Dharma

What is Dharma?

Dharma as understood in Hinduism is ‘not a one size fits all’ definition. Yes! There are dos and don’ts; but Dharma is also context driven. The Hindu scriptures give guidance of the Dharma of a person under two broad categories – Sāmānya Dharma (Ordinary Dharma) and Viśeṣa Dharma (Specific Dharma). A brief understanding of these two aspects of dharma is presented below.

Sāmānya Dharma

The Sāmānya Dharma or Ordinary Dharma is described in the Manu Dharma Śāstra as follows -

Resoluteness, Forgiveness, Control of Sense Organs, Non-stealing, Purity, Control of Mind, Wisdom, Knowledge, Truthful, and Serenity are 10 Characteristics of Sāmānya Dharma or Ordinary Dharma. These 10 aspects of dharma are briefly described below.

Dhṛti is severally translated as bravery, resoluteness or enthusiasm; it can also be understood as a combination of all the three characterized by a person completing a task even under the most challenging circumstances. Āchrya Śaṅkara defines a technical definition of Dhṛti in the commentary on Bhagavad Gīta as follows – That mental demeanor in a person by which he lifts up his body to engage in action is called Dhṛti – a very practical understanding of Dhṛti.

Kṣamā Is generally described as forgiveness. In the spiritual context, Kṣamā is described as the ability to maintain a mind free of modifications even under the most physical or emotional violent treatment of him. Forgiveness becomes the effect of a cause described by an un-disturbed mind.

Asteya is generally understood as not stealing or not taking other peoples’ property without consent or authorization. Stealing in the broadest sense can also be interpreted as taking more from an individual or system than contribution to an individual or system. When applied to environment, taking less from Nature than giving into it is observed as Asteya.

Dama is the withdrawal of sense organs from sense objects. The indulgence of sense organs in sense objects indiscriminately drives the person towards hoarding, which ultimately leads towards Greed – Opposite of Asteya. One may recall here a statement from Mahatma Gandhi – “There is enough food in the world to satisfy the need of every individual on the planet, but there is not enough food to satisfy the want of even one person.” Food is a sense object associated with the sense organ of the tongue. If one scales this to the five sense organs, it is easy to see how absence of Dama leads to greed and anger; greed leads to hoarding, and violating Asteya.

Śauca is described at two levels; at the external level, maintaining the physical body by appropriate washing of the body. Internally, Śauca is maintaining purity of thoughts in the mind; the purity of thoughts is characterized by maintaining the mind free of attachment, desire, greed and anger. These can be attained by limiting the attachment to sense objects and recognizing that sense pleasures are transient; maintaining this purity of thought calls for freedom from violence and malice (which are products of attachment to sense objects and sense pleasures). Attachment to sense objects makes the mind to be afflicted by such weaknesses as desire, anger, greed, delusion, arrogance and jealousy. These are the knots in the mind. A pure mind is free of all such knots.

Indriya nigraha is controlling the mind; the mind generally has the tendency to follow the sense organs; holding the mind in the task being discharged is one aspect of Indriya nigraha; at another level, the mind has the capability to restrain the sense organs going after the sense objects; exercising this capability is also described by Indriya nigraha.

Dhī is intellect and/or wisdom – the ability of the mind to discriminate between right and wrong. Dhī depends on the knowledge of the scriptures - to interpret and discriminate between right and wrong.

Vidyā is knowledge; knowledge of the scriptures helps the individual to exercise the intellect to navigate life in accordance with the teachings of scriptures.

Satyam is truthfulness; being truthful of the words spoken and acting in accordance with spoken words are two sides of Satya – satya vacana and vacana satya.

Akrodha is restraining anger even when the person experiences physical or psychological violence inflicted on him.

