Lectures of Dr. Vinayak Hari Date

Lecture

Dr. Date delivered 15 lectures in March 1980 with the title “Lamp-posts and the Lighthouses of Spiritual Life” under U.G.C. lectureship scheme, at Jodhpur University. These lectures deal with 24 philosophers from the east and 24 from the west. Dr. Date covered a vast ground highlighting the philosophy and the impact of the philosophers hence the title – Lamp-posts and Lighthouses.

The Other Aspects of the Saintly Life

I pointed out in my yesterday’s lecture as to how Karma, which is generally considered as different from the Jiva or the Kartă and as being jada in nature, becomes assimilated with the divine nature on account of its being not only an integral part in the moral and the spiritual progress of man but also on account of its being an instrument of executing the plans and the purposes of God. It becomes the work of God; and it is the saint who alone like Arjuna knows and does exactly as God would wish him to do. So, in my yesterday’s lecture, I have described at full length only one point of excellence of a real saint; or, I may say I tried to lead you along the windings of one of the seven currents of spiritual life which ultimately culminated in the main current of Jñana. As the time at my disposal is short, I shall remain content today by describing only a broad outline of the remaining six aspects of that saintly life. As all the seven aspects of the spiritual life are knit together very closely, or, to put it differently, as the seven currents mingle into each other, one gets necessarily the taste of them all simultaneously. That is why in discussing the nature of karma, yesterday, we inevitably discussed to some extent the nature of Niti, Bhakti, Jñāna and Dhyana. Today, I shall speak more of these four aspects first, and then briefly refer to Vairagya and K. 

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