Hinduism : The Eternal Tradition Sanatana Dharma
Major Sections
Books By David Frawley
RELIGION OR DHARMA : BELIEF OR THE NATURE OF TRUTH

Theological ethics divides humanity into the believers and the non-believers, which may be Christians and heathens, Muslims and Kafirs, or simply the people of God and those of the devil, or whatever the religion decides, including condemning different sects within one's own religion as heretical. This division is equated with a real division in behavior between good and evil, holy and unholy, as if only the members of a particular religion can be truly good and those of other beliefs must be evil, however good they may appear.

Dharmic traditions, on the other hand, differentiate human behavior into dharmic and adharmic actions, actions which further the Truth and those which promote ignorance and illusion. There is no division of humanity into dharmic and adharmic souls because the soul, our inner nature is inherently dharmic. The soul is our dharma. The only division is between people who know their true nature and those who do not. Knowledge or ignorance is a capacity of all human beings, and we must all move from the ignorance to the knowledge, if not in this lifetime than in a future one. 

Hence Dharma can never divide people into warring beliefs.If there is only One God or Truth then there cannot be two humanities, the believers and the non-believers. If reality is one then humanity must also be one. To connect to the oneness of reality, we must first recognize the unity of human beings. If we cannot see the unity of human beings - including our unity with those of different religious persuasions - then we cannot talk of the unity of God. This requires recognizing the common dharma of human nature, which is to seek the eternal, not to place people under restrictive religious identities.

 

Back ] David Frawley ] Up ] Next ]

About Religion Or Dharma
Religion Or Dharma...Pg1
Religion Or Dharma...Pg2
Religion Or Dharma...Pg3
Religion Or Dharma...Pg4
The Dharma of... Pg.1
The Dharma of.... Pg.2
Dharma & The Religion. Pg.1
Dharma & The Religion. Pg.2
Religion & Belief. Pg.1
Religion & Belief. Pg.2
Religion & Belief. Pg.3
Religion & Belief. Pg.4
Belief & Faith
Theological Ethics.. Pg.1
Theological Ethics... Pg.2
The Culture Of The Dharma Pg.1
The Culture Of The Dharma Pg.2
The Culture Of The Dharma Pg.3
The Culture Of The Dharma Pg.4