Seven Commandments of Dharma :Sapta Sutra

1.     Respect for all Faiths

Dharma that evolved in India several thousand years ago is henotheistic (sarva dharma sambhaav) in that it believes in various manifestations of the only super-conscious and does not proselytize.  This is often misconstrued that a person can be Hindu only by birth, when it truly means that one has simply to say that he or she is a Hindu to become one.  All faiths of Indian origin, Hindu, Buddha, Jain, Sufi and Sikh, so also Zoroastrian and Baha’i, are henotheistic and do not proselytize. 

2.     Societal Ethics

Dharma is often said to be wider than religion, a way of life.  It has two components, (1) rituals and practices for self-development as in all faiths, and (2) rights and duties of various functionaries of society such as the state, business, teacher, husband, wife, and the youth.  The former nurtures personal ethics, the latter societal ethics.  The wife is called ardhangani, an equal partner.  Dharma of the state and business determine ideology.

During India’s long civilization some aberrations crept into its social fabric.  The priesthood and warriors connived to make castes originally based on profession like Smiths and Carpenters of the West as being by birth and demeaned one as untouchable.  Gandhi’s conviction was that once local communities were empowered, such aberrations would get rectified.  Centralization is perpetuating them.

3.     Dharma of the State

The Dharma of the state is to allow every local entity, that is village and city coordinated by the janpad or district, to govern itself that is handle all local matters such as administration of justice, police, education, healthcare, land, water systems and forests.  And the state can demand not more than one-sixth of local revenues for higher level functions and coordination, and not interfere in local matters.

Symbolised in Ram Raj, the rule of the epic monarch Ram, Gandhiji called it Gram Swaraj that is village republics.  Practiced in India since ancient times, omnipotent monarchs such as Ram monitored such true democracy in neighboring kingdoms through a religious horse ceremony (Ashwa Medha Yajna) thus making Bharat Akhand, that is one nation.  .  India is thus truly the mother of democracy.  Europe was largely divided during that period

4.     Dharma of Business

The Dharma of business is to set up enterprises to produce goods and services useful to society, create dignified employment, and generate wealth for expansion to meet the needs of society, and for philanthropy, but not for ostentatious consumption.  Local governments that allot land, monitor such business ethics.  They may not permit those in business ostentatious houses, personal aircrafts and such other privileges and encourage philanthropy thus nurturing an egalitarian economic system, truly capitalism with a human face.  Based on India’s rich spiritual ethos, Gandhi advocated such egalitarian (samata) democracy.  It is currently practiced in some nations such as Switzerland.

5.     Raj Guru

In most nations, there was a royal priest in the bygone days.  His role was to advice the monarch on righteous conduct. Contemporary democracy needs an independent Sovereign Rights Commission with authority to direct referendums except on issue fundamental to democracy or the integrity of the nation.   Superior to the royal priest of bygone days, more like Gandhi, such a commission will function as the non corruptible conscience keeper of the state based on the values of the society as a whole.  On the basis of the wishes ascertained from the people, it can modify laws and practices and get them approved though referendum thus ensuring good governance.

6.     The World is One Family

Dharma espouses Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, that is, “The World is One Family”.  God has bestowed human beings with a conscious soul that can think, rationalise, innovate, and through science improve the quality of their life, and also harm others!  The super conscious has created an interdependency amongst His various creations.  Spirituality truly is “The relationship of the individual to society, other life forms and the environment”, a secular construct.  It is the Dharma of conscious human beings to respect all His creations and not indulge in wanton killing of other life forms or abuse science for harming the biosphere.

7.     A Just World Order based on Dharma

A global campaign needs to be launched that all nation states shall institute independent Sovereign Rights Commissions with authority to direct referendums.  Functioning as the conscience keeper of the state, such commissions shall enforce the rights of local communities, optimize spirituality and monitor a sustainable world order based on social justice and equity. q

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