![\"\"](\"https:\/\/wp.patheos.com.S3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/sites\/356\/Rose1.jpg\")
\u201cWhat happened, O\u2019 lovely one?\u201d, the Sage asked.<\/p>\n
\u201cPlease don\u2019t kid me. I am not lovely from any angle.\u201d retorted the Rose.<\/p>\n
The Sage smiled and remarked \u2013 \u201cAnd, why do you say that?\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cSir, look at those white and bright yellow flowers all around me. They glow and everyone likes them. Look at me, dark unattractive. No one can even smell me sitting between them. I want to be them. What can I do to become them? My color, my height, I want to change everything to become them.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut, by believing yourself to be like them, does you no good, dear Rose. You are what you are, and there is no one as beautiful and as fragrant as a rose. Currently, you are feeling all this because this is the festive time, and people make marigold and Jasmine garlands. When the time for love comes, people will look for you.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWonder when that time comes? Its been 2 weeks already and I won\u2019t live for more than 2 more weeks at my best.\u201d sighed the Rose.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen,\u201d the Sage said, \u201cyou should spend the time, knowing your own fragrance and opening yourself up, instead of being despondent and letting your lovely fragrance get over ridden with your anxiety to become something that you are not\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cRespected Sage, what you say sounds good, but it will do me no good.\u201d Rose said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you don\u2019t know who you are, my dear Rose, whatever you will do will be a mistake. If you haven\u2019t ever been in touch with your fragrance, then you will always look at other flowers and believe yourself as something else\u2026 without ever knowing that you are THE Rose.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Sage had failed to help Rose to touch his own unique and beautiful fragrance, he moved on. Rose, meanwhile withered away in the coming week, without ever knowing that it carried a fragrance that millions pay so much to experience.<\/p>\n
Dharma is the fragrance, your fragrance. Religion is the collection of beliefs that one carries along. Rose\u2019s fragrance is Rose\u2019s Dharma. Rose\u2019s belief that Yellow flowers are \u201cbetter\u201d than Dark Red, is his Religion.<\/p>\n
Rose\u2019s fragrance is all there is to it. Its belief in yellow being better has no bearing to its beauty, its life or its splendour.<\/p>\n
It doesn\u2019t matter who you are, Jasmine or Rose or Marigold or even Cactus \u2013 you have your own Dharma. Your own essence. It has a value and it has an importance. Every essence has the same shot at self realization. Every Cactus can get in touch with its inner essence as much as a Rose can. Their Self Realization is in-born in them, IF they seek to understand their own Essence, their own Fragrance.<\/p>\n
But if a Rose or a Cactus keeps believing in his Red-ness or Thorni-ness and yearns to be something different, because it is something that the 4 weeks of season in the Garden is seeking \u2013 then it has wasted its entire (albeit short) lifetime.<\/p>\n
Religion can never lead you to know yourself. Dharma can. Any Dharma. And Dharma \u2013 the fragrance \u2013 has NO relationship to your Religion \u2013 the belief of being something else than what you are.<\/p>\n
So, let us understand the precepts of Dharma clearly. Dharma is the cosmic law. The Hukum, or the Dhamma. The Cosmic Foundation (Dharma comes from the root \u2013 That which holds) of this existence. My Dharma is how that Cosmic Foundation manifests in me. <\/p>\n
Fragrance and Beauty is a Garden\u2019s Dharma. A Rose\u2019s Dharma is how that manifests in its life. As Rose\u2019s fragrance and its beauty. It is a sub-set, yet it encapsulates the entire Dharmic character of the Garden.<\/p>\n
My Dharma is my essence. It is not Cosmic as it manifests in me, but it encapsulates everything of the Cosmic Character.<\/p>\n
So, let us clarify some cobwebs:<\/p>\n
Do All Religions lead to Truth? NO.
\nDo All Dharmas lead to Truth? YES.
\nCan you find Truth in someone else\u2019s Religion? NO.
\nCan you find Truth in someone else\u2019s Dharma? NO.
\nCan you find Truth in only YOUR Dharma? YES! (as long as it is Dharma and not religion)<\/p>\n
Dharmic Existence \u2013 as known from the Rishis and Scriptures \u2013 is predicated on knowing your essence and living it. Not to copy or emulate someone. Not trying to be unique or superior to anyone. Not trying to be \u201cGood\u201d or \u201cNice\u201d in the parlance of the new Season in the Garden, but in living what you are. <\/p>\n
Religion is a useless construct, which unfortunately for the humanity, has become the main currency of our existence. It should never have been made important. Dharma was, is, and will remain the ONLY Currency worth keeping. Religion had never helped anyone and will never do so in future.<\/p>\n
The Rose despondent in his darkness, and not touched by its own fragrance will wither away in sorrow and pain.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A rose was born in a lovely garden of marigolds and jasmines. In his small lifetime that he had woken up, he was sad and despondent. One day, a Sage happened to pass by and hear his crying. \u201cWhat happened, O\u2019 lovely one?\u201d, the Sage asked. \u201cPlease don\u2019t kid me. I am not lovely from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1517,"featured_media":15730,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[63,69],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15729","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-religion","category-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\n