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Is moral value learned or inherited?

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These moral values are inherent in creation.

We have discussed the similar subject under the head "Goodness of Human Nature" on 12.5.2012. I repeat the core value of "Ubuntu" from the same hereunder:
Ubuntu is a philosophy of African tribes that can be summed up as "I
am what I am because of who we all are."

Bishop Desmond Tutu gave this explanation in 2008 :

"One of the sayings in our country is Ubuntu – the essence of being
human. Ubuntu speaks particularly about the fact that you can't exist
as a human being in isolation. It speaks about our interconnectedness.
You can't be human all by yourself, and when you have this quality –
Ubuntu – you are known for your generosity. We think of ourselves far
too frequently as just individuals, separated from one another,
whereas you are connected and what you do affects the whole World.
When you do well, it spreads out; it is for the whole of humanity."

That is what we call as Dharma.
Dharayati iti dharmaha, which translates as "Dharma is that which upholds".

In the Mahabharata, Yudhistira asks Bhishma to explain the meaning and scope of Dharma. Bhishma replies:

Tadrisho ayam anuprashno yatra dharmaha sudurlabaha
Dushkamha pralisankhyatum tatkenatra vysvasyathi
Prabhavarthaya bhutanam dharmapravachanam kritam
Yasyat prabhavasamyuktaha sa dharma iti nischayaha.

It is most difficult to define Dharma. Dharma has been explained to be that which helps the upliftment of living beings. Therefore, that which ensures the welfare of living beings is surely Dharma. The learned rishis have declared that that which sustains is Dharma.

Again in the Karna Parva, in Mahabharata Lord Krishna explains Dharma to Arjuna in the following words:
Dharanat dharma mityahu dharmo dhara-yate prajaha
Yat syad dharanasamyuktam sa dharma iti nischayaha.

Dharma sustains the society. Dharma maintains the social order. Dharma ensures well being and progress of humanity. Dharma is surely that which fulfills these objectives.

It is the Cosmic order that none can isolate themselves. Whole universe is sustained by this discipline. It is also the Vedic idea of Ritam. Individuals have to conform to a certain universal order of behavioral norms, to contribute in the sustenance and the upliftment of societal order and thus the society itself. On the other hand, if any of the universal norms are transgressed, then a chain of actions and reactions takes place, creating chaotic disorder and destruction.
 
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. Individuals have to conform to a certain universal order of behavioral norms, to contribute in the sustenance and the upliftment of societal order and thus the society itself. On the other hand, if any of the universal norms are transgressed, then a chain of actions and reactions takes place, creating chaotic disorder and destruction.

I always wondered how does Dharma apply to a person who can compartmentalize without feeling remorse or guilt?

A new unproven study says that some people who feel very less remorse or no remorse at all when they go about doing stuff contrary to the norm are actually capable of compartmentalizing their feelings and almost create another persona though not as severe as in Multiple Personality Disorder...they are capable of creating 2 worlds of their own and switch off one from the other.

Some of them are closet Narcissistic but outwardly project an almost near perfect image.

When humans can fall into so many categories ... I am starting to wonder..does one size fits all in terms of Dharma?
 
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I always wondered how does Dharma apply to a person who can compartmentalize without feeling remorse or guilt?
A new unproven study says that some people who feel very less remorse or no remorse at all when they go about doing stuff contrary to the norm are actually capable of compartmentalizing their feelings and almost create another persona though not as severe as in Multiple Personality Disorder...they are capable of creating 2 worlds of their own and switch off one from the other.
Some of them are closet Narcissistic but outwardly project an almost near perfect image.
When humans can fall into so many categories ... I am starting to wonder..does one size fits all in terms of Dharma?

