Dharm

Correct pronunciation is more like ‘Dh-erm’ and not like “Daar-maa’.

Dharm and Brahman are the two concepts in Hindu world view that are truly so unique and powerful that they have no equivalent the Western languages. One has to imbibe the Hindu thought ocean to understand them.

Does Dharm mean ‘religion’? Such as: does Hindu Dharm mean Hindu religion? The short answer is NO.
There is no one word equivalent of Dharm in English. So, by equating it to religion, we do a serious disservice to the word Dharm, because, then all the limitations, history, negativity and misgivings associated with the label “religion” become implicitly imposed on Hindu Dharm as done erroneously by the many Indian and Western intellectuals and critics .

So what does Dharm mean?
Simply stated, it means properties of and principles that govern the behavior and interaction of :
1. Materials such as physical objects (animate and inanimate);
2. Energy (mechanical, gravitational, kinetic, thermal, optical, electromagnetic, nuclear etc.), and
3. Beyond matter and energy (emotional, intellectual, spiritual, Consciousness)
4. In colloquial terms Dharm is frequently used to mean duty, as in what is my Dharm (duty) in any given circumstance. This again can be understood as what should be my action that is in accordance with the universal laws.

Note that the Sanskrit root ‘Dha’ in Dharm means that which upholds (regulates, maintains, keeps it together) – the universe/existence. So, in this sense, Dharm has the same meaning as the modern day scientific equations that describe the relationship between matter and matter, between matter and energy, between various forms of energy, except that in word statement of Dharm, these concepts are not expressed as mathematical equations – which happens to be the preferred language of modern day science.

There is much work being done to explore and understand the behavior and interaction of matter and energy in today’s science and technology fields. We have well developed rules, laws and mathematical equations, empirical equations, and tools and machinery that describe and employ these relationship to benefit the humankind. However, it is only recently that we have started to apply scientific methods to explore the mind-body relationship as expounded in Hindu literature – the concept of Panch Kosha (five layers, the first three layers being: Annamaya, Praanmaya, and Manomaya). It should be noted that the functioning of human body is considered to be in the matter domain in Hindu perspective. Thus, even though our current knowledge about the first two points quoted above are significant; the third point has remained unappreciated and poorly understood because modern day scientific tools are yet inadequate to explore these domains.

Coming back to understanding Dharm: These universal principles are always in force. Nothings can happen that is not in accordance with these principles without a penalty. For examples, in the Jada (matter) world, we are familiar with the various immutable laws in physics, chemistry, thermodynamics, electrodynamics, conservation of mass and energy and so on. Similarly, there are immutable laws in the Chetan (conscious) world; such as laws of karma, thoughts and spirit.
It should be noted that there is a continuum of relationship between all fields – matter, energy, thoughts and spirit. Einstein showed that the matter and energy are related, that space and time and gravity are related. We know that our thoughts, emotional state affects our bodies. That gravity, electromagnetics affects our bodies. That meditation affects our body and mind. With this understanding, it is easy to extrapolate such interrelationship to subtler domains. Thus, Dharm can be understood as the immutable universal principles that govern the matter, energy and subtle domain of our existence in a continuum. I like to think of Dharm as flowing stream of consciousness – swimming (our thoughts, actions) along which means living in accordance with Dharm.

We can now see that the English word ‘religion’ does no justice to the word Dharm. We should stop using the word Hindu religion and start using Hindu Dharm or better still Sanaatan Dharm. The word Sanaatan has the meaning of eternal. Hence, the correct understanding of Hindu religion should be as Eternal Laws of Universe.

To keep the language simple, we will continue to use the Hindu for the followers of the Vedic or Sanaatan Dharm. However, to differentiate between Dharm and religion, we will use the term Hindu-ism rather than Hinduism.