धर्मः तस्माद्धर्मात् परं नास्त्य् अथो अबलीयान् बलीयाँसमाशँसते धर्मेण यथा राज्ञैवम् ।
यो वै स धर्मः सत्यं वै तत् तस्मात्सत्यं वदन्तमाहुर् धर्मं वदतीति धर्मं वा वदन्तँ सत्यं वदतीत्य् एतद्ध्येवैतदुभयं भवति ।।
Nothing is higher than dharma. The weak overcomes the stronger by dharma, as over a king. Truly that dharma is the Truth (Satya); Therefore, when a man speaks the Truth, they say, "He speaks the Dharma"; and if he speaks Dharma, they say, "He speaks the Truth!" For both are one.
— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.xiv
In order to thoroughly understand an
object or subject, one must understand the essence of it. That essence, or the
inner inseparable quality of a thing, is what in Sanskrit is called Dharma. The
term dharma is derived from the Sanskrit root verb dhr, meaning
'to uphold or sustain'.
Dharma,
according to Van Buitenen, is that which all existing beings must accept and
respect to sustain harmony and order in the world. It is neither the act nor
the result, but the natural laws that guide the act and create the result to
prevent chaos in the world.
Dharma is a concept of central
importance in Indian religions and an important concept found in many spiritual
philosophies from the Indian subcontinent, including Hinduism, Buddhism,
Jainism and Sikhism.
In the
sense of the Buddha's teachings, the Dharma makes up one of the Three Jewels in which
practitioners of Buddhism take refuge. The three jewels are:
·
the Buddha (can
also be understood as buddhahood, i.e. enlightenment),
·
the Dharma (teachings and methods), and
·
the Sangha (the
community of committed practitioners of the buddhadharma).
It reminds us to honor, study, and preserve those sacred spiritual teachings that
help to inspire deep insight. Dharma most frequently refers to the Buddha’s
teachings on liberation.
In Jainism,
non-harming is considered the true religion because all life contains a
soul. Therefore, the “path of dharma” includes precepts that align with
the highest ethos of causing no harm to any living thing, large or small. It
encourages us to reflect on non-violence as a necessary condition for the true
spiritual path. Lord Mahavira said you should not say or do anything
to others that you would not like to have done to you. Everybody in this world
wants to be happy. No one likes to be hurt.
The meaning of the word dharma depends on the context, and its meaning
has evolved as ideas of Hinduism have developed through history. In certain
contexts, dharma designates human behaviours and actions necessary to all life
in nature, society, family, and at the individual level.
It is a key concept in Hinduism and refers to the four proper goals or aims of a human
life but which are neither independent nor exclusionary, according to Hinduism :
1)
Dharma - enables the
individual to satisfy the striving for stability and order, a life that is
lawful and harmonious, the striving to do the right thing, be good, be helpful
to others, and society.
2) Artha – the
striving for means of life such as food, shelter, power, security, material
wealth,etc.
3)
Kama – the striving for sex, desire, pleasure, love, emotional fulfillment,
and
4) Moksha – the
striving for spiritual meaning, liberation from the life-rebirth cycle,
self-realization in this life, and so forth.
Dharma has to be focussed on self by man rather than bringing this to
others, through kind words, through affection and support and benefit for
others. It provides guidelines in all social actions. It is not a creed or
religion but a mode of life or a code of conduct that influences the
activities of a man as an individual or a member of society and is intended to
help him reach the ultimate goal of human existence. “Therefore, Dharma implies
those rules according to which a man must behave as a member of society.”–R V
Kane.
Mahatma Gandhi felt that Dharma should be understood in more spiritual
terms. He interpreted Dharma as a concept of central importance in Indian
philosophy and religion.
One might then ask what is the dharma of a living entity. Or what is the
meaning of the soul’s existence? What is it that makes a living entity, and what is it that cannot be separated from it? The answer the Vedas give us is service.
Service or to serve is the inherent quality that cannot be taken away from the
soul.
We can break Dharma into three parts:
1.
Duty
2.
Righteousness
3.
Universal Truth
Dharma is a difficult term to translate into English, but can roughly be translated as the rightful duty of a person and the purpose for which he was born, for example, a person's dharma is to be a doctor, warrior, priest, parent, etc. Dharma is universal but it is not the same for everyone, different people have different obligations and duties according to their age, gender and social position.
