It is neither the act nor the result, but the natural laws that guide the act and create the result to prevent chaos in the world.

The Christian notion of Physis, meaning created order or the arrangement of physical reality, from which the modern word physics is derived, also overlaps with some readings of Dharma, albeit with a lesser emphasis on the divine.

In addition, the New Testament usage of ( nmos, literally law ) would often translate Dharma well, as it is used both with reference to divine law (as in Heb 8:10 10 ) and to the correct way for humans to live in accordance to divine law (as in Rom 9:31 11 ).

For Sikhs, dharma means the path of righteousness and proper religious practice.

The ancient Tamil moral text of Tirukkural is solely based on aam, the Tamil term for dharma.

The antonym of dharma is adharma.

It is derived from an older Vedic Sanskrit n -stem dharman-, with a literal meaning of bearer, supporter, in a religious sense conceived as an aspect of Rta.

It is semantically similar to the Greek Themis (fixed decree, statute, law).

In some contemporary Indian languages and dialects it alternatively occurs as dharm.

For example, while Grassmanns 27 translation of Rig-veda identifies seven different meanings of dharma, Karl Friedrich Geldner in his translation of the Rig-veda employs 20 different translations for dharma, including meanings such as law, order, duty, custom, quality, and model, among others.

However, the word dharma has become a widely accepted loanword in English, and is included in all modern unabridged English dictionaries.

It is the thing that regulates the course of change by not participating in change, but that principle which remains constant.

Monier-Williams, the widely cited resource for definitions and explanation of Sanskrit words and concepts of Hinduism, offers 29 numerous definitions of the word dharma, such as that which is established or firm, steadfast decree, statute, law, practice, custom, duty, right, justice, virtue, morality, ethics, religion, religious merit, good works, nature, character, quality, property.

Yet, each of these definitions is incomplete, while the combination of these translations does not convey the total sense of the word.

In common parlance, dharma means right way of living and path of rightness.

In the earliest texts and ancient myths of Hinduism, dharma meant cosmic law, the rules that created the universe from chaos, as well as rituals; in later Vedas, Upanishads, Puranas and the Epics, the meaning became refined, richer, and more complex, and the word was applied to diverse contexts.

In certain contexts, dharma designates human behaviours considered necessary for order of things in the universe, principles that prevent chaos, behaviours and action necessary to all life in nature, society, family as well as at the individual level.

Dharma encompasses ideas such as duty, rights, character, vocation, religion, customs and all behaviour considered appropriate, correct or morally upright.

As with dharma, the word adharma includes and implies many ideas; in common parlance, adharma means that which is against nature, immoral, unethical, wrong or unlawful.

According to Paul Horsch, 26 the word dharma has its origin in the myths of Vedic Hinduism.

The hymns of the Rig Veda claim Brahman created the universe from chaos, they hold (dhar-) the earth and sun and stars apart, they support (dhar-) the sky away and distinct from earth, and they stabilise (dhar-) the quaking mountains and plains.

The gods, mainly Indra, then deliver and hold order from disorder, harmony from chaos, stability from instability actions recited in the Veda with the root of word dharma.

In hymns composed after the mythological verses, the word dharma takes expanded meaning as a cosmic principle and appears in verses independent of gods.

It evolves into a concept, claims Paul Horsch, 26 that has a dynamic functional sense in Atharvaveda for example, where it becomes the cosmic law that links cause and effect through a subject.

Past the ritual and cosmic sense of dharma that link the current world to mythical universe, the concept extends to ethical-social sense that links human beings to each other and to other life forms.

It is here that dharma as a concept of law emerges in Hinduism.

The inscription renders the word Dharma in Sanskrit as Eusebeia in Greek, suggesting dharma in ancient India meant spiritual maturity, devotion, piety, duty towards and reverence for human community.

According to Paul Hacker, 40 on the rock appears a Greek rendering for the Sanskrit word dharma: the word eusebeia.

Scholars of Hellenistic Greece explain eusebeia as a complex concept.

Eusebia means not only to venerate gods, but also spiritual maturity, a reverential attitude toward life, and includes the right conduct toward ones parents, siblings and children, the right conduct between husband and wife, and the conduct between biologically unrelated people.

This rock inscription, concludes Paul Hacker, 40 suggests dharma in India, about 2300 years ago, was a central concept and meant not only religious ideas, but ideas of right, of good, of ones duty toward the human community.

Paul Horsch 26 suggests ta and dharma are parallel concepts, the former being a cosmic principle, the latter being of moral social sphere; while My and dharma are also correlative concepts, the former being that which corrupts law and moral life, the later being that which strengthens law and moral life.

Sanatana Dharma Pdf In Kannada