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the circumstances, culture, the time period, and the upbringing of the person. In other words, culture specific values are involved. Even though speaking truth is our dharma, in the actual experience of life, there are many occasions when untruth instead of truth is the appropriate behavior, or dharma. It happens sometimes that violence instead of non-violence will protect a life, and this will then be the appropriate behavior (dharma). In the Mahabharata it is said that in order to protect a family, an individual family member may be sacrificed; to protect a village, a family may be sacrificed; and to protect a country, an entire village may be sacrificed. But to protect one's own soul (atman), the whole world should be sacrificed (forsaken).
[The same principle is stated in Christian scriptures. The Bible: Mark 8:36:
For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world, and forfeit his soul?].
The Bhagavad-Gita underscores the need for doing one's own duty (dharma):
Better is one's own duty (dharma) performed imperfectly than the duty (dharma) of another performed perfectly. It is better to die performing one's own duty (dharma), for it is dangerous to follow the duty (dharma) of another (3:35)
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