Kausalya tells Rama “yam palayasi dharmam tvam dhRityaa cha niyamena cha | savai raaghavashaardula! dharmastvaamabhirakshatu” – “Oh, Rama! Let that righteousness, which you are fostering with courage and discipline, protect you”. With these parting words, Kousalya sends off Rama to the forest with Dharma as his escort. Rama lived a life of dharma and showed us that if a man treads the path of dharma, the entire universe will respect him.
A common complaint that many people have towards our Sanatana dharma is that it is rigid and not flexible at all. This complaint arises mainly due to their lack of understanding of the basic tenets of our scriptures and other texts. It is evident in the case of Dharma (as a purushartha) as well. Our scriptures expound that there are different dharmas to be followed by different people in different situations. Dharma differs for people of different temperaments, different stages of life and also for different yugas. At the same time, there are certain aspects of dharmas that are very basic and applicable to all people regardless of their caste, creed, gender, age etc…
Such tenets of dharma that are universal and that never change with time are called Samanya Dharma. Some examples of Samanya Dharma are Ahimsa, Satyam, Asteya, Indriya Nigraha, Shaucham, Dhaanam, Daya, and Damah. Both Vedas and Smrithi texts are the sources of dharma for us. Shri Nitin Sridhar in his book “Samanya dharma” explains that while the shruthis don’t list the dharmas or categorize them explicitly, they still talk about such tenets in the Samhitas, Brahmanas, Aranyakas and Upanishads and expound that vaidikas should follow such dharma for their overall well-being. for example Rig Veda 10.117.6 quotes
“mogham annaṃ vindate apracetāḥ satyam bravīmi vadha it sa tasya | nāryamaṇam puṣyati no sakhāyaṃ kevalāgho bhavati kevalādī” – “The inhospitable man acquires food in vain. I speak the truth– it verily is his death. He cherishes not Aryaman nor a friend; he who eats alone is nothing but a sinner.”
In a similar way, our smritis and dharma sastras also form a bedrock for teachings about dharma. They categorize and list out the dharmas and give us clear definitions. While different smritis spell out a different list of dharmas, there are a few like Ahimsa, Satya etc which find a mention in all the smrithi texts.
The other classification of Dharma called Vishesha Dharma depend on space and time for applicability. Varna dharma, Ashrama dharma, apadhdharma and raja dharma are some examples of vishesha dharma which differ for people based on social sectors, stages of life, political authority and the times that people are in (during odd and critical times for example). Just this small list of vishesha dharma shows us how certain dharmas can be redefined to suit the times and needs. It is due to such a self-correcting aspect that our Sanatana dharma has preserved its dynamism and stayed relevant by withstanding the onslaughts of all our invaders.
While such academic knowledge gives us the theoretical understanding of what dharma is, it does not spell out outright how we should put such knowledge to use. We will look at this important aspect of practice of dharma in our upcoming posts.
mythological squirrel 