Thursday, November 15, 2012

The second step shows a possibility of 'swadharma' way of life, where a person doesn't live only to 'Enjoy' life but to fulfill his responsibilities as per 'dharma'- to fulfill his duties.


The fisherman-woman (couple) represent how, by leading a pious life as per their dharma, they can contribute to the well-being of the society.

Duck represents existence anywhere if lived with fulfilling your duties to the best of your abilities as per 'swadharma'.

Swami Vivekananda and Tamil poet Bharathiyar represent the fact that you can fulfill your responsibilities as a sanyasi- a recluse- spreading the knowledge of 'right living' in the world at large or fighting for freedom of your country through your poems - both are good enough.

Swadharma is so great a tool of 'karma yoga' that a simple prince raises to a level of Godhood by simply following the instruction of his father 'Pithru mata paripalana'. This is represented by lord Rama who is going for 'vanavasam' in boat and his becoming of God, represented by a statue beside that.

Fulfilling one's duty is very simple-simply talk no evil, see no evil and hear no evil- represented by three monkeys here.

But, at the same time swadharma is wrongly misunderstood by most and leads to attachment with their roles and objects towards which they are to fulfill their duty. This binds them to their 'Karma' and the eternal dharma of 'karma'- the cause and effect starts from here- represented by bird in the cage.

This bondage can only be broken with knowledge which we can get by praying to the lord seeking his help in removing the obstacles that keeps us away from light or knowledge represented by Lord Ganesha here.

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