To right-thinking people "dharma" and "satya" are interchangeable words and their goal is -- as it has always been -- to rise higher so as to realize Him who alone is the truth. For them there is no pursuit higher than that of practicing truth in thought, word and deed.
Kim Satyam? (What is truth?)
Bhutahitam! (Truth or truthfulness is what is spoken for the well-being of all living beings.)
Ko Dharmah? (What is Dharma?)
Abhimanto yah sistanam nija kulinam! (Dharma is that which is determined by the elders and by learned people.)
According to Sri Chandarsekharendra Saraswati, dharma is our only protection. It is dharma alone that gives man happiness. There need be no doubt or confusion about the dharma we ought to follow. We are all steeped in the dharma that our great men have pursued from generation to generation. They have inwardly realized eternal beatitude.
Great indeed were the misfortunes suffered by Sri Rama during his exile in the forest. To a son going on a long journey the mother gives food to take with him. Kausalya does the same when her son Rama leaves for the forest, but she does so after much thought. Kausalya gives Rama the eternal sustenance of dharma. "Raghav," she says to him, "it is dharma alone that will protect you, and this dharma is what you yourself protect with courage and steadfastness." It is the escort of dharma that the mother provides her son sent out from his kingdom.
