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Mark of the false Dharma || Acharya Prashant, on Vedanta (2020)
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4 years ago
Dharma
Liberation
Falseness
Responsibility
Conditioning
Bhagavad Gita
Shri Krishna
Truth Realization
Description

Acharya Prashant explains that Dharma cannot be a plurality; it cannot be many. If there are many dharmas, then they all have to be dropped. There is only one Dharma, and that is to attain liberation or peace, to gain freedom from your bondages, and to gain freedom from your inner chaos, noise, and falseness. Gaining freedom from inner falseness is more commonly known as truth realization. However, the speaker clarifies that this is a euphemism; it is not really truth that is realized, but falseness that is dropped. The speaker elaborates that we cover ourselves with a thousand duties and responsibilities, ascribing the word 'Dharma' to each of them. He explains that 'Dharma' is very closely related to the word 'dharana', which means that which you take upon yourself or that which you wear. Whatever you accept upon yourself becomes your Dharma. The rishi, according to the speaker, is saying that whatever you have accepted upon yourself is a false Dharma and it has to be dropped. There is only one real Dharma, which is freedom. Everything else is just bondage donning the name of Dharma. He states that nobody consciously wants to be irreligious or on the wrong side of truth and liberation. Still, there is so much suffering, violence, and cruelty in the world, which comes from wrong or misplaced Dharma. That which you are thinking of as Dharma is actually 'adharma' (unrighteousness), and that's the reason the rishi is saying to drop it. Your Dharma is not Dharma at all; it is the cause of all suffering. This sentiment is also expressed in the Bhagavad Gita, which is why it is called another Upanishad and must be read in the light of the Upanishads. When Shri Krishna tells Arjun to drop all dharmas and surrender to Him alone, He is asking to drop all the falseness in the name of religion and come to Him, who is religion itself—Krishna as Brahman, as Truth.