These aspects of Dharma, described as Ordinary Dharma are not necessarily just Hindu values, but have a universal appeal to all rational minded human beings. All religions promote these aspects of Ordinary Dharma and many people from all religions do possess these aspects of Ordinary Dharma in varying measures. However, Hinduism alone provides a systematic path for the enhancement of these aspects of dharma – these attitudes of Dharma don’t just spring up in a person from nowhere. Just like one needs to exert effort to develop skills even in secular living, strengthening these values of Ordinary Dharma also needs extra effort in every human being. Hinduism alone provides a path for enhancing these values in prescribing additional layers of dharma, called Viśeṣa Dharma – Specific Dharma (it is to be noted that no other religion provides a path for strengthening these aspects of Basic Dharma). In following these prescribed Specific Dharma, the Hindu, living a disciplined life, has an opportunity and means to enhance the Sāmānya Dharma or Ordinary Dharma.

Viśeṣa Dharma

The Viśeṣa Dharma prescribes many actions and prohibits certain other actions that promote the development of these disciplined attitudes of the Ordinary Dharma. Several layers of Specific Dharma are classified into

Varṇa Dharma (the dharma to be followed in the four Varṇas of birth - Brāhmaṇa, Kṣatriya, Vaiśya and Śūdra),

Āśrama Dharma (the dharma to be followed by the stage of life – Brahmacāri - Bachelor, Gṛhastha Dharma - Family centric person, Vānaprastha Dharma - Retired person, and the Saṁnyāsi Dharma – Renounced person).

Rāja Dharma (the dharma to be followed by kings / Ruling class)

Strī Dharma (the dharma to be followed by women), etc.

Some aspects of Viśeṣa Dharma are included in the following description on ABCs of Hinduism.

Om Sri Gurubhyo Namah

A, B, C…..s in Hinduism

(Compilation: Krishnamurthy Ramakrishna)

Ahimsā – Ahimsa is non-violence. It is the harmlessness or abstaining from killing or giving pain to others in thought, word or deed. Sometimes causing pain by word may be more harmful to the victim of violence than pain by deed. Pain by deed to physical body is generally removable through bodily treatment. But pain by speech may leave a permanent emotional scar, causing great harm to the victim of violence. “Ahimsā paramo dharmaḥ – Nonviolence is the Highest Dharma” is an proclamation meant to guide the individual in the conduct of his or her life. Mahātma Gandhi is the most recognized leader of the world guided by his conviction in Ahimsa. The ‘Nonviolence is the Highest Dharma’ presupposes the presence of God in every being – human, animal or objects – and limiting the interaction so that minimum violence is inflicted (it is not possible to be totally non-violent – even breathing causes violence to some microbes) in human transactions.

Bhagavān – The Supreme God in Hinduism is called Bhagavān. Bhagavān is a possessor of Bhaga (like one who has dhana or money is dhanavan in Sanskrit). Bhaga is a collection of six auspicious qualities – Aiśvarya or lordship, Dharma or following the scriptures in action, Yashas or fame, Śri or wealth, Vairagya or dispassion and Mokṣa or freedom from bondage. Aiśvarya describes total sovereignty over the entire universe. As an author of Dharma, Bhagavān is embodiment of Dharma, manifested in the life of śri Rama – Ramo vigrahavān Dharmaḥ is the reference in VālmIki Rāmāyaṇa. His fame extends to all the three lands …. The wealth includes both material wealth and spiritual wealth …. Having all the material wealth, fame and sovereignty, he is detached from all these; because he is dispassionate about everything in this universe, he has achieved mokṣa or liberation. One who possesses all these six qualities is Bhagavān.

[A collection of slightly different qualities – Jñāna or omniscience, Bala or Omnipotence, aiśvarya or lordship, śakti or creative power, vīrya or immutability and tejas or splendour – is also recognized as Bhaga].

Caitanya – Caitanya is the supreme Consciousness. The Upanishads call this caitanya as Brahman and / or Ātma. There are only two kinds of entities in the universe – Caitanya and Jaḍa. Jaḍa means inert and does not have voluntary decision making ability with in it. Only when the Jaḍa is in close proximity with Caitanya or Consciousness, does the Jaḍa acquire the sentiency to make voluntary decisions, like the intellect, which is inert, acquires sentiency through its proximity to Consciousness. The Caitanya is also called puruṣha and Jaḍa is called Prakṛti (Nature). All living entities derive their sentiency in association with this Consciousness.

