सः न एव व्यभवत् तत् श्रेयः रूपम् अत्यसृजत धर्मम् तद् एतत् क्षत्रस्य क्षत्रम् यद् धर्मः तस्मात् धर्मात् परम् न अस्ति अथो अबलीयान् बलीयांसम् आशंसते धर्मेण यथा राज्ञा एवम् यः वै सः धर्मः सत्यम् वै तत् तस्मात् सत्यम् वदन्तम् आहुः धर्मम् वदति इति धर्मम् वा वदन्तम् सत्यम् वदति इति एतत् हि एव एतत् उभयम् भवति
saḥ na eva vyabhavat tat śreyaḥ rūpam atyasṛjata dharmam tad etat kṣatrasya kṣatram yad dharmaḥ tasmāt dharmāt param na asti atho abalīyān balīyāṃsam āśaṃsate dharmeṇa yathā rājñā evam yaḥ vai saḥ dharmaḥ satyam vai tat tasmāt satyam vadantam āhuḥ dharmam vadati iti dharmam vā vadantam satyam vadati iti etat hi eva etat ubhayam bhavati
Still he did not unfold. He created a better form: dharma. Dharma is the power over power (the kṣatra of the kṣatra); therefore there is nothing higher than dharma. A weak man prevails over a strong one by dharma as by a king. And dharma is truth: therefore of one who speaks the truth men say "he speaks dharma", and of one who speaks dharma, "he speaks the truth": for these two are one and the same.
f88faa2009b5 · published Jul 27, 2026, 12:45:06 AM UTC
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The last and highest outpouring is dharma, and its definition is minted in metal: kṣatrasya kṣatram — "the power over power". Might rules men; dharma rules might; above the sword is the law, and above the law nothing. Hence a great corollary: "a weak man prevails over a strong one by dharma as by a king" — the truth of the weak is stronger than the strength of the strong, for behind it stands that to which strength itself is answerable.
And the final identity: dharmaḥ satyam — dharma is truth, and popular speech bears witness: of a truthful man people say "he speaks dharma". Law is neither a convention nor the will of rulers: it is truth itself in action, an order that coincides with the true. So the ladder of outpourings closes: it began with the word "I am" and ends with Truth; power, community and service have all been set under the true. If anyone wants to know what upholds the world after God, here is the Upaniṣad's answer: dharma-as-truth, the power above all powers.