Dharma Lakshaṇa

This is Bhīshma’s teaching to Yudhishṭhira on what dharma is and where it comes from. It is in the Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 259.

The question: what is dharma?

Yudhishṭhira asks a simple-looking but deep question. What is dharma? Where does it come from? Is it for this world (iha-loka), for the next world (para-loka), or for both? All people are unsure about dharma, because its nature is not simple.

The three sources of dharma

Bhīshma answers with the three sources that the tradition names.

1. Veda. The revealed texts are the final proof (pramāṇa) for dharma. What the Vedas lay down is dharma. What they forbid is adharma.
2. Smṛti. The remembered texts (those of Manu, Yājñavalkya and other dharmaśāstras) set down the principles of the Veda for use in daily life. Smṛti gets its authority from the Veda and cannot go against it.
3. Sadācāra. This is the conduct of those who know the Veda and live by it. When the texts say nothing, or are unclear, the behaviour of good and learned people (śishṭas) is the guide. Sadācāra is the living passing on of the wisdom of dharma in daily practice.

Some scholars add artha (benefit, or the working out of results) as a fourth mark of dharma. Bhīshma mentions this and does not reject it. There is a school that rests dharma on its result: what brings upakāra (benefit) is dharma, and what brings apakāra (harm) is adharma.

The purpose of dharma: loka-yātrā

Bhīshma then makes a plain point. The rules of dharma were set up for loka-yātrā, the running of ordinary life among people. Without dharma, the ties between persons, families, communities and rulers would fall into chaos.

When dharma is kept, it brings sukha (well-being) in this world and the next. The pāpātmā (one of sinful nature) who ignores dharma for quick gain suffers in both.

Ācāra, the base of dharma

Among the three sources, Bhīshma gives first place to ācāra (conduct). He says, “ācāra is the foundation of dharma” (dharmasya nishṭhā tvācāraḥ). Someone may know the Vedas and smṛtis perfectly. If he does not behave by right ācāra, he has not truly taken dharma into himself. Ācāra is dharma lived out. It is how dharma enters the world through action.

The opposite is also true. The pāpācārī, the one of bad conduct, cannot claim to be excused from dharma even in hard times. Dharma is not a tool to take up when it suits and drop when it does not. It is part of a person’s inner being.

The thief

The most striking teaching in this chapter is about the thief (taskara). Even thieves, whose work breaks dharma, keep a code among themselves.

• Thieves make oaths (satya-pratijñā) to each other not to betray one another.
• They keep together and do not cheat inside their own group.
• When another thief steals from them, they look for a king (rājan) to protect them. They call on the very order of dharma that they break all the time.
• When they are strong, they treat dharma as something for the weak. When they become weak, they turn to dharma for protection at once.

Even those who break dharma cannot carry on their own work without satya (truth) as the base they rest on. This is not praise of theft. It shows how satya is the ground of all life in society.

Satya, the highest dharma

From the case of the thieves, Bhīshma says:

Sattvasya vacanaṃ sādhu na satyād vidyate param
satyena vidhṛtaṃ sarvaṃ sarvaṃ satye pratishṭhitam

Truthful speech is the highest good. There is nothing greater than satya. Satya holds up everything, and everything rests in satya.

Even the worst of people, those of cruel nature, keep from betraying and fighting each other when they make promises of satya to one another. When those promises are broken, they destroy each other. The principle that lies under every particular rule of dharma is satya. It is not one rule among many. It is the very ground of life in society and in the worlds.

The teaching on straightness

Bhīshma ends with the lesson for daily life. No one stays strong for ever. The powerful become weak, and the rich become poor. Those who today can ignore dharma without cost will one day depend on it. So one should never let crookedness (anārjava) enter the mind. The reason is not quick punishment. The order of dharma that one harms is the same order one will one day need.

The person who does nothing harmful to others (akiñcitkara) can walk without fear in any company, even before kings, because he carries no sense of wrongdoing inside. His conduct is the highest ācāra.

Sources

• Mahābhārata, Śānti Parva, Mokshadharma Parva, Chapter 259