Dāna – Dana is a formal offering of gift to a worthy person. It is one of the meritorious acts a family centric person (gṛhastha) can engage in, in his pursuit of puṇya or religious virtues. Dāna is on par with Yajña (sacrifice) and Tapas (austerity) in the pursuit of acquiring puṇya. In the Vedic times dāna was given to priests as dakṣiṇa – the fee for officiating Vedic sacrifices. Religious events are recognized as the most auspicious and efficacious time to give dāna. Gold, cow, land and cash are all worthy currencies of giving dāna.

Ekadaṁṣṭra or Ekadanta – Both these terms refer to Vināyaka or Gaṇapati. There are stories describing the origin of these names to Gaṇapati – (1) One day when Ṣiva and Pārvati were in the inner quarters, Gaṇapati stopped Paraśurāma from seeking a visit to see the divine couple; then Paraśurāma threw his axe on Gaṇapati and the axe broke one of the two tusks of Gaṇapati and since that day, Gaṇapati lived with one tusk and hence Ekadaṁṣṭra, eka being one in Sanskrit. (2) A second story describes that one day when Gaṇapati was riding his vehicle – mouse – he had an accident and fell. When Candra (Moon) laughed at Gaṇapati meeting the accident, Gaṇapati broke one of his tusks and hit Candra with that tusk. Since that day Gaṇapati is known as EkadaMṣTra. (3) Yet, there is a third story, which describes that when Vedavyāsa asked Gaṇapati to be the scribe of his epic composition Mahābhārata, Gaṇapati broke one of his tusks to be used as the writing instrument and is therefore called Ekadanta.

Gīta, Gangā, Gāyatri, Gou, and Govinda are the five sacred G’s in the Hindu religion. Gita is the teaching of Lord Kṛṣṇa to Arjuna on the battle field of Kurukṣetra, and through him to the entire mankind for ever to come. The teaching is about dispassionate living for pursuing the ultimate goal of human life – mokṣa or liberation from transmigration. Gangā is the river in Vāraṇāsi, originating in Vaikunṭha (abode of Viṣṇu), flowing through his feet, and the head/ear of Śiva as it enters the earth. Gāyatri is a Vedic prayer, offered by sage Viswāmitra, out of compassion to help the mankind. Gou is cow. Cow is very sacred in Hindu religion. Cow provides milk/milk products, an essential diet for human beings. Cows were the measure of wealth, before currency was introduced. The most sacred cow – Kāmadhenu – in sage Vasiṣṭha’s hermitage, would offer anything desired. Govinda is another name for Viṣṇu. He was called by Indra as Govinda following Kṛṣṇa lifting the Govardhan Mountain to protect the people of Vraj; interestingly, the English word God also begins with the sound ‘ G’.

Hiraṇyagarbha – Hiraṇyagarbha literally translates to Golden womb or Golden egg. It derives this name, because it is a stage in the process of creation. At the time of death, the subtle body leaves the gross body. In the ordinary course of the sustenance of creation (called sthiti), the subtle body travels through the environment and enters the food chain and finds its way to a new birth. However, at the time of dissolution of the universe, all the living beings face death and the exodus of subtle bodies from all gross bodies needs to be parked till next creation, awaiting a future birth in the next creation. This un-manifested state in which the subtle bodies awaiting next creation are held is called the Hiraṇyagarbha.

