Draft Pledge of Allegiance to Dharma

Draft Pledge of Allegiance to Dharma

By A Jalan jalansaab@hotmail.com

 

Let all Dharmic schools/ aashramas/ organizations/ etc. have a condition for initiation of its adherents (those that have cleared the preparatory stages and are now formally becoming students/members and certainly before they can be considered aacharyas / teachers/ authorities on Dharma) that they take a PLEDGE OF ALLEGIENCE TO DHARMA. So the entry is NOT free anymore – the organization/ tradition must ascertain your seriousness and commitment before opening its doors. We owe this to Dharma. This pledge should be strongly and unequivocally worded, picking everything which is non-negotiable in Dharma (comprising of course the common denominator of all sub-traditions) and which is in opposition to other religions, regardless of its (lack of) political correctness. (I think that would simply be the main points mentioned in Being Different.) A sample draft (Skanda987’s modifications or additions are shown in italics.):

 

Quote:

 

Pledge of Allegiance to Dharma

 

I, <<so-and-so>>, do hereby pledge and affirm, based on my personal experiences/ realization, on my intellectual cogitations and inferences and on the authoritative word of the Rishis (Mantra DrashTaa) whom I regard as perfected beings, my absolute allegiance to the Vedas, the Thought-Word of Brahman as also the fundamental seed-vibrations behind Srishti (creation), as being the Whole and Absolute Truth.

 

I also do hereby pledge and affirm:

 

1. That I firmly believe in the Inherent Supreme Divinity of Man, and that every human being has the potential to manifest this Supreme Divinity within his life, based on one of the four broad maargas (ways) of Yoga. That I denounce any theory or dogma or canon that claims human being as born sinner.

 

2. That I denounce any history-centric view of the world which makes some claimed historical events as exclusive (non-re-enact-able) and some claimed historical figures as having exclusive rights to any spiritual experience.  That I firmly believe that any such view is antithetic to the system of Yoga and cannot be accommodated into the grand Vedic universal system.

 

3. That I denounce any dogma or canon that human beings need intervention from some divine being to attain salvation. That I firmly believe that the soul of Man is qualitatively same with Brahman (God the Supersoul), and as such requires no external intervention to realize that Supreme State. However, practice of a yoga under a realized spiritual master speed up the spiritual progress towards God realization or moksha.

 

4. That I firmly believe in eternity of the atman (Soul) – having neither birth nor death – which incarnates and re-incarnates as various beings, human or otherwise, based solely on the inviolable law of karma, by the principle of which, every action of a human generates a reaction directed at the human. That one’s karma in present and the past lives decides the course of the one’s birth in the future lives, or freedom from birth-death cycles.

 

5. That I firmly believe that the principles of Dharma, being infinite in their universality and bereft of sectarianism and exclusivity, are subject to misinterpretation if removed from their original Vedic sources and settings by way of unnecessary and inaccurate de-contextualization. That certain word-concepts involved in such principles are non-translatable in any other language except their original Sanskrit, whose word-sounds also carry distinct seed-vibrations of such concepts.

 

6. That I accept the authority of the Vedas and its 700-verse short summary Bhagavad Gita as the Book of the Vedic dharma. For all practical purposes Gita is sufficient as defining what is Dharma. I also accept the checks and balance of the Vedic guru, saadhus (those living seriously per dharma), and shaastra (Gita or the Vedas).

 

I also do hereby pledge and affirm that this is my considered position and any deviation from it, ever in future, will unconditionally and invariably disqualify me from being considered an adherent/ advocate/ authority of Dharma and that in such an instance, I should be considered to have reneged on my allegiance to Dharma. However, I could revert back in Dharma by surrendering to a qualified Vedic spiritual master and living and learning under his/her direction.

 

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