A collection of quotes on Dharma from various Hindu scriptures.
Food, sleep, fear, and procreation are same among humans and
animals, dharma is special only to humans; without dharma the humans are akin to
animals. (Mahabharata, Shanti Parva, 294.29).
In many verses of the Bhagavad Gita, the word ‘dharma’ is
taken to mean morality. (Gita, 1.1 and 4.7)
It is also used in the sense of doing one’s duties, which
would save one from grave danger (Gita 2.40).
‘Dharma’ has been used in the sense of virtue in the
Bhagavata Purana (1.1.2.).
In the Mahabharata,
friendliness towards all beings is considered dharma. (Mahabharata Shanti Parva,
261.59.)
The Mahabharata equates dharma with justice (7.89.47).
Yet he (Brahman) did not flourish. He specially projected
that excellent form, dharma (righteousness). This dharma is the controller of the kshatriya. Therefore there is nothing higher than that. (So) even a weak man hopes (to defeat) a stronger man through dharma, as (one contending) with the king. That dharma is verily truth. Therefore they say about a person speaking of truth, ‘He speaks of dharma,’ or about a person speaking of dharma, ‘He speaks of truth,’ for both these are but dharma. (Brihadaranyaka Upanishad, 1.4.14)
Do not do to others what is not agreeable to oneself. This,
in brief, is dharma; everything else proceeds from desire. (Mahabharata, 13.114.8)
That which upholds is called dharma; all beings are
sustained by dharma. Anything that is capable of holding things
together—know it for certain, that is dharma. (Mahabharata, 12.110.11).
When in search of knowledge or prosperity, think that you
would never have death or disease, and when practicing dharma, think that
death’s hand is on your hair. (Hitopadesha, 1.3).
Dharma is also taken to mean forgiveness and steadfastness (Mahabharata
4.6.20).
The Manusmriti defines dharma as ‘non-violence, truth,
non-stealing, cleanliness, and equanimity. (10.63)
Without purity, no true worship is possible. Unless an
individual is pure in body and mind, his coming into a temple and worshipping
the Deity are meaningless. (Ranjit Kumar Barman, ‘An Indian Outlook to the
Concept of Dharma: In the Need of the Present Day’, International Journal of
Humanities and Social Sciences, 4/5 (August–September 2015), 59–70; 64)
Article source - An Examination of the Concept of Dharma
Ranjit Kumar Barman Prabuddha Bharata March 2016
