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PHILOSOPHY OF SOUL
glossary tradition and scriptures and that is why they are capable of establishing the true meaning of a word which only should be acceptable to us.
You cannot interprete or define a scriptural term to your whim and caprice as in that case much confusion arises and you incur the fault of false interpretation. Sometime back a learned man explained the term 'Upadhyaya' as 'teacher'. Who would accept such explanation ? Upadhyaya means a monk who has abandoned all wordly affairs and who is teaching sacred texts of Jain religion. He deserves all prostrations. Instead, if we mean a 'teacher' by the term 'Upadhyaya' then prostration is implied for all the teachers engrossed in worldly affairs. In that case what would be the result?
Word 'Dharma' is derived from the root 'Dhru' in Sanskrit which means to sustain or to maintain. Having borne in mind this verbal root our authors of the scriptures declared that it is 'Dharma' (religion) which sustains the creatures, which preserves the creatures from falling prey to degradation. This is indeed a very clear and lucid definition. Let us understand fully the meaning of this definition. That consideration, or that path or that rite or ceremony which sustains, holds up or keeps up the creatures from falling into degradation, is called religion.
Religion not only saves or protects a creature from falling into degradation but uplifts or elevates him to the higher state of existence also. This is properly conveyed in the following stanza :
"It is called religion or 'Dharma' as it elevates the soul gliding down to the path of degradation".
CHARACTERISTICS OF RELIGION (DHARMA)
Anything is identified only with the help of its characteristics. How do you decide that a particular man is good and the other man is bad or someone is wise and the other one is a fool. Certainly you can say so from one's characteristics. You can call one a fool when he does not make efforts despite his abilities, approbates himself in the assembly of the learned, rests on ego and hypocrisy, aspires to earn riches by gambling, undertakes much more difficult tasks than what he is actually capable of, maintains his family
