Dharma means holding, dharma means belief, dharma means conduct, dharma means faith, dharma means devotion — this is the fundamental definition of dharma.
The second definition of dharma is given as — good thoughts, goodwill, morality, good conduct, good values, culture means dharma.
According to this definition, dharma is divided into two types —
1. Dharma 2. Adharma….
Good thoughts, culture, morality, limits means dharma, and thoughts and behavior contrary to this means adharma. For example — perversion, evil thoughts, discrimination, misconduct, evil policy, immorality, evil feelings means adharma.
The third definition of dharma is — truth, justice, ethics, compassion, forgiveness, peace means dharma. Not following these thoughts means adharma. Injustice, atrocity, corruption, black market, dishonest dealings, exploitation, oppression means adharma. Earning profit, charging interest is also adharma. This is the definition and types of dharma and adharma measured by the scale of morality.
In my opinion, thoughts of equality, conduct, having faith in it — this is the true dharma. And inequality, discrimination, thoughts and behavior of high and low — that is adharma.
Without equality there is no brotherhood, without equality there is no freedom, without equality there is no justice either. In the thoughts and conduct of equality, freedom, equality, brotherhood, justice — these human values are included.
In thoughts, feelings, and conduct of inequality, freedom, equality, brotherhood, justice — these values have no place. In inequality there is no compassion, affection, forgiveness, there is no truth-justice-ethics, inequality is very fierce and monstrous, it is terrible, it is destructive. It is evil, it is deceitful.
It causes quarrels between people. It turns real brothers into confirmed enemies. In inequality there is perversion. There is hatred, jealousy, evil feelings. There is ego. From ego comes greed for power, wealth, and prestige, and due to greed a person starts committing many injustices, atrocities, misconduct, corruption.
The work of nurturing ego is done by inequality-based thoughts, conduct and system. Therefore one must say — equality means dharma and inequality means adharma.
There are many traditional religions in the world. But not all of them are beneficial to humans. Dharma will have to be divided into two types — beneficial and harmful. The dharma whose thoughts and conduct are of equality, only that dharma should be considered beneficial to humans, and the dharma whose thoughts and conduct are of inequality, those dharmas should be considered harmful.
The dharma that discriminates between people, makes distinction of touchable and untouchable, creates many castes and makes distinctions of superior and inferior among them, the dharma that does not give equal opportunity to all, does not give equal status, does not give a person identity, self-confidence, self-reliance, freedom — that is not dharma but adharma itself.
In Hinduism (Vedic Brahmin religion) there is no equality, no freedom, no equal opportunity, discrimination is made between people, one united society is divided into four pieces and 85 percent of people are discriminated as Shudra, Atishudra and gender discrimination is done, their human rights, right to live, right to hold property, right to enter temples, right to water, employment, power is denied, they are enslaved, they are treated as second-class citizens with misconduct, women are considered impure, a means of enjoyment, slaves. Where equality has absolutely no place.
By imposing Rotibandi and Betibandi, castes and religions are locked — so that the people stuffed inside cannot go out, and outsiders cannot come in — such are the restrictions of religion. The dharma in which individual freedom is destroyed, such dharma should not be considered dharma but adharma.
The dharma in which there are thoughts and conduct of equality, only that dharma should be considered beneficial to humans.
The inequality in Hinduism caused havoc, meaning injustice and atrocity was done, those who did not receive equal treatment. Only the Brahmin caste is pure, sacred, of one lineage — all other castes are not of the same lineage, they are mixed, therefore they are impure and unholy, therefore they are Shudra and Atishudra. Therefore they should live only as slaves. They cannot become owners of any country or region. The dharma in which such racism exists, that dharma stands in the way of human welfare.
Because every person has a mother and father, no one can be born without a mother and father. Those mother and father may be of any varna, caste, or blood. Ultimately the blood and muscles of all are the same, there is no difference in them at all.
All of humanity in the world is one. Ultimately a human is a human. He is not an animal, bird, or tree. To strengthen the marriage system and by creating racism to discriminate between people as pure and impure, holy and unholy, upper and lower, born of this or that lineage — is wrong, unscientific, and anti-scientific. Such thoughts are regressive thoughts.
From racism and casteism came dynasties, from which castes were created and inequality was established. This caste system, dynastism, religion and the inequality within it became an obstacle to the progress of all humanity, and is still a problem.
The country in which there is inequality in dharma, in which there is caste discrimination — the unity and integrity of such a country cannot survive. Because people become blind devotees due to inequality-based religion, their faith is not rational. They are linked to heaven, rebirth, God, fate, sin and merit. Religiously faithful people are religious fanatics.
They have no faith in karma, effort, self-confidence, courage, valor, discovery, innovation — they entrust truth, justice, ethics all to God. The one who does and causes everything to be done is God, we are merely instruments — religious fanatics are firm in this belief.
They say — “Stay as the Almighty has kept you, sit quietly without doing anything,”
But when the topic of religion comes, they are ready to fight on the streets. Such a dual role is that of faithful people. They are victims of blind faith. They do not think about logic, evidence, experience, history, discovery.
Therefore blind faith and ritualism have flourished. Which are obstacles to human progress. They have become enemies of each other’s lives.
Therefore the dharma that does not give freedom to women, that practices caste discrimination, the dharmas that are stuck in blind faith and ritualism, that discriminates between people, that believes poverty and caste are the result of sins committed by a person in the previous religion — such dharmas are not in the interest of humans.
That is why new religions emerged — for example, Basaveshwara established the Lingayat religion. Buddha’s Dhamma, Chakradhar Swami’s Mahanubhav Panth, the Varkaris’ Bhagavat Dharma, the recent Shiva Dharma. All these equality-based religions came out of religions that had inequality.
Yet due to being stuck in devotion to God, worship, and ritualism — casteism and religious fanaticism are not ready to leave people’s minds.
In summary, one should practice dharma only after thinking whether dharma is beneficial or harmful. Otherwise staying away from it will be beneficial.
Author
Datta Tumwad
Satyashodhak Samaj Nanded…
