FUNDAMENTALS OF DHARMA

[Ms Tercy Lonan]

FUNDAMENTALS OF DHARMA
THE VISHNU SAMHITA enumerates forgiveness, truthfulness, control of the mind,
purity, practice of charity, control of the senses, non-violence, service of the Guru, visiting places of
pilgrimage, compassion, simplicity, absence of greed, worship of the gods and the Brahmanas, and
absence of malice as the ingredients of Samanya Dharma, the general law for all men.
THE MAHABHARATA enumerates the performance of Sraaddha or offering oblations to
the forefathers, religious austerity, truth, restraint of anger, satisfaction with one’s own wife, purity,
learning, absence of envy, knowledge of the Self and forbearance as the fundamentals of Dharma.
It is said in PADMA PURANA that Dharma proceeds from continence, truthfulness,
austerity, charity, self-control, forbearance, purity, non-violence, serenity and non-thieving and
that one should recognise Dharma by these ten factors. According to this Purana, bestowing gifts on
deserving persons, fixing one’s thoughts on Lord Krishna, adoration of one’s parents, offering a
portion of the daily meal to all creatures and giving a morsel of food to a cow are the characteristics
of Dharma.
According to MATSYA PURANA, freedom from malice, absence of covetousness, control
of the senses, austerity, celibacy, compassion, truthfulness, forbearance and fortitude constitute the
fundamentals of Sanatana Dharma.

PATANJALI MAHARSHI, the exponent of Raja Yoga philosophy, recommends that ten
virtues should be practised by all men. The first five are: Ahimsa (non-violence), Satya
(truthfulness), Brahmacharya (celibacy in thought, word and deed), Asteya (non-stealing) and
Aparigraha (non-covetousness). These constitute Yama or self-restraint. The other five virtues are:
Saucha (internal and external purity), Santosha (contentment), Tapas (austerity), Svadhyaya (study
of scriptures or recitation of Mantra) and Isvara-pranidhana (consecration of the fruits of all works
to the Lord). These constitute Niyama or religious observance.
THE GITA enumerates the following virtues as Daivi-Sampat or divine qualities:
fearlessness, cleanness of life, steadfastness in the Yoga of Wisdom, alms-giving, self-restraint,
sacrifice, study of the scriptures, austerity, straightforwardness, harmlessness, truth, absence of
wrath, renunciation, peacefulness, absence of crookedness, compassion to living beings,
non-covetousness, mildness, modesty, absence of fickleness, vigour, forgiveness, fortitude, purity
and absence of envy and pride. All these virtues are manifestations of the four fundamental virtues:
(i) non-violence, (ii) truth, (iii) purity and (iv) self-control. All the above virtues come under the
above four cardinal virtues. The virtues that are enumerated under the Noble Eightfold Path of
Buddhism and the virtues prescribed by Lord Jesus in his Sermon on the Mount, also come under
the above fundamental virtues.
The development of the divine qualities is indispensable for the attainment of
Self-realisation. Brahman or the Eternal is purity. The Eternal cannot be attained without the
attainment of purity. Brahman is truth. The Eternal cannot be attained without practising truth.
Brahman is fearlessness. The Eternal cannot be attained unless you become absolutely fearless.
Attachment to the body causes fear and Dehadhyasa. If only you become fearless, then the
identification with the body will vanish.
You have rendered the heart harder than flint, steel or diamond through greed, miserliness,
harshness and rudeness. You can soften it only through the practice of mercy, sympathy, charity,
generosity, magnanimity, harmlessness, mildness, disinterested action and untiring service of the
poor. You have made the heart crooked and narrow through hypocrisy, untruthfulness, backbiting
and talebearing. You can expand it through the practice of straightforwardness, truthfulness,
cleanness of life, alms-giving and non-covetousness. You have rendered the heart impure through
lust. You can purify it through the practice of celibacy in thought, word and deed.