Dear Doctor,
True, Man (Woman) is a social animal. We cannot isolate our-self from the Society. when we start suppressing the inborn nature of compassion and companionship and live an artificial world created by us, the conflict arise. The resulting feeling of "Guilt" is due to knowingly transgressing "dharma". You may know that the term personality is derived from the Latin word persona meaning a mask. Most of us fall for this deception knowingly or unknowingly and put a mask to hide some thing which is not our nature. Modern psychologists have dealt with this subject in detail.
Regards,
 
Dear Doctor,
True, Man (Woman) is a social animal. We cannot isolate our-self from the Society. when we start suppressing the inborn nature of compassion and companionship and live an artificial world created by us, the conflict arise. The resulting feeling of "Guilt" is due to knowingly transgressing "dharma". You may know that the term personality is derived from the Latin word persona meaning a mask. Most of us fall for this deception knowingly or unknowingly and put a mask to hide some thing which is not our nature. Modern psychologists have dealt with this subject in detail.
Regards,

I disagree with some of the points in the above post. Whether humans (Man (Woman)) is inherently social is itself a point which needs to be debated by experts. Even if we grant that, for argument purposes, in today's conditions humans have become (or are fast turning into) very self-centered entities. Even in ancient times, the innate nature of Man seem to have been highly selfish; that is why there is even a proverb in Malayalam which goes—ஞானும் தண்டானும் தேங்ஙாக்காரனும், i.e., myself, the taṇṭāṉ (who plucks the coconuts from the trees), and the buyer of coconuts to depict the minds of such people of extreme selfishness.

Dharma or proper, acceptable, social behaviour is something that is learned by each human being from various sources like parents, other family members, neighbours, friends, peers and, in adult life, from reading, media etc. Today, in India, sadly, the individual liberty is being held up to such unnatural importance that parents, family members, neighbours and so on have virtually lost all power to advice an individual; so the only thing from which a person learns is when his unchastised "individual freedom" comes into conflict with some law-enforcement agency, or a mafia or results in incurable diseases like AIDS, etc.

Compassion is also not inborn, much of it was cultivated. Companionship today seems mostly for sexual gratification of one kind or another. Hence "Dharma" today is "I am the centre of the universe."
 


Hence "Dharma" today is "I am the centre of the universe."

Dear Sangom ji,

I have read before that the 1st word of the Geeta is Dharma..the last word of the Geeta is Mama and it often taken to mean that Geeta is all about Mama Dharma(My Dharma) and one needs to follow his/her Dharma..but actually if we give it a twist Mama Dharma can also be taken to mean 'Its my Dharma"..hence as you correctly said "I am the centre of the universe."
 
Sometimes I wonder why there is so much reluctance for us humans to admit that we are actually selfish creatures and everything we do is technically for our self satisfaction.

Take Stockholm's Syndrome for example. taken from Wikipedia
.Stockholm syndrome, or capture–bonding, is a psychological phenomenon in which hostages express empathy and sympathy and have positive feelings toward their captors, sometimes to the point of defending them.

Reasons for this is :
One commonly used hypothesis to explain the effect of Stockholm syndrome is based on Freudian theory. It suggests that the bonding is the individual’s response to trauma in becoming a victim. Identifying with the aggressor is one way that the ego defends itself. When a victim believes the same values as the aggressor, they cease to be a threat.[SUP][5][/SUP]


The key word here is "The Ego Defends Itself".

The human body is built in such a way that we need to be constantly happy and our body works in ways to make us get back to happy state after facing adversity or trauma.

So going by this it shows that the Ahamkara in us will go to any extent to even think Unreal is Real just to make us feel good.

Most of our human relationships are based on bonding and bonding develops over time and not at a drop of a hat.

Even for the most over rated love in the world....Mothers Love too needs a few hours post delivery for bonding to kick in.
20% of new mothers and fathers do not bond right away with their newborns and some take several days to weeks to develop a strong emotional attachment.

So going back to what I was saying.. Ahamkara defends itself in every way to be in control or in pseudo control..so there is nothing in the real sense we can do for another person if we are not going to derive any benefit from it.

One might proclaim he/she is selfless in his/her love..but technically speaking is this even possible?

As long as the Ahamkara rules...as Sangom ji rightly said "I am the centre of the Universe" is the Dharma of the world.
 
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The more something is closer to higher reality the more it can be only inherited. So physical things are the ones that can be most easily changed and the mental things less so and the spiritual things even less so. That is, it is possible to make oneself more beautiful more easily than in making one's thinking capabilities better. But the most difficult is for an inherently immoral person to become good.
 
The more something is closer to higher reality the more it can be only inherited.

