​Is dharma the same in all ages?

Answer Podcast

Transcript

This is an AI-generated transcript and may contain some errors.
Is dharma the same in all ages? The word dharma has many meanings. Broadly speaking we can talk about dharma at two levels, there is paradharma and there is aparadharma. So aparadharma is the dharma spiritual duty or spiritual nature see the word dharma is actually non-translatable so duty means something which is external and I have to do it, when I come in a country I have to pay taxes to this country if I go to some other country I will pay taxes to that country if I go to a place which is a tax haven I may not have to pay any taxes also the idea of duty is something which is actually very external but I have to do it whereas dharma is actually related with nature that which is intrinsic to us the activities that harmonize us with our intrinsic nature they are what is called dharma so at a fundamental definitional level dharma is our inalienable nature actually Prabhupada mentions this in the introduction of the Bhagavad Gita that that without which we would not be we that is dharma so that which makes me me that is dharma and what is it that makes us us we are all conscious beings and our defining characteristic is that whatever we do in life we want to love and be loved and love means to serve and we love someone we want to please that person so to love and serve is our essential dharma now this there is dharma and there is sanatana dharma sanatana dharma is eternal nature so in this world we love our family members we love our children we love our parents all that is a part of beauty but this is not eternal the sanatana dharma is the soul’s nature to love the sanatana person that is Krishna God so at the highest level dharma is the actions of loving and serving Krishna that is the essential eternal nature so that is our nature but right now we are covered so that which is natural for us does not seem natural right now so an example is given that sugarcane juice is sweet but a person has jaundice that time it does not seem sweet so what is to be done take the sugarcane juice by which it will become you will get cured and then the sweetness will become manifest so that which is natural for us to love and serve Krishna that does not seem natural right now so then there is sadhana bhakti there is a process of sadhana basically in sadhana we have certain duties which we do as a matter of discipline so that my original nature is to love and serve Krishna but right now that nature is not there I get attracted to many other things in the world so those set of activities that purify me and that redirect my love towards Krishna they are my dharma now this is para dharma this is the superior or spiritual duty or spiritual nature now the dharma is something which is like between duty and nature it is the duty that helps us return to our nature to love Krishna is my nature but right now I don’t feel it like my nature so the duty, the dutiful execution of those activities by which my nature will become manifest that is dharma so the para dharma is to love and serve Krishna and that is revived by the activities of sadhana bhakti which we do so para dharma in that sense is sadhana bhakti so along with that there is apara dharma apara dharma is our duties while we are living in the world see we are on a journey to Krishna our life is like a pilgrimage it is a multi life journey in which we are meant to reach Krishna ultimately while we are going towards Krishna we also have to live in this world and while living in this world we have to function harmoniously and there are duties there are duties to family, there are duties to nation there are duties to our dynasty there are duties to our society all those are also important now they are apara dharma that is spiritual, this is non spiritual or material now among them the spiritual is more important but the material also is important so the para dharma is that which enables us to to activate our natural love for Krishna the apara dharma is that which enables us to live harmoniously while we are doing that activation to live harmoniously and contribute constructively in this world so now the specific as far as the para dharma is concerned, now how that love will be activated there are different processes recommended for that like if you go to a doctor now if somebody has got cough there can be 100 medicines for cough but if there is a particular place where there is also a particular disease that is rampant, another disease that is rampant and cough can lead very quickly to that a doctor will tell ok at this point there are many medicines but you take this medicine this is what will work for you best so like that there are many mantras there are many processes of sadhana that are given in the scriptures and which will work best that varies from age to age so the dharma in the sense of activities that direct us towards loving Krishna that is a universal principle but specific which activities will most efficaciously direct our love towards Krishna that will vary so in Kaliyuga it is said that that in Kaliyuga glorifying lord Hari chanting his holy name speaking his glories that is a yuga dharma and if we practice this yuga dharma then we can become absorbed in higher consciousness and our love for Krishna will become activated and we will attain liberation so in previous ages there were other dharmas so this specific activity that will activate our eternal nature that varies so in that sense the specific practice of dharma varies but the principle of dharma that is redirecting activating our eternal nature that remains unvarying