What is Dharma ? 🧵
Let's see what śāstras and āchārya's say 
The concept of dharma is derived from the Sanskrit root √dhr̥, which signifies the act of holding, supporting, or maintaining (dhāraṇāt dharmah)

https://twitter.com/thevictorharsh/status/1771428884275208523?s=20

It entails following the prescribed vidhis outlined in the vedas and other śāstras, while abstaining from niṣedha, performing kārya in accordance with what is enjoined and avoiding akārya 
Medhātithi’s Manubhāṣya 1.2:

dharmaśabdaḥ kartavyākartavyayorvidhipratiṣedhayoradr̥ṣṭārthayostadviṣayāyāṁ ca kriyāyāṁ dr̥ṣṭaprayogaḥ 
‘dharma’ is used in the context of kārya that are prescribed and avoidance of akārya which are unseen in their nature and pertain to the performance of duties.

Manusmṛti Nandanabhāṣya 1.2:
dharmān vihitānuṣṭhānapratiṣiddhavarjanalakṣaṇān
Dharma is characterized by the performance of prescribed kārya & avoidance of akārya

pra sa kṣaya tirate vi muhīriṣo yo vo varāya dāśati। pra prajārmir jāyate dharmṇas parya riṣṭaḥ sarve edhate॥ 16॥ (Rigveda 8.27.16 with Sayanāchārya commt)

"He who ensures (dāśati) for you (vo) to have (tirate) prosperity (kṣaya) and to overcome (muhīriṣaḥ) all adversaries (varāya), he is born (jāyate) from the adherence (pra) to dharma (dharmaṇaḥ). All (sarve) thrive (edhate) through him (pra)."

Chodanā lakṣano arthaḥ dharmaḥ 
Dharma is that which leads to the highest common good (śreyas) and is distinguished by Vedic injunctions. (Mīmāṁsāsūtra)

Next, 
"Dharma, indeed, is that by which yajnas and others are prescribed in the Vedas. It is called dharma because it is prescribed by the Vedas. The Vedas are the authority for dharma. It sustains the worlds or it is upheld by people; this is dharma. " 


This is stated in 'Artikhatu-' (from 1.140 of the same) and others. (One is 'Vedavihitakarmaṇaḥ') Bhanji Dixit's commentary of dharmastut Tatvidhi.

"śrutistrayī vedāmnāya tryī dharmastu tadvidhāḥ"
 श्रुतिस्त्रयी वेदाम्नाय त्रयी धर्मस्तु तद्विधाः

Śruti comprises the three Vedas, and dharma consists of three types according to that. (Amarakosha of Amarasimha)

Mahānārāyaṇa Upaniṣad 79.7 : dharmo viśvasya jagataḥ pratiṣṭhā āśraya iti prasiddham loke dharmiṣṭha prajā upasarpanti dharmeṇa pāpamapanudati dharme sarvaṁ pratiṣṭhitaṁ tasmāddharmaṁ paramaṁ vadanti

Dharma is the pillar that upholds, sustains, and nourishes, providing stability and harmony, basis upon which virtuous one takes refugee thus eradicates pāpa upon which everything is established

Karṇaparva 69.58:

dhāraṇād dharmaṁ ity āhur dharmo dhārayati prajāḥ / yaḥ syād dhāraṇa saṁyuktaḥ sa dharma iti niścayaḥ

 It is said that dharma is that which upholds; dharma sustains the people. That which is endowed with the quality of sustenance is certainly known as dharma.

Parāśarasmr̥timādhavācāryavyākhyā 1.5 
abhyudaya śreyase dhārayati
Dharma supports both “abhyudaya” (prosperity/ welfare) and “śreyas” (ultimate good).

Vaiśeṣikasūtra 1.1.2:
yato′bhyudayaniḥsˊreyasasiddhiḥsadharmaḥ
Dharma supports both material prosperity (abhyudaya) and the highest good (niḥśreyasa) 

The observance of dharma confers merit (puṇya), celestial bliss (svarga), joy (sukha), mental purity (cittaśuddhi), and self-satisfaction (ātmatr̥pti), facilitating the path to liberation (mokṣa). 

