The Wonder That is Hindu Dharma

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Hindu religion and Hindu thought have governed the Hindu way of life for thousands of years. Dharma is an intrinsic concept of this way of life since it treats life as a whole: it not only guides the social life of the people, but it also serves as the basis of political life in India. If we ignore dharma and its dictates, we ignore all that is moral and righteous. According to the author, it stands for the virtues of self- denial, compassion, fraternal love and purity-the fundamental and universal values that serve as the basis of Indian society. He explains the concept of dharma in its various forms and attempts to establish that it is neither philosophy nor religion, neither morality nor law, yet it pervades all these. Dharma is necessary for the development of a human being not only as an individual but also as a member of society. It paves the way for social, religious and political synthesis in human society as well as for the progress and welfare of all mankind.

R.C. Gupta (b.1927) was the Principal of Ravindra College, Bhopal. Earlier he held the position of Principal in Islamia College, Indore. He has authored several books in Hindi and English on subjects like Gandhian philosophy, socialism and democracy in India and Sri Krishna.

TN the long history of the Indian people with all its currents and cross-currents, with upheavals and setbacks, one can discern one supreme characteristic which has sustained them for thousands of years. It is their vitality as a distinct type, with a distinct civilization of their own and a mind that remained active even after centuries of foreign rule as ever in the past. Their vitality consists in their unique system of thought and conspicuous way of living. It is the mind and the spirit of the people of India, and not their body and the physical environment, that have enabled them to think and act and find out for themselves a consistent world of ideas and of behaviour, which have their value not only for the Indian man but for the whole of humanity.

Spiritual life is the genius of India. Those who make the greatest appeal to the Hindu mind are not the great rulers or the military conquerors, not the rich merchants or the great diplomats, but the holy sages, the rșis who embody spirituality at its finest and purest.

The Indian hermits or rsis, who lived in forest homes (tapovans), were not lonely recluses or celibate anchorites cut off from the society of women and the duties of the family. They, in fact, formed groups of householders, living with their wives and children but not pursuing wealth or fame or material advancement like the ordinary men of the world. They had frequent touch with the cities and the royal court by means of respectful invitations to the domestic ceremonies of the kings and the rich men, and the visits made by the latter to their hermitages in the spirit of pilgrimage, or for taking counsel with the holy men (Raghuvamsam, I. 35). The quiet repose of these sylvan retreats tempted kings and queens to retire to them in the evening of their lives. The sages had full know- ledge of the worldly life and affairs. However, all their attention was devoted to the practice of virtue and the cultivation of knowledge; they lived in the world, but were not of it.

**Contents and Sample Pages**