Dharma Essay

1. INTRODUCTION

Dharma, in concept deals with duty, religion and inseparable quality of a thing or orders i.e. virtuous conduct of righteous man and dharma in literal sense means ‘something which sustains or upholds’ and is a Sanskrit noun derived from root ‘dhr’. Dharma is semantic equivalent to the Greek word ‘ethos’ .

Dharma in contradiction to general opinion does not mean religion nor supports any, but it is a whole body of rules and believes including in itself the religious rights, rules of conduct and duties. Here when we talk about religious rights or duties, it does no prefer anyone over the other but describes it for all religions. Dharma as said by Jaimini is, “founded on the revelation which is conducive to the welfare of the society, ordained by the great Vedas”. Dharma is primarily based on the Vedas and has many indices such as Sruti, Smriti and

Manu

2. Yagnavalkaya

3. Brihaspati

4. Narada

The other source has been Puranas which are eighteen in number and contains information about the creation and dynasties of god, sages and kings and detailed description of yugas. All the sources are on the same footstep and no one has supremacy over the other.

Idea which made people adhere to the Dharma can be illustrated by one verse from Brihadaranyaka Upnishad which is, “punyo vai punyena Karmana bhavati, Papah Papeneti”, meaning ‘everyone becomes good by good deeds and bad by bad deeds’, in other words ‘every one reaps what he sows’ and what’s good is defined by Dharma.

3. Functioning

Dharma is sanatana, i.e. which has eternal values; one which is neither time-bound nor space bound. The concept of Dharma is with us from time immemorial . Dharma is different from religion; however they are commonly misinterpreted to mean the same and thence used interchangeably. As the above said was distinguished by Justice J. Hansaria in A.S. Narayana Deekshitulu vs State Of Andhra Pradesh & Ors by quoting Swami Rama’s book ‘A Call to Humanity’ by the following