Facets of Dharma

There are seven facets to dharma [right action] just as there are seven colors contained in the rays of the sun. The first facet of dharma is truth. The second facet is good character. The third is righteous conduct. The fourth is sense control. The fifth is penance or austerity. The sixth is renunciation, and the seventh facet of dharma is non-violence. All these facets of dharma have been laid down for the protection of the individual and for the well-being of society.

Digest 2, p. 97

Dharma will compel integration of thought, word, and deed. It will cleanse the mind and rid it of greed and hate. Every faith is but an endeavor to cleanse the impulses and emotions, as part of the process of discovering the truth of the world, seen and unseen. No one who has trodden that path and engaged himself in that process, has escaped calumny and cruelty.

Mohamed, who sought to establish the primacy of one formless Absolute, had a large share of persecution, defamation, and privation. Jesus attempted to rebuild mankind on the basis of love and was crucified by little men who feared that their tiny towers of hate and greed would be toppled by his teaching. Harishchandra, who had resolved never to waver from truth, was subjected to ordeal after ordeal, each more terrifying than the previous one. Those who seek to know God must steel themselves to bear insult, injury, and torture with a smile.

Sanathana Sarathi, Dec 1981

There is not one dharma for Indians and another for westerners. Dharma is universal. Yes. There is a test that may be applied to any action and you may thereby determine if it is according to dharma. Let not that happen with which you do harm or injure another. This flows from the recognition that the light, which is God, is the same in every form, and if you injure another you are injuring that same light that is yourself. Dharma enables you to come to the recognition that anything that is bad for another form is also bad for you. The test for dharmic action is stated very clearly in the Christian religion. That is: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.

Digest, p. 80

Dharma must be surging from the heart as the cool energizing water of prema and shanti—love and peace. You can learn what exactly dharma is from Ramayana. Rama is the very embodiment of dharma; every word and every deed is resonant with its message.

Digest, p. 81