Dharma, Unconditional Love and Walking the Truth

The world feels to be going through a tremendous phase of sifting and sorting. What many of us have felt deeply in our hearts for a long time but not expressed for fear of social reaction and the like, seems to be now coming to the surface.

Dharma

It is usually believed that spirituality means not taking action or only taking peaceful action but that would be a rudimentary understanding. What is meant by ‘following Dharma’ is much more subtle. When the love and understanding of our true nature is truly absorbed, it is expressed in our lives in a tangible way in action that harmonizes, even if it may not look that way at first glance.

In the words of Swami Krishnananda:

Dharma is an integrating force of anything that is even apparently in disparity. Anything that is disconnected, apparently isolated, not visibly connected, is actually connected, and that connecting principle is called Dharma. And Dharma becomes an integrating principle because of the presence of the ātman that is behind it. There is no such thing as Dharma independent of the operation of the ātman. What you call Dharma or law is the ātman working. Its own law is its Being; its Being is its law; they are not two different things.

There are often personal vested interests that one may wish to protect in favour of the Truth. A true sanyassin is one who wants nothing for themselves and so is able to operate only from the Truth and as the Truth – as long as you want something, you cannot be in tune with Dharma.

Unconditional Love

‘Unconditional love’ is an often misunderstood term. It doesn’t mean to love ‘all’ conditions but to love ‘no matter’ the condition. It doesn’t mean to feel that any condition is OK, but rather, the place from where your action comes should be OK.

The expression of unconditional love too is often misunderstood. The true expression comes not from a learned behaviour of love but must come from a place of total new-ness or not-knowing. In that sense, it’s an expression of surrender or following the Dharma. If we’re too bound by social conditioning, we cannot hear the natural rhythm.

And again, if there is a personal vested interest, something you wish to protect, you cannot do that. In fact the ego or ‘me’ cannot do it.

‘Me’s don’t do unconditional love. It’s not that your ‘me’ is defective. – Adyashanti

Walking the Truth

It is not always easy to hold one’s own and speak the truth especially when one is faced with herd mentality and peer pressure which usually afflict human social groups. Spirituality, though, is a radical, revolutionary and uncompromising act. To hold to your Truth even if no-one else agrees may even be required to be an expression in the outer manifest.

You cannot try to save yourself.

Sometimes He puts you in a spot where no human moves work. Then you’re forced to rely on the moves of the Infinite. And you will know how He moves in the world.

But don’t think that it doesn’t take a formidable courage. Courage enough to trust that as Jesus said, even if men do not speak to side with you, the stones would cry out…that you come from God.

This is courage: courage to live, courage to risk, courage to adventure. And only those who are courageous are one day rewarded by the whole, by light, love, bliss, benediction. Just listen to your own feelings, whatsoever they are, and follow them. You are not here to live somebody else’s life. You can live only one life and that is yours.

If you try to live somebody else’s life you will be simply falsifying, pretending — you will become pseudo. And you will not be able to live that life either, because how can you live somebody else’s life? And by trying to live that you will go on missing that which you could have lived. You can be only you. And there is nobody else who can be you.

– OSHO