DHARMA EXHAUSTS YOUR KARMAS.
BY DOING ACCORDING TO SPIRITUAL OR NATURAL LAW, YOU
GET MORE AND MORE DETACHED FROM DESIRES AND SELFISH
ACTIONS.  IN OTHER WORDS: IT CUTS ASUNDER YOUR CHAINS OR
BONDAGE OF KARMAS.

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      Dharma is the harmonizing factor between materialism and spirituality. The grammatical root of dharma is dhri: to hold. When you are living the dharma, you are upheld in a comfortable, easy discipline—peaceful, harmonious, cooperative, loving. Therefore it makes you prepared to seek further or deeper, joining the material and the kingdom of Spirit. Living the dharma keeps the balance and order and harmony of anything—your thoughts, your feelings, your body, your relationships, your possessions, your surroundings, your weather, your job, your economics, your art, your culture. It includes everything and everyone, including the devic or angelic world. All these are connected throughout creation in such a way that what you and I do not only affects us but also our surroundings. In other words, we cannot isolate ourselves and do whatever we want. Those who do this are selfish and doomed. There is no gap between any of the elements in creation. Everything is governed by this law, the dharma, which maintains order and harmony in such a way that it perfectly fulfills the greater purpose for everyone and everything. The presiding Vedic deity for dharma is Lord Ganesha. When you live the dharma, dharma upholds you, integrates you, regenerates you, keeps you balanced and, therefore gives you peace and order, a natural kind of discipline, and avoids chaos.
     Dharma is not only ethics or morality, which certainly are a part of it. Simply following a few virtues does not necessarily make you dharmic. If you are not disturbing the atmosphere, if you are not disturbing your body, if you are not disturbing your mind, if you are not creating tensions and agitations, if you are not bringing any disturbing reactions or condemnations, then you are living a dharmic life. But if you are disturbing the atmosphere within your mind, body or actions, you are being non-dharmic or what they call irreligious.

      Dharma is subjective. We have to live dharma rather than just practice a few objective virtues. So whenever they have peace rallies and speak of the brotherhood of nations, or have conferences of different religions, often in the very conference they disagree. It is not simply a matter of trying—“I’m trying to be truthful, I’m trying to be selfless.” It is an inner being radiating harmoniousness, unity and integration. Then I am dharmic.
     Once you have integrated yourself, you come to a certain understanding of how the natural forces work, how the psychology of people works, you can read the minds of people as a matter of course, but you are not affected by these things. Then God as Number One is very easy. With a heavy mind, a mind that is afraid, insecure or materialistic you cannot make God first. Those who do a few dharmic acts are not necessarily dharmic, but those who are dharmic will definitely do dharmic acts.

WHY SHOULD WE BE DHARMIC
? Why should we create integration, harmony and order? One reason is that there will be peace and cooperation. Is there anything else more individual, related to you and me? Probably many have not thought this even among holy people: Dharma exhausts your karmas. By doing according to spiritual or natural law, you get more and more detached from desires and selfish actions. In other words: it cuts asunder your chains or bondage of karmas. Dharma is a releasing factor. If you have lived the life of dharma, you are ready for liberation. I have often repeated those four terms: artha, kama, dharma, moksha.1 Artha: wealth, and kama: desires, are related to the material world; dharma is the gatekeeper or the transition between the material and moksha, which is liberation. Dharma does not directly push you into liberation but it makes you lighter and freer in such a way that you live life as it should be. You get detached from material desires because they have no more attraction.  

1 According to Vedic scriptures. the four aims of life are: artha (wealth or worldly ends), kama (enjoyment of desires), dharma (duty, righteousness, living out one's nature), and moksha (liberation, nirvana, enlightenment). 



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