What is Dharma
Hislop: What is the meaning of the word dharma [righteousness]?
Sai: The word dharma does not mean duty. In duty there is no freedom; in reason there is freedom; and in religious obligation there is the union between duty and reason. Dharma, then, refers to religious obligation and in that word are the concepts of both duty and reason.
Visitor: There is a difficulty that arises in doing honor to two different aspects of the Lord. For example, Mother in Sri Aurobindo’s ashram, and Swamiji here.
Sai: There are two ways: one in which the Divine is seen everywhere, and there is then no conflict whatsoever; and the other way in which one feels strong devotion to one single person and is happy in that devotion. In the latter case, one should hold strictly to that guru and have nothing to do with other gurus. When one works at a task one needs to give that task full attention and concentration and cannot be thinking of the Lord while doing that task. But the principle involved is the attitude of dedicating everything to the Lord and not doing work because of the fruit to be gained from that work. On the contrary, [it means] doing the work because it is one’s duty to do it very well.
A Visitor: Can I wear shorts while here at the ashram?
Sai: No. That should not be.
Sai: In spiritual life, the fastest progress is made when the boat sails with the wind, and if the boat has to sail against the wind, progress is slower.
A Visitor: Well, Swami, the trouble is to determine which way the wind is blowing.
Sai: That is really very simple. With practice, a driver of a car learns to be so skilful at driving that a wide boulevard or a narrow road makes no difference to him, he drives both with equal confidence. In the same way, a guru is necessary in order to learn how to take advantage of the wind in the sea of the spirit. The trouble is that nowadays it is very difficult to find a guru. As soon as a person puts on a yellow robe he considers himself a guru and wants to teach people.
The best way to determine whether or not a guru is genuine is [to see] if his words are full of wisdom, and if in his life his practices are the same as his words. If the guru only speaks words of wisdom, and this is an age where people speak wisdom without being wise, the words of wisdom will produce no result whatsoever and are useless. The best guru today is God. In the spiritual world, the guru is a doctor who takes the temperature of the aspirant and from the temperature is able to gauge his condition and what is best for him. But if the guru himself has a temperature, then the temperature of the aspirant would be distorted by the tempera-ture of the guru. So the best guru today is God.
Source: Conversations with Bhagavan Sri Sathya Sai Baba
