Srimadh Bagawatham - Bagawatha Dharmam Part 2

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2014/06/srimadh-bagawatham-bagawatha-dharmam.html

Prabhudar said to the King of Mithila, ‘to escape maya, approach a good Acharyan
which is called samashrayanam and seek to learn Bagawatha Dharmam from the
Acharyan.’
Piplanayar said, ‘all atmas go through the states of wakefulness, sleep and dream.
The fourth state of thuriyam can be attained by mediatating upon the Lord’s form.
Without meditation, it is impossible to break free from the other three states.’
Avirhothrar instructed about karma, akarma and vikarma.
‘The Shastras prescribe certain actions for us to do which are generally called as
“karmas”; but, the same Shastras asks us to refrain from doing certain actions i.e
they ask us to follow “akarma”. For example, if we see a snake attack a frog, we are
not allowed to kill the snake in order to help the frog. Here, even when we hear the
frog’s cry for help, we have to ignore its cries. We have to follow “akarma” during
this situation as otherwise we will save the frog but injure the snake. The natural
food of snakes is frogs and we are not allowed to interfere with nature.
Vikarma is a type of action which we must not do even in our dreams. For example,
lying is a vikarma which must be avoided. The rules of karma, akarma and vikarma
are very subtle. At times, karma could end up as akarma. The Sandhyavandhanam
rite has to be performed three times a day, prior to Sun rise, at noon and before
Sun set. If there is a festival in the temple in which the person is volunteering with
such devotion that he does not even take a short break to attend nature’s call,
then that work takes precedence and the shastras teach us that at times like this
a person need not perform sandhyavandhanam.
The person is excused from performing mandatory rites like sandhyavandhanam,
only if the person had not taken any breaks from his kaimkaryam. If the person
had taken even a short 2 min break or if the person had chatted with other people
while performing kaimkaryam, he has to take a break to perform
sandhyavandhanam. This is because, since he made time to chat with friends and
family or time to refresh himself, he must also make time to perform
sandhyavandhanam. Not performing an action is “akarma”. Here “akarma” is the
actual “karma” prescribed.
Akarma could also turn in to vikarma at times. A person who does not interact with
anyone follows akarma in their life. The person doesn’t wish to influence fate and
leaves everything to fate. If such a person sees a child about to fall into a well and
does not do anything to save the child, then the person will end up doing vikarma.
As seen earlier, vikarmas are those actions which should never be done even in
one’s dreams. Here not saving a child in danger is vikarma. This situation is
different from the snake and frog situation. The snake and the frog follow the
laws of nature where the frog is the natural food for the snake. This is not the
case in the example of the child in danger.’

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2014/06/srimadh-bagawatham-bagawatha-dharmam_7.html