Theos-Talk Archives (September 1996 Message tl00362)

>"There is no DOCTRINE (Dharma) higher than truth (Satya)"

>Even if your sources are wrong, it sounds better than the translation we
>have!  Dharma, though, is more than just doctrine, isn't it?  (I am
>actually asking this question - it is not rhetorical).

 I think doctrine is the best single word. But the word covers all things a
doctrine should contain - also a code of conduct, one's morality, a line of
action  in accordance with this doctrine: a complete system of thought, in
short. It is often used as something like: "a moral behaviour and sense of
duty suitable according to the doctrine."
 The terms dharma and karma has an interesting relation (found the
following in one of my old letters):

  "The moral nature of a man governed by laws of his own making is the
mould that creates him. The difference between karma and dharma (duty,
moral law: what a man sees as his duty in accordance with his set of moral
values)
is most interesting. One is an unconscious law of reflex action, an eternal
causal boomerang. The other a consciously applied conditioner which works
under the direction of one's own will. The workings of the in-voluntary and
voluntary nervous system might be seen as holding an analog relationship in
the physical body."

 in friendship,

Kim





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