धर्म
Dharma
dharma
In simple words
Dharma comes from a root meaning 'to hold up'. It means what holds life together: right conduct, duty, justice and one's responsibilities. There is no single English word for it, and its meaning shifts between traditions.
What is it?
Dharma can mean cosmic and social order, ritual duty, moral virtue, law, one's role-specific duty (svadharma) or even, in Buddhism, the Buddha's teaching and the basic elements of experience. The Dharmashastra literature codifies duties by stage of life and social position, while epic texts such as the Mahabharata show how hard dharma is to discern in real conflicts. The Gita opens on the 'field of dharma' and treats Arjuna's crisis as a crisis of dharma.
Scholar’s note
Mimamsa defines dharma as a good known through Vedic injunction (codana). The Mahabharata repeatedly notes that dharma is subtle (sukshma). Buddhist usage splits into Dharma (teaching) and dharmas (momentary factors analysed in Abhidharma). Jainism uses dharma also for the medium of motion, one of its six substances. Modern debates concern the relation of varna-based duties to universal ethics (sadharana dharma).How its meaning differs
Dharma is what the Veda enjoins — known only through scripture, not through perception or reason.
The epics present dharma as subtle and contested, dramatising dilemmas where duties collide rather than giving simple rules.
Dharma purifies and prepares; the Vedanta schools subordinate it to knowledge or devotion as the means to liberation.
Dhamma is the Buddha's teaching and the truth it points to; in Abhidharma, dharmas are the basic events of experience.
Dharma is ethical religion — non-harm, truth, restraint — and, in Jain metaphysics, also the medium that makes motion possible.
Dharam is truthful, honest living as a householder, set within the divine order; the earth itself is described as a place for practising dharam.
The Tirukkural's first section, on aram (virtue), treats dharma as universal ethical conduct rather than caste-specific duty.
In the Bhagavad Gita — as Sadhak Sanjivani explains it
Summary based on Sadhak Sanjivaniसाधक-संजीवनीपर आधारित सारSwamiji notes that in the Gita 'dharma' stands for one's duty (kartavya-karma), so that 'karma' and 'dharma' become synonyms (2.31, 18.66). Arjuna feared sin from the war, but Krishna shows that sin comes not from the war but from partiality, desire, selfishness and ego; it is not doing one's duty, or doing what ought not be done, that brings sin (2.38). The Gita shows how to reach the highest while living and working in the world, without first having to leave everything (2.38). When dharma declines — when the good and the weak are oppressed and good conduct vanishes — God manifests himself; and the main cause of this decline is attraction towards perishable things (4.7). In Krishna's last teaching, 'giving up all dharmas' does not mean abandoning duties but giving up reliance on them and taking refuge in God alone (18.66).
स्वामीजी बताते हैं कि गीतामें 'धर्म' शब्द कर्तव्य-कर्मका वाचक है, इसलिये 'कर्म' और 'धर्म' पर्यायवाची सिद्ध होते हैं (२।३१, १८।६६)। अर्जुनको युद्धसे पाप लगनेका डर था, पर भगवान् बताते हैं कि पापका हेतु युद्ध नहीं, विषमता, कामना, स्वार्थ और अहंकार है; कर्तव्य न करनेसे और अकर्तव्य करनेसे ही पाप लगता है (२।३८)। गीता व्यवहारमें रहते हुए परमार्थकी कला बताती है, जिससे सब कुछ छोड़े बिना ही कल्याण हो सके (२।३८)। जब धर्मकी हानि होती है — सज्जन और निर्बल लोगोंपर अत्याचार बढ़ता है, सदाचार घटता है — तब भगवान् प्रकट होते हैं; इस ह्रासका मुख्य कारण नाशवान् पदार्थोंका आकर्षण है (४।७)। 'सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य'का अर्थ धर्मोंका स्वरूपसे त्याग नहीं, उनके आश्रयका त्याग करके केवल भगवान्की शरण लेना है (१८।६६)।
कारण कि पाप लगनेमें हेतु युद्ध नहीं है, प्रत्युत विषमता (पक्षपात), कामना, स्वार्थ, अहंकार है। युद्ध तो तेरा कर्तव्य (धर्म) है। कर्तव्य न करनेसे और अकर्तव्य करनेसे ही पाप लगता है।Where it appears in the Gita
Look at your own duty too — do not waver
स्वधर्मको देखकर भी विचलित मत हो
स्वधर्ममपि चावेक्ष्य न विकम्पितुमर्हसि।
Even considering your own duty you should not waver, for nothing is more beneficial for a kshatriya than a righteous war.
