1. Rājamāta of Kāshi: A sanyasi is considered to have a new birth. When a person becomes a sanyasi, he has to perform his own last rites as a symbol of giving up all his past attachments of family, community, sect and even memories. The sanyasi takes a vow of controlling the functions of the mind, in order to go beyond the mind. That is the Kriyā Yoga, which ultimately leads to Karma Yoga. A kriyā is merely the action of our body. Karma is the motivation behind the kriyā. When one attains the greatest degree of detachment in one's actions, the accumulated karma has absolutely no relation to the outward kriyā.
2. Vasudeva: Cultures follow Dharma. Cults follow religion. There is no one definition of Dharma. It is a code of honour, which operates differently in different situations, as also with different people. The principal tenet of Kshātra Dharma is to protect the people and the country, to ensure justice for the populace, and rule as a guardian of Dharma on its behalf.
When the various strands of Dharma are in conflict with each other, the one with the larger purpose must prevail. Dharma is not bondage, it is liberation.
A Rāshtra is destroyed more by the silence of its good persons, who are in majority, than the injustices wrought by the evil deeds of an oppressive minority.
3. Gulmi: When the implacable enemy is at your feet, wisdom is to destroy the enemy and uproot it. It is wise to finish an ideology if it is contrary to Dharma.
4. Rāghavāchārya: Debates are on the basis of logic. Shabda pramāna (scriptural evidence) by itself is not acceptable unless it is accompanied by pratyaksha pramāna (evidence of sensory perceptions).
5. Nāga Takshaka: The murtis are not just stone idols. They aid us in focusing our minds on our true nature. That is why we consecrate them as living beings. We may have differences over form, but the substance of all communities and kingdoms in Āryavarta is the same. We honour cosmic energy in our own way.
6. Rajavaidya Anantagupta: In an otherwise physically able person, the elements of vāta (air), pitta (fire) and kapha (water) are in balance. However, three factors may commonly disturb this balance from time to time: anidrā (lack of sleep), atisomarasa (excessive drinking) and atichintā (too much worrying). These cannot be cured by a doctor. A person cures this by following yama and niyama, the first two ladders of Ashtānga Yoga (Eight-fold Yoga). Ekam sat viprā bahudhā vadanti does not apply to evils. A viprā is a noble person, not a member of a savage cult. Creationists cannot understand the concept of evolution. Have they seen a mechanical tool evolve? Have they seen the evolution of consciousness in human beings, and even animals? These experiences can only be had if one has an open mind.
The inexorable march of time and space fuses with one's karma and buries one in the cosmic scheme. Either you become a prisoner of your nature, or follow the Dharmic principles.
7. Aangiras (a disciple of Rishi Ghora Āngirasa): There is an indivisible reality immanent among all beings. One can call it by various names. That is a small sliver of cosmic energy that drives this universe. You can call it Shiva, or call it Brahman, or just call it Self. Whatever divine has to be found, has to be found within you first. Look within, you will find the Supreme there. It is not to be found outside. The cosmic intelligence is present within all of us. Look at the wave of Yamunā that strikes the steps of a ghāt. As the wave strikes, it breaks into a million drops. Each drop has its own energy. but is also part of the immense waters of Yamunā. Each drop of the wave is both separate and one with the mass of water that comprises an ocean. One can find the Brahmānda present in every drop and the whole.
Brahman is not what you see, but it is that with which you can see. Paramātma lives in every person as his or her ātmā. Wise men call him by different names.
8. Swarupa Aangiras: Ishwara pervades every nook and cranny of this Universe. He is present in you, the trees, the rocks, the river, and in me. Yet, human beings are special, as they have the faculty of Buddhi (intellect) through which they can regulate and choose their actions. They can use their Buddhi to discover their Chitta (Consciousness) and relate it to the Brahman within and without. Once you discover the connection, you will not die.
