- Sri Sri Ravi Shankar

"The man of human-heartedness is one who desiring to sustain himself, sustains others, and desiring to develop himself, develops others; that may be called the way to practise human heartedness."

-Confucius

“Tao is an emblem, meaning order, the whole, responsibility, efficiency. It is the Responsible, Efficient, Total Order, creations as a whole, the whole of what is, multiplicity...”

-Taoist saying

“...Principles that govern human growth and happiness - natural laws…”

- Stephen Covey, Author

"Among the great concepts and doctrines, the basic principles and directives of Hinduism, Dharma stands our pre-eminent, with a vast deep and pervasive significance of its own. Having its rudimentary beginnings in the Vedas, it has, over the centuries grown like a mighty tree, with its numerous branches and secondary roots. In it there may be a lot of tangled growth and dead wood as well, but yet it is majestic tree, living and life-giving, sheltering and sustaining numberless souls under its protection and shade. From simple beginnings, the term has now assumed various shades of meanings and significance, including righteous duty and code of conduct, virtues, justice, morality and the moral principle or force integrating and sustaining man and the universe; the intrinsic, inalienable nature and essence of a thing as also the attributes; and finally religion, the deity of righteousness and God himself."

-Swami Sastrananda, Ramkrishna Mission

“In olden days, Dharma meant much more than what we now understand from the term 'religion'. It stood for power to hold things together in perfect harmony”.

- Swami Nihsreyasananda

Dharma, the Need of the Hour and of all Time
- By Vamadeva Shastri

Dharma is an ancient Sanskrit term first found in the Rig Veda, the oldest Sanskrit text, for the underlying laws of the universe, not only of matter but of life, mind and consciousness as well. It can refer to natural law, social rules and regulations, the principles of art or philosophy, and above all, the ways of truth behind religion and spirituality.

The dharma of a creature refers to its purpose, nature or law of its being. The dharma of human beings should be to seek truth and to bring a higher consciousness into the world. Human society also has various goals or dharmas which are traditionally divided into four; kama or enjoyment, artha or acquisition of wealth, dharma as duty, and moksha as the liberation of the spirit. It is liberation of the spirit or Moksha Dharma that is regarded s the highest human dharma. This does not negate the other three lower dharmas but subordinates them and allows us to use them for the greater good.

The Hindu religion itself is called Sanatana Dharma or the Eternal Dharma. Buddhism is called Buddha Dharma or the Dharma of the Buddha. Jainism is called Jain Dharma. Sikhism is called Sikh Dharma. All dharmic traditions recognize certain fundamental laws or dharmas. These include the law of karma, the process of rebirth, and the need to gain release from the ego that keeps us bound to it. They also recognize certain methods of yoga, mantra and meditation to reach this end, which can be called dharma practices.

The dharmic traditions of India share the core values of Dharma. These involve ethical principles like ahimsa, truthfulness, compassion and renunciation. They require a respect for all life as sacred and a recognition of a single consciousness as pervading the entire universe.

The dharmic traditions of India emphasize dharma first and on that basis allow for a diversity of religious beliefs and philosophies to develop. Dharma, therefore, is not an exclusive belief principle, but an inclusive attitude based upon honoring the unity and interdependence of all existence. For example, Buddhists, Jains and Hindus may disagree philosophically on the description of ultimate reality, not only with each other but among themselves, but that does not require abandoning dharma. In fact for them, the supreme Dharma is beyond words and beliefs anyway. Philosophical views and religious beliefs are only tools to develop dharma and if they take us away from dharma, they should be either modified or discarded.

Today we need a new dharmic consciousness in the world, a recognition of the universal dharmas of being, consciousness and bliss that unite all creatures. All beings have the rights to exist without interference, to develop their own awareness, and find their own happiness. Much of the global crisis today has come about because we human beings have abandoned Dharma and sought to impose our beliefs and desires not only upon other human beings, but on all of life and nature, subordinating the entire planet to our selfish ends. Unless we return to Dharma, it is unlikely that we can flourish, or perhaps even survive as a species. Restoring and reviving Dharma, therefore, is probably the most important issue today.

What is Dharma? | What is Religion?

What is Dharma?
- By Kanchan Banerjee

The word Dharma literally means 'that which holds together' or 'sustains a being'. It includes religion, but it is much more. It is a combination of rule of law, duties, laws of being, the principles & forces, which sustain a being and the path of righteousness. Every action, thought or speech that sustains growth and promotes harmony is part of Dharma.

The Search for Truth and discovering Dharma

There is an eternal search of mankind for the truth. We have developed physical sciences to know the physical world. But, these sciences do not tell us about our inner self. The science, which deals with the nature of "Self", is called spiritual science. Religion and spirituality are not the same. Religion at best may give us ethical training and bring self-discipline, and it may show us various outer ways of reaching something supernatural, often called the Supreme Reality or God, which can help reinforce such ethics and maintain harmony in the society. Spirituality leads us to Self-realization, which transcends all external rules, religious activities, practices and rituals, and it goes beyond all religious identities.

