Sanatan Darpan

Sanatan Darpan is official YouTube channel of knowledge of Hinduism. It is video blogging channel for serving knowledge about Hindu and Hinduism.

Dharma is often translated as “duty,” “religion” or “religious duty” and yet its meaning is more profound, defying concise English translation. The word itself comes from the Sanskrit root “dhri,” which means “to sustain.” Another related meaning is “that which is integral to something.” For example, the dharma of sugar is to be sweet and the dharma of fire to be hot. Therefore, a person’s dharma consists of duties that sustain him, according to his innate characteristics. Such characteristics are both material and spiritual, generating two corresponding types of dharma:

(a) Sanatana-dharma – duties which take into account the person’s spiritual (constitutional) identity as atman and are thus the same for everyone.

(b) Varnashrama-dharma – duties performed according to one’s material (conditional) nature and specific to the individual