Dharma

- The word 'religion' means a system of faith and worship. Belief in the tenets of a church, performance of certain rituals prescribed by it is all that is required of a devout man by what is commonly known as religion in the West.

- The Hindu word 'Dharma' appears to have a much deeper and wider meaning than the word 'religion'. Derived from the sanskrit root "dhri" (to hold), Dharma stands for that which holds up the existence of a thing. Everything in the universe has its dharma, because it must rely on something for its existence. And what is it on which the existence of a thing mainly depends? Well, it is the essential nature of a thing without which it can never exist. The essential nature of a thing, therefore, is called its Dharma. Thus, the power of burning is the Dharma of fire; inertness is the Dharma of all inanimate objects. Man also has an essential nature that upholds his existence as something distinct from the rest of the creation. And this must be the Dharma of man, that is, Manava Dharma.

- Now, what is the essential nature of man? The hindus uphold that it is the power of becoming divine that marks out man from all other beings. This power, therefore, is Manava Dharma. But, how is it possible for man to become divine? Because divinity is already within him. "Hinduism teaches that God is present everywhere". He is also in our hearts. We are divine by nature. But divinity lies deep in our being. We do not perceive it so long as our unclean mind is in the way. Just as light cannot be seen through a smoky chimney, so God cannot be seen through an unclean mind, though all the while He is in us and everywhere about us. If we want light, we have to cleanse the chimney; so if we want to bring out the Divinity in us we have to cleanse our mind.

- Lust, greed, anger, hatred, envy, pride, selfishness are so many impurities that obscure the Divinity within us. So long as these sway our mind, we make mistakes almost at every step of our life and very often behave exactly like brutes; our imperfection fills the cup of our misery and brings untold sufferings upon others.

- Yes, it is due to these impurities that, at the start, we seem to stand on a level with the brutes. Yet we are not brutes. Why? Simply because we can work our way up to Divinity, which the brutes cannot. As men we are born with the power of removing all the impurities of our mind and becoming divine in all our bearings. This is precisely our Manava Dharma. Those who revel in these impurities have not yet emerged as men; they are only beasts in human form. While those who succeed in cleansing their minds thoroughly and bringing out the Divinity within them are real men, perfect men.

- Of course, the path is long and the goal is far ahead. To bring out the Divinity in us completely is no easy job. The whole advance cannot be made by a single step. Yet it is a fact that a little progress on the path of Dharma has its own reward. As our minds become purer, we grow wiser and get more strength and more joy. This inspires us to move forward and gradually increase our wisdom, strength and joy. This process goes on from birth to birth till the mind becomes absolutely pure. It is then that man can see God, talk with God and can even become one with God. Then really man becomes perfect. For it is then that Divinity which has all along been within him does manifest itself completely.

- Indeed, the seer of God becomes truly divine, full of love, joy, wisdom and strength. He rises above nature and becomes absolutely free. Nothing can bind him or shake him. Nothing can disturb his peace of mind. He has no want, no misery, no fear and no cause for strife or grief. His face always beams with divine joy and his conduct marks him out as a man of God. His selfless love flows alike to all. His contact brings strength, purity and solace to all who come near him. Verily such a man has reached the goal of human life and he may be said to be a truly religious man or a perfect man.

- The world has seen many such blessed seers of God in different lands and different ages. They are truly the salt of the human race. Out of the fullness of their hearts, they preached what they saw and felt. They taught all, who floaked to them, the steps that led them to realise God. These teachings form the bulk of the religions of the world.

- The different seers however discovered different methods of cleansing their minds. their teachings are essentially alike. These vary only in minor details. All true religions of the world lead us alike to the same goal, namely to perfection, if, of course, they are followed faithfully. Each of them is a correct path to Divinity. The Hindus have been taught to regard religion in this light. According to the Hindu view, there is nothing wrong with the religions as they have been preached by the prophets and seers of God. The original teachings are priceless. They can give us a sure and correct lead. These are the true religions of the world.

- But, unfortunately, what passes as religion in the world often appears to contain more of husk than of kernel. The spirit of the original teachings is buried under a heap of senseless dogmas. It came to such a pass because very often religion is taken charge of by people who are not at all qualified for the task. Frequently people with impure minds pose as priests and preachers. They themselves cannot have any insight into spiritual things. They fail to grasp the importance of the original teachings. And this is why when they start explaining religion to others, they make a mess of the whole thing. In their hands, religion degenerates into a mere creed, a bundle of crude dogmas and meaningless rituals. Their followers become wild and fanatic, and religion becomes a cause for communal fight. Instead of taking to religion for self-purification, the followers of different religions often engage themselves in breaking one another's heads. Such crude stuff naturally shocks the more sensible ones, who unfortunately rush to give up religion altogether. But there are always some wise people in the world who cannot be duped by the unillumined priests. They see through the game; they find that the crudities of religion imported by ignorant priests and preachers lie just on the surface, beneath which there is priceless treasure.

- Hinduism teaches us to distinguish this crude stuff from real religion. It warns us of the danger of being led by imposters and asks us to get religion from the source, from the original teachings of the seers and the prophets. If these teachings require explanation, that has to come from some other seer of God. Not only this, Hinduism advices everyone to find a seer to be his spiritual guide (GURU).

- We should not forget that religion is something immensely practical. No amount of tall talk will do. If we want to be real men, we have to cleanse our mind. This is precisely the task before us. Simply to count oneself as a Hindu or a Muslim or a Christian is nothing. Merely to subscribe to the views of a church is not enough. Nor is it enough to be only versed in one's religious literature. One has to put into practice the great teachings of the seers and prophets of one's own religion and regulate one's own life accordingly. This alone can lead us towards the goal. We have to bring out the Divinity within us and become real men, and for this, we have to strive our best. Really, we attain Dharma, that is, our essential nature, only when God in us becomes fully manifest. And for achieving this aim we should spare no pains.

- Now, let us sum up what we have discussed so far. Everything in creation is essentially Divine. It is given to man only to fully manifest Divinity within him and become Divine in all his bearings. Then alone he attains perfection and becomes a real man distinct from all other beings. He enjoys unbounded freedom, bliss, power and wisdom. He can then speak like one in authority and inspire others to go ahead. Religion teaches man how he can reach this blessed goal. Every religion, as it has been taught by its prophets, shows a correct path towards this goal. This is why religion is something immensely practical. We have to strive hard to carry out all that religion wants us to do. We have to form our attitude towards life and shape our conduct according to its teachings. If we go the other way and revel in our impurities, we sink to the brute level. These, in short are some of the fundamental teachings of Hinduism and from these we get a general idea of what the Hindus mean by religion.