Dharma

By Victor M Fontane

Dharma is the foundational principle of cosmic order, righteousness, and rightful conduct in Vedas and Upanishads. Its importance is profound at every level of human existence—individual, family, society, and country—because it is what sustains harmony, truth, and evolution of life.

1. Individual Level

Importance:

Dharma gives purpose, clarity, and direction to life.

It aligns one’s actions with truth (satya), self-discipline (tapas), and self-realization (atma-bodha).

It protects the mind from ego, greed, hatred, and ignorance.

Scriptural Insight:

“Dharma eva hato hanti, dharmo rakshati rakshitah” (Manusmriti):

One who destroys Dharma is destroyed by it. One who protects Dharma is protected by it.

2. Family Level

Importance:

Dharma brings love, respect, responsibility, and mutual duty among family members.

Upholding pitru dharma (duty toward parents), stri dharma (woman’s dignity and strength), and grihastha dharma (householder’s role) ensures generational harmony.

It becomes a training ground for ethical living and empathy.

Scriptural Insight:

The Vedas emphasize that grihastha ashrama (household life) is the pillar that supports all other stages of life (brahmacharya, vanaprastha, sannyasa).

3. Societal Level

Importance:

Dharma fosters trust, justice, cooperation, and social order.

When society forgets dharma, adharma (injustice, corruption, violence) spreads.

A dharmic society honors varna-by-karma (functional roles), not hierarchy by birth, and integrates diversity with interdependence.

Scriptural Insight:

Yato dharmas tato jayah (Mahabharata):

Where there is dharma, there is victory.

4. National or Country Level

Importance:

A dharmic nation practices good governance, welfare of all beings (sarva bhuta hite ratah), and environmental responsibility.

It creates laws that reflect truth, justice, and collective upliftment, not just legal codes.

It nurtures freedom with responsibility and spiritual strength over mere economic or military power.

Scriptural Insight:

The Ramayana and Mahabharata present kings like Rama and Yudhishthira as dharmarajas, whose rule upheld truth, justice, and welfare of people.

Dharma is not religion—it is the universal principle of rightful living.

It is the very framework of existence: when upheld, it sustains; when violated, it collapses. The Vedas and Upanishads teach that progress without dharma is self-destructive, but when dharma guides all levels of life, truth, harmony, and evolution naturally flourish.