Iṣṭadevata - Iṣṭadevata can be loosely translated as the God form of choice. There is a general misconception or misunderstanding that Hinduism is polytheistic, meaning Hindus worship many Gods. Nothing can be further from truth. Imagine that if one were to think there are many Gods and that these many Gods are independent, then there is chaos, because each God would want to exert its independence and superiority (this is the problem with human beings, thinking they are independent). What needs to be clearly understood is that there is only one God, but this one God is omnipotent; being omnipotent, the God has the power to appear in many number of forms. Why does he want to appear in many forms? Two reasons can be stated here – (1) He needs to appear in different forms to discharge many distinct activities in the maintenance of the universe and (2) His devotees want to see Him in different forms, consistent with their emotional inclinations – if God appears in a form that is appealing to the emotions of the devotee, the devotee has a deeper relationship with the Lord. This form of God that is emotionally consistent with the devotee is the Iṣṭadevata of the devotee. The concept of Iṣṭadevata can also be understood from a practical perspective. God has the ultimate responsibility for cosmic governance and in the process of governance, he employs many assistants like Lokapālakas (provincial rulers), dikpālakas (directional rulers), subject matter experts (like Indra, Agni, Yama or Gaṇeśa, Subramhaṇya, Lakṣmi, Saraswati etc.). The devotee desirous of some worldly needs may worship the respective deities; but these deities being subservient to God, fulfill the devotees’ desires through the power of the God (just like reporting to your manager, is like reporting to the CEO ultimately).

Japa – Japa is a repeated uttering (generally in a low voice or mentally) of a mantra (like Gāyatri mantra) or the name of a God – like Kṛṣṇāya namaḥ- I prostrate to Kṛṣṇa Etc. In doing the Japa, the devotee is focusing the mind on the meaning of the mantra or the form of God. The repetition number could be 108, 1000 or more. A japamāla – a closed string of rosary beads is used to keep track of the count, so that the mind will be free to focus on the mantra or the form of God. A devotee can engage in a Japa for a finite number of days or she can do nitya japa – everyday (nitya japa could also literally means eternally without break). The Japa is the most efficacious means of worship – does not need any other kind of resource other than time. That is why Kṛṣṇa tells in the Bhagavad Gītā, that He is the japayajña among all types of yajñas.

A japa yajña is an undertaking to do a japa – generally in thousands of counts (spread over multiple days). The name (of the deity) and the sentient power associated with that name are not distinct – they are one and the same. The sentient power of the mantra is residing in the mantra. The power is realized by the repeated chanting – japa – of the mantra. Therefore the mantra power is realized by the repeated chanting of the mantra.

Karma – karma has two meanings – (1) an action and (2) Fruit of action.

1. Karma is an action, deed or work. We do karma in pursuit of wealth or our desires – seeking desired things or to avoid undesired things.

2. Karma is also used as a noun to describe the fruits of action. Every action a human being engages in produces results, called the fruits of action. According to the Hindu philosophy, we have gotten the current life to experience the Karma (fruits of action) of one of our previous lives. Generally we will have to take another life to experience the fruits of our karma (actions) of this life. It is said that several lives may be required to experience the fruits of action (positive or negative) of one life (like we experience the pain of burning our finger several days – the burn itself happens in seconds).

Loka – The word Loka has many meanings – (1) Loka is world, universe etc.. The universe is classified into several worlds. On a gross level, the universe is divided in to three Lokas – Svarga or Heaven, Pṛthvi or Earth (the world we live in) and Pāthala or the Nether world. On a finer scale the Universe is classified into 14 Lokas; seven higher regions rising from the earth, one above the other (Bhūloka, Bhuvarloka, Suvarloka, Mahalroka, Janoloka, Tapoloka and Brahmaloka or Satyaloka) and seven lower regions, descending from the earth one below the other ( Atala, Vitala, Sutala, talātala, Mahātala, Rasātala and Pātāla). (2) Loka means human being – in this context, Loka means the birth of a being to experience pleasure or pain to work out the karma from previous births. In this context, the word Lokasangraha is used to describe maintenance of people in the lane of dharma, by people qualified to lead other people in dharma.

Mokṣa – Mokṣa is one of the objectives (purushārtha) of human life, discussed under dharma. Mokṣa is the release from the cycle of births and deaths. Everyone born should die – this is the law of nature. So in order to avoid death, one should not be born. This state of non-birth is Mokṣa. It was discussed under karma that a human being is born again and again to experience the fruits of action - such birth could be human, divine or plant / animal life. One attains Mokṣa – release from this cycle of births/deaths (final emancipation) by pursuit of a very disciplined life of dharma and following a life of devotion and knowledge, generally extending over many human lives.

