What is Dharma?
The reason for me writing this article stems back to an incident which occurred a few months ago. A group of friends were using a room in my house to do some filming, and one of their younger cousins was there with them. Afterwards everybody got into a discussion about religion, and one of the comments which most people agreed on was that Hinduism is not a religion in the usual sense of the word, but a path to discover your dharma. However my friend’s cousin, who was a few years younger, commented “You keep talking about dharma, but what is dharma?†This was his first and only comment in the whole discussion.
December 27th, 2007 at 1:03 am
I LIKE THE DEFINITION OF DHARMA YOU HAVE GIVEN, HOWEVER WE NEED TO ADD THAT IT IS NOT EITHER RELIGION OR BHAKTI BUT INCLUSIVE OF BOTH TOGETHER WITH JNANA.
INTROSPECTION AND MEDITATION WILL ALWAYS ENHANCE THE PRACTICE OF DHARMA. THE END RESULT OF FOLLOWING DHARMA IS SELF CONSCIOUSNESS OR SELF AWARENESS.
THERES ALSO A NEED HERE TO DEFINE SANATAN DHARMA AT THE SAME TIME. SANATAN MEANS FROM NOTHING TO INFINITY: BASIC, BASED ON REASON AND REASONABLENESS AND APPLICABLE UNIFORMLY TO ALL.
THESE ATTRIBUTES AND DEFINITIONS ARE NOT SHARED BY RELIGIONS OF ANY KIND. RELIGIONS ARE MERELY BASED ON DOCTRINES, DOS AND DONTS WITH PENALTIES IMPOSED FOR NON COMPLIANCE.
BRAMH MISHRA
mishrab4r@aol.com
December 27th, 2007 at 11:35 am
The Dharma is defined by Sri Krishna in a way ( Bhagwat Gita Ch 16 Verses 1-3)
” Freedom from fear, purity of heart, constancy in sacred learning and contemplation, generosity, self-harmony, adoration, study of the scriptures, austerity, righteousness,
Non-violence, truth, freedom from anger, renunciation, serenity, aversion to fault finding, sympathy for all beings, peace from greedy cravings, gentleness, modesty, steadiness.
Energy, forgiveness, fortitude, purity, a good will, freedom from pride—
These are the treasures of the man who is born for heaven”
December 27th, 2007 at 5:27 pm
Well done, At least you have started to talsk about Dharma,
DHARMA is in a way Rules, similarly we follow rules at school, Law etc etc, Dharma is part of RULE, It guides you in life, Things you should do and not do,
Jai Ramapeer,
Mahendra Dabhi
December 29th, 2007 at 12:12 am
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma
December 30th, 2007 at 4:19 pm
Tell me do Hindus belive that God created sun and then rest of the world????
In easy way do indian Hindus belive in creation theory???
Like Muslims christians jews and sikhs.
January 8th, 2008 at 7:45 am
For Genghis Khan:
Yes, Hindus have a theory of Creation.
According to that in the beginning there was the Brahman, from his consciousness all universes and all creatures of those various universes emerged. Brahman is the beginning and the end of everything, the one source of all, the Supreme One Creator of all.
It is written in the Rig Veda ( Book X, Hymn CXXIX):
” Then was not non-existence nor existent, no realm of air, no sky beyond it.
That ONE breathless, breathed by its own nature, apart from it nothing whatsoever.
By the great power of Tapasya( meditation) of the ONE, was born that UNIT.
Thereafter rose LOVE, the primal seed and germ of Spirit.”
[ UNIT is consciousness or Purush; LOVE is the matter or Prakiti;combination of Purush and Prakiti or Consciousness and Matter creates everything. ONE is Brahman, the Supreme Creator]
Also in Bhagwat Gita it is written:
( Chapter 10, Verse
” I am the ONE source of all; evolution of all comes from me”
( Chapter 7, Verse 3-4) ” Brahman is the Supreme, the Eternal. …Matter is the kingdom of the universes but the Spirit is the kingdom of light”
January 8th, 2008 at 8:01 am
And again in Bhagwat Gita:
(Chapter 7, Verses 4-5)
” The visible forms of my nature are eight: earth, water, fire, air, either, the mind, reason and the sense of I”
” But beyond my visible nature is my invisible Sprit. This is the fountain of life whereby these universe have their beings”
January 25th, 2008 at 12:26 pm
I love the way you commen on words. It shows your are willing. There is no Dharma! Dharma is an attempt to express inner emotional connection to the whole. There is no separation; there is no connection; we simply are. Words are our vessels to contain and send what is in the seed.
