Yaksha Prashnam Questions 47 - 50

Continued From: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/02/yaksha-prashnam-questions-43-46-with-8.html

What is the highest refuge of dharmam, fame, heaven and happiness?

What is the highest refuge of dharmam?

Talent is the highest refuge of dharmam. It is not easy to follow the prescribed dharmam as there are many grey areas. It requires special talent to follow ones dharmam without hurting the feelings of other people. Lord Rama faced this situation in Yudha Kandam of Valmiki Ramayana. Vibhishana approached Lord Rama to surrender but he did not approach the Lord directly but pleaded the Vanaras to represent his intentions to the Lord. As Vibhishana had approached the Lord through the Vanaras, the Lord wanted to grant refuge through them as well. Thus He asked the opinion of the Vanara warriors. All of them refused to accept Vibhishana in their fold. Maharaja Sugreevan further added that, as Vibhishana had abandoned his brother Ravana during times of need he was a bad brother and hence cannot be trusted to be a good friend. Lord Rama wanted to convey that Sugreevan had risen to the position of a king only after he had requested Lord Rama to kill his brother Vali; but the Lord could not mention this bluntly as it would hurt Sugreevan’s feelings. The Lord always grants refuge to anyone who approaches Him and He never abandons the people who sought His help. If He hurt Sugreevan’s feelings and Sugreevan left the company of the Lord then the Lord would have failed in His duty to never abandon the company of Sugreevan. If He followed the advice of Sugreevan then He would be unable to accept Vibhishana and thus fail in His solemn vow to grant protection to anyone who approached Him. To overcome this situation the Lord told Sugreevan that not all brothers will be a good brother like His brother Bharathan, not all sons will be a good son like Himself as He had followed His father’s words and went to the forest in exile. He then added that not all friends will be a good friend like Sugreevan thus indicating to Sugreevan that Sugreevan was a bad brother but a good friend. Similarly Vibhishana might be a bad brother but he could also be a good friend. After hearing the Lord’s words Sugreevan immediately changed his opinion and agreed to accept Vibhishana in their fold.

What is the highest refuge of fame?

Fame is attained by donating as; the people who receive donation will always praise the donors.

What is the highest refuge of heaven?

Heavenly pleasures can be experienced in this world itself by speaking truth. Heaven is a place where people experience only happiness. Hell is a place where people experience only sorrow. Earth is a place where we experience both happiness as well as sorrows and hence we are called “ubhyar”. By uttering truth we can experience constant happiness. Consider the following example. An employee spent time in the morning solving the crossword puzzle at home. He arrived past his start time at work. His boss asked him the reason for his delay and the employee lied that his car tire had been punctured. The following day his car tire was actually punctured. As he had used this excuse the previous day he spent hours in needless worry trying to come up with a good excuse.

Only truth which is beneficial to others and does not fuel our selfish motives should be spoken.

A man traveled to a distant city. He went to visit his friend and found that his friend’s home was decorated. It was evident that the friend was celebrating a happy occasion like a wedding. The man had learnt during his travel that the friend’s distant relative had passed away but it became evident that the friend was not aware of this news. In this situation the man should not inform his friend about the bad news and stop the celebration. Instead he should just leave the place thus avoiding having to say anything at all.

What is the highest refuge of happiness?

Good conduct makes us happy. This means that we should abandon superiority complex and unwanted ego. When we feel superior we have great expectations on how other people should treat us. When other people fail to treat us according to our expectations we feel sad.

Continued On: http://thoughtsonsanathanadharma.blogspot.ca/2013/02/yaksha-prashnam-questions-51-54.html

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Based on, Yaksha Prashnam - A discourse in Tamil by Sri U.Ve. Karunakaran Swamy
(Any errors or inconsistencies in the following series are due to the mistakes I made while taking notes. ) 

Copies of the CDs can be obtained from Sri Karunakaran Swami’s website http://www.nadadoor.org/ . This series is for the benefit of people who do not understand Tamil. Those of you who understand Tamil very well must definitely obtain a copy of Swami’s Upanyasam. You can do so by contacting Nadadoor.org. Swami also renders discourses in English but I am not sure if Yaksha Prashnam discourse is available in English.  The experience of listening to Swami’s upanyasams could never be obtained by reading the following series. I have done my best to take notes with due diligence. I apologize for any errors that I have made while writing this series.