstacles, Krishna describes three paths for us to escape from samsara and karma. The first way is the path of action. It refers to realization of the nature of dharma - the duality of dharma and karma in order to abide peace. In other words, one should conduct his dharma without thinking about expectation of karma as to discard the fruit of this action (karma). The second way which is known as the way of knowledge is the realization of the non-duality of self and supreme reality. The third way is to achieve liberation by devotion to god. In fact, these three paths is one continuum as devotion is the highest of all dharma and the way of knowledge is stated in the final stage state in dharma which will be explained in detail in the following paragraph. Yet, in Upanishad, metaphysical state is highly concerned and the goal of moksha as more important than the ritual of everyday life is emphasized. In another word, one can reach moksha without make a detour conducting his duty (dharma). This can be seen in the case of Knight. After living in forest with no communication with humans for 27 years, Christopher Thomas Knight was arrested in 2004, charged with burglary and theft. Although he said he can’t claim a belief system, his story pretty much fits into Hinduism. Knight’s choice of becoming a forest renunciant resembles the path of knowledge. Yet, his wish to stay in isolation is against US laws for he steal food and grocery from neighboring house. This bring the debate about is it appropriate to attain moksha though the way of knowledge without conducting one’s dharma like it is stated in Upanishad. In the paper I hold the point of view that to attain permanent moksha, one has to realize both the nature of dharma and afterwards understand the nature of self with the case of Knight. Without relating one’s dharma only a temporary moksha can be reached.

So how Night’s hermit life match with Hinduism? After Knight came around on the idea of himself as hermit, he told Michael that besides “get enough sleep” the grand insight is beyond words. True hermits do not reveals what he’s learned. This resembles the Brahman which is the ineffable truth. The idea is that Atman-Brahman does not have attributes. Formless is real, the formed is a creation of a power of illusion (Maya). Brahman is the realization one can reach only by experiences. It’s very likely that the Brahman is the insight Knight got from his hermit life. Moreover, according to Upanishads, only those who have received the secret knowledge passed down from olden times can know the Brahman by becoming one with it. (Upanishads 58) That is to say, the non-duality of Brahman and atman are the nature of self. In the article, Chris told Michael Finkel who was writing this article about him that he lose his identity when introspect with his enhanced perception. “There was no need to define myself. I became irrelevant…I didn’t have a name… with no audience, no one to perform for, I was just there. There was no need to define myself; I became irrelevant…I didn’t even have a name. I never felt lonely. To put it romantically: I was completely free.” said Night. (Michael 15) On the one hand, this suggests that Night reaches this knowledge of the non-duality of self and the supreme reality. On the other hand, this shows that Isolation facilitate non-duality of atman and Brahman by detached from all of the worldly actions and enhancing perception therefore through introspection as to gain the insight. Furthermore, He also states he find content and freedom being renunciant. This matches the idea of attaining liberation through the path of knowledge in some extent.

However, there’s an absence of the understanding of the dharma that this isolation didn’t actually free him from karma. “I’m a thief. I induced fear.” Said knight. (Michael 9) He steals food, books, and video games and feel guilty and fear all the time. He is not detached from the worldly action and has fear for his action may make him caught. Therefore he is in fact still chained by karma. This is the reason why I stated earlier that his story are not a hundred percent match with the path of knowledge. When one take the way of action, in the final stage of his life, he live off the food given as alms and eating but once a day (Narayanan186). He is able to cultivating detachment from life without worry karma will cut in. Another example can be find in Patrick’s article about how a person cause his forefathers suffering when he assumes a celibate life without leaving nay progeny to continue his line to provide his forefathers with ritual offerings(Patrick 538). As Patrick stated in his paper: “after paying the three debts, a man may set his mind on renunciation; a man who practices renunciation without paying them, however, will fall.” This led us to the debate of the necessity of conducting one’s dharma. My argument is that it is necessary to conduct one’s dharma for in this way, one can truly break through the chain of both karma and samsara.

Dharma means “religious ordinances and rites”, “merit acquired by the performance of religious rites” and “the whole body of religious duties” (Narayanan 178). Dharma can be divided into common dharma and specific dharma. Common dharma refers to virtues for all human beings. For example, compassion, charity and thanksgiving (181). Another dharma refers to the specific dharma for an individual depends on his caste, age, gender. In Hinduism there are four stages of life: student, household, retired life and renounced life. Narayanan explain these four stages in his paper as following: “Student concentrate on learning, a young man was to get married and repay his debt to society and his ancestors and his spiritual debt to the god… old man retire to the forest…in the final stage, a man staged his social death and became an ascetic practicing meditation to that end.

One viewpoint advocate the path of knowledge argue that “death does not wait to ask whether your duties are done.” (Patrick 544). It said that there might not be enough time for one to go through four stages of life to acquire this knowledge. Atman is permanent, conducting dharma and make merit lead to good rebirth. Every rebirth bring you closer to the moksha. To be more precise, accumulation of merit may lead to a longer life span as well as more successfully life in conducting dharma. After the realization of dharma and then the realization of the atman, here comes the permanent moksha.

In conclusion, to attain permanent moksha, one has to realize both the nature of dharma and afterwards understand the nature of self with the case of Knight. Without relating one’s dharma only a temporary moksha can be reached.