Culture & Civilization/Religion & Dharma

13 Outubro 2017, 18:00 • Shiv Kumar Singh

Definition of Culture

The term ‘culture’ is a Latin origin of the world ‘cultus’, which refers to cultivating or refining something, in such a way that it provides admiration and respect. In finer terms, culture is the way people live, reflected in the language they spoke, food they eat, clothes they wear and the Diety they follow or worship. It expresses the manner in which one thinks and do things.

Definition of Civilization

Civilization is described as a process of civilizing or say developing the state of human society, to the extent that the culture, industry, technology, government, etc. reaches the maximum level. The term ‘civilization’ is derived from a Latin term ‘civis’ which indicates ‘someone who resides in a town’.

The term ‘civilization’ is not confined to town; rather it talks about adopting better ways of living, and making best possible use of nature’s resources, so as to satisfy the needs of the group of people.

Key Differences Between Culture and Civilization

The following points are noteworthy, so far as the difference between culture and civilization is concerned:

The term ‘culture’ refers to the embodiment of the manner in which we think, behave and act. On the contrary, the improved stage of human society, where members have the considerable amount of social and political organization and development, is called Civilization.

The culture of a particular region can be reflected in religion, art, dance, literature, customs, morals, music, philosophy, etc. On the other hand, the civilization is exhibited in the law, administration, infrastructure, architecture, social arrangement, etc. of that area.

Culture denote the greatest level of inner refinement, and so it is internal. Unlike, civilization which is external, i.e. it is the expression of state of the art technology, product, devices, infrastructure and so forth.

Religion & Dharma
There is a fundamental difference between Religion and Dharma.

“Religion” and “dharma” are often considered as meaning the same thing in different languages … as if one is the translation of the other. However, while these two concepts may have many similarities, they are not the same thing, with very fundamental differences in their origin, evolution and application. Religion is a centered around unflinching loyalty to certain rigid beliefs in divine dictates, whereas dharma is centered on the human conduct in real and day to day life. Religion invariably leads to communities, often closed ones; dharma does not even conceptualize a community. Religion is rigid, bound by what was written long ago; dharma depends upon conscious judgment and has the flexibility of adopting to different contexts…

The English word "religion" is derived from the Middle English "religioun" which came from the Old French "religion." It may have been originally derived from the Latin word "religo" which means "good faith," "ritual," and other similar meanings. Or it may have come from the Latin "religãre" which means "to tie fast."

The word Dharma is a multidimensional word and it depends in which context you are talking. It includes behaviour, duty, justice, characteristics, morality, religion, right etc.

It has explanation in many languages say Latin, Greek, Mandarin etc. but in my opinion, it can be illuminated at the maximum intensity in Sanskrit.

The word Dharma is derived from Sanskrit dhatu - Dhri, which means “the thing which provides stability and harmonized the whole world “.