अपने स्वधर्मको देखकर भी तुम्हें विचलित नहीं होना चाहिये; धर्ममय युद्धसे बढ़कर क्षत्रियके लिये दूसरा कल्याणकारक कर्म नहीं है।
2.33Abandon this righteous war and you incur sin
धर्ममय युद्ध छोड़ोगे तो पाप लगेगा
अथ चेत्त्वमिमं धम्र्यं सङ्ग्रामं न करिष्यसि।
If you do not fight this righteous war, you will give up your duty and your honour and incur sin.
अगर तू यह धर्ममय युद्ध नहीं करेगा, तो अपने धर्म और कीर्तिका त्याग करके पापको प्राप्त होगा।
2.38Treat victory and defeat alike — then fight, and incur no sin
जय-पराजयको समान करके युद्ध कर, पाप नहीं लगेगा
सुखदु:खे समे कृत्वा लाभालाभौ जयाजयौ।
Holding victory and defeat, gain and loss, pleasure and pain as equal, engage in battle; so you will incur no sin.
जय-पराजय, लाभ-हानि और सुख-दुःखको समान करके युद्धमें लग जा; इस प्रकार तुझे पाप नहीं लगेगा।
3.35Better your own duty, even imperfect
गुणरहित भी अपना धर्म श्रेष्ठ है
श्रेयान् स्वधर्मो विगुण: परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्।
Your own dharma, even if it seems lacking, is better than another's done well; death in your own dharma brings good, another's brings fear.
गुणोंकी कमीवाला अपना धर्म अच्छी तरह आचरणमें लाये दूसरेके धर्मसे श्रेष्ठ है; अपने धर्ममें मरना भी कल्याणकारक है, दूसरेका धर्म भयावह है।
4.7Whenever dharma declines, I manifest Myself
जब-जब धर्मकी हानि होती है, तब-तब मैं प्रकट होता हूँ
यदा यदा हि धर्मस्य ग्लानिर्भवति भारत।
Whenever dharma declines and adharma rises, the Lord manifests Himself in form.
जब-जब धर्मकी हानि और अधर्मकी वृद्धि होती है, तब-तब भगवान् अपने-आपको साकाररूपसे प्रकट करते हैं।
18.47One’s own duty, though imperfect, is better
गुणरहित भी अपना धर्म श्रेष्ठ
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुण: परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्।
One’s own dharma, even without merit, is better than another’s done well; doing the work set by one’s own nature, one incurs no sin.
अच्छी तरह किये परधर्मसे गुणरहित स्वधर्म श्रेष्ठ है; स्वभावनियत कर्म करता हुआ मनुष्य पापको प्राप्त नहीं होता।
18.66Leave the support of all dharmas and take refuge in Me alone
सब धर्मोंका आश्रय छोड़कर केवल मेरी शरणमें आ
सर्वधर्मान्परित्यज्य मामेकं शरणं व्रज।
Giving up reliance on all dharmas, come to Me alone for refuge. I will free you from all sins; do not grieve.
सम्पूर्ण धर्मोंका आश्रय छोड़कर केवल मेरी शरणमें आ जा; मैं तुझे सब पापोंसे मुक्त कर दूँगा, चिन्ता मत कर।
Where else it appears
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Trace the idea from one source to the next.
- 1ConceptऋतRta — cosmic orderThe Vedic idea of cosmic order from which dharma grows.
- 2Traditionपूर्व मीमांसाPurva MimamsaDharma as what scripture enjoins.
- 3TextमहाभारतMahabharataDharma in hard cases: the epic's many dilemmas.
- 4Gita verseBhagavad Gita 3.35Better one's own dharma imperfectly than another's done well.
- 5Gita verseBhagavad Gita 18.66The Gita's final teaching, read variously as transcending or fulfilling dharma.
- 6Textतिरुक्कुरल्TirukkuralA Tamil classic on virtue as universal conduct.
- 7Traditionबौद्ध दर्शनBuddhist philosophyA different meaning: Dharma as the Buddha's teaching.
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