The Essence of Dharma-24.

09/03/2018
Spoken on February 11th, 1973)

If somebody who is very beloved dies, we do not tell his name because if his name is told we will start crying once again. Like that is moksha. Do not utter his name. Gauranga Mahaprabhu could not bear to hear the name of God  because if he heard it he would go mad and cease to be at that moment. “Oh, Hari!” That word is sufficient.

The personality will melt and become liquid immediately. Moksha is some such thing. You will become liquid. You will melt if you know what it is. We do not know what it is, and therefore, we remain still solid.

Dharma, artha, kama, moksha. These four are blended together in our religion in a beautiful manner to conform to the gradation of the concept of reality. There is an external universe. Though the universe is a continuum of being ultimately, it appears to be an outside factor for us. As long as the universe appears to be an external factor to our consciousness, it also has to appear as a material something, and it has a value for us.

That value which we attach to the universe as being something outside our consciousness is artha. It is very important indeed; we cannot ignore it. It includes political values, economic values, and every concrete value that we can attach to material existence. That is artha. We know how important it is. I need not comment upon it.

To be continued ..

Swami Krishnananda