The Philosophical Foundations of Religious Consciousness

by Swami Krishnananda

How would we conduct ourselves in this world if there is an omnipresence permeating every cell of our body and every atom of the physical world? We have many weaknesses, together with the great aspirations that we have at the same time – namely, the power to recognise that there is such a thing as omnipresence. It is not a small achievement, of course. The brain of the human being should be immensely powerful and capable of accommodating impossible ideas such as the ideas of eternity and infinity. Philosophers sometimes humorously tell us that what is wonderful and surprising is not that God exists; what is surprising is that the little brain of this puny human individual is capable of conceiving such a thing as God. That is the marvel – not just the existence of God. There is a miraculous potentiality in the little brain of the human individual which is the vehicle of a consciousness that is commensurate with omnipresence itself.

The weaknesses of human nature are also taken into consideration while framing laws and regulations in the world – which is the second stage of ethics and legality. It is not enough if we consider only our strengths and our greatnesses, which also should always be taken into account, of course; but a little margin and a little bit of concession has to be given to the weaknesses of human nature – namely, desires. The concept of God is a power and a potentiality of great magnificence in the human mind, no doubt, but it has other capacities also, such as running to sense objects, wanting a lot of land and property and money, the grabbing habit of wealth, intensely working hard for maintaining this physical body by hook or by crook, and the vehement longings of an emotional nature – together with the final philosophically-concluded aim of unity with the omnipresent God.

From Manu onwards these features – among the many possible weaknesses of human nature – were broadly classified by the legalistic ethical codes called the Smritis, and these human potentials were grouped into a fourfold category known as dharma, artha, kama and moksha. Moksha, of course, is the well-known consequence that follows from there being such a thing as infinite and omnipresent existence – without which, even breathing is not possible – and unity with which, of course, has to be the be-all and end-all of all human life. It is taken for granted that moksha is our aim.

But, what about the other things? “My desire for money and land, my hunger and thirst, my emotional requirements; what do you say about them? Provision also has to be made for them.” You can have money, you can have land, you can have ahouse; we do not object to that. Fulfil your aesthetic sense also. All the fine arts may give you satisfaction, enjoyment; we do not object to this also. Artha and kama, let them be with you. But please listen that this permission that you can enjoy material comfort and you can have emotional satisfaction is given to you under a proviso of law that, on the one hand, your permission to enjoy material and emotional comforts should not in any way deprive another person from having the same facility as you would like to have. That is, there should be a proportionate distribution of this permission that is granted, in the light of there being many people in the world – not only one or two. Otherwise, you will become a thief or an exploiter. An exploiter is one who takes for one’s own self more than what can be conceded in the light of the existence of many other people also in society.

So, on the one hand, the gracious grant given to you should not in any way tilt the balance heavily only on your side. You should take into consideration the harmonious relationship that you have to maintain with other people also. If you have to eat, others also have to eat. If you have to live, others also have to live. And if you want to enjoy, others also would like to enjoy. Live and let live. This should be your motto.

This is one side of the matter, socially. But on the other side, the permission given to you to enjoy physically and emotionally should not contradict your movement towards the Absolute. You should not become a fallen angel, a weakened individual, an incapacitated seeker deprived of the facility necessary for contacting the supreme goal, which is omnipresence.

So while you are given the permission to live comfortably in this world, materially and emotionally, two things have to be borne in mind. You should not hurt, injure or exploit other people around you. They should also be as happy as you are, or you can be. But, more important than this is that God should not be angry with you. That is to say, the higher Self, which is the omnipresent Reality, should not in any way feel defeated or ignored in your over-indulgence in physical comforts and emotional enjoyments.

This restriction that is heavily brought upon the otherwise-beautiful permission granted to enjoy physically and emotionally is dharma. The law of harmony is called dharma. Law, order, system, harmony, symmetry, method – keeping everything spick and span, clean and neat, also may be considered as dharma. Dharma is a cohesive force which brings together into a state of harmony and equilibrium parts which are otherwise separate. Two persons cannot become one person, and yet it is necessary for two persons to live in society as if they are one person. Partnership, family, government, community, nation – all these imply two living as if they are one, though physically, genetically, anatomically, and physiologically two cannot become one. Two people are two people. They have got two different stomachs, but they have to live as if they are one. That is the spirit of organisation, which commences the moment one is compelled to live with another person. When it is impossible for you to live alone and another person also has to be with you for some reason or other, a law-and-order situation arises and the question of dharma also starts. Administration, institutional management, governmental enactments – everything starts from there being another, other than one’s own self.

