Wish the world truth & honour as you sign your emails and letters

Recently I reconnected with a very good friend. We'd been out of touch for a few years, and I tell you: it was really good to hear from him again. I think we've kind of taken off just where we left off. Anyway, I was looking at some printouts of old emails from him (he used to send his poetry out to people on his list; ah, the good old days when you had to actually email people to share your writing, thoughts, ideas, whatever), and I noticed a really nice sentence he used on one as a way of signing off. He wrote:

Vishwa dharma ki jai

This is Sanskrit and means (according to my friend), 'victory to universal truth and honour'. When I read this expression, I was moved. Now, I don't have a problem with 'yours sincerely' or 'kind regards' and so on, as ways of signing off in an email or (just imagine) in a letter. Indeed, I think those salutations (is that the right word?) can be meaningful and can carry heartfelt and sincere wishes from one person to another.
However, as with all things we do 'automatically' and as a matter of course, these expressions seem to have lost much, if not all their true meanings. In fact, how often do we get emails with no such signing off, and with merely the sender's name at the bottom? Actually, now I think about it, I remember some emails that don't even carry the sender's name as a way of signing off. Now, that is rude on the surface, but in reality it's also meaningless: people and the way they communicate are changing; I guess some of these so-called 'niceties' are just naturally going to be lost.
So, when I read my friend's Sanskrit salutation, I thought, hey, I'm going to make sure that I for one do not forget these traditional expressions of good wishes and salutation. And what better salutation for a truth seeker (that's me) than my friend's?
It might be that a wish for the victory of universal truth and honour sounds a bit old fashioned, a bit formal even. Not at all: how up to date, how necessary in our materialistic, fast-paced and sometimes lonely and corrupt world, is it to seek truth and to act with honour. Honour isn't the fuddy-duddy, formal term you might think. Look it up: it's about honesty, truth, right behaviour integrity, all that good and right stuff.
So, I'm going to try to use this great salutation whenever I can. And my message to you, dear reader? Vishwa dharma ki jai

To Thine Own Self Be True. Cool quote eh?

Well, this post is not about the quote I've used for the title, but it is kind of related. As this blog is titled, in part, Dharma Dreaming, I seem to be attuned to any mention of the words or concepts when I come across them in books and stuff.
Now I've said that I have no idea what I was reading when I came across yet another definition of Dharma; it's one I've never seen before. This source said that an 'almost literal translation' of Dharma is, 'duty towards self'.
Nice eh? Just kind of resonated for me when I read it. Makes sense I think. If Dharma is the truth, the law (and I also read somewhere, the lore) of the universes, a guide to life, and on and on, then it makes sense that inbuilt in all that would be a duty to self, or a responsibility to yourself.
We always have a duty to tell the truth of course. But what we often forget is our duty, our responsibility, to express our own truth(s) in our actions, behaviours and attitudes. And we are certainly, many of us, guilty of not being consistent in our duty of care towards ourselves and our well being.
Of course you know what this means: eat right, do right, think right, treat yourself right. All that eight fold path stuff from the Buddha's teachings come into it as well. But in this context it's all about YOU and how YOU look after YOU. I'm not saying be a selfish so and so. Not at all. This is really more about being really you, and being the best you you can be. If you know what I mean. Too much use of you here for my liking!!!
And if you (and me) are the best you can be right now, right here (doesn't mean you're perfect; doesn't mean you have sorted it all out and life is all hunky dorey [what does that mean?], it really, I guess now I think about it, is about being fully present to what you're doing, who you're with and how you are.
Just about care of self. That's all. Of course it sounds really easy; if you're human, you know it's not so simple. All we can do is do our best. And if you do that, your best I mean, then you are truly and really being true to yourself. And that's about as perfect as anyone can expect you do be. Even if that someone is you!
Peace

What's with the name of this blog?

It's a good question. But it's one that is pretty easily answered: just see the description under the title of the blog. This blog is about a writer's (that would be me) experiment with, or exploration of, truth, or rather the search for truth.

I only write the truth; I've already done a post on just this topic. But the actual words, Dharma Dreaming are interesting. The Dharma of course is a word you find in Buddhism and it refers to the teachings of Buddha or, to put it another way that is to my liking, the laws of the universe. Same thing really... in a manner of speaking. Easy to see how this might apply to the blog of a writer who is seeking to find and to tell the truth.
Dreaming is also interesting. Of course there is the obvious meaning related to the kinds of dreaming we all do when asleep (or sometimes when we're awake!). In the context of the blog title, if we are to use this meaning it's saying that I have a dream (to steal a phrase) that I can find and tell the truth.
In its other meaning, Dreaming is the more correct term for the Dream Time of Australia's Indigenous peoples. It, as with Dharma, refers to the law of the universe; it also encompasses the story of a people or culture ... or an individual. For example, if you were to make a scrapbook or a photo album that you believed contained the full story of your family history, then you can say: 'This is my family's Dreaming'. That isn't a terrific or totally accurate example, but I think you get the drift.
So, Dreaming here for the purposes of this blog is the attempt to explore the truth in the context of my own personal story as a writer ... of course this is going to be in the context of my life story. Also there is an element of my resolve to stick with the Dreaming as in the law of the universe.
All this sounds very grand doesn't it? It's not meant to. It is simply the convoluted and even confused explanation by this writer and dreamer.
thank you for reading this.
Peace!

NOTE: There may be some people who might take offence at my interpretation of the term Dreaming (or other of my writings of course). Any offence caused is of course entirely unintended. At the same time I apologise unreservedly to anyone genuinely offended by what I have written regarding this sacred and important concept and tradition. I am naturally open to any feedback regarding this issue. I have only attempted to make an explanation from my own feelings and all I do is motivated by a genuine search for truth and a desire to do right by all beings. Thank you