In Hinduism, it is the dharma of the bee to make honey, of the cow to give
milk, of the sun to radiate sunshine, of the river to flow. In terms of humanity,
dharma is the need for the effect of and essence of service and
interconnectedness of all life.
Dharma is the duty that arises from your birth,
profession, gender, or caste affiliation. A person’s dharma
may be different at different stages of life. What is dharma for a child may
not be dharma for adults, or what is dharma for a man may be different for a
woman. For example, the dharma of a student is to study, the father has to take care
of the family financially and emotionally; the mother has to perform her Dharma as
one who has to look after the needs of her children, husband, and elders. Each
person has his own his or her Dharma, this is known as SVADHARMA.
Arjun: “Hey Madhav (another name for Krishna), why should I fight the
battle? All those standing opposite to me are my relatives and gurus. Is
killing one’s relatives and teachers not wrong?”
Lord Krishna replies: “Dear Parth (another name of Arjun), this
particular battle is your Dharma (righteousness) and you must fight it as your duty( Dharma)
as a warrior. Your SVA DHARMA is to fight the battle because you are a warrior,
but you must fight with detachment from the results of your actions and within
the rules of warrior dharma. Parth, not to act according to one’s dharma is
wrong and called ADHARMA.” Adharma or unlawful
actions means actions that are performed with selfish intent to enjoy the fruit
of such action.
It is said that while Hinduism has been
called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their
religion as ‘Sanatana Dharma’
which is overall abiding principles of dharma and which are not changeable. Sanatana Dharma in Hinduism is
a term used to denote the “eternal” or absolute set of duties or religiously
ordained practices incumbent upon all Hindus, regardless of class, caste, or
sect. Such duties are enshrined in the religion in the form of the Vedas.
Hinduism, which is derived from the Vedas, is known as Sanatana Dharma or
Eternal Duty.” It is said to be the eternal truth and defines
that all souls whether humans, birds, or animals are equal and the same, but they
are born to different yonis (forms) because of their past Karmas in
the last several births.
At the individual
level, some texts of Hinduism outline four ashrams or stages of life as
individual's dharma. These are:
(1) Brahmcharya Ashram: the life of
preparation as a student. A boy enters this ashram for education at his
teacher’s place(Gurukul). He is taught to balance his development and
personality with strict disciplined life. In this way, the life of a Brahmachari
is a life of discipline. This ashram is completed by the time a man completes
25 years of age.
(2) Gṛahastha Ashram: This ashram
comes after student life is completed. Here he gets married and is called a Grahsthi or the life of the
householder with family and other social obligations. Apart from this, he is
supposed to offer food to animals, birds, insects, saints and persons belonging
to the lower rungs. People belonging to the other 3 ashrams depend upon the
Grahasthi. The age at which the person enters the Grahstha Ashram is about 25
years.
(3) Vanaprastha Ashram : Here a person
has to leave his family and home too. He is expected to handover all his
household responsibilities to his grown-up children and goes to the forest, He
must do penance to purify his body and soul and devote himself to meditation. The
entry age in this ashram is around 50 years. It is said that if a person dies
during Vanprastha ashram, he will attain Moksha.
Although he has to
live in a forest and control his senses of enjoyment, his wife is allowed to live
with him for the sake of humanity. His obligation of a householder comes to an
end.
(4) Sanyasa Ashram: In this last ashram of
life, the person enters at 75 years. He breaks all attachments with
the world by giving away all property and the world takes on a saffron robe and in
some sects go naked with a bowl and stick and devote their entire time on
meditation to reorganize the subtle nature of the supreme soul to seek Moksha.
The four stages of
life complete the four human strivings in life, according to Hinduism.
So
friends we can say the actions of an individual may alter the course of the
society, for better or worse . The following words echo this “ धर्मो धारयति प्रजा: meaning dharma
is that which holds and provides support to the social construct.”
However, Dharma is universal and eternal. Dharma is not Buddhist,
Christian, Hindu, Jain, Jewish, Muslim, etc. These are all different religions
or sects. Although Dharma as a subject is very vast, I have tried to put together a few points for the benefit of my dear readers.
Personal research and With Inputs & Pics from Google
With no disrespect towards any religion
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Great writing ..
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