What is Dharma ?

I was posed this question in response to my recent posting 'Gita Jayanti'.
Actually, I don't consider myself to possess even the slightest authority to answer this question.
But since the question came from a good friend, Aditya Joshi (who is the author of a very creative blog himself), I thought I should share what little I have learned/heard/read about dharma here.
Since this page is open to the entire world, let's hope some learned person shall read this some day and throw more light on it, so that both Aditya and I are benefited.


In the posti on gItA, I had written at one place: "... dharma (not to be confused with religion) ..."
And this is what prompted Aditya to ask :

What is 'Dharma' in Gita if not religion?
Is it 'Duty'?
How is it different from 'Karma'?
Or is it that 'Dharma' is the ideally expected 'Karma'?

We can actually remove the clause 'in Gita' from the first question.
Because, nowhere in the traditional wisdom has the word dharma been used to mean religion (at least until the Muslim invasions in the medieval era).

Dharma does not mean religion
1.
The 18-day war between Kauravas and Pandavas is also referred to as dharma-yuddha.
If dharma meant religion, was the religion of Kauravas different from that of Pandavas ?

2.
धर्म-शाला, धर्मार्थ दवाखाना, राज-धर्म, पुत्र-धर्म, शेजार-धर्म (मराठी), धर्मसंकट
(dharma-shaalaa, dharmaartha-davaakhaanaa, raaja-dharma, putra-dharma, shejaara-dharma, dharma-samkata)
These words are used so commonly in day-to-day life, that one probably overlooks the use of the word dharma in them. But does dharma-shaalaa mean a religious school ? Or does raaja-dharma mean the religion of the king ?

3.
अग्नि का धर्म है उष्णता । - the dharma of fire is heat.
Is 'heat' a religion ? Definitely not !

Thus it is clear that dharma does not mean religion.
In fact, English (and many western languages) does not have a word that can completely and entirely convey the meaning of dharma.
This is because the concept of dharma itself is not known in the west.
Dharma is not a single special case, though.
There is no पुण्यम् (punyam) in English, either (although there is पापम् (paapam). This may be due to the concept that all humans are a result of the 'original sin' commited by Adam and Eve - as against the Indian concept 'अमृतस्य पुत्राः वयम्' - अथर्ववेद, meaning we are the sons of immortality).

The concept of dharma is a speciality of the Hindu philosophy (you may call it Indian, or Oriental philosophy, it's one and the same) .
It is common to Jainism, Budhism, Sikhism, Taoism and all the lesser-/better-known philosophical schools of the east.

Anyway.

So dharma does not have a parallel in English.
But does religion have a parallel in samskrut ?
Yes. It is called पन्थः (panthah) or मतम् (matam).
One can see words like जैनमत (jain-mata), बौद्धमत (bauddha-mata), मतान्तरण (mataantarana = religious conversion) being commonly used in many Indian languages.
Unfortunately, in Marathi, it's almost always जैनधर्म, बौद्धधर्म, धर्मांतरण.

So religion is pantha or mata. Fine.

But what is dharma ?

The two definitions of dharma

1.
The first one says -

धारणात् धर्मः इत्याहुः (Krishna in Mahabharata - 12.110.11)
[ dhAraNAt dharmaH ityAhuH ]

dharma is that concept, by virtue of which all the elements are held together.

This is a very clear and simple definition indeed.
In fact, if we look at the etymology of the word dharma, it emerges from the samskrut root धृ (dhru) meaning 'to hold'.

For example, raaja-dharma. That is what is holding the raajaa and the prajaa.
The moment the king deviates from his raaja-dharma, he ceases to be a raajaa.
(In fact, the traditional pledge a king had to take at his coronation was "This bhoomi is my wife from now on, and the people living on it, my children. I shall take care of them as a father would of his children. And if I ever fail in doing so, my raaja-purohita shall punish me with his dharma-danda")

2.
The other definition is -
यतोऽभ्युदयनिःश्रेयससिद्धिः स धर्मः ।
[yatobhyudayanihshreyasasiddhih sa dharmah]

dharma is the one through which both अभ्युदय (abhyudaya) and निःश्रेयस (nihshreyasa) are achieved.

What is this abhyudaya and nihshreyasa ?
In the simplest terms, it means this-worldly and other-worldly goals, respectively.

Other(?) interpretations
One can also find explanations of the word dharma given as:

• righteous duty : putra-dharma = a son's duty towards his parents
• nature (स्वभाव) : अग्नि का धर्म है उष्णता ।
• natural laws : even contemporary literature sometimes refers to 'nature-call' as निसर्गधर्म
• etc.

