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I was happy when I got to know that the Chinmaya Mission have come out with publication titled esp. since most people do not understand the meaning of Dharma. Some associate it with religion while others use it out of context for e.g. a Supreme Court judge criticized a particular minister for ignoring Raja Dharma. Since India is governed on the Westminster model that the British gave us and not on the basis of Dharma such criticism holds no water.
This piece contains three essays Swami Chinmayanandji, Swami Tejomayananda and Swamini Vimalananda. Before we move to the chapters this is what some learned people had to say about Dharma –
1. President Kalam said at the Global Dharma Conference, July 27,2003 - Excerpts: “Dharma or Righteousness - Recently, I heard a hymn in the divine campus which I would like to share with you. The name of the hymn is 'Peace in the World':
Where there is righteousness in the heart
There is a beauty in the character.
When there is beauty in the character,
there is harmony in the home.
When there is harmony in the home.
There is a order in the nation.
When there is order in the nation,
There is peace in the world.
Friends, we can see a beautiful connectivity between heart,
character, nation and the world. How to inject righteousness in the
human heart? This is indeed the purpose of human creation - that is
divinity”.
2. Mahabharata Shantiparva – 6-7-8 “ Truthfulness, to be free from anger, sharing wealth with others, (samvibhaga) forgiveness, procreation of children from one’s own wife only, purity, absence of enmity, straight forwardness & maintaining persons dependent on oneself are the nine rules of the Dharma of persons belonging to all the varnas”.
3. Manusmriti, Manu X-63 “Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya (truthfulness), Asteya (not acquiring illegitimate wealth), Shoucham (purity), and Indriyanigraha (control of senses) are, in brief, the common Dharma for all the varnas”.
4. Swami Rama i.e. explanation to verse 31 and 32 of chapter 2 of the Gita “ Sri Krishna explains to Arjuna that one’s duty is of paramount importance, for it is the means to fulfill the purpose of life. That which supports the fulfillment of one’s duty is called Dharma. Dharma is not comparable to religion; it encompasses all the dimensions of life both within and without. It refers to duties done harmoniously, skillfully, selflessly and lovingly. It supports one in fulfilling the purpose of life and helps one to relate to others and to society in a harmonious way”.
5. Swami Dayanand Saraswati “That which inculcates justice and equity, which teaches truthfulness in thought, speech and deed – in a word, that which is in conformity with the Will of God, as embodied in the Vedas, even that I call Dharma. But that which is intermixed with what is partial, which sanctions injustice, which teaches untruthfulness of thought, speech or deed – in brief that which is in antagonism to the Will of God, as embodied in the Vedas, that I term Adharma”.
6. Munisri Nyayavijayaji from the book Jaina Darsana translated into English as Jaina Philosophy & Dharma by Shri Nagin Shah “This verse states that which saves living beings from falling into lower condition is Dharma. Again, it says that which lifts their life from the lower state to the higher one is Dharma. Dharma is the natural quality of the soul, which is experienced by all. On account of the removal of the traces of the past evil acts, the passions of attachment and aversion become mild, and consequently mental purity is attained, this purity is the real dharma. This is the luster of life. Compassion, friendliness, doing good to others, truthfulness, self-control, renunciation – all these good qualities constitute the auspicious light of the internal pure life. Life permeated with such light is called Dharmic life”. Interestingly Shri Shah who translated the Gujarati version into English has used the word Religion in place of Dharma although the Sanskrit verses use the word Dharma.
7. Swami Tattwamayananda of the Ramakrishna Order “Dharma has two broad divisions, namely pravrtti and nivrtti dharma. Pravrtti dharma is dealt with in the sacrificial portion (karma kanda) of the Vedas and is a pursuit of life, which enables the individual to live a happy life in this world while performing actions, and caring for duties and responsibilities in his domestic, social and national life. Nivrtti dharma, dealt with in the Upanisadic portion of the Vedic literature, is a pursuit to make us understand the unity of the Spirit, which transcends the conventions of laws of social and domestic life. Pravrtti dharma is divided into two, special (visesa) dharma and ordinary (samanya) dharma. Special dharma denotes the performance of duties by people relevant to their particular position in life, whereas general dharma includes the virtues of character and good conduct such as non-injury, truthfulness, non-stealing, charity, cleanliness, compassion, simplicity, absence of greed etc”.
8. Sri Aurobindo on Dharma vs. Democracy “It has been said that democracy is based on the rights of man; it has been replied that it should rather take its stand on the duties of man; but both rights and duties are European ideas. Dharma is the Indian conception in which rights and duties lose the artificial antagonism created by a view of the world, which makes selfishness the root of action, and regain their deep and eternal unity. Dharma is the basis of democracy which Asia must recognize, for in this lies the distinction between the soul of Asia and the soul of Europe”.
Swami Chinmayananda
The word “religion” means a system of faith and worship. In the West, with respect to Christianity, what is commonly meant by religion is the belief in the tenets of a Church and the performance of certain rituals prescribed by the Church.
