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We have been seeing some prerequisite concepts that is key for understanding Bhagavad Gita. The final concept we will see as a prerequisite is Dharma.
Dharma is typically translated as righteousness- as being right in a given situation. But this definition is not complete. it just prompts next question that what is the right behavior in a given situation? is it some standard set of rules, or is it like a legal code which is bulky and not easily understandable for a uninitiated individual?
Dharma comes from Sanskrit root dhṛ धृ , which means to support or to hold. Lets try to understand with a simile.
Say, you are a cheetah in the dense jungles of Africa. You are hungry now. You will go to the lake where you know a group of gazelles will surely come to drink water. You hide behind a thick bush and start your wait for the prey.
After some time you see a group of gazelles coming to the lake and start drinking water. You wait for the right moment and pounce on the herd.
How many gazelles will you hunt? just one. Say you are hungry for a week. even then? just one right?
After hunting a gazelle, would you have it completely? No .. you will leave the carcass for the scavengers after you have your fill. correct?
Say, after your meal, you see another group of gazelles drinking water? would you hunt again? No right. you hunt only if you are hungry and take only what you need. right.
I can say you are programmed by the nature as such so that the balance is maintained in the jungle ecosystem right? This is what we call the Dharma - the Dharma of Cheetah.
Nature maintains the balance in other life forms by intrinsic programming of the behavior.
But we Humans have free will and fear and desires which can lead us to ignore this balance. Ignoring this notion is adharma - unrighteousness.
Dharma is when your thought, word and deed aligns well with the natural order of things.
Live and Let live
Don't Hoard riches denying for other individual
Take only what you need, how much you need.
These notions are called Dharmic. Its not possible to list down the behaviors in a rulebook. but once we understand the true meaning, what we do will be automatically dharmic. For example, in normal situations being truthful is dharma, but say if a person, who has a physical deformity, asks whether he is beautiful or not, then in that situation lie is more valuable than truth. There dharma is to lie. Even in this example, there are scenarios which will not be applicable. so when Krishna talks about Dharma , like sva-dharma etc. he uses the term to mean this balance and natural order.
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