Conversely, neglecting dharma leads to negative consequences like demerit (pāpa), hellish torment (naraka), sorrow (duḥkha), mental turmoil (cittabhrānti), and the necessity for penance (prāyaścitta), perpetuating the cycle of existence (saṁsāra).

For Buddha-dharma, Vasubandhu’s Vyākhyāyukti's explains it 
check :  https://otani.repo.nii.ac.jp/?action=repository_action_common_download&item_id=10563&item_no=1&attribute_id=47&file_no=1

Mahāyānasūtrālaṃkārabhāṣya explains the authority of buddhavacana
the Buddha’s words have a definition: [If a teaching or text] (1) accords with the sutras, (2) agrees with the rules of the Vinayas, & (3) is not against the law (dharmatā)then it can be accepted as authoritative

Understanding the Concept of Dharma

"the bioavailability of vitamin B12 from dietary supplements is about 50% higher than that from food sources"
https://ods.od.nih.gov/factsheets/VitaminB12-HealthProfessional/
Almost everything said in this tweet is just wrong, Most evidences say otherwise tho,
Refuting the claims in this 🧵

https://twitter.com/thesneha_/status/1757669635242033423


B12 is scarce in general, it comes from a bacteria, not animals. They also get supplemented, meaning you get supplemented. Its not meat, its the modern, sanitised world., B12 is supplemented to animals too, they don’t create it.

B12 comes from poor conditions, animals don’t make it, Animals get supplemented it through salt licks usually, search up “blue salt licks”, also b12 is very easy to get through fortified foods and/or supplements. and


eating food that has nutrients will not always guarantee you to have X grams of a specific nutrient. Also, food with multiple vitamins can have issues on absorption levels.


Btw Also 39% of the people tested have B12 deficiency regardless if they consume meat or not. The reason is because the vitamin is not being absorbed. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/10648266/ - B12 Deficiency in humans.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7779846/ Conclusion Vitamin B12 status was similarly good in vegans and non-vegans, even though the vegans consumed very little dietary B12. This may be due to the high rate of supplementation.

if your next argument is that supplements mean a diet isn't good, i should mention that roughly 40% of americans are B12 deficient while only 3% of the US is vegan. and the VAST majority of b12 supplements are fed to livestock animals.

>"animal based foods are superior over vegetarian"  https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s40279-021-01434-9 High-Protein Plant-Based Diet Versus a Protein-Matched Omnivorous Diet to Support Resistance Training Adaptations: A Comparison Between Habitual Vegans and Omnivores

 and this:

"Plant-based diets are associated with a lower risk of incident cardiovascular disease, cardiovascular disease mortality, and all-cause mortality in the general population." https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/10.1161/JAHA.119.012865

"A high-protein (~ 1.6 g kg-1 day-1), exclusively plant-based diet (plant-based whole foods + soy protein isolate supplementation) is not different than a protein-matched mixed diet (mixed whole foods + whey protein supplementation) in supporting muscle strength and mass accrual,

suggesting that protein source does not affect resistance training-induced adaptations in untrained young men consuming adequate amounts of protein."


https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33599941 Association Between Plant and Animal Protein Intake and Overall and Cause-Specific Mortality  > "Based on 6 009 748 person-years of observation, 77 614 deaths (18.7%; 49 297 men and 28 317 women) were analyzed.

Adjusting for several important clinical and other risk factors, greater dietary plant protein intake was associated with reduced overall mortality in both sexes

The association between plant protein intake and overall mortality was similar across the subgroups of smoking status, diabetes, fruit consumption, vitamin supplement use, and self-reported health status.

Replacement of 3% energy from animal protein with plant protein was inversely associated with overall mortality (risk decreased 10% in both men and women) and cardiovascular disease mortality (11% lower risk in men and 12% lower risk in women).

In particular, the lower overall mortality was attributable primarily to substitution of plant protein for egg protein (24% lower risk in men and 21% lower risk in women) and red meat protein (13% lower risk in men and 15% lower risk in women)."

