Objects can be distinguished only by means of name and form. They can be described only by means of their characteristics. For they are artificial and temporary.

What exactly is a chair? It is a particular modification of wood, isn't it? Remove the wood, the chair too disappears. Think of the wood which is the substance and the 'appearance' of the chair will vanish. So too, Dharma! Varnadharma, Grihasthadharma, Vanaprasthadharma, Sanyasadharma, Brahmacharyadharma, this Dharma, that Dharma... all are modifications of the basic Dharma, like the chair, the bench, the palanquin etc. The separate varieties disappear as soon as you go deep into their nature, the corporeal Dharmas fade away and the Atmadharma alone remains. The articles of furniture vanish and the wood alone remains, so too, the objective Dharmas disappear and Atmadharma alone shines in unique glory.

Of course, for the worldly career, the corporeal Dharmas are important. I won't say they are not. As wood is turned into furniture and used, Atmadharma or Santha Dharma or Sathyadharma has to be shaped into Grihasthadharma, Vanaprasthadharma, Varnadharma, Stridharma, Purushadharma etc. The stuff is the same in all; the substance is identical, in every separate form. How can the substance be used up? It can only be transmuted and transformed and the various modifications named differently when used for different purposes. The Atmadharma can be viewed piecemeal and compartmentalised for different purposes, as the wood is hewn and sawn and joined, and arranged and rearranged, but, it is Atmadharma nevertheless. So long as the different systems of Dharma are derived from that "Wood", there is no harm; remember however that the furniture can never be regrouped into the original tree! Apply that Atmadharma in the fields of worldly activity but do no call the worldly Dharmas, Atmadharma! That will be playing false to the Ideal, the Absolute.

Dharma is the moral path; the moral path is the Light; the Light is Ananda. Dharma is characterised by holiness, peace, truth and fortitude. Dharma is Yoga, Union, Merger; it is Sathya. Its attributes are justice, sense-control, sense of honour, love, dignity, goodness, meditation, sympathy, non-violence; such is Dharma that persists through the ages. It leads one on to Universal Love and Unity. It is the highest Discipline and the most profitable. All this 'unfoldment' began with Dharma; all this is stabilised by Sathya; Sathya is inseparable from Dharma. Sathya is the law of the Universe, which makes the sun and the moon revolve in their orbits. Dharma is the Vedas and the Mantras, the Jnana they convey. Dharma is the course, the path, the law. Wherever there is adherence to morality, there one can see Sathya-dharma in action. In the Bhagavatha too, it is said, "where there is Dharma, there is Krishna; where there are both Dharma and Krishna together, there is Victory". Dharma is the very embodiment of the Lord; since the world itself is the body of the Lord, the world is but another name for the Moral Order; no one can deny it now or ever.