Dharma And Its Relevance Today

What is Dharma and its relevance in all religion. Once George bernard Shaw said that common sence is not common in common people. Today I feel that how true this dictum is.Time and again I have to remind my readers the extent to which we have denigraded our own selves as humans. we are ashamed to say that we are the most intelligent animals on the face of the earth.We are just animals now, or rather worse than an animal.Mindless killing of innocents in the name of religion,excessive use of our natural resource,Cutting of trees and clearing of the forests only to feed someones elses greed,all these has brought us to a threshold of extinction. But had we looked a little deeper into our selves we would have found the answers of living a harmonius,happy,and a healthier life.The heaven would have been here on earth itself. The main essence of all these is DHARMA AND ITS PRESENCE IN ALL MAJOR RELIGION OF THE WORLD. So what is dharma??? Dharma is derived from the Sanskrit root "dhr" meaning to hold up, to carry, to bear, to sustain. The word dharma refers to that which upholds or sustains the universe. Human society, for example, is sustained and upheld by the dharma performed by its members. (dhar, "uphold"). Rules of order, custom, and ethics, adherence to which is necessary to maintain order in society. In the Upanishads, dharma is primarily knowledge of the way to attain Brahman. Vedic scriptures describes dharma as the natural universal laws whose observance enables humans to be contented and happy, and to save himself from degradation and suffering. Dharma is the moral law combined with spiritual discipline that guides one's life. The Atharva Veda describes dharma symbolically: Prithivim dharmana dhritam, that is, "this world is upheld by dharma anything that helps human being to reach god is dharma and anything that hinders human being from reaching god is adharma. According to the Bhagavat Purana, righteous living or life on a dharmic path has four aspects: austerity (tap), purity (shauch), compassion (daya) and truthfulness (satya); and adharmic or unrighteous life has three vices: pride (ahankar), contact (sangh), and intoxication (madya). Manusmriti written by the ancient sage Manu, prescribes 10 essential rules for the observance of dharma: Patience (dhriti), forgiveness (kshama), piety or self control (dama), honesty (asteya), sanctity (shauch), control of senses (indraiya-nigrah), reason (dhi), knowledge or learning (vidya), truthfulness (satya) and absence of anger (krodha). Manu further writes, "Non-violence, truth, non-coveting, purity of body and mind, control of senses are the essence of dharma". Therefore dharmic laws govern not only the individual but all in society. Does any other religion say anything different than these? the purpose of dharma is not only to attain a union of the soul with the supreme reality, it also suggests a code of conduct that is intended to secure both worldly joys and supreme happiness. Rishi Kanda has defined dharma in Vaisesika as "that confers worldly joys and leads to supreme happiness". Dharma is an Eastern term whose Western equivalents might include morality, ethics, virtue, righteousness and purity. Sadly, most of those terms are distinctly unfashionable in our modern culture. Yet it is Dharma by which the seeker of truth can achieve happiness that he is looking for. When Moses brought down the 10 commandments from Mt. Sinai he taught the Israelites that Dharma was the divine law by which they (who loved truth) aspired could free themselves from their Egyptian slave masters (the base desires) and reach the promised land (spiritual liberation). Although Mohammed led his followers into a bloody and terrible war to defend the law of Islam (Dharma) from the child-murdering and mysoginistic idolaters, he described that physical war as the 'lesser jihad'.The 'greater Jihad' is the infinitely more difficult war which the seekers fight within themselves for moral purification, death of the ego and victory over desire, attachment and conditioning. Christ taught us that forgiveness frees us from our own petty ego (and its qualities such as pride, vengeance, aggression, grudge bearing) so that we can stay on the path of Dharma. Christ's message is encapsulated in statements such as 'He who looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery' ‹ in other words an external morality or ethic is insufficient, for true Dharma is purity of heart and mind. Even before the advent of Lord Krishna when there was no existence of Bhagavad Gita, even

before Jesus Christ there was no existence of the bible and christianity, even before Mohammed there was no existence of Allah and Islam BUT the Humanity survived on the basis of the Dharma,The Natural laws. And this Dharma forms the core of Hinduism. Ever since Human Beings came into existence... existed Sanatana Dharma... the ever-existing Dharma since Times Immemorial. The word Sanatana means something without a beginning... in other words existing since Times Immemorial. Hinduism in other words is defined as Sanatana Dharma... it is not a Religion... it is not the preaching... Hinduism exists for the existence of Life itself. In the times of Rama who came much before Lord Krishna existed Dharma and only Dharma. There was no Religion in existence at that time. The society survived because of the ingrained Dharma in every living being. Even before the word Hindu got coined by the followers of Islamic Dharma... India existed as Bharatvarsha. The word Bharatvarsha was derived from the King Bharat who reigned over the region where prevailed the Sanatana Dharma. The region beyond the Indus River which divides the territory between the present India and Pakistan, everything beyond the sindh territory (now in Pakistan) lived the followers of Sanatana Dharma who were pronounced as Hindus (which stood for the people who lived beyond the sindh and as sindh was pronounced as Hind by the followers of Islamic Dharma... the immigrants of the Hind region came to be known as Hindus. The territory came to be known as Hind territory and finally Hindustan and the following Hinduism.My idea is not to hurt anybody in any way but to wake up the conciousness of one and all. what all of us are doing in the name of religion and all of us doing in the name of getting more profits and prosperity,in fact we are pushing this only place that we have to live, in oblivion. No religion in the world teaches us to wage war against our own people.No religion teaches us to disrespect nature in any way, Every religion in the world teaches us to respect and love nature and love our fellow human beings. So why don't we all do some introspection? and Why can we not take the actual preaching of the religion that each one of us are following?