Dharma and karma are two concepts that are similar to each other, not only in pronunciation, but both have to do with the actions to be carried out, the path, and spirituality.
The problem is that the terms dharma and karma have different meanings that unfortunately are often confused with each other and meanings that are not given to both terms.
Also, although many people believe they know what these terms mean, there are times when the meaning you think you know does not correspond to the real meaning of the word in question. Therefore, there is a lot of confusion, confusion that must be resolved and refuted to reach the absolute truth.
What do you need to differentiate dharma from karma?
- Carefully read this article to know the differences between dharma and karma.
Instructions to differentiate dharma from karma
- What is dharma: Let’s start by defining what dharma is, so that apart from knowing the differences, you can also know the meaning of things. Dharma means duty, objective or path, that is, that a person’s dharma is what he must do as an objective in life. Obviously this depends on the person, his family, his country, his race… The fact is that if you want to fulfill your dharma, you must comply with the path that has been assigned to you, whether or not it is something moral or ethical. An example of dharma is, for example, becoming a millionaire, a goal that can be achieved in a clean way or in a dirty way. Other examples of dharma could be getting married, going to war, learning a martial art, getting some studies, following a family tradition…
- Karma: Although the meaning of dharma may be a little-known meaning in the world, surely the term karma sounds much more familiar to you due to popular culture. Karma is the actions that happen to you due to the actions you have done, being like a kind of divine power that rewards or punishes you if you do the right thing or not.. A good example of karma is, for example, getting to pass an exam, if you did it by cheating, karma will punish you with an action to compensate and if you have done it with a lot of effort, karma will reward you. We have other examples of karma in the attitude towards people, in which if we are good people good things will happen to us and if we are bad people bad things will happen to us. Karma is so popular that there have been programs and television series dedicated entirely to it, such as My name is Earl, in which the protagonist makes a list of bad things he has done, which he solves to be at peace with himself. the Karma.
- Differences: Now that we have both definitions clear, let’s go with the differences between the two. The main difference is that one takes morality into account and the other does not, since dharma is based on the goal and karma is based on what you do to achieve that goal. In dharma, the end justifies the means and in karma the how is more important than the end. For example, if you have as dharma to get a doctorate, you will have good karma if you do it by studying hard and bad karma if you do it using an earpiece to copy. People who believe in both dharma and karma always try to reach their goal by using the right path, to be at peace with both dharma and karma.
Tips to differentiate dharma from karma
- A little reflection: All this about dharma and karma is very good, but I invite you to reflect on one thing, morality. If you look closely, most of the things that are said to be right or wrong are because someone has said that it is right or wrong, that is, that morality is created by human beings. That is why sometimes inconsistencies occur with respect to these movements, since there are people, for example, who consider that they are doing good deeds when they are not, and vice versa. A father who overprotects his son from him, believing that he is doing well, may believe that he is doing a good deed. However, in the long run this can be detrimental to the son, who may have delays and traumas due to the action of the father, for which reason it would no longer be such a good action. That is why sometimes, morality is subjective and these concepts are not clear.