Dharma - Linking the cosmic order to personal destiny

Dharma is a Sanskrit word which means to support and preserve. It’s the essential quality on which something rests, that quality which makes it the type of thing it is. The dharma of something defines its intrinsic nature.

Dharma can be understood in many contexts. In the broadest sense of the word, it describes the cosmic order, the natural law, the forces immanent within reality.

In a more limited sense dharma is the social order, the general principles for structuring human society. In an even more limited sense dharma applies to the individual and the right way of acting to fulfil your potential.

Dharma could be thought of as destiny, but it doesn’t mean something externally imposed on us by forces of fate. It’s an authentic expression of who we are that comes from within and shapes who we become.

The universal context — our eternal nature (sanatana dharma)

The broadest understanding is sanatana dharma. Sanatana means eternal. This is our true and unchanging nature, that which makes us what we are. Our eternal nature is a conscious soul and our natural movement is always toward bliss, the positive fulfilment of consciousness.

Our eternal dharma can also be understood in the context of our relationship to the whole of reality. The absolute, the source and foundation of all existence. In Vedanta this is known as Brahman.

Vedanta also describes the method to achieve sanatana dharma. This is moksha, liberation from suffering and death. Once we know our true nature as an eternally blissful soul, we also know our true self is something different from the physical body. Birth and death are transformations of the body, not the soul. We can achieve freedom from suffering by transcending the cycle of birth and death.

This universal context of sanatana dharma is achieved by religious or spiritual practices. The aim is to go beyond the world of the senses and the mind to the very soul of our existence. The schools of Vedanta give knowledge on the different views on the ultimate goal and the path to reach it.

The social context — our ethical duty (varna ashrama dharma)

Varna-ashrama dharma describes the principles for organizing society to allow humanity to facilitate their eternal dharma. It gives us the social structure which helps us fulfil our potential in this life, so we can achieve freedom from suffering and death.

Varna means our occupation, ashrama means our stage of life. This is the Vedic social order, and the philosophical basis of the Vedic caste system. Unlike its modern form in Indian society, caste isn’t a rigid social system. It isn’t an eternal truth about who you are, but a description of your present circumstances in this world.

The social dharma gives us ethical guidelines. Religion or ultimate goals are in the background, but these principles of social dharma are compatible with a variety of religious goals.

There are four broad categories of occupations (varna), the intellectuals (brahmana), the administrators (kshatriya), the merchants (vaishya) and the laborers (shudra). Each class is determined by personal qualities. Although many people think the Indian caste system is decided by your birth, it’s ideological foundation is your qualities, your inner nature.

Our inner nature determines the type of activities we’re suited to and the occupations we naturally pursue. We’re inclined to perform actions based on our natural temperament and skills. Varna are generic categories for the functioning of human society, so everyone’s occupation and duties are appropriate to their natural inclinations. This in turn maximizes the individual and collective well-being.

Ashrama means the stage of life. There are 4 ashrams, student, householder, retired and renounced. These stages of life have different dharma or social duties. In our childhood we are students, next we enter family life, followed by retired life and finally renunciation.

Dharma in this social context is about how you should act according to your position in society and your duties toward others. The Bhagavad Gita says,

“You should carry out your responsibilities without attachment to the results. By selflessly executing your duty, you will achieve liberation.” (3.18)

Our social dharma guides us about the best way to live in this world, while we have our eyes on the next. Our eternal dharma is the goal, our social dharma is the next step we take toward it.

The individual context — personal virtue or destiny.

With an understanding of our eternal nature (sanatana dharma) and the duties of our present social circumstances (varna-ashrama), we’re equipped to make informed choices about how to live. The final choice for both spiritual goals and ethical choices is left to the integrity and intelligence of each individual.

“It is better to engage in your own dharma with faults than to perform another’s dharma well. Even death in the course of performing your own dharma is better than engaging in someone else’s dharma, because it is perilous to follow the path of another.” (Bhagavad Gita 3.35)

We rely on 2nd-hand knowledge for many things in our lives. We rely on our doctor for knowledge about our physical health, and our accountant for our financial health. But when it comes to spirituality, 2nd-hand knowledge will not do.

Our choices of how to live, what to value and what goals to pursue are not only personal, they define who we are as a person. Spirituality must be authentic, arising spontaneously from our inner nature. The way we act is the true expression of our nature.

If our path isn’t something which naturally arises from who we are, it’s an artifice, something artificially imposed. It produces only self-deception, it doesn’t deepen self-realization. The method then becomes only a way of cheating ourselves. A hollow spirituality, a shadow without substance.

Spirituality includes ethical choices, but also religious choices. Our spirituality is an expression of our relationship to the whole of which we are a part. What we value is what we revere. We worship those things we’re willing to make personal sacrifices to achieve.

This is the authentic spirituality and it is universal to living beings. It doesn’t correlate to belief in any religious doctrine although it may include it. All living beings are searching for positive fulfilment, for truth, for bliss. That is dharma, it upholds and preserves spirituality and ethics and in that way it sustains the welfare of all living beings.