Dharma
धर्म (dharma)
The dharma is the order that holds things together: the cosmic law, but also the duty proper to each being according to its place and nature. Burnouf renders it as "law" or "duty." Its most demanding form is *svadharma*, "one’s own law"—the task fitted to what one is, even if modest. It is better to perform it imperfectly than to excel in another’s.
Il vaut mieux suivre sa propre loi, même imparfaite, que la loi d’autrui, même meilleure ; il vaut mieux mourir en pratiquant sa loi : la loi d’autrui a des dangers.
The root dhṛ- means “to hold,” “to uphold.” Dharma is what holds the world in order and keeps each being in its place: cosmic order, justice, law, and—when applied most closely to the individual—the duty that is uniquely theirs. Burnouf translates it sometimes as “law,” sometimes as “duty,” depending on whether the emphasis falls on the rule or the task.
Its decisive form in the Gītā is svadharma, “one’s own law.” Arjuna, a warrior, wishes to lay down his arms for the ascetic’s tranquility; Krishna replies that it is better to fail in the task that is his own than to succeed in another’s. Svadharma is not an ideal to be chosen: it is the act aligned with one’s nature and position, where one already stands. Linked to karma, it grounds the possibility of right action without thereby binding oneself to the fruit of the act.
Svadharma ≠ a universal, abstract moral law. The Kantian maxim applies equally to every rational subject; svadharma is situated, irreducibly one’s own, and what is duty for the warrior is not duty for the priest. Nor does it merge with the imposed social role: it is not caste that assigns from without, but the act in harmony with one’s nature, performed from within, “for the wise strive toward what accords with their nature.”