Society is a quality which has been ingrained into the very stuff of the human individual. Therefore, many a time we are told that man is a social animal. Because of the weaknesses of the physical body and the frailties of the human personality, generally speaking, and the weaknesses of the mind, it is necessary for us to live with other people. Totally isolated, individual, physically independent existence is very difficult, even if you live in Uttarkashi or Gangotori. You have to eat a little food which you have not grown with your own hands. That is to say, there is support necessary from another, other than your own self. This is a kind of social life. So while social life is incumbent upon human individuals because nobody can live totally physically independently on account of the frailties of the very construction of the human individuality, it is necessary to concede that there is law operating and must be operating in the midst of human society. Hence dharma, the law of regulating relationships among people, comes into relief even in the midst of these permissions granted for a comfortable living, physically and emotionally. Thus, here come dharma, artha, and kama in the light of moksha. I need not repeat the word moksha, because it has now become very clear that the very conclusion drawn by the highest reach of religious consciousness is that God exists, and it is an omnipresent existence. Because of the presence of that Almighty power permeating everything inside and outside, social regulations become necessary, and individual discipline also is called for.

Social stratification and individual discipline also follow from the concept of the purusharthas. These four aims mentioned – dharma, artha, kama, moksha – are known as the purusharthas, or the aims of the human individual. Artha is a final aim, and purusha, of course, is human individual. The final aim of life is of this fourfold character – dharma, artha, kama, moksha – which has to be implemented and achieved in society while living in the midst of family, in a community, in a country, or even in an international brotherhood. For this purpose, the varnashrama dharma was further conceived as an additional development of this original concept of the purusharthas – dharma, artha, kama, moksha. Each person should work, should contribute something to society. Nobody can sit idle. Inasmuch as every person requires amenities from society, keeping quiet without doing anything is impossible, not merely because the Bhagavadgita says so, but even economically; and from the point of view of common sense, it follows that we have to make some contribution. In what way can we make this?

There are four ways in which we can make a contribution to human society: by our knowledge, wisdom, understanding and intellection – our scientific, philosophical, educational capacities, number one; by the power of our arms and strength of physicality in administration, hard work and organisation; by producing economic goods by tilling and trading, etc.; and by actual manual labour. This concept of the fourfold capacities and possibilities of contribution from people to society was originally designated as that traditional concept of brahmana, kshatriya, vaisya and sudra – whose meaning has been very much abused these days, though they have a philosophical and ultimately a spiritual connotation, as one could notice by careful observation.

This is the social stratification conceived for the purpose of commanding every individual to be in a position to contribute something to society in the place and station which is occupied by that particular individual – guna karma vibhagasah, as the Gita would say – according to our quality and our potentiality to work. While this is very important – a social collaboration is necessary and each one has to participate in this collaborative activity individually and collectively – there is also a need for personal discipline. We are not only to work horizontally with people, but we are also to work inwardly for an upward ascent for the sake of a universal realisation in the end.

This concept of the vertical ascent was stratified in the concept of the other fourfold phase: brahmacharya, garhasthya, vanaprastha and sannyasa. Studentship, study, continence, discipline under a teacher for several years is brahmacharya. Then the living of a family life for working for a livelihood and gaining experience in the world is garhasthya. Thereafter, a gradual detachment from involvement of every kind in the world of social life is vanaprastha. Then a complete dedication of the mind for God-realisation is sannyasa.

So we have here, in the ethical institutions introduced by the Smritis, a legalistic approach also. It becomes a command from inside and, therefore, it is ethics and morality. It becomes a command from outside also, so it becomes law and order and enactment. It is both moral and legal – moral because it is an impulsion that has to arise from within us, and it is legal because it is a compulsion that is being pressed upon us by the necessities of social existence.

The Smritis – Manu, Yajnavalkya, Parasara, and other Smritis – go into great detail into the structure of human society and the duties of man, both by way of the fulfilment of the purushartha – dharma, artha, kama, moksha – in a well-harmonised manner, in giving due proportion to considering the station, the strength and the weakness of the individual concerned, and also the need to work in society through the varna dharma, and finally to work for the salvation of the soul through the ashrama dharma.