what is right and refrain from doing what is not right is known in our culture as ‘dharma’.”

Major H. Subramanian defines dharma as ‘ought consciousness’ – a passion to do only what is right and refrain from doing what is not right is known in our culture as ‘dharma’.”  Whatever connotations the word ‘dharma’ evoke as applied in a context, it is the idea of ‘Sanatana Dharma’ which knits all Hindus together, whether they be in Nepal, India, or in the Caribbean. Every Hindu knows what dharma is. Every Hindu also knows that dharma is sanatana (without beginning or end, perennial) as it transcends phenomena. It is more than a belief or a maxim which has had a phenomenal birth and which therefore would also have a phenomenal death.   Dharma is bound to the human soul (atman) just as heat is bound to fire, or fluidity to water . Dharma is bound to an object as its inseparable function. When one speaks of ‘Sanatana Dharma,’ one is speaking of an eternal bond that is indivisible from human beings; you cannot separate heat from fire. For an individual, the supreme dharma (the supreme function) is the realization of the supreme truth.  The Puranas and the two Hindu epics, and indeed all great literature, are demonstrative of the active principle of dharma that leads humans on their march to the final realization. The Dharmasutras are ethical guidelines written by human beings for individuals to uphold dharma that will propel them towards the final goal. However, we find from experience that codified ethics are neither rigid nor mandatory, but vary according to time.  At the end of the Mahabharata battle, dharma is shown as irredeemable, except by a subterfuge. “Unlike Rama, Krishna did not adhere to an external code of Dharma. Rather, he saw to the essence of each situation and acted in such a way as to manifest the greatest divine good” . Krishna himself says in the epic: “The era of Kali has arrived, when the laws of a previous age cannot apply”.  Dharma is a natural progression of the human being to its full-fledged function – the realisation of the truth. In order to reach our full function of realisation, we hold on to dharma by thinking and acting in the only right way to think and act in such a circumstance and such a place. We hold on to dharma not for the reward it will fetch or the benefit it will reap, but just for the sake of dharma.  It is in this sense that dharma is mentioned as the “path of religion.” An act of dharma is devoid of motivation itself, because the act as a whole is a response of our natural essence to a situation. An individual upholds dharma not to attain heaven or to avoid hell, but that is the natural instinct.  In order to relate to dharma in modern terminology, it is worthwhile to examine etymology to find the curious relationship of concepts. The word ‘dharma’ is derived from the Sanskrit root ‘dhri’, even as ‘gadh’ is.