Do the Right Thing!

We all encounter dilemmas or deadlock situations in our day-to-day life. Doing the right thing under all situations is essential to being a responsible individual. But this 'Doing the Right thing' is very subjective and with reference to a natural state. Under Same situations, different people, act differently. For a sage, doing the right thing could be helping the needy; but for a terrorist, it could be to destruct the life of people. Our decisions are dominated by the influence from emotional and intelligent quotients based on our perceived experiences, be it personal or gathered from other sources. Similarly, beyond individuals, institutions, governments, communities, military, industry, economy etc. all entities have their own way of doing the right thing. In order to establish a peaceful world, it becomes necessary to have harmony between socio-economic-natural phenomena. Then defining what as 'Doing the right thing' that drives the system to its natural state of equilibrium becomes important. I would like to share with you some thoughts from Vedic Literature to contemplate.

In the Vedic literature, you might have come across two words  'Dharma' and ‘AachAra’. ‘Dharma’ is an overloaded word for the natural state of a system or an entity. ‘AachAra’ is an overloaded word for the concept of doing the right thing in a given situation at a given time by an entity. An entity could be an individual, a place, time, living/non-living thing, government, relationship, process, policy, occupation, various systems etc. Doing the right thing (‘AachAra’) helps in being in the natural state of a system (‘Dharma’). This concept of 'Dharma' and ‘AachAra’ finds its place explicitly in most of the oriental texts. However, implicitly it applies to everything in this universe and hence it is a universal concept rather than a religious idea. This is indeed the spirit of Vedic Civilization, that their views are not in favour of any person or a group of individuals but upholding the principles of totality (PoorNatvam), universality (sarvatvam) and eternity (Sanatanatvam).

If basis for Achara (Doing the right thing) is Dharma, Then, what is the basis of 'Dharma'?

Infinite repository of eternal Knowledge (Vedas) forms the first and foremost basis for 'Dharma'. The rationale for Vedas being the first hand source are: 
a) Vedas have witnessed the universe much more than man. Because Knowledge existed in the first place, it was the man who could realized it later.
b) Tenets of the Collective repository of infinite universal knowledge of the absolute truth is handed down from generations to generations with due diligence adhering to the strict principles of spiritual practice. 

If one does not find an answer in Vedas, the next basis is 'Smruthis'. 'Smruthi' means memory. These are born out of understanding and realising the Vedas by Rishis of great reputation. Manu, Yajnavalkya, Parashara etc. Although, Manu Smruthi has been criticized heavily in the 20^th century for various social and political reasons, We need an unbiased holistic study on it. Kalidasa, the famous poet of Sanskrit literature opines, “If these Smruthis were to be merely authored by a person, then there is an option to reject it. But Smruthis are the realization of the absolute truth and therefore cannot be simply ignored”. Hence Smruthis of Personalities of highest reputation form the second basis for 'Dharma'.

These intellectual personalities (Sages) have highest personality traits that are difficult to pursue and maintain it under control at all times such as being ego-less, being emotionally kind and tender like a flower yet being intellectually strong like a diamond, perform self-less actions for the betterment of the world while enjoying the eternal bliss. If one does not find answer to what is 'Dharma' in Vedas and 'Smruthis', the next resort is the ‘AachAra’ - actions of such personalities under similar or dissimilar situations. Their exemplary life itself becomes the third basis towards ‘Dharma’. Follow the leader when you are clueless !

If one does not find answer for 'What is the right thing' even in the exemplary life of personalities, then the last resort for ‘Dharma’ is one’s own Conscience!  Follow what your heart says !

Some people might argue about going in the reverse order to seek basis for 'Dharma' by 'Doing the Right Thing' by saying I will only follow my self-Conscience, then if needed watch for actions by great personalities who have led an exemplary life, and then look at Scriptures and finally seek advice from established Philosophies. This might seem reasonable if we are egocentric. But soon, this argument fades away if one examines carefully and realizes that an ordinary individual's experiences are limited when compared to an exemplary life of a great personality. A life of great personality seems limited when compared to the realization of the eternal knowledge. Realization itself seems to be limited when compared to the absolute-infinite-eternal Knowledge (Vedas) that encompasses the entire universe. Thereby forming the Basis for 'Dharma' and its associated 'Action'.

Let me stop here and leave you with some food for thought on the concept of ‘Dharma’ and its connection to quest for 'Doing the Right Thing'!