The Laws of Dharma: 9. Truth (satya)

You might be wondering why law number 9 seems, at first glance, identical to law number 4, Honesty. But the satya kind of truth is a much wider and deeper subject than merely getting your thoughts, words and deeds lined up in a row. It is a quality that emanates palpably from those who have…

Read More

The Laws of Dharma: 8. Knowledge (vidya)

The meaning of the value of knowledge could be misconstrued if we don’t understand how the word vidya was meant when the Vedic rishis composed these Laws of Dharma. Vidya comes from the same Sanskrit root from which the Greeks took the word ‘vision’. It is about a vision of the cosmos that is holistic…

Read More

The Laws of Dharma: 7. Reason (dhi)

I regard the path of human life as that of the mythological hero who has taken incarnation here to face his or her trials in order to reach enlightenment. And so viewed through that lens, reason is the Fragarach sword of discrimination and analysis which at the very least, stops our adversaries dead in their…

Read More

The Laws of Dharma: 6. Control of the senses (indraiya-nigrah)

My Indian guru used to have a very good allegory pertaining to today’s law. He would describe the typical Western mind as a runaway horse-driven chariot. The chariot driver had let go of the reins. So the ‘horses’ of the five senses – touch, taste, smell, sight and hearing – were literally being given free…

Read More

The Laws of Dharma: 5. Sanctity (shauch)

My shamanic training first began on a Greek island in 1995, when I was initiated into huna kane: Polynesian shamanism. It continued at my guru’s south Indian ashram, three years later, with shamans from Mexico who had been trained by the same nagual that had taught “Carlos Castenada”. Finally, back home, I followed an intensive…

Read More

The Laws of Dharma: 3. Piety (dama)

The word piety must have been misapplied a million times over the past two millennia. You can see it clearly when you zoom out and look at the timeline of the religion of Christianity. At first, it was impious to be a Christian and not recognise the emperor of Rome as a god, and so…

Read More

The Laws of Dharma: 2. Forgiveness (kshama)

For most of my life, I found it nigh on impossible to even consider forgiving those who crossed me. I realised eventually that it was something to do to my Mum’s saying, whenever we children fell out with anyone: “Shake hands, and forgive and forget.” “Why would I ever want to forget how that person…

Read More