Resurgent Dharma- Understand.Practice.Promote

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This book is a virtuous attempt to propound the understanding of Dharma in its true sense which lends support to put it into daily practice through which it is promoted in direct & subtle sense.

Pervaded by scriptural maxims & parables, this book discriminates properly between the two means, Dharma & Adharma, to acquire your ends. All desires can be fulfilled either by Dharma or Adharma. Employing the former begets virtue & burns sins while the latter accumulates sins & destroys virtue. Considering the Vedic injunction that all sins bear fruit, this book elucidates the ways and means by which the reader can acquire waxing Dharma and forsake Adharma.

Hailing from Mahuva, Gujarat, living in Mumbai since many years, NIKUL JOSHI is a real estate & hospitality professional having consulted organizations of repute. Brought up in a liberal yet disciplined home environment, he developed a taste for Hindu scriptures and a yearning to extract their esoteric meanings hidden beneath mysterious anecdotes & ambiguous injunctions. Being absorbed in the holy books propounding Sanatana Dharma, he has been reading them repeatedly along with their commentaries. His life illumined when, by the agency of fate, he was introduced to Swami Nischalananda Saraswati Maharaj, the current 145th Jagadguru Shankaracharya of Puri, Govardhan Math, who is now his revered preceptor, Learning the abstruse knowledge of Sanatana Dharma, he has compiled this book with the sole intention of disseminating the true imports of Hindu scriptures. He is resolved to bestir the spirit of Hindus to reclaim their lost glory by complying with the scriptures in daily practice.

We feel proud of the fact that during the past 75 years of Independence, especially in the last 10 years, India has achieved commendable economic progress. The country has emerged as a world economic power and is heading to break its own past records. All this is, no doubt, laudable. But the irony is that people are flushed with money yet they seem to be frustrated and unhappy. Thousands of farmers and students are found committing suicide every year. If a dozen people are asked about the cause of their frustration, they may tell a dozen different reasons for their agony, despite having all the necessary material comforts. They are not content with what they have. Everyone is short of some material possession and is therefore unhappy. The fact of the matter is that material prosperity is only a means to an end, but not an end in itself. One cannot buy happiness with money. People suffer more, not because of shortage of food, clothing and shelter, but on account of their own shortcomings like greed, selfishness, jealousy, hatred, enmity, revengefulness, etc. This is not to suggest that we may refrain from economic development and an improvement in quality of life and standard of living. But, just as complementary medicines are prescribed along with a strong drug to neutralize its side effects, I feel that along with economic development, spiritual knowledge and practice is essential for a stress-free and happier life.

However the goal of Hindu spiritual pursuit is popularly claimed to derive direct perception of God and then to obtain Moksha. But how many really aspire for Moksha? In Bhagavadgita Lord Krishna says:

"Hardly one-in-a-thousand person strives for spiritual perfection; and amongst those who have achieved spiritual perfection, hardly someone truly knows Me." That means among a large number of orthodox people, only a miniscule number of seekers attain the goal, and an overwhelming majority of common people seek worldly benefits from God so as to lead a happy life. The Vedic Seers were prudent enough not to create such a huge spiritual literature just for the benefit of an infinitesimal few. They asked the common people to pursue a spiritual goal of obtaining direct perception of the Lord while carrying on their normal duty, whatever it might be, so that they could overcome the mundane ills and calamities, and lead a stress-free and fruitful life, irrespective of whether they attain their goal or not. For those who aspire for emancipation, success lies in attaining the goal. But for the remaining commoners who are in the 'also ran' class, who have neither an aspiration nor an aptitude for Moksha, 'running' itself is winning. After all, what do common people want in life? Happiness! Sanatana Dharma is the time tested art of acquiring a stress-free, happier and fruitful living.

Saints like Dnyaneshwara, Tukaram, and others have demonstrated that this is feasible. In Maharashtra and Karnataka, every year lakhs of people from all walks of life walk their way on foot hundreds of miles to reach Pandharpur. Their goal is to have a glimpse (Darshana) of Lord Vitthala (i.e. Vishnu) on Ashadha Ekadashi. But on that day, more than a million people (This year the number was 1.7 million) gather in that town. Not even one percent of the pilgrims would be able to enter the temple. The remaining more than 99% of pilgrims know beforehand that they would not be able to see their Lord on that day. So, they take a dip in the river and offer their obeisance to the pinnacle of the temple, and return home. And the next year they again invariably join the pilgrimage. Why? They enjoy their journey for 15-20 days, singing and dancing in praise of Lord Vitthala, and get a training about how to lead a happy life in the face of mundane inconveniences and calamities.