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Wellsprings
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Dharma (Right Order and Duty)

Both the law that upholds the world and the right way for you to live within it.

Dharma is one of the richest words in the tradition. It means the order that holds the cosmos together, and at the same time the right way for a person to live — one's duty, ethics, and proper role given one's stage and station in life. It is what is fitting and sustaining, as against adharma, what tears the fabric. Because it is so context-dependent, much of Hindu ethical and legal literature is an inquiry into what dharma actually requires.

How it traveled

  1. Bhagavad-gītā
    Kuru-Pañcāla region · -150
    explains

Key passages(18)

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

Very high

Bhagavad-gītā · Vyāsa (Yoga-bhāṣya commentator)

Very high

Bṛhadāraṇyaka Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Very high

Vaiśeṣika-sūtra · Kaṇāda

Very high

Aṣṭāvakra-gītā · Aṣṭāvakra

High

Chāndogya Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Mīmāṃsā-sūtra · Jaimini

High

Vivekacūḍāmaṇi · Śaṅkara (traditionally ascribed; authorship doubted)

High

Upadeśasāhasrī · Ādi Śaṅkara

High

Upadeśasāhasrī · Ādi Śaṅkara

High

Gītārtha-saṃgraha · Yāmunācārya (Ālavandār)

High

Kaṭha Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

High

Mīmāṃsā-sūtra · Jaimini

High

Paramārthasāra · Abhinavagupta

High

Praśna Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Moderate

Tantrasāra · Abhinavagupta

Moderate

Śiva-stotrāvalī · Utpaladeva

Moderate

Śvetāśvatara Upaniṣad · Vedic Revelation (śruti)

Moderate