I observed a swirl in the flowing water of a river the other day. The swirl lived for a moment. It conected with the flow, and moved through its own dance. But, it was not its own! It was playing its part in the connections. But, it was not playing its part. It had no self direction! There was no internal guide. It simply was.
I saw a seed planted the other year. The soil had no direction; it simply was. The seed spread down and up; it had volition. The sun shone upon the seed now leaf. The sun had no self; it simply was. The rain poured down upon the soil. The rain had no self; it simply was.
The seed connected with the three no-selves that simply were. The seed now plant absorbed the lifeless. The seed was not life. The plant was simply lifelessness in motion; a result of something within expressing what has not been said or thought; it simply was.
The seed can move only within the limits of its stems. It cannot go to another place. Nor could it wish to. It simply is. Though it simply isn’t. There is no nothing for there is a result.
A bee came one summer, and visited the seed now flower. The bee simply was; but expanded was his effect. Move by choice could he. But not to another place. His place was only here. The hive and flower propel him.
A woman came and plucked the flower, and ate the flower, and ate the honey of the bee. All this nothing was something. Only the taste, and scent, and feel was under the wishes of one. Only the one was able to flow in the river. Expression and growth are not within, nor without. They simply are. Only the one can go or not.
Be not a seed. Seed the bee!
This is Dharma.
All my love and nectar,
Neil
March 14th, 2008 at 10:17 am
The best descriptions of Dharma in English is basically “the Sacred.” Dharma in Hinduism just means “Sacredness.”
Dharma can also mean: Holiness, Sanctity, Purity, Of great Importance, Beneficial & Essential. Dharma is what gives life its greatest meaning & without it we wouldn’t find our true worth. Our lives or the world itself would fall apart without Dharma.
*Four places you can find “the Sacred” or Dharma is:
1) Nature
2) Knowledge(technology, arts, culture, traditions, math, ect…)
3) Morality & Social Justice
4) Religiousness
Though many people have given some good details above. Many of us still don’t understand the place of dharma in Hinduism. There will always be so much more that is going to left out, because many times we only reached the surface of something that’s so extremely vast. Because dharma includes all of that we call reality. We can spent a whole lifetime and still not able to Express completely the nature of Dharma.
How can we ever describe, what the true meaning of “Sacredness” is?
March 15th, 2008 at 3:06 am
There is few things I want to bring up.
1) There is an equally important concept of “RTA,” and some people always confuse this Vedic RTA with DHRAMA. The primordial and sublime RTA is not Dharma(Sacredness). The closest parallel to RTA is the Chinese concept of “Dao or Tao.” But RTA is still not DHRAMA.
The term RTA means: Order, Harmony, The Way, and the
Course of all things. RTA is the Universal stability and the author of all Complexity. RTA is the force behind everyone, everything, the Universe & all creation. RTA is the force behind even Dharma itself.
2) If Dharma is: Holiness, Sacredness, Sanctification, Important, Beneficial, Noble & Essential.
Then Adharma is: Defilement, Hindrance, Corruption, Obscuration or poison.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:52 am
Whenever I try to understand and get to the meaning of Dharma, as a Hindu I am compelled to accept creation as ‘Brahama Tatwa’, Brahama’s principle. Neil came very close to it by accepting ‘certain things are just there’. I think if every human understands and accepts ‘Brahama Tatwa’ human life will be lot bearable, without conflict, meaningful and ecofriendly. Creation is Brahama Tatwa and Brahama Tatwa is creation. In this Sun is an energy and will always shine, planets will go around the Sun, Earth will go around itself, rain will always fall, what goes up will fall back on Earth, continuity of species will be maintained by procreation by males and females in every species, food will always be there for the survival of the species, etc, etc. Many have referred to this Tatwa as nature without realising it as presence of Brahama. This realisation is very essential to develop respect for the mountains, the rivers, trees, and the soil, air we breath, respect for animal kingdom and other humans. I am convinced very understanding of this ‘Brahama Tatwa’ will prevent killings especially other humans, homosexuality, greed, possessiveness, stealing, child abuse, binge drinking, anger, etc, etc.
Hindus are not aware how fortunate they are, they have been given such rich, spiritual and meaningful philosophy of life by their religion. And it is not dictated.