Naivedya – Naivedya is an offering to God. As we all know, during a pūja (worship) service, one of the services is Naivedya, offering fruits and prepared food to God being worshipped. Worship is inviting God and offering Him service as a very important guest. One of the services we offer to our guests is food. Naivedya is such an offering to the most important guest. On a higher plane, one can offer any dhārmic act as an offering to God; like one can offer the work he does for living as an offering to God and receive the outcome of work as His Prasād (see under P). Such a living is called Karma Yoga – Karma Yoga is the first step towards Mokṣa. In making the offering, there is the belief that the deity partakes with the offering, just by mere sight and the leftover food is recognized as prasād – grace of God. Generally the prasād is to be shared with other people – more and more the person performs worship service, more and more he develops the practice of sharing. Kṛṣṇa describes that those who don’t share and consume everything for themselves as a thief.

Omkara – The sacred syllable “OM” is a verbal expression of God. The syllable is a combination of three sounds – ‘a’, ‘u’ and ‘m’. The sound ‘a’ (where lips open, the sound originating deep in the throat) represents the beginning of creation of this universe; the sound ‘u’ (where lips close) represents the end / destruction of the universe and the sound ‘m’ (continuous parting of the lips) represents the sustenance of the universe. The word God can be considered an acronym – GOD, where G represents Generation (creation), O represents Organization (sustenance) and D represents Destruction.

Prasād – Prasād is the favor returned by God to his devotees. When we go to temple or during worship at home, we offer fruits and sweet delicacies as Naivedya (see N). The remnant of the naivedya is Prasād. On a philosophical level, the good fortune we enjoy is God’s Prasād for living a life of dharma. Very traditional people offer everything they eat as naivedya to God, before consuming it. In this context, the offering is considered as purification and Prasād is sanctified food.

Rasa – There are two meanings for Rasa that are both important for us to understand – (1) the sap or essence of fruits and trees and (2) the emotional content of a novel or play.

(1) There are six essences of trees and plants that people consume in their food. They are madhura or sweet, āmla or sour, lavaṇa or saltish, kaṭu or hot/spicy, tikta or bitter and kashāya or astringent / tart.

(2) The emotional rasas are śrngāra or love/beauty, vīra or heroism, karuṇa or compassion, adbhuta or wonder, hāsya or humor, bhayānaka or fear, bhībatsa or disgust, roudra or violent and shānta or peaceful.

Our own ability to display or avoid any of the emotional behavior is influenced by the type of food (essence of food) we consume.

Saṁskṛti – Saṁskṛti is the tradition (paddhati) of a society or community of people with respect to their custom or ritualistic practice and transactional conduct. As much as they are different from nation to nation, all people embrace some common values – dharma, faith, morality, truth, devotion to God, respect to elders – to promote unity among communities and nations. The Saṁskṛti of a community or society is characterized by the food habits, moral values and dhārmic living.

Tapas – Tapas is an austerity for the achievement of a desired result. Śri Kṛṣṇa describes three levels of austerity in the Bhagavad Gita (17-14,16) – at the body level, speech level and mind level. Divine worship, respect to teachers and elders, cleanliness, and a disciplined life are Body level austerities. Speaking the truth, speech that does not excite/disturb others and study of scriptures are Speech level austerities. Serenity in mind, silence (speak only when necessary), and purity of thought are Mind level austerities.

Upaniṣads – The Upaniṣads are the collection of scriptures of the highest thinking and logic in the Hindu thought process, where in the spirit triumphs over matter. The Upaniṣads lead the spiritual thinking and all other scriptures derive their authenticity being consistent with the Upanishads. The object of study of Upaniṣads is the entity Brahman, being the material and intelligent cause of this universe. The Upaniṣads posit that Brahman, the Conscious entity pervades the entire universe and all objects and beings are in essence, the nature of Brahman, which is “satyam, jñānam and anantam – existence, knowledge and infinite.” It is this Consciousness that appears as Universe to the spiritually unintelligent; Brahman’s power called Māyā hides its true nature to the unintelligent; the unintelligent projects the universe over the hidden nature of Brahman – the unitary or non-dual entity.

