It Is Better to Die While Following Bhagavad Dharma

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It Is Better to Die While Following Bhagavad Dharma
Speaker Shrii Shrii Anandamurti
Date 1978 November 5
Time Evening
Place Kolkata, India
Topic Your divine nature
Included in Ananda Vacanamrtam Part 4
Location in Sarkarverse
SVmap LiteraryWorks.png

It Is Better to Die While Following Bhágavad Dharma is a discourse given by Shrii Shrii Anandamurti in Kolkata, India. The discourse was delivered on the evening of 1978 November 5. This discourse is the twelfth chapter of Ananda Vacanamrtam Part 4.[1]

Synopsis

Svadharme nidhanaḿ shreyah – that is, "If human beings die while following the path of Bhágavata dharma, that death will open up the path to liberation." Paradharmo bhayávaha. And the mind of a person following animal dharma will become degraded – and that person, after death, will be reborn as an animal or plant. So, paradharmo bhayávaha ["do not live as an animal"]. Here svadharma does not mean Shákta Dharma, Vaishnavite Dharma, or Hindu Dharma.

Shrii Shrii Anandamurti

Anandamurti starts the discourse by saying that it is better for human beings to live and die following manava dharma (human dharma) rather than trailing the dharma of others beings. Anandamurti then explains that although humans and animals share some characteristics, it is incorrect to call human beings "rational animals". Animal life is body-centered while human life is an ideological flow. Therefore humans are to follow Bhágavata dharma (divine characteristics). Anandamurti goes on saying that Bhágavata dharma has three distinctive attributes: Vistára (expansion), Rasa (flow) and Sevá (service). Following divine dharma, human beings pave their own path toward liberation.[1]

References

  1. ^ a b Shrii Shrii Anandamurti Ananda Vacanamrtam Part 4 
Preceded by
Which Is the Right Path?
Ananda Vacanamrtam Part 4
With: It Is Better to Die While Following Bhagavad Dharma
Succeeded by
The Three Stages of Spiritual Progress