A quiet notice V2Melody closes at midnight on , Spanish time.

Closes

A note from Richard

V2Melody will close at midnight on 20 January 2028

This site has been a retirement project in musical poetry: poems chosen with care and set to music, offered freely for as long as it felt right to keep the garden open.

The work no longer holds the place it once did in my life. I have gone as far with it as I wish to go. Like a sand mandala, it was made to be completed and then released. I am not attached to its permanence, and I do not believe any of it needs to last beyond the time it was given. The poems were already here before I arrived and began to experiment with them. They will still be here when these musical experiments, and indeed myself, have been swept away, like the sand of a mandala. Nothing has been lost.

I want a simpler end to my life, days of simple love and enjoyment with my wonderful wife of 20 years. The work of maintaining a server, the monitoring, and the residual obligations that come with keeping a site alive no longer fit that life.

From 4 November 2026 I will not be adding new poems or musical poems to the site.

The experimental music I am making now is on my Suno profile. Those pieces stay there, and are not added to this site.

Until midnight on 20 January 2028, Spanish time, everything remains available exactly as it is. That is when my VPS server contract comes to an end, and it will not be renewed. After that, the server will be switched off and the site will disappear.

The Mandala Is Finished explains this more fully.

Thank you to anyone who found a poem, a track, or a quiet moment here.

The pleasure was in the making.

Richard

Home › Glossary › Letter D

Dharma

World Religion
Pronunciation

Understanding ARPABET Pronunciation

Want to hear it? Click the Listen button to hear the browser speak the word using text-to-speech!

The pronunciation guide uses the ARPABET phonetic system—the same system used in speech recognition and text-to-speech applications.

Vowel Examples:
AE1 = cat, bat
EH1 = bed, head
IY1 = see, me
OW1 = go, boat
UW1 = boot, do
Stress Numbers:
0 = no stress (unstressed)
1 = primary stress (loud)
2 = secondary stress (medium)
Example:
AH0 TH IY1 N AH0
= a-THEE-na (Athena)

The stressed syllable (marked with 1) is pronounced louder and clearer than others.

Quick Definition

The Hindu concept of cosmic order, duty, righteousness, and moral law that sustains individual and universal harmony.

Detailed Definition
Dharma is a central theme in Indian epics, philosophy, and poetry, denoting context-specific duty based on one’s role, stage of life, and nature. In the Mahabharata, the phrase “dharma is subtle” underscores its complexity. Poets use dharma to explore ethical dilemmas, social responsibility, and the tension between personal desire and collective good. It appears as a guiding principle for heroes and a source of tragedy when misunderstood. In devotional poetry, dharma merges with bhakti—right action as loving service. The concept invites reflection on justice, balance, and the moral fabric that binds existence.
Example
Example in poetry:
In the Bhagavad Gita, Krishna tells Arjuna: “Your dharma is to fight—not for glory, but for balance”; A modern question: “Is my dharma to speak truth or keep peace?”; A diasporic verse: “Dharma is the compass that points not north, but right”; A minimalist lyric: “The duty that fits your soul like skin.”
Additional Notes
Dharma governs cosmic, social, and personal order—varying by context (svadharma = one’s duty by stage/caste). In the Mahabharata, dharma is elusive, tested in moral dilemmas (e.g., Yudhishthira’s dice game). Unlike static law, dharma is dynamic, requiring discernment. Bhakti poets critique rigid dharma in favor of love’s higher law. For literary scholars, dharma drives epic conflict and character development, posing enduring questions: What is right action? How do we choose when duties clash? Its complexity makes it a cornerstone of Indian ethical and narrative thought.
Also Known As
Dhamma Duty Righteousness Law Way
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