Dear Sravna,

I beg to differ here..I feel life/lives teaches us to finally come to a diagnosis...well the accumulated "experience" over our past lives helps us reach the goal faster..at the end of the day..nothing is actually inherited..everything is learned.
 
Dear Sravna,
I beg to differ here..I feel life/lives teaches us to finally come to a diagnosis...well the accumulated "experience" over our past lives helps us reach the goal faster..at the end of the day..nothing is actually inherited..everything is learned.

Doctor,

Here is my troubled mind which fails to understand how could accumulated "experience" pass on to next birth (accepting there is one !). It may sound like the words of Chavaka who quotes " the Śruti for this [Brihad Arany. Up. ii. 4,1 2], “Springing forth from these elements, itself solid knowledge is destroyed when they are destroyed – after death no intelligence remains.” As I understand all our experiences are accumulated through the senses provided in our body. When the body perishes after death and disbursed to the natural elements, I wonder how could accumulated experience pass to next birth ? Our scriptures tell that the soul alone passes to the next birth. It is not rhetoric, but an honest doubt from my thoughts.

Regards,
 
Doctor,

Here is my troubled mind which fails to understand how could accumulated "experience" pass on to next birth (accepting there is one !). It may sound like the words of Chavaka who quotes " the Śruti for this [Brihad Arany. Up. ii. 4,1 2], “Springing forth from these elements, itself solid knowledge is destroyed when they are destroyed – after death no intelligence remains.” As I understand all our experiences are accumulated through the senses provided in our body. When the body perishes after death and disbursed to the natural elements, I wonder how could accumulated experience pass to next birth ? Our scriptures tell that the soul alone passes to the next birth. It is not rhetoric, but an honest doubt from my thoughts.

Regards,


Dear Sir,

According to religion its only the physical body that dies..the subtle body which houses the Antahkarana(inner instrument) remains.

Antahkarana consists of Manas,Buddhi,Chitta and Ahamkara.

Chitta is supposed to be a repository of memories like a micro chip that stores all data.

Well if you ask me evidence of this..I might not know how to prove this.

But to a certain extent as a child some of us might have experienced some behaviour or ability no one could explain..I feel may be to a certain extent that displays some overlap of past and present memories.

Like for example..as a child even before I learnt music..I could play tunes on my toy piano even though no one taught me anything or no one else in the house knew music..I just knew where to strike the keys to bring about a tune..its hard to explain how this happens.

Medically so far even under hypnosis for most normal inviduals memories date back to childhood where we remember what had happened only after full myelination of the neurons have taken place..so that date backs to early childhood and not before that.

So next a question arises..Does the Chitta have a Memory Barrier?

The Brain has a blood brain barrier that keeps away harmful substances from affecting it..so I wonder if the Chitta also has a barrier to keep the stored data of previous lives save cos an overlap of past and present could spell disaster!

BTW I always wondered if the 3 Granthis (Brahma Granthi,Vishnu Granthi,Rudra Granthi) in the body hold the secret to tapping into ones previous births memories after all many who do meditation do claim that once the Kundalini pierces these 3 Granthis one can tap into ones Chitta..God knows how far this is true or some guy wrote this when he was high on Weed!LOL
 
Doctor,

Here is my troubled mind which fails to understand how could accumulated "experience" pass on to next birth (accepting there is one !). It may sound like the words of Chavaka who quotes " the Śruti for this [Brihad Arany. Up. ii. 4,1 2], “Springing forth from these elements, itself solid knowledge is destroyed when they are destroyed – after death no intelligence remains.” As I understand all our experiences are accumulated through the senses provided in our body. When the body perishes after death and disbursed to the natural elements, I wonder how could accumulated experience pass to next birth ? Our scriptures tell that the soul alone passes to the next birth. It is not rhetoric, but an honest doubt from my thoughts.

Regards,

I will say that nobody should go purely and entirely on the basis of scriptures, for anything whatsoever. Use your thinking, intelligence also.

