What is Dharma and its relevance in all religion.

Once George bernard Shaw said that common sence is not common in common people. Today I
feel that how true this dictum is.Time and again I have to remind my readers the extent to which
we have denigraded our own selves as humans. we are ashamed to say that we are the most
intelligent animals on the face of the earth.We are just animals now, or rather worse than an
animal.Mindless killing of innocents in the name of religion,excessive use of our natural
resource,Cutting of trees and clearing of the forests only to feed someones elses greed,all these
has brought us to a threshold of extinction. But had we looked a little deeper into our selves we
would have found the answers of living a harmonius,happy,and a healthier life.The heaven would
have been here on earth itself. The main essence of all these is DHARMA AND ITS PRESENCE
IN ALL MAJOR RELIGION OF THE WORLD. So what is dharma???
Dharma is derived from the Sanskrit root "dhr" meaning to hold up, to carry, to bear, to sustain.
The word dharma refers to that which upholds or sustains the universe. Human society, for
example, is sustained and upheld by the dharma performed by its members.
(dhar, "uphold"). Rules of order, custom, and ethics, adherence to which is necessary to maintain
order in society. In the Upanishads, dharma is primarily knowledge of the way to attain Brahman.
Vedic scriptures describes dharma as the natural universal laws whose observance enables
humans to be contented and happy, and to save himself from degradation and suffering. Dharma
is the moral law combined with spiritual discipline that guides one's life. The Atharva Veda
describes dharma symbolically: Prithivim dharmana dhritam, that is, "this world is upheld by
dharma anything that helps human being to reach god is dharma and anything that hinders
human being from reaching god is adharma. According to the Bhagavat Purana, righteous living
or life on a dharmic path has four aspects: austerity (tap), purity (shauch), compassion (daya) and
truthfulness (satya); and adharmic or unrighteous life has three vices: pride (ahankar), contact
(sangh), and intoxication (madya).

Manusmriti written by the ancient sage Manu, prescribes 10 essential rules for the observance of
dharma: Patience (dhriti), forgiveness (kshama), piety or self control (dama), honesty (asteya),
sanctity (shauch), control of senses (indraiya-nigrah), reason (dhi), knowledge or learning (vidya),
truthfulness (satya) and absence of anger (krodha). Manu further writes, "Non-violence, truth,
non-coveting, purity of body and mind, control of senses are the essence of dharma". Therefore
dharmic laws govern not only the individual but all in society. Does any other religion say anything
different than these?

the purpose of dharma is not only to attain a union of the soul with the supreme reality, it also
suggests a code of conduct that is intended to secure both worldly joys and supreme happiness.
Rishi Kanda has defined dharma in Vaisesika as "that confers worldly joys and leads to supreme
happiness".
Dharma is an Eastern term whose Western equivalents might include morality, ethics, virtue,
righteousness and purity. Sadly, most of those terms are distinctly unfashionable in our modern
culture. Yet it is Dharma by which the seeker of truth can achieve happiness that he is looking for.
When Moses brought down the 10 commandments from Mt. Sinai he taught the Israelites that
Dharma was the divine law by which they (who loved truth) aspired could free themselves from
their Egyptian slave masters (the base desires) and reach the promised land (spiritual liberation).

Although Mohammed led his followers into a bloody and terrible war to defend the law of Islam
(Dharma) from the child-murdering and mysoginistic idolaters, he described that physical war as
the 'lesser jihad'.The 'greater Jihad' is the infinitely more difficult war which the seekers fight
within themselves for moral purification, death of the ego and victory over desire, attachment and
conditioning.
Christ taught us that forgiveness frees us from our own petty ego (and its qualities such as pride,
vengeance, aggression, grudge bearing) so that we can stay on the path of Dharma. Christ's
message is encapsulated in statements such as 'He who looks at a woman with lust has already
committed adultery' ‹ in other words an external morality or ethic is insufficient, for true Dharma is
purity of heart and mind.
Even before the advent of Lord Krishna when there was no existence of Bhagavad Gita, even
before Jesus Christ there was no existence of the bible and christianity, even before Mohammed
there was no existence of Allah and Islam BUT the Humanity survived on the basis of the
Dharma,The Natural laws. And this Dharma forms the core of Hinduism. Ever since Human
Beings came into existence... existed Sanatana Dharma... the ever-existing Dharma since Times
Immemorial. The word Sanatana means something without a beginning... in other words existing
since Times Immemorial.

Hinduism in other words is defined as Sanatana Dharma... it is not a Religion... it is not the
preaching... Hinduism exists for the existence of Life itself. In the times of Rama who came much
before Lord Krishna existed Dharma and only Dharma. There was no Religion in existence at that
time. The society survived because of the ingrained Dharma in every living being. Even before
the word Hindu got coined by the followers of Islamic Dharma... India existed as Bharatvarsha.
The word Bharatvarsha was derived from the King Bharat who reigned over the region where
prevailed the Sanatana Dharma.

The region beyond the Indus River which divides the territory between the present India and
Pakistan, everything beyond the sindh territory (now in Pakistan) lived the followers of Sanatana
Dharma who were pronounced as Hindus (which stood for the people who lived beyond the sindh
and as sindh was pronounced as Hind by the followers of Islamic Dharma... the immigrants of the
Hind region came to be known as Hindus. The territory came to be known as Hind territory and
finally Hindustan and the following Hinduism.My idea is not to hurt anybody in any way but to
wake up the conciousness of one and all. what all of us are doing in the name of religion and all
of us doing in the name of getting more profits and prosperity,in fact we are pushing this only
place that we have to live, in oblivion.
No religion in the world teaches us to wage war against our own people.No religion teaches us to
disrespect nature in any way, Every religion in the world teaches us to respect and love nature
and love our fellow human beings. So why don't we all do some introspection? and Why can we
not take the actual preaching of the religion that each one of us are following?