joy of contemplation of the fundamental Atmic reality of the universe, they are entangling themselves in the external trappings of this objective world of appearances. One can only bewail that this fate has overwhelmed Mankind!
The Gita also declares in a verse in Chapter 14:
I am the bliss of Brahman, of positive immortality, of timeless dharma, and of eternal bliss.
Brahmano hi prathishtha Aham amrithasya avyayasya cha. Shaashvathasya cha dharmasya sukhasya aikaanthikasya cha
This immortal dharma (amrita-dharma) is described in the Upanishads, and since the Gita is the kernel of the Upanishads, the same is emphasized in the Gita also. The dharmic way of life is as the very breath; it is the road to self-realization. Those who walk along it are dear to the Lord.
He dwells with all who are truthful, whose deeds spring from dharma. That is why the Gita teaches Arjuna to develop certain qualities that help the practice of the Atmic dharma. These are delineated in verses 13 to 20 of Chap. 12. Those who have drunk deep at the fountain of the Gita will remember them. The most important of the verses in this context is:
But those who revere this dharmic way to immortality and who completely engage themselves with faith, making Me the ultimate goal, are exceedingly dear to me.
Ye thu dharmyaamritham idham yathoktham paryupaasathe. Shraddhadhaanaa Math parama bhakthaasthe atheeva me priyah.
What a grand idea this verse (shloka) conveys! This is the concluding verse of the series that gives the qualities one has to develop. It calls the entire group the dharmic way to immortality (dharmya-am Ritam)! The Lord has declared therein that those who have these qualities, those who trust in Him as the only ultimate goal, those who are attached to Him single-mindedly —those are dearest and nearest to Him.
Note the expression ‘dharmic way to immortality (dharmya-am Ritam)’, used here. Ponder it and draw inspiration from it. The nectar of the Lord’s grace is deserved only by those who adhere to the Lord’s dharma. Simple folk believe they have devotion (bhakti) toward the Lord, but they do not pause to inquire whether the Lord has love towards them. People who pine to discover this are rather rare. That is really the true measure of spiritual success.
The same person is king to his subjects, son to his parents, enemy to his enemies, husband to his wife, father to his son. He plays many roles. Yet, if you ask him who he is, he would be wrong if he gave any of these relationships as his distinctive mark, for these marks pertain to physical relationship or activities. They denote physical kinships or professional relationships, names attached to temporary statuses. Nor can he reply that he is the head, the feet, the hands, etc., for they are but the limbs of the physical form. He is more real than all the limbs, beyond names and forms, which are all falsities that hide the basic Brahman; he is known as ‘I’. Reflect over that entity well and discover who that ‘I’ really is.
When it is so hard to analyse and understand your entity, how can you pronounce judgement on other entities with any definiteness? What you refer to as ‘I’ and as ‘You’ relate to the body, the appearance; they are not real (Sat). The Atma is one and indivisible; dharma based on That is genuine dharma (DV, pp. 17-19)