The search for the Eternal and the Ultimate leads us to the discovery of certain eternal principles. It is a secular as well as a scientific process, logically explainable and experimentally verifiable, just like the laws of physics or chemistry. It has nothing to do with religion. It does not deal with dogmas but the nature of being, the Conscious Being. It is Dharma. Dharma is natural law of Truth and its universal and eternal principles. Dharma literally means the true nature or the combination of principles on which something exists.

Water's Dharma is to flow so we put it in a glass instead of putting on a plate.
Fire's Dharma is to burn so we handle with care.
Youth's Dharma is to involve into physical activities so they play baseball, basketball, etc.
Earth's Dharma is to rotate around the sun so we plan for day and night.
The electron's Dharma is to rotate around the nucleus so they build atoms.

Just as the physical laws, like gravity, are in operation for all human beings regardless of race, nationality and religion, so the laws of life like the law of Karma, are in effect for everyone.

Dharma is like a coin. On one side are the principles and on other side are the supposed actions to adhere to the principles.

For the earth, gravity is one side of the picture and going around the sun is the other side.
Divinity is human nature on one side and search for infinity is the other side. One side is principle and the other side is following it. One side is universal teachings and the other side is its practice. One side is understanding the laws of nature, universe, physics, society, economics etc. and on the other side are the duties or laws based on the nature of these.
Natural law is if you drink you may loose consciousness and if you drink and drive, you may kill yourself and others.

This is Dharma, nothing to do with religion. In different contexts, places and times Dharma for life is different. As a citizen I have a Dharma, and, as a student, as a son, as a scientist I have a Dharma.

Sometimes Dharma is defined as duties. But, duty of what? What is the basis? Duty is dependent upon the context and the principles. Eternal principles are context-free. If we work in the field of business management, I should know the principles of management. Based on those principles I have to know my own duties.

Everything is pulled towards the earth according to the principles of gravity. If we do not abide by it and jump from a high place, surely that is an act of 'adharma' (not in accordance with Dharma), which may kill us. What is the sign of 'dharmic actions'? Any action, which brings harmony (between principles and actions), peace (within and around us) and growth (of awareness and knowledge) is Dharma. It should be clear now that any system based on Dharma must be ever modern and dynamic.

How do I know that I'm in tune with my Dharma?

Take an example of "family" Dharma. We need to know first what are the principles based on which a family is built and maintained (e.g. co-operation, love etc.). Is my action bringing peace, progress & harmony in my family and the members? If the answer is 'yes' then knowingly or unknowingly I'm with the principles of 'family' and my actions are 'dharmic'. We have only one choice to make: either live in harmony with the creation to lead a 'dharmic' life or live with our desires, assumptions and fragmentary view worldview to become 'adharmic'.

Dharma of human being

Do we know what is our true nature? Do we know who we are?

What is the purpose of this life? Why are we born? What happened to us before we were born and what will happen to us after we die? Individually, we think that it is our purpose in life to achieve various outer goals like to gain pleasure and various objects of pleasure, accumulate wealth, become famous or popular, or gain power. Yet none of these achievements bring permanent happiness as we can easily see by examining the lives of the people who have achieved them. Collectively, we also seek to gain power, territory, control people or mastery of the external world, which similarly does not lead to any real peace or happiness, or to a harmonious society, as the crime and the wars in the world reveal.

What is the purpose of life?

Let us observe certain phenomena and try to get some clues. As human being we want to possess or own more and more. The wealthiest person wants to own more, acquire more. We try to know or become friendly with more and more people. We want to see the whole world so we travel. We try to know more, try to acquire more and more knowledge. These tendencies indicate that we opt for more, for higher, for bigger. Our tendency is towards the infinite. We can say in the language of mathematics: Life tends to infinity.

But still there is an uncertainty! There is a reason for this uncertainty about us. We are used to physical science and technology, which, applied properly, bring certain results or results can be predicted to a degree of certainty. We have built this confidence over centuries. Gone are those days when religious leaders or institutions would control the lives of people. Religions of the world persecuted many like Galileo to avoid science and truth. The day church became separated, the day the West introduced secularism - science got its upper hand. Now it is its turn to ridicule religion.

But the problem is: physical science is silent about the nature of 'consciousness' and it is unable to tell us anything about our ethics & morality. Although psychologists are trying, only the surface has been scratched in the world of 'life'. In order to understand life, the inner self, one has to do research within. The science, which deals with life & living, is called spiritual science.