Conclusion
This is all I know about dharma.
I am afraid I have added to Aditya's confusion, instead of reducing it.
The reason is I am myself a bit confused about the exact meaning of dharma.

That's why I put a question mark in the last subsection's title.
I am not sure if these are other interpretations or they simply follow from the two definitions we discussed.
If a son does not fulfill his righteous duty, he is no longer a son for his parents, and also, his other-worldly record is bound to go down.
Heat is the thing by virtue of which fire holds to be fire, and without it, it ceases to be fire.
And if one does not attend to nature calls, this-worldly goals are definitely not going to be achieved due to ill-health.

Sometimes I feel dharma is all of these things and also something more.

PS: We shall discuss karma very soon

Gita Jayanti

मार्गशीर्ष शुद्ध एकादशी (mArgaSIrSha Suddha ekAdaSI) was the day on which Lord Krishna told the bhagavad-gItA to Arjuna on the battlefields of Kurukshetra. The day is celebrated as गीता जयंती (gItA-jayantI) all over the world.
This year it falls on Dec-9.
I have been fortunate enough to have heard/read a little bit about gItA in last few years.
A good orator with some depth of understanding in gItA can possibly go on unfolding the beauty of this devine song for hours together, but some one of my stature should only quote some of the observations etc made by them.

1.
gItA holds the entire dharma (not to be confused with religion).
Its first sholka starts with ध dha:
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः । (1.1)

And the last one ends with म ma:
यत्र योगेश्वरः कृष्णो यत्र पर्थो धनुर्धरः ।
तत्र श्रीर्विजयो भूतिर्ध्रुवा नीतिर्मतिर्मम ॥ (18.78)

2.
It is a relatively very small text (only 700 shlokas-18 chapters), but has attracted many philosophers for many a thousand years, who keep on interpreting the text as it suits themselves - right from Adi Shankara to Mahatma Gandhi and beyond. Lokamanya Tilak interpreted it as the karmayoga, Gandhiji as the anAsakti-yoga. But the gItA herself is both and beyond the both.

3.
Today's engineers and enterprenuers are looking for the seeds of management in it.
While in Bengaluru, my friend's roommate was asking about it - she was told that gItA can teach her management. When I was asked, I said that I see the best way to manage your activities being told in a single shloka :
यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोसि ददासि यत् ।
यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम् ॥ (9.27)
Meaning - Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, and whatever austerities you perform - do that, O Son of Kunti, as offerings to me !

What better motivation for doing each of your tasks in the best possible manner, than that of offering it to the Almighty ?

4.
Is gItA the best book on psychology/psychotherapy ?
Of course yes.
These two shlokas summarize the very chain of how one loses his/her own mental health:
ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते ।
सन्ङ्गात्संजायते काम: कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते ॥
क्रोधाद्भवति संमोह: संमोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रम: ।
स्मृतिभ्रंशाद्बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति ॥ 2.62-63
Meaning - While concentrating on the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment desire develops, and from that (due to non-fulfilment) anger arises. From anger arises complete delusion, and from that, bewilderement of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost. And losing intelligence, one perishes.

5.
And psychotherapy?
Again, yes.
gItA starts with Arjuna in a state of a shock - limbs quivering and mouth drying up. (सीदन्ति मम गात्राणि मुखं च परिशुष्यति । - 1.28)
And ends with him stating that "I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions" (स्थितोऽस्मि गतसन्देह: करिष्ये वचनं तव ॥ - 18.73)

But this change is not easy to bring. At times Krishna shows him the carrot - you shall reach heaven if you die or else rule the earth if you win (हतो वा प्राप्स्यसि स्वर्गं जित्वा वा भोक्ष्यसे महीम् । - 2.37). And at other times the stick - by showing the Vishwaroopa, looking at which Arjuna says he is disturbed with fear (भयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे । - 11.45)
At times Krishna discusses the eternity of the AtmA to dissuade Arjuna from the concept of killing and sin of killing (नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः - 2.23).
At other times he simply tells him as a friend to 'be a man and fight' (क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः - 2.3)

Most interesting is his reaction after Arjuna is convinced and is ready for the war.
After telling entire gItA, Krishna says - deliberate on this fully, and then do what you wish to do (विमृश्यैतदशेषेण यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु ॥ - 18.63)
Is this not the best way of motivating someone ?
Instead of simply ordering him to do what he should, Krishna increased Arjuna's level of understanding, removed any doubts he had, and then asked him to behave according to his conscience.

...
Thus, gItA is like the holy river of Ganga. How much of its water one carries back home depends on the capacity of the container s/he carries ...