The Law

धर्म dhárma, “that which upholds or supports”

The Prakrit word "Dha-ṃ-ma"/𑀥𑀁𑀫 (Sanskrit: Dharma धर्म) in the Brahmi script, as inscribed by Emperor Ashoka in his Edicts of Ashoka (3rd century BCE)

Wednesday, February 24

What you think,

how you live,

what you feed upon,

live with, abide with,

associate the mind with,

THAT your soul-body becomes!

That is law.

That is Destiny.

(ECRL 262-78)

Edgar Cayce's A.R.E. | 215 67th Street, Virginia Beach, VA 23451

कलियुग, kaliyuga, lit. 'age of काली Kali'

A yuga (Sanskrit: युग, lit. 'age'), in Hinduism, is a large period of time as it relates to the past, present and future. It is mostly used to describe one of the four dharmic ages—Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dvapara Yuga or Kali Yuga—or a cycle of the four ages, Chatur Yuga, चतुर्युग, caturyuga, catur-yuga, chaturyuga, or chatur-yuga, lit. four yugas or ages.

1. सत्ययुग, satyayuga, lit. 'age of truth', a.k.a. Sat Yuga or Krita Yuga (Sanskrit: कृतयुग, romanized: kṛtayuga or kṛta-yuga, lit. 'age of piety')
2. त्रेतायुग, tretāyuga,  'a collection of three things' in Sanskrit, and is so-called because, during the Treta Yuga, there were three Avatars of Vishnu that were seen.
3. द्वापर युग, romanized: dvāpara-yuga, that in Sanskrit means literally "two ahead", that is, something in the third place.
4. कलियुग, romanized: kali yuga, lit. 'age of Kali', "Kali" of Kali Yuga means "strife", "discord", "quarrel" or "contention" and Kali Yuga is associated with कलि the demon Kali (not to be confused with काळी,  Kālī, also known as काळिका, Kālikā, the goddess Kālī) कलि, kali, with both vowels short; from a root kad, 'suffer, hurt, startle, confuse'.

The archaic form of the Sanskrit word "yuga" is "yug". Other forms are "yugam", "yugānāṃ" and "yuge". In Latin, "juga" or "jug" is used from the word "jugum", meaning a "yoke" used to connect two oxen (e.g. Cali-juga = kali-yuga).

"Yuga" and the similar word "yoga" are derived from Sanskrit: युज्, romanized: yuj, lit. 'to join or yoke'. "Yuj" is believed to be derived from the Proto-Indo-European language word "yeug", meaning 'to join or unite'.

धर्म • (dhárma) m

• morality, virtue, moral code, good deed, good works
• that which is established or firm, steadfast decree, statute, ordinance, law
• usage, practice, customary observance or prescribed conduct, duty
• right, justice (often as a synonym of punishment)
• religion, religious merit
• Law or Justice personified
• the law or doctrine of Buddhism
• the ethical precepts of Buddhism
• the law of Northern Buddhism
• nature, character, peculiar condition or essential quality, property, mark, peculiarity
• a particular ceremony
• sacrifice
• the ninth mansion
• Upanishad
• associating with the virtuous
• religious abstraction, devotion
• bow
• Soma-drinker
• name of the 15th अर्हत् (arhat) of the present अवसर्पिणी (ava-sarpiṇī)

धर्म, Dhárma (Pali: dhamma) is a key concept with multiple meanings in Indian religions, such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism and others. There is no single-word translation for dharma in western languages.

In Hinduism, dharma is one of the four components of पुरुषार्थ, meaning literally an "object of human pursuit", the Puruṣārtha, the aims of life, and signifies behaviours that are considered to be in accord with ऋत Ṛta, the order that makes life and the universe possible. It includes duties, rights, laws, conduct, virtues and "right way of living". In Buddhism, dharma means "cosmic law and order", as expressed by the teachings of the Buddha. In Buddhist philosophy, dhamma/dharma is also the term for "phenomena". Dharma in Jainism refers to the teachings of तीर्थंकर (अरिहंत, जिनेन्द्र) Tirthankara (Jina) and the body of doctrine pertaining to the purification and moral transformation of human beings. For Sikhs, dharma means the path of righteousness and proper religious practice.

The concept of dharma was already in use in वेदवाद Vedism, the historical Vedic religion, and its meaning and conceptual scope have evolved over several millennia. As with other components of the Puruṣārtha, the concept of dharma is pan-Indian. The ancient தமிழ் Tamil moral text of  திருக்குறள், literally Sacred Verses, Tirukkural is solely based on அறத்துப்பால், literally, "division of virtue", also known as the Book of Virtue, the First Book or Book One, aṟam, the Tamil term for dharma. The antonym of dharma is adharma.

The word Dharma has roots in the Sanskrit Dhr- which means to hold or to support. From this, it takes the meaning of "what is established or firm", and hence "law". It is derived from an older वैदिक संस्कृत Vedic Sanskrit n-stem dharman-, with a literal meaning of "bearer, supporter", in a religious sense conceived as an aspect of ऋत ṛta "order, rule; truth", Rta.

In ऋग्वेद ṛgveda, from ṛc "praise" & Veda "knowledge" the Rigveda, the word appears as an n-stem, dhárman-, with a range of meanings encompassing "something established or firm" (in the literal sense of prods or poles). Figuratively, it means "sustainer" and "supporter" (of deities). It is semantically similar to the Greek Themis ("fixed decree, statute, law").

In Classical Sanskrit, and in the Vedic Sanskrit of अथर्ववेदः, Atharvavedaḥ from atharvāṇas and Veda, meaning "knowledge", the Atharvaveda, the stem is thematic: dhárma- (Devanāgarī: धर्म). In Prakrit and Pāli, it is rendered dhamma. In some contemporary Indian languages and dialects, it alternatively occurs as dharm.

Ancient translations

When the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka wanted in the 3rd century BCE to translate the word "Dharma" (he used Prakrit word Dhaṃma) into Greek and Aramaic, he used the Greek word Eusebeia (εὐσέβεια, piety, spiritual maturity, or godliness) in the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription and the Kandahar Greek Edicts, and the Aramaic word Qsyt ("Truth") in the Kandahar Bilingual Rock Inscription.