Upword

Trigger warning: Brahminical apologetics and savarna superstition. 'Dharma has a marketing problem' is a common notion among Hindus perplexed by the lack of reception to what they've come to believe is the obvious truth - that Dharma is the answer to all modern maladies. Therefore, they advocate 'packaging it better', which is not problematic in itself, but is a quick slide away from 'dropping the baggage' aka purging Dharma of all that is inconvenient. I think that the notion that 'Dharma has a marketing problem' is fundamentally erroneous because it misses the wood for the trees. Dharma has two broad components: Sāmānya Dharma (universal rules resembling commandments for all) and Viśeṣa Dharma (context based duties for specific identities or groups). Sāmānya Dharma defines the boundaries of civilised living and is mostly expressed in the form of general prescriptions and prohibitions. Viśeṣa Dharma is the context specific response to life's moral challenges and it properly defines the duties of an individual. An individual's svadharma is the sum total of Sāmānya and Viśeṣa Dharma. Other than highly specific and narrow moral dilemmas, Viśeṣa Dharma is mostly about what to do based on who you are, which raises the question of who you really are. If we go by 21st century cutting-edge wisdom, you are who you want to be. Man, woman, both, none, dog, cat, ceiling fan... whatever you fancy. But our primitive and allegedly oppressive ancestors settled for a more concrete definition based on empirical facts of existence - birth and death - and since death was certain yet elusive, birth defined who you were because who you were in the previous life had determined your birth in the present one. The endless cycle of rebirth. So Viśeṣa Dharma as Varṇāśrama Dharma informs your morality and calibrates your conscience according to the long arc of your personal journey as a jīva. Law, policy, education and economics also operate in the same framework and accept the shāstra (accumulated traditional wisdom) as the highest pramāṇa or means of knowledge. Whereas Sāmānya Dharma tells you what not to do, Varnāśrama (Viśeṣa) Dharma defines your obligations and duties based on your social identity, fulfilling which may not always be fun but will take you closer to the divine and benefit you in timescales beyond your cognitive limits. Dharma in kaliyuga does not have a marketing problem, it has a definitional problem as without Viśeṣa Dharma, svadharma becomes context-free Sāmānya Dharma, just a universal set of actions to be avoided or carried out by everyone. Uniform Civil Code. Rights, no duties. Conscience overrides shāstra and since it is informed by random life experiences rather than traditional wisdom acquired over millennia, it leads to chaos and conflict with others. No amount of packaging can help nor is time travel to the distant past possible yet. But for Dharma to flourish in 2523, it must be understood on its own terms in 2023 because it operates in timescales beyond our cognitive limits. A start must be made now because now is all we have.