The Upaniṣads describe the Truth that the Ṛṣis (seers) experienced in their deep meditation. These seers taught the revelations they experienced to their students and has been propagated to the successive generations through the lineage of guru-śiṣya parampara (teacher-student lineage).

The word Upaniṣad is derived from the verbal root ‘sad’ having several meanings, the synthesis of the meanings leading up to define the Upaniṣads – the divine knowledge or wisdom which loosens the bond of samsāra of a being, annihilates his ignorance of his real nature - gain knowledge of his real nature - and elevates him to the state of infinite existence, that is Brahman.

There are over 200 Upaniṣads, but about 15 Upaniṣads are considered the ancient, for which āchāryas have written commentaries or have cited them in other commentaries.

Vedas – The Vedas are regarded as the most supreme scriptures of Hinduism, which derives its name based on the Sanskrit root ‘vid’ – to know. These Vedas are eternal spiritual revelations experienced by the seers of knowledge – the sages – in their deep meditation. The Vedas are also described as Śṛti, meaning that which is heard (revelation) by the sages and passed along to the successive generations by an oral tradition - the instructions of the guru heard by the students as an oral tradition. It is said that the Vedas received its first printed edition in the 17^th century CE, though the Vedas themselves have been accorded an existence some 10,000 years or so.

The Vedas have been classified on the basis of functionality and their hierarchy.

On the basis of functionality, the Vedas are classified as Ṛgveda, Yajurveda, Sāmaveda and Atharvaṇaveda. The Vedas had their earliest applications in Yajñas and Yāgas (fire sacrifices). The Ṛgveda has all the hymns associated with the inviting of the recipient of the offerings in the fire sacrifice. The yajurveda has all the mantras associated with the execution of the offerings of the fire sacrifice. The Sāmaveda is the collection of hymns to be sung during the execution phase. The Atharvaṇaveda grouped miscellaneous mantras from building of the sacrificial dias to the supervision and corrections of the execution of the yajña.

On the basis of hierarchy, the Vedas are classified as Saṁhita, Brāhmaṇa, Āraṇyaka and Upaniṣads. The Saṁhitas are the collection of mantras, while the Brāhmaṇas are generally prose compositions describing the process; the Āraṇyakas are the sections which describe the meditation processes – most used by the old, who retire to forest (araṇya) during their senior years for intense spiritual practices. The Upaniṣads have already been described earlier.

In general, the Hindu scriptures can be classified into four categories –

1. The Śṛti or the Vedas occupy the highest status – these being revelations of God, are recognized as the absolute, against which all other scriptures are calibrated.

2. Smṛtis are the next level of scriptures - these are commissioned projects which has more relevance to certain lands and certain times. They document the dharma to be followed in the jurisdiction of certain kings over a period of time.

3. Purāṇas or Mythologies are a means to educate people of their dharma, who do not have the intellectual ability to grasp the Śṛti and Smṛti. The Dos and Don’ts in different circumstances are communicated through mythological stories. There are 18 major Pur̄aṇas and 18 minor Purāṇas, all composed by Sage Vedavyāsa.

4. Itihāsa – These are historical texts that communicate the value of Dharma through the lifestyle of illustrious persons. Rāmāyaṇa (describing the story of Rama) and Mahābhārata (describing the story of Krishna) are the major historical texts greatly valued by the Hindus.

Yajña – Yajña can be defined in several ways. At the broad level, Yajña is a collective effort for collective good – like performance of a Yajña by the people of a community for good rainfall, so that the entire community benefits from the outcome. The effort of Viswa Hindu Parishad (or any Volunteer organization) across the Globe is a Yajña, undertaken by many volunteers, for the benefit of all its participants. At an individual level, Yajña is an offering to God which comprises three aspects – (1) Acceptance of God, (2) This acceptance leading to self-surrender to God, and (3) sharing the outcome of the offering with the community.

There are several classifications of Yajña – Dravya or Material Yajña (like Puja or offerings to Fire God called Havan), Japa or Meditation Yajña (an individual or group of people praying for the wellbeing of Society) and Jñāna or Knowledge Yajña (Dissemination of knowledge for the growth of society) are some of the types of Yajña.