Forgetting about inner body, antaHkarana and all that blah, blah, let us see that each person (hopefully) accumulates some knowledge, some experiences and some pattern of thoughts when he/she dies. The sum total of his/her actions (which will include the mental & intellectual vyavahaaras also, besides bodily actions) kind of 'coagulates' to form the karma sareera or kaarmic body at the time of death; this karma sareera has in it, unrequited karmas which are to be experienced. It is this karma sareera which causes a new birth at the most opportune time and most suitable surroundings so that the new person so born will justly experience the good & bad results of the unrequited karmas which form the core part of the karma sarrera which motivates the new birth. The accumulated experience is also passed on as an integral part of this karmasareera and the new birth is thus actuated subconsciously, by the previous accumulated experiences as also accumulated unrequited karmas.

"soul" is a name invented to explain (somehow) the observed experience that even among siblings one can become a saint while another may become a sinner of the worst grade. In reality there is no such soul like aatma or jeevaatma etc.

Since each life accumulates fresh unrequited karmas during the lifetime, this continuity of human race is maintained. karma sareeras with very bad karma balances to be requited, get born into countries like Ethiopia, and other African and south-asian countries (including India) and karma sareeras with pretty good karma balances are born in better-off countries, but again, there they indulge in sensual and no-holds-barred kind of bohemian lifestyles, accumulate fresh unrequited karmas and the cycle repeats.

Truth of course lies covered/ hidden: satyasya apihitam mukham
 
Dear Sir,

According to religion its only the physical body that dies..the subtle body which houses the Antahkarana(inner instrument) remains.

Antahkarana consists of Manas,Buddhi,Chitta and Ahamkara.

Chitta is supposed to be a repository of memories like a micro chip that stores all data.

Well if you ask me evidence of this..I might not know how to prove this.

But to a certain extent as a child some of us might have experienced some behavior or ability no one could explain..I feel may be to a certain extent that displays some overlap of past and present memories.

Like for example..as a child even before I learnt music..I could play tunes on my toy piano even though no one taught me anything or no one else in the house knew music..I just knew where to strike the keys to bring about a tune..its hard to explain how this happens.

Medically so far even under hypnosis for most normal inviduals memories date back to childhood where we remember what had happened only after full myelination of the neurons have taken place..so that date backs to early childhood and not before that.

So next a question arises..Does the Chitta have a Memory Barrier?

The Brain has a blood brain barrier that keeps away harmful substances from affecting it..so I wonder if the Chitta also has a barrier to keep the stored data of previous lives save cos an overlap of past and present could spell disaster!

BTW I always wondered if the 3 Granthis (Brahma Granthi,Vishnu Granthi,Rudra Granthi) in the body hold the secret to tapping into ones previous births memories after all many who do meditation do claim that once the Kundalini pierces these 3 Granthis one can tap into ones Chitta..God knows how far this is true or some guy wrote this when he was high on Weed!LOL

Doctor,

Very happy to read your post. As a knowledge seeker I have two questions for every doubt arising in my mind. They are How and Why. "How" is physical which is solved by scholars who have researched and written valuable books on the subject at various levels. But "Why" is metaphysical which I have to search inside me for an answer. Because it is beyond the comprehension of the faculties that I posses. For instance Science tells how a child is conceived, but It does not know Why it is born to this set of rich or poor parents.

There the eye goes not, nor words, nor mind. We know not, we cannot understand, how he can be explained: He is above the known and he is above the unknown. Thus have we heard from the ancient sages who explained this truth to us. (Kena Upanishad).

Anthahkarnas, Manas (mind),Buddhi (intelligence),Chitta (thoughts) and Ahamkara (Ego) are not created by physical organs in the body. They are inter related responses. For example Mind is collection of thoughts stored in intelligence. It is my view,when we try to explain unexplainable, Anthahkaranas fail to respond.

About Kundalini Yoga, though I have read a few books on the subject by Arthur Avelon (like The Serpent Power – The Secrets of Tantric and Shaktic Yoga) on Kundalini Yoga, I did not understand the subject.

Most of my writings are my own thinking, which are open for corrections.

Regards,
Brahmanyan,
Bangalore.
 
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Atma and the karmic burden (mootai)! A small portion - prarabda karma, is spent now. Of course, this applies to believers, i.e. all practicing indic religions.

Our scriptures tell that the soul alone passes to the next birth. It is not rhetoric, but an honest doubt from my thoughts.

Regards,
 
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