Very few westerners have done this research so far. World religions have some element of this spiritual science, but most are dogmas. But the spiritual science developed by the seers or spiritual scientists of the East not only raised the questions related to life, they have done tremendous amount of research for many centuries, found answers to many eternal questions, discovered eternal principles and developed systems to live in Dharma.

The main reason behind our confusion about religion is because the nature of different religions (belief systems) and expectation of external proofs, whereas the proofs come from inside. And, without doing proper research we close our eyes towards spiritual science! It is pity that the same scientists who would talk about rational thinking and skeptic mind, which accepts or rejects anything after verification only, reject another science! This is also a kind of fanaticism.

The Dharma of the human being is to discover the Universal Truth and to become one with the reality in the process of searching for the Truth. We have an openness of nature, which gives us the capacity to evolve to a higher consciousness - or if we fail to recognize it - allows us to follow destructive tendencies that debase us, and takes us away from our true nature. For human beings our Dharma is to discover and bring consciousness into the world, which means to bring an awareness of the inner Self into all our activities. While the nature of other creatures is evident, our human Dharma must be understood and life should be full of dharmic actions. It requires constant effort and hard work, just like research for any other sciences.

The Sanskrit name for Eternal or Universal Truth is Sanatana Dharma, sometimes translated as 'perennial wisdom'. Almost all spiritual leaders of India have equated Sanatana Dharma with the Hindu Dharma. Through thousands of years of research and experiments the truth has been revealed through many different rishis (sages) and created a vast tradition, which is also called Sanatana Dharma. This tradition is conceived as inherent in the cosmic mind, arising with creation itself. This tradition or system, based on the eternal universal principles gave birth to certain teachings and systems which comprehend universal life and consciousness, including religion, yoga and mysticism, philosophy, arts, science and culture as part of single reality. This system or tradition is being called "Hindu system" or "Hindu tradition" and the word Hindu represent the system as a whole. The Hindu system is the only complete application of the Sanatana Dharma. Once people in the world learns to look at the Hindu system as a complete system based on Dharma, they will take out the stigma of religion, belief and dogma from it and accept it as logical and scientific.

In the East, there is no such word as 'religion'. The closest word is 'panth' or 'spiritual tradition'. The so-called religions of India are not religions but ways of cultivating Dharma! They are to recognize Dharma, the underlying universal truths, and to build our life and culture around them. Jaina, Buddha, Sikh etc. are 'spiritual traditions', based on the teachings of one or a several enlightened people. All these teachings spring from the Sanatana Dharma. Shaiva, Shakta, Vaishnav etc. are different sects belonging to the Hindu system. There are many different rituals, customs and practices in each of these traditions. Some are purely cosmetic, some are superstitions and yet most of them are 'made easy' methods for people to live in harmony with Dharma. The path of a genuine seeker of truth is tough one. Everybody cannot travel on this path. Very few people become physicist or biologist who are searching for truth in their own fields. The rest just use the truth or knowledge discovered by the formers.

Similarly, the Hindu system is developed based on the truth discovered by rishis for centuries and is collected in many texts such as the Vedas or the Geeta or the Yoga Sutra of Patanjali. For ordinary people, different paths are prescribed in the texts as well as by enlightened people like Buddha or Sankaracharya. It is to be noted that dogmatism is also present in many sects within the Hindu tradition today.

It could be said that different spiritual traditions of the world are different aspects of Sanatana Dharma and represent different approaches to Dharma. The great sages of all lands have been aware of a universal tradition of truth, beyond name and form. This way all spiritual traditions including the so-called religions of the world are connected to the same Sanatana Dharma and therefore it is said that it is the mother of all religions. All religions of the world have some aspect of this spiritual tradition. Neither it means that religion and spirituality are same nor it means that all religions are same. All water can be same, but all water may not be fit to drink! There is a unity of scientific inquiries behind all scientific pursuits, but that does not mean that all science is the same or that all scientific theories are correct and lead to the same conclusions.

Now, the question is does such thing as "Hinduism" exist? Since this is not a 'belief' or 'ideas' of a particular person or a group, 'ism' does not fit with it. This name was given by those who did not understand the system and in back of their mind they thought that theirs is the only truth and others are all 'false belief' or 'satanic path'! The relation of Sanatana Dharma to the Hindu system is like science to technology. What does the word "Hindu" represents? According to the dictionary: 'the inhabitants of India' or 'followers of Hinduism' are Hindus. Simply, Hindu is name of a dharmic system and a culture. How about a "Hindu religion"? Does it exist? How many different "panths" and sects can be found which is based on Sanatana Dharma? And, are they like other religions of the world? Should we adhere to Hindu system as a belief-oriented system? Is it right to call it "Hindu faith"? The answer is simple: If such a belief is necessary for certain individuals it is OK. But a system cannot stand on belief or assumption. It must have a rock solid foundation of truth, facts and logic, and it must be able to accommodate the least evolved person as well as the most evolved one.