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7358979/

Debunking Misconceptions About Vitamin B12

This is something very popular among crowds of layman Hindus/Indians about their understanding of history that needs to be addressed with rigorous argumentation and citations, history.
The Illusion of Caste System of Post-Colonial India #thread

https://twitter.com/harshmadhusudan/status/1746822017536717011?s=20

Most people like this individual have a limited understanding of the concept of 'caste'; it is a bizarre category that lacks a coherent and systematic explanation.

If an average scholar on 'caste' were given an hour to speak on the topic of 'caste' and 'caste system', questioning them along the way, they would likely end up saying things that contradict their earlier statements or make claims that lack a solid logical foundation or unlikely

'Caste' or its foundational meaning has only relevance in colonial & post-colonial lit and only exists as a construct with no empirical evidence
I suggest studying the Ghent school, led by S.N. Balagangadhara, Dr. Jakob De Roover, and Nicholas B. Dirks

for those who seek a more rational approach instead of being influenced by baseless myths propagated by Oriental scholarship, mainstream Indological views, and Marxist historiography regarding the caste system.

if we take jāti for example:
jāti is undoubtedly polysemous and refers to an entity that is neither discreet nor homogeneous. One is bound to fail, if one employs this as a unit of caste classification for an arbitrary person.

Just a tiny example that neither varṇa, jāti, kūlā, nor gotra can accurately be defined as 'caste'. let alone having any coherent framework to give it a notion of 'real'.
So, when we talk about caste, are we talking about varṇa or jāti?


and when scholars mention the pan-Indian caste system, are they referring to the varṇa system or the jātis? Despite what most people think, the challenge scholars face in equating caste with either varna or jati suggests that these terms aren't exactly equivalent.

jāti has structured identity, unlike 'caste' which cannot even be properly and methodically defined
ref above :SAMARENDRA(2011,51-58)
Also In B.G(18.45) gives 4 varṇa on basis of svabhāva, and with all these ideas of varṇa, jāti, kula, gotra.


there's no such thing as one deciding element. I can go on the specific on śāstras, but that perhaps protracted convo but the point is, there's no literature foundation for this "Caste system"

When we talk on varṇāśrama dharma, we basically talking on clubbing two viśeṣa dharmas together. These two are varṇa dharma and āśrama dharma.
They are category-specific, being viśeṣa dharmas.

Unfortunately, we have internalized their colonial terminology in our consciousness, the so-called intellectual writers of today are far away from understanding these terms that they speak of, let alone be accurate about it.

'Caste' was never a thing in ancient India, it emerged through the lens of Western cultural experiences. If you take away those cultural lenses, you'll see that there was no such thing as a 'caste system' in ancient India.

One thing usually gets brought up is that claims that Buddhism, Vaiṣṇava bhakti traditions, or Liṅgāyatas were against the whole caste and social hierarchy thing in pre-colonial India. they weren’t exactly waving their anti-caste flags back then.

Nope, they were just doing their thing, minding their own business. It's all thanks to Oriental scholarship and those colonial/post-colonial narratives that we see them in this light today.

The contemporary Hindu interpretation of varṇa is not the traditional Vaidika-dharmaśāstrika perspective. they tried to weave together varṇa,jāti, kūla with foreign fabric of 'caste', their threads tangled, leaving knots of confusion.

Modern Hindu’s understanding of varṇa wears a robe woven from an adaptation of colonial nonsense and bits of tradition and portrays as "Real" not a view of traditional Vaidika-dharmaśāstrika perspective nor of any pre-colonial tradition.

This is nothing but a colonial hangover of both the left/Coloniser and so-called nationalist Hindutvas, On one side, the colonizers aim to patronize and impose a sense of 'colonial consciousness' on the colonized.

On the other side (the colonized), there are those with an anti-imperialist view who try to push back against the colonizers by adopting their lexicon and framework, and pretending to be all about "reforming and learning from the colonizers." Both sides are equally wrong!!

You can read the unrolled version of this thread here: https://typefully.com/Adityathakkarr/mBlxSA9