What is Dharma

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Namaskar Mitra,

 

'What is Dharma' - the piece contains three articles by Swami Chinmayanandaji,

Swami Tejomayanandaji and Swamini Vimalananda. It starts with what is dharma,

how to live in accordance with the Dharma-Sastras and ends with the differences

between Dharma and Sampradaya. It also gives us the meaning of Dharma as said by

President Kalam, Swami Dayanand Saraswati, Swami Rama amongst others.

http://esamskriti.com/html/new_inside.asp?cat_name=qanda&sid=187&count1=0&cid=1118

 

1. Swami Chinmayanandaji's thoughts -

http://esamskriti.com/html/new_inside.asp?cat_name=qanda&cid=1119&sid=187&count1=1

Excerpts - "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)."

2. Dharma Shastra by Swami Tejomayananda -

http://esamskriti.com/html/new_inside.asp?cat_name=qanda&cid=1120&sid=187&count1=2.

Excerpts - "The Vedas, also called the Shrutis are not composed by human beings

(apauruseya). They were revealed to the great sages in their seat of

meditation. However, the smritis, which include the Bhagawad Geeta, were

authored by the great sages. They are also called the Dharma Shastras. Manu

Smriti one of the most famous Dharma Shastras is composed by King Svayambhu

Manu and is the very basis for all other such scriptures. Even today, court

cases related to Hindu laws refer to it for settling disputes. Sages Gautama,

Paraashara etc. have also authored Smritis. What is a Dharma Shastra? The word

'shastra' means a science or a scripture relating to a particular field or

subject e.g. Artha Shastra means the science of money or economics and also

refers to the scripture that talks of economics. In the language of management,

Dharma Shastra is the science of Desire Management."

3. Dharma and Sampradaya by Swamini Vimalananda -

http://esamskriti.com/html/new_inside.asp?cat_name=qanda&cid=1121&sid=187&count1=3.

Excerpts - ""Now let us understand the word Sampradaya. Sam + pra +

daya-Sampradaya. That which is well and clearly given is sampradaya. It means a

sect, creed or religion (as the word is commonly understood). A sampradaya must

mainly have the following characteristic:

1. It comes into being at a particular period of time due to various reasons.

2. It is inspired or founded by an individual or a set of individuals.

3. It follows certain scriptures inspired by or propounded by the individual.

4. It follows a particular code of conduct.

A sampradayta deals with one or many aspects of dharma. The one who establishes

it may or may not belong to a sampradaya e.g. Jesus was a Jew. A sampradaya is

established due to:

1. the need of the time; e.g. Mohammed established Islam to bring a semblance of

decency into the warring nomadic tribes.

2. decadence of the moral values in the society; e.g. Christianity emerged when

Roman society was steeped in indulgence and pleasures.

3. as a reaction against another sampradaya; e.g. the Protestants were against

the traditional Roman Catholic Church.

4. so as to make the knowledge of dharma easily understandable and followable to

even the common man; e.g. Swami Sahajananda started the Swaminarayana Sampradaya

which is easy to follow.

Now we shall try to think about the two words-Dharma and Sampradaya together.

Dharma is one. Sampradayas can be and are many. Dharma is not founded by an

individual, it is without a beginning. A sampradaya is founded by an

individual. It is born and therefore shall perish. (jaatasya hi dhruvo

mrityuh-That which is born shall perish-Geeta). Dharma is eternal-Sanatana.

>From the above discussions it can be clearly realized that all of us have one

common Eternal Dharma. Muslim, Sikh, Parsi, Christianity, Swaminarayana, Pushti

Marga etc. are all sampradayas. They have one inspirer or founder e.g. Jesus,

Mohammed etc. They follow a particular text e.g. the Bible, Koran etc. They

follow a particular code of conduct e.g. Sunday Mass, Baptism, etc. Dharma by

its very nature is 'bin sampradayik' (secular), Dharma however has the capacity

to accommodate countless sampradayas. It is the very base of all of them. No

sampradaya has the capacity to encompass the entire dharma in all its aspects."

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