All animals have their ahankāra (sense of identity) as well as their manas (sense of perception - mind). All plants, too have their sense of perception. Inanimate objects do not possess any of these, but even they do comprise of their unique properties they get out of their kana (particle) structure. Nothing in this universe is without its own purpose. Man is at the highest pedestal, as he can use his faculty to become on with the universal consciousness. Everything in this universe is part of Ruta, that cosmic consciousness, which the Vedas called properties of Rudra, the Shiva within us.
Kriyā is karma alright, but if one concentrates on the process rather than the result, that kriyā becomes nishkāma (detached) karma. Then, your karma does not bind you. Knowing is not seeing, but knowing is seeing if you see the Truth.
Pratyāhāra (withdrawal of the senses) is the first step of higher Yoga, after the kriyā yoga of yama (social discipline and self-restraint), niyama (individual discipline and right observance), āsana (right alignment) and prānāyāma (regulation of breath). In pratyāhāra, one detaches oneself from the fruits of sensory perception. As a beginning, one may just sit for fifteen minutes and observe one's thoughts. Do not try and shut out the thoughts. Let them flow and observe them. Then, to test one's observation, one may write down what one has observed.
9. Purohit Kalyānānanda: Sanātana Dharma has a tradition of forgiveness, but we in the Vrishni clan are practical people. We give priority to purvapaksha (study our enemy). Forgiveness is only for the deserving. We are not fooled into magnanimity.
10. Rādhā: Dhāranā (concentration) is the stage beyond pratyāhāra. One may dissociate oneself from one's sensory perceptions, but one may not be in control of them. One may observe, but not direct. Dhāranā helps the individual overcome this. One learns to be just two: oneself and the object on which to concentrate. One can learn to focus in a state of extreme dynamism, but with practice, one would be able to do it in extreme peace as well. When that happens, training in dhāranā is said to be complete. From two, you wold have to go to one, and then to shunyata, to void, to zero.
In murali dhyāna, when you become one with your flute while playing it, only your own Self remains. You are conscious of everything, yet separate from everything. Only you remain. The cadences and notes of murali then flow not from the flute, but from your very consciousness. It is a state of single identity with oneself. You and your murali exist as one, and your kriyā of producing music becomes an extension of your consciousness. This is a state of dhyāna. You will experience a feeling of complete bliss the day you lose even this identity and become ego-less. Void is what the universe began from, and void is what we have to achieve if we want our fulfillment. This universe is made up of matter, energy and consciousness. As humans, we experience these three states separately. When we experience these three states together, we become divine.
Many rishis have attained Kaivalya (oneness) but it is only a karmayogi who combines his state of perpetual ego-less-ness with public welfare. One may periodically experience this state of bliss, but staying there and combining it with detached karma is something that requires even higher training. That state is called the Turiya state, i.e. when the experience of Samadhi (eternal bliss) is maintained. For that, one needs a Guru.
If ānanda (bliss) leads to Samadhi, why does one come back to the normal state at all? That is something not to be answered, but experienced. Transcending ego and intellect is itself such an experience that one would then ask one's Guru to the ways of staying in Turiya, a state of bliss, yet fully aware of the cosmos and the physical universe on this earth.
11. Ācharya Chandakaushika: When the revealed action has no relation with the stated action, the karma hiding behind the kriyā would be one's undoing. When Rādhā and Krishna dance together, there is a fusion of ātmā and paramātmā. Death is nothing but a cosmic wedding of the human ātmā with the cosmic ātmā. Rāsa Līlā is nothing but wedding of the mundane with the divine. The cosmic reality is very different from what your sensory perception tells you. Learning never ceases.
The Aangiras teach a very pragmatic philosophy. Inquiry and experience is the cornerstone of their teaching. They encourage the students to question, interrogate and debate with the teachers and the teachings. They have taught their students all schools of thought, and have asked them to have a deep experience of all of them. All paths, whether of bhakti, karma or gyāna, lead to the Supreme.
