What is Dharma according to Bhagavad Gita?

Bhagavad Gita deals with the absolute platform and the relative platform.

On the absolute platform, dharma means the intrinsic nature and quality of the living being which is that it is an eternal servant of Krishna.

On the relative platform, dharma is expressed in varnashrama dharma, which refers to a person’s occupational duties according to the modes of nature which control them. Because the occupational duties are prescribed by shastra, and the goal of shastra is to know and love Krishna, dharma means one’s religious and moral duties which will assist one to know and love Krishna.

To know Krishna one must come to the mode of goodness at least, and dharma is cleverly constructed to take a person from any stage of life and gradually elevate them to the mode of goodness. Therefore there are many injunctions which are not directly spiritual but are moral imperatives so that the modes of passion and ignorance are reduced and controlled, making it easier to cultivate the mode of goodness. This is all part of dharma.

So sva-dharma are the specific duties of a religious nature that are binding upon the conditioned living being. For example, it was Arjuna’s religious duty to fight.
The para dharma or transcendental dharma is given in Bhagavatam by Yamaraja.

Devotional service, beginning with the chanting of the holy name of the Lord, is the ultimate religious principle for the living entity in human society. SB 6.3.22

This is established by Krishna in the twelfth chapter of Bhagavad Gita.

Bg 12.2 - The Supreme Personality of Godhead said: Those who fix their minds on My personal form and are always engaged in worshiping Me with great and transcendental faith are considered by Me to be most perfect.

So if Arjuna fought because it was the desire of the Lord and he wanted to please the Lord by fulfilling His desire, then it was above his duty under varnashrama and in the realm of devotional service which is transcendental. Thus when Krishna told Arjuna to abandon all varieties of dharma, He was referring to all the considerations under varnashrama, and just act in his constitutional position as an eternal loving servant of the Lord and fulfill the Lord’s desire.

This is so because the living entity is an eternal fragmental part of the Lord. Being a fragment, the jiva is always subordinate to the whole, but it can experience the bliss of the whole by engaging in Krishna’s service and giving enjoyment to the Lord. That is our true dharma, and our right, if we choose to claim it.

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