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rules are temporary and others are valid for longer periods. There
are some rules regulating our conduct at this meeting. One of the
rules is that I speak and you listen with attention. If an
contravention of this rule, you start conversing with one another or
addressing the gathering at the same time, than there will be
disorder; our work will not progress: the meeting will not be
sustained. It can be said that you have not observed your Dharma.
Thus it is our Dharma that we observed your Dharma. Thus it is our
Dharma that we observed the rules by winch the meeting proceeds
smoothly. But this rule is applicable only as long as this meeting
lasts. If after the meeting is over, even when you reach home, you
continue to observe this rule and do not speak, a different problem
will arise. Your family might have to call in a doctor. At home, the
rules suitable there will have to be observed. The complete treatise
on the rules in general, and their philosophical basis is the
meaning of Dharma. These rules cannot be arbitrary. They should be
such as to sustain and further existence and progress of the entity
which they serve. At the same time they should be in agreement with
and supplementary to the larger framework of Dharma of which they
form a part. For instance. when we form a registered society, we
have the right to frame the rules and regulations, but these cannot
be contradictory to the constitution of the society. The
constitution itself cannot violate the Societies Registration Act.
The act has to be within the provision of the constitution of the
country. In other words, the constitution of the country is a
fundamental document which governs the formulation of all acts in
the country. In Germany the constitution is known as the "Basic
Law".
Is the constitution too, not subject
to some principles of more fundamental nature? Or is it a product of
any arbitrary decisions of the constituent assembly? On serious
consideration, it will be clear that even the constitution has to
follow certain basic principles of Nature. Constitution is for
sustaining the nation. If instead it is instrumental in its
deterioration, then it must be pronounced improper. It must be
amended. The amendment is also not solely dependent on majority
opinion. Now-a-days the majority is much talked of. Is the majority
capable of doing anything and everything? Is the action of the
majority always just and proper? No. In the West, the king used to
be the sovereign. There after when royalty was deprived of its
so-called divine rights, sovereignty was proclaimed to be with the
people. Here in Our country neither the kings, nor the people, nor
the parliament have had absolute sovereignty. Parliament cannot
legislate arbitrarily.
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