Let us talk about Dharma - not religion. Let us understand Dharma and find out our own Dharma. One may or may not be religious, may or may not believe in God, but can be Dharmic! If we understand this system as an approach to a universal tradition, which shows how truth and spirituality can be integrated into the whole of life, then it can be of great value for formulating a global dharmic culture today.

What is religion?

"Religions of the world has become lifeless mockeries!" - hundred years back the famous "Hindoo monk" Swami Vivekananda said this. Looking what religions have done to humanity throughout history, one may feel it might be better for us to stay away from religion. It appears that would save us from so many wars, crusades, hostilities and misunderstandings, such as world history is mired with. Open the newspaper today and see how often words like 'religious fundamentalist', 'militants', 'terrorists', 'bigots' etc. are used!

The believers have faith in it but almost every moment the do's and don'ts haunt them and there are always discrepancies between many of the acts of these people and their beliefs. Non-believers want to stay away from 'authorities' and seek for 'freedom' of thinking and living. Many, especially the students try to avoid religion to enjoy a life without the restrictions put by religion. Some people say: "Religion is opium of people". Others say, religion is illogical and unscientific.

Religion is generally associated with a belief in something unseen, miraculous or irrational. For many, religion is something removed from day to day life, and it is outside of our known world and also something supernatural. The God is sitting outside of the creation and watching us all the time with the balance of judgement! The fruits of the religious practice are often promised to be gained after death and sometimes based on some kind of fear for the unknown and unseen, and associated with the helplessness of human being. Occasionally believers are exploited by the religious heads or those forces, which use religion for social or political gains.

What is religion? It means: 'a personal set or institutionalized system of religious attitudes and practices', and 'relating back to the acknowledged ultimate reality'. Most religions around us contain three aspects. Within all religions can be found moral principles, which reflect universal ethic and truth. Religion tells us not to be selfish, do good, not to harm others, not to steal, lie or cheat; common human values that all societies require to some degree in order to continue to exist at all. Dogmatism is the second aspect of religion under which certain actions as said to be wrong which may not reflect any ethical or moral values, but only the bias of a particular belief, particularly the belief of the founder or few followers of the founder. For example, if a religion tells us that it is a sin not to perform certain rituals, or only the book of a particular religion has the so-called revelation of God is not a statement of truth but purely a belief, which cannot but lead us to ignorance. The dogma may even tell us that if we did not follow the scriptures or a prophet, one has to go to a place called hell after death and has to suffer eternal punishment. Based on the ethics, beliefs, experiences and the dogma, each such "institutionalized system" or religion introduces of rituals and practices. It may be simply praying in a church, performing "namaj" or doing meditation. Sometimes the rituals may have good value and sometimes meaningless.

Religions are said to mix the nectar of ethics with the poison of exclusive beliefs. They add hundreds of do's and don'ts, and bar logical or rational questioning. These dogmas create disharmony through both the "believers" and the "non-believers". The believers avoid logic and the non-believers stamp the believers as outdated or unscientific or even fanatics. Do we really need such religions? Should we discard religion altogether and follow secular and universal ethics only?

Belief is the basis of many religious traditions, especially the non-eastern ones. The dictionary meaning of the word "belief" is 'a state or habit of mind in which trust or confidence is placed in some person or thing' and not necessarily there exists a proof. As a matter of fact religion in the western world is neatly and simply defined as a "belief system" and the belief is called "truth". There is a "belief" in one God, one prophet and one book of revelation. This is true especially in Christianity and Islam. The right "belief" is said to bring about salvation and the wrong "belief" is supposed to bring about damnation. Such religions are trying to convert the entire world to their "belief". By doing so they hope to bring about salvation for the entire humanity!

These kinds of belief systems can state their beliefs in clear and uncomplicated terms and they often sound more like slogans or stereotypes. These are often appealing to an emotional need for certainty and security.

Life is not so simple and eight or ten formulas are too inadequate to solve life's problems! Why should belief be asserted? Why should any truth have to be imposed as it is done by religions of the world? Does not the truth of things speak for itself if we are open to it? We know that if we protect the earth it will remain as our place for living - we don't have to 'believe' it.

Do we have to 'believe' that Ahimsha or non-violence is a great virtue? Do we have to 'believe' that vegetarianism is good for our health, environment and economy or we know these for fact?

We also frequently use another word: Faith. In the dictionary faith has several meanings: 'allegiance to duty or person', 'belief and trust in the loyalty of God', 'belief in the traditional doctrines of religion', 'firm belief in something in which there is no proof' and 'complete confidence'. If faith means an openness of the heart to truth, which looks beyond belief and the aspiration to the truth then it is appropriate. The word faith in many cases is also associated with blind faith. If by faith we mean "complete confidence" then it is fine to use. Faith and truth are not the same.