The Hindu calls his religions his dharma. The word ‘dharma’ has a deeper and wider meaning than the word ‘religion’ as is used and understood by the Westerner. The word ‘dharma’ is from the Sanskrit root ‘dhr’ which means. ‘to hold’ or ‘to support’. Therefore, ‘dharma’ stands for that which holds up (or supports) the existence of a thing. Everything in this universe has its own dharma because it must rely on something for its existence. The question naturally follows- what is it on which the existence of a thing depends? It is the essential nature of a thing without which it cannot exist. The essential nature of a thing is therefore called its dharma. (e.g. water flows. Fluidity is its dharma).
Man also has an essential nature that upholds his existence as distinct from the rest of creation. This is the dharma of man. Naturally, one will ask, “What is this essential nature or dharma of man?” The Hindus strongly and emphatically uphold that it is the power of ‘becoming’ divine that distinguishes man from all other beings. It is easy to see that you are stunned by this statement and your natural question to this starling and, to the believers of certain religions, hysterical and blasphemous statement is, “How can man become divine? How is it possible?”
My next equally startling and more hysterical and blasphemous reply is, “Because Divinity is already within him!” This confident statement is about to startle, disgust or frighten many of you. But why should it? It is the Truth. And this Truth has been clearly stated in the scriptures of all religions.
Dharma essentially means the ‘law of being’. That because of which a thing continues to be the things, without which the thing cannot continue to be the thing, is its dharma. Heat, because of which fire maintains itself as fire, without which fire can no more be fire, is the dharma of fire. We are yet to come across cold fire! Sweetness is the dharma of sugar; sweet-less sugar is a myth.
Every object in the world has two types of properties-the essential and the non-essential. A substance can exist even when its ‘non-essential’ qualities are absent, but not without its ‘essential’ property. The color, length and which of the tongues of flame, are non-essential properties of fire, but the essential property is heat. This essential property of a substance is called its dharma.
Again let us ask, “What is the dharma of man?” The color of the skin, the innumerable endless varieties of emotions and thoughts-in short the nature, the conditions and the capacities of the body, mind and intellect-are the non-essential factors in the human personality when they are compared with the touch of life, the Divine Consciousness, expressed through them all. Without the Atman-the Self, man cannot exist. Consciousness is the basis of existence. Therefore, the dharma of man is the divine spark of existence, the Infinite Lord.
With the understanding of the term dharma, we shall appreciate how, from the mere ethical and moral rules of conduct, all duties in life are considered as dharma in our Scriptures. Our duties towards relative’s friends, the community, nation and the world, obligations to our environment, our affections, reverence, charity, and sense of goodwill are dharma. In and through such actions-physical, mental and intellectual, man can bring forth the expression of his true dharma-his divine status as the all-pervading Self. To live truly as the Atman, and to express its infinite perfection through all our actions and in all our contacts with the world outside, we will have to rediscover our true dharma.
The Self is realized only when we have withdrawn our false identification with the body, mind and intellect. Due to a clinging attachment to these vehicles, we are today expressing in our existence the dharma of these matter-made vehicles. We live as though we are the body or we exist dancing to the tunes that are struck by the emotions in us, or we get ourselves kicked and played about here and there by our own intellects, unpredictable suggestions. Though man’s ‘essential’ dharma is to be the infinite, divine, all-blissful Atman, he behaves as though he is a mere composite of the physical, psychological and intellectual being. All sorrows and agitations, regrets and disappointments, passions and pains are dividends paid by the body, mind and intellect to the false and the deluded identifier-the ego. The Geeta urges us to renounce the non-essential dharma (the ego) and own our essential nature.
The word dharma in Sanskrit is the most elusive word for translation into English. It is used generally in more than one definite meaning. Terms like righteousness, good conduct, duty, noble quality etc. are some of them.
That which determines one man’s personality as distinctly different from another’s is the texture of the thoughts entertained by him. This texture of his thoughts is in turn determined by the patterns of thinking (vasanas), which his mind has gained from its own past. These pre-determined ‘channels-of-thinking’ (vasanas) created by one’s own earlier ways of thinking can also be termed our dharma.
To act according to one’s own taste, inborn and natural (svadharma), is the only known method of living in peace and joy, in success and satisfaction. To act against the grain of one’s own vasanas or to act according to another’s vasanas would be termed para-dharma, and it is well known that this is fraught with danger.
For instance, Arjuna of Mahabharata fame is born a prince trained in the art of war and has exhibited in his life his insatiable thirst for heroism and adventure. Naturally, his swadharma is that of a prince and that can find fulfillment only in adventurous actions and endless exertions. For him a life of renunciation and meditation would be para-dharma.
To live according to one’s swadharma and exhaust one’s vasanas is the way to reach our Divine Nature. That is our supreme duty (parama dharma).
