HINDU DHARMA ETHICS

To begin, let’s dive into the basic background of Hindu Dharma ethics. Hindu ethics are deeply rooted in the idea of Dharma. Dharma is otherwise known as moral duties, orders, and a right to conduct between the balance of the universe and humans. Dharma is a fluid set of moral principles that bend depending on a certain context. Rta, otherwise known as cosmic order, along with Dharma cover people’s thoughts in Hinduism to help them act in a moral way and uphold harmony. Most importantly of all, Dharma is also known as svadharma, and is role-based. It argues that people’s moral duties differ based on their situation; this includes location, time, role, and much more.

Let’s go over some core ethical principles in Dharma. The first is Ahimsa, which advocates for nonviolence against any living being unless unavoidable. The second one is Satya, which argues that we must always be truthful but also do so in balance with compassion as a result of understanding the context of the situation. Third, there’s Asteya, which essentially tells Hindus not to steal. Fourth, we have Brahmacharya, or self-restraint. Fifth, there’s Aparigraha, which focuses on restraining oneself from over-possessiveness. Sixth, there’s the concept of karma, which talks about how actions (karma) have consequences (pala); this rule is not only in one’s lifetime, but also in all their future lifetimes. Finally, we have Purusharthas, which discuss the four aims of life: duty (dharma), prosperity (artha), desire (kama), and liberation (moksha). The only thing about these 4 aims in life is that these 4 aims must be in balance with each other and guided by Dharma.

Now that we’ve understood what Dharma ethics are composed of, let’s go over where they can be applied to. Firstly, we can apply context sensitivity to a scenario with a soldier versus a monk. For example, a soldier, who has kshatriya dharma, may require violence in war to save innocent lives; whereas, monks, who have sannyasi dharma, would not be allowed to kill anyone. Let’s take a look at the Bhagavad Gita, which has a myriad of examples. In the Gita, Arjuna has a moral dilemma: he’s not sure whether he should kill his relatives in battle. Krishna, however, shows him that he has his svadharma as a warrior and is morally necessitated to kill them even if it hurts him personally as if he doesn’t do it society would have a more negative effect.

Some criticisms include the idea that if Dharma varies by the role of an individual, it can open the door to discrimination by class. Additionally, historical evidence proves that Dharma has been used to lead to discrimination of classes, further worsening the issue. Another is that sometimes, Dharmas can conflict as some people can have more than one, leading to difficulty in finding the best moral action. Finally, some argue that Dharma ethics can be challenging to adopt in multicultural societies due to the major ambiguity in the societies.