Whenever a great human being rises, and the value of Dharma spreads more in the land than his personal liberation, he becomes an avatāra, We saints and sages also do a lot for the humanity and its orientation towards Dharma, but we are constrained by our own espousal of our personal liberation. An avatāra is one who cares for the humanity, for the rāshtra, for the rājya and for his kul in that order. We sanyasis care most for our liberation, which is why no Brahmin except the notable exception of Parashurāma could achieve the status of an avatāra. You have to transcend your limitations to become an avatāra. Uprooting evil by a combination of sāma, dāma, danda and bheda is the greatest service to humanity that one can perform. Quite often, we get distracted because of our own selfish and narrow constructs of Svadharma or kuldharma, and fail to take the larger picture into account.
Dharma is not merely a code of ethics--different for different class of people. Dharma is surplus of yuga (epoch)--neutral positive values over negative values of our existence. We sages have intuitively experienced that the limitations of space and time exist only for the finite existence of this Earth. There is an infinite world beyond what your senses can perceive and the intellect can measure. That is the reality. In our meditations, we are able to reach the greatest depths of consciousness. Yet, there is something that remains beyond that. That is perhaps the reality! There are times we can experience that state. When we do, we achieve our liberation. In that world, space and time dissolve, curve and go backwards and forwards. You have to be in the samādhic state to be able to experience that. An avatāra can live in that state to serve the humanity. It is called the Turiya state.
12. Krishna: Shathe shāthyam samācharet (be a rascal to a rascal). Everyone who cannot understand the intricacies of dharma, karma and yoga just resorts to binding people up in rules, and blinding them with imaginary physical heaven and hell. Religion of this kind is founded when the first conman meets the first fool. What is the validity of these rules?
When one is fighting for cause of Rāshtra, the Self necessarily has to take a back seat. Rāshtra Dharma, for me, will always have precedence over Svadharma. Authoritarian philosophies always exploit your weakness in honouring your Svadharma. They should be dealt with the same ruthless violence that they teach their followers. Ideas have consequences, narratives have effect. Evil ideas and evil narratives have to be destroyed, both by competing ideas and narratives, and by competing violence if inevitable. A kul can be built by a person of character by following his Svadharma, a rājya can be built by a king by following his rājya dharma, but a rāshtra is built over many generations by a philosophy, a narrative, forged by rishis and yogis of the highest consciousness.
What is Dharma is not clear even to the most accomplished yogis. Dharma is for our guidance, not for our enslavement. Dharma is relative to the situation. Sāpeksha (relative) Dharma is the norm when the situation is not straightforward. Otherwise, you cannot justify killing your opponent in war.
Killing or not killing a person is not as important as killing a narrative. An authoritarian ideology of salvation by killing for God, prescribing One God, One Book, One Messenger, One symbol and One Leader, that is to be imposed by force, seeking afterlife by disparaging this beautiful life, destroying anyone else who does not convert to their ways for just being an unbeliever, is an evil ideology.
No Sanātani ever had any problem with the One God principle. It could be Brahman, the Supreme, or the Cosmic Purusha, or any other name; but he honours every form as a form of that One God. So, we cannot allow killing people if they believe in or practice something different.
Some of us encourage leniency on the ground of Mānava Dharma. That appears to me to be an oxymoron. Mānava Dharma means maximizing human qualities among the people. How can it be achieved if one lets humanity-threatening narratives be spared? Can this be done by sentencing the followers (who have perpetrated crimes) and sparing the progenitor of such an ideology? Can you bridge the river without drying the source, or diverting the flow?
Sentience and insentience, kriyā and karma, matter and consciousness, free will and necessity, are taught to a common person as opposite properties. To me, they must exist in harmony if we have to discover the divine within us. We cannot let the seeking and enquiry be suppressed by the dogma of belief. The divine within must correspond to the manifestations of the Supreme that our senses can decipher without.