Spiritual progress in Hinduism

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This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content.

Kalyan(a) and kshem(a)

Shri Shri Anandamurti, Happy Blending Of Relative And Absolute, May 8, 2017: The Times of India

The word `niti' is derived from the root verb nii and the suffix ktin. It means “that which has the capability to lead“. The definition is Kshemarthe nayanam ityarthe niti. Nayana means “to lead“ ­ as for instance the organ of the body which leads people towards external objects (the eye) is called nayana ­ and niti is that which leads a unit being towards kshema.

And what is kshema? As regards spiritual progress, there are two words, kalyana and kshema. Kalyanamastu means “Let there be spiritual progress“ ­ and kshema means the same as kalyana.

Kshemarthe nayanam ityarthe niiti ­ that is, “That which leads you in a particular direction for your kshema is called niti.“ That which teaches you how to thieve, rob, and take bribes, is not niti, for there is no intention of kshema there.

The word “morality“ is generally used as the English synonym for niti (niti as scripturally defined). Morality is that effort or idea which keeps a person away from sin ­ sin being that which is not prescribed in the Bible. Niti is different from morality. There is no exact synonym for niti.

Niti has a very close association with Dharma.What is Dharma? That which sustains the jiva is Dharma.And the practical side of Dharma is expressed in the words Acharanat Dharma, that is, “Dharma is the assemblage of all your conduct“ ­ the way you eat, speak, the way you perform sadhana.

If your conduct is good, Dharma is with you; if your conduct is not good, Dharma is not with you. And if Dharma is not with you, what comes about is your sarvanasha, or sarvatmaka vinasha ­ that is, your physical, mental and spiritual ruin. Now you may say that your Atman cannot be ruined. That is correct, but your Atman will not remain in the form of Atman. It will become crude.

In the first stage of Dharma, the greatest helping factor is niti. In other words, the function of niti is to help Dharma, to help dharmacharana (practice of Dharma).Therefore niti plays a vital role in the life of a sadhaka.But niti is not the culminating point of life, it is simply a starting point. In order to enter a house one has to pass through the gate, and this passing through the gate is niti. But one has not gotten into the house simply by passing through the gate; to get in, one has to knock on the door. The entering into the house after knocking on the door is Dharma sadhana. Just to be a moralist is not enough, it only provides one with a passport to enter the house. As said above, Acharanat Dharma (“Dharma is the assemblage of all your conduct“), and the first phase of your conduct are niti. Therefore those who are bereft of niti cannot be dharmic, and those who are dharmic cannot go against niti.

Now, is niti a relative factor or an absolute factor? Niti is not cent per cent relative, but it is not absolute, either, because niti does not have any direct relation with Paramatman ­ it cannot by its own force help one attain Him.Niti is a happy blending of the relative and the absolute.