Samanya Dharma – A Beginners Introduction

When we see “Samanya Dharma”, the word “Samanya” conveys the meaning of “general/common.” So, Samanya Dharma focuses on those duties and principles that have to be followed by every individual. They apply to one and all without exception.

Understanding Samanya Dharma

Since the overall discussion on Dharma is very complex and what is appropriate and inappropriate requires discussion and consent by many subject experts who are also strict practitioners (do intense sadhana). This understanding of dharma in non-standard situations is too complex for a layman.

The same is different for Samanya dharma. Samanya dharma is easy to understand even for children. Samanya Dharma is appropriate behavior in various situations for both external conduct and internal self-discipline. These are simple to understand and follow – their significance stems from this point. The Samanya Dharm applies to everyone rich or poor, educated or uneducated, married or unmarried, young or old, male or female. Samanya dharma applies to all and is different from swadharma, vishesha dharma, apad dharma, varna dharma, and ashrama dharma. Samanya dharma is same for every one following Sanathana Hindu dharma irrespective of their sect, social background, varna, ashrama or kula.

The term Dharmam is the essence of Hinduism. Broadly speaking, in addition to samanya dharma, Dharma is of three types: Swadharma, Vishesha Dharma, and Apad Dharma. We will discuss each of these in another article. Let us focus on samanya dharma in this article.

Important tenets of Samanya Dharma

This article will now succinctly examine some of the tenets of Samanya Dharm. These tenets have been described in many Hindu scriptures including sacred books like Manusmriti, Yajnavalkya Smriti, Mahabharatha, and Bhagavata Purana.

They prescribe ideal behaviors and duties that need to be performed across a wide variety of areas including self-discipline, cultivating good habits/virtues, respect for living organisms, devotion/reverence to the divine, sharing with others, serving others, supporting family and dependents.

Cleanliness is given much importance. Cleanliness goes beyond physical cleanliness and also does not include attractiveness or fashion. The dimensions of cleanliness cover not just physical cleanliness but also emotions, mental habits, thoughts, and mind.

Since the scriptures and revered books were written at different points in time, the same or similar concepts appear with different names in different books. For example, titiksha, kshanti, and akrodam – refer to endurance, forbearance to injuries, and bearing suffering calmly. So also, with dharmam, jitendriyatavam, and jitendrasamyayam which mean to control or win over the sensory stimulations. A few of these samanya dharmas are also called atmagunas or atmavidyas.

The samanya dharmas appear in sacred and revered books like Vedas, Puranas, Itihasas, and dharm sutras /smritis. The purpose of educating people in these sacred books was to build character and holistic knowledge for good and responsible living.

Overall, they serve well in giving many parameters to focus for self-discipline, and self-control including behavior monitoring and cultivating proper habits of behavior.

How to learn about Samanya Dharma?

The topic “Samanya Dharma” is a very comprehensive one and every one of its parameters principle cannot be included in such a small write-up. Yet, a sincere attempt has been made to give a comprehensive overview of the concept and cover the most important points of the subject at hand.

Even among the so-called illiterate Indian Hindu public, many in their day-to-day conduct follow the principles of Samanya Dharm. But to appreciate their behavior, you should be aware of the principles of Samanya Dharm.

Several books have summarized the entire Samanya Dharmas from various Sanathana Hindu Dharma sacred books. The most popular and affordable book is the small book by Nitin Sridhar titled ‘Samanya dharma – Ethical duties common to all’ which costs a little over 100 rupees.

While the full list provided by the above book is comprehensive, the description is sketchy. Plus, the above book is a list of all samanya dharmas as mentioned in sacred Sanathana Hindu dharma books. The challenge is they are long lists and in various books, a similar concept is mentioned with a different synonym. So this requires some knowledge of sastras and some homework to make it fully useful. Nevertheless, it introduces the concept of Samanya dharma quite well.

Each Sanathana Hindu dharma tradition will also have its own literature and discourses on the topic of Samanya dharm – these may be sources of knowing Samanya dharma. There are also books in various Indian languages that may also cover the same topic. Since the number of Indian languages is large – the full list of books cannot be mentioned here.

For all dharmik knowledge there is a 4 path method to be followed – read, understand, follow and make others follow. The ideas and concepts in Samanya dharm are good and worth following as they can lead to a better society.

There are several dozen attributes that are together constitute this concept. We have tried to give you a sample of those attributes along with the significance of this concept. We encourage you to read up on this topic for better understanding. Thank you for taking the time to read this important concept!

Read our Dharma Related Articles including Samanya Dharma, Apad Dharma, Vishesha Dharma and Sanathana Dharma.