Daniel Bowen

Professor Bandara
Eportfolio
4/25/2015

What is Religion and Dharma

The natural response to the question what is religion? has always been focused on a
christian based answer because of living in the United States. With that said, to most here in
America, religion is a believe in a God or in some higher power. With that belief, it makes one
want to live a certain way. After thinking outside of just christianity the answer has become more
broad but far from perfect. Its a belief in something that directs someone to make certain choices
or actions. Those beliefs are agreed upon by a number of people. It could be a cultural thing or
just a way of life. When thinking about what religion is, dharma can sum it up a lot better in the
eastern religions. Dharma is a term or word that is hard to express in any western language. It is
the path of righteousness and living their life according to those principles. There is no
comparable word or meaning that dharma can be related too. The thought of dharma is not an
easy subject to get to know, but to hindus it is everything. It is their meaning of life. In this paper
we will look further into what dharma is and what it has to do with understanding what religion
is. With these explanations and examples, dharma will be a more well known principle.
As discussed in class, religion means to bond, tie or to have an obligation to. The word is
probably derived from the Latin, meaning to tie back, to tie again. All of religion shares the
goal of tying people back to something behind the surface of life. A greater reality, which lies
beyond, or invisibly infuses, the world that we can perceive our five senses.1 The essence of the

1 Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions: Eastern Traditions. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice-Hall, 2003.
16. Print.,

word is full of unity and companionship. A bond or tie to the people around you or the bond or
tie to a higher power. That bond and tie lead you to be obligated to certain choices and actions. E.
B. Tylor explains this concept best and most simply with the declaration that religion is a belief
in spiritual things.2 In contrast, Dharma is said to deal with behavior, justice, religion, duty, law,
ethics and repentance/ atonement rites. Dharma comes from the Sanskrit root dhr, which means
to support or uphold.3 It is the way Hindus will refer to religion. It has relationship to the cosmic
order, depending on how one behaves to uphold that order. Gods are part of this cosmic order
and have the responsibility of placing everything in their proper place. For example, the way that
one season will change into another or how the Earth rotates around the sun. These are all
directly subject to dharma. Although dharma does indeed refer to a cosmic, eternal principle. It
must also relate to the world of human association. Dharma applies to specific laws and the
contexts to which they are applied.4
Patrick McNamara once said Try to define religion and you invite an argument5. It is seemingly
impossible to find a true and real definition for what religion is. To every person you will get a
different response. This is why there are so many religions. Someone will have a different
understanding or interpretation on what religion is to them and make a church about it. Although
2 E. B. Tylor http://web.pdx.edu/~tothm/religion/Definitions.htm

3Rodrigues, Hillary. Hinduism-The Ebook: an Online Introduction Copyright 2006 by Journal of

Buddhist Ethics Online Books, Ltd. pg. 100

4Flood, G. (1996). An introduction to Hinduism. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press. pg. 58

5 Patrick H. McNamara http://web.pdx.edu/~tothm/religion/Definitions.htm

you will find similarities between the different religions they will never be the exact same.
Which leaves one to think that religion is a man made thing. Regardless, religion can be looked
at in a good light or in a bad light. Religion can help someone progress in life and try to achieve
to be better while in turn religion can also cause mach hatred, to the point of taking someones
life. Dharma works along the same lines. As stated earlier, it is difficult to define or explain what
dharma is. Hinduism describes dharma as the natural universals laws which enables humans to
find peace and happiness. Also, saving someone from pain and suffering. Dharma is the moral
law attached with spiritual discipline that guides ones life. Hindus consider dharma the very
foundation of life. It is the law of being without which things cannot exist.
In conclusion, religion is a word that is hard to define because it has been used and abused
throughout time. There are so many different religions that it keeps things confusing. It will be
impossible for the world to agree on what religion is or how to define it. Religion can be very
dangerous and also bring much happiness. People hate one another because they are a different
religion or have different beliefs. In contrast, it can give someone identity of who they are, where
they came from and where they are going. In other words, Religion is our human response to
being alive and having to die.6 Depending how you look at it, religion has had and will continue
to play a major role in the world. Understanding what dharma is helps someone to understand
what religion is. Dharma can be explained as righteousness, correct conduct and moral law and
responsibility.The struggle is that, no single word in the english language fully covers its
meaning. Anyone who makes dharma the center focus point to their life will have a desire to do
the right thing throughout their lifetime.

6 R. Forrester Church http://web.pdx.edu/~tothm/religion/Definitions.htm

Works Cited

Rodrigues, Hillary. Hinduism-The Ebook: an Online Introduction Copyright 2006 by Journal of

Buddhist Ethics Online Books, Ltd.
Flood, G. (1996). An introduction to Hinduism. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Coward, H. (2007). Readings in eastern religions (2nd ed.). Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier
University Press.
Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions: Eastern Traditions. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Prentice-Hall,
2003. 16. Print.,
E. B. Tylor http://web.pdx.edu/~tothm/religion/Definitions.htm
Patrick H. McNamara http://web.pdx.edu/~tothm/religion/Definitions.htm
R. Forrester Church http://web.pdx.edu/~tothm/religion/Definitions.htm