Dharma- Essence Of Indian Epics
Ramayana and Mahabharata are the two grand Sanskrit epics of India. Dharma is the core underlying theme & thread of both wherein Gods incarnate in the form of human to end adharma and restore universal dharma. The dramas also highlight conflicts & dilemmas between different personal, national & social dharma faced by different persons at different context of life.
Dharma is the basis on which all decisions are undertaken and evaluated. Dharma becomes the ends & means of every human’s karma in life. One’s duty and purpose of life then becomes to end adharma and maintain dharma in personal and social sphere. The echo of Dharma is also found in the noble teachings of Buddhism.
What then is Dharma and Adharma? Dharma can be considered as a set of ethical, rightful, good codes of conduct, rule or law by humans in personal & social sphere. The essence of Dharma is goodness & righteousness of human actions. Adharma then is the opposite of Dharma- all the unethical, wrongs, bads & evil conducts, rules or laws by humans across personal & social sphere.
The pursuit and practice of Knowledge of Dharma then become the purpose of Religion. All rightful religions are human myths to infuse moral ethical values in human beings. The essence of Religion is ethics and human values.
Dharma teaches us that God is about being Good. Humans created God so that we don’t become bad and so to keep reminding us our potential goodness. Humans created myth of gods to explain the luck, chance & other non-human mysterious factors that governs our life. One will find God within & around us if one just tries to be & do Good to others for God lies in Goodness & God is nothing but Good. One must worship, learn & practise goodness to find god. One should not worship God as a sacred person who will solve our problems but sacred personality from whom we can learn about different Good qualities & values to help us solve our problems and live a better life.
Dharma also teaches the need for right rules & laws of Self-Governance & Social-Governance. Such rules must enable people & processes to be efficient, innovative & fair. It must enable positive changes and disable negative changes in the society. Such rules must incentivize good practices and dis-incentivize bad practices in both personal and social sphere. Dharma as such becomes a common subject of moral science, a common manifesto of human values and a guiding force & motto of life for better living for everyone in the society.
