We have all heard or read about the Ramayana and Mahabharata and how our dharmic epics are all about the victory of Dharma over Adharma. But here is the catch. Adharma is not the inverse of Dharma. It is either an excess or deficiency of Dharma. Dharma does not mean being moral or ethical. It is roughly the cosmic order of righteousness that governs individuals and societies. But what does this have to do with AI and the output it generates?

Well, today in this “era of manufactured reality” and shifting dunes of information, the shore is found in the values of Dharma that are endorsed by our Indian epics. For instance, while it is good to have faith and trust in people, Dharma does not advocate blind trust or vesting absolute faith in anyone, even if it is family. After all, it was Maharani Kaikeyi—whom Maryada Purushottam Shri Ram held to be his mother despite not being born from her womb—who had him sent on a fourteen-year exile to the forest. Similarly, in the Mahabharata, the cousins of the Pandavas, the Kauravas, subjected the Pandavas and their wife, Devi Draupadi, to twelve years of exile in the forest and one year of exile in disguise after cheating in a game of dice. This is not to discourage the reader but to simply suggest erring on the side of caution and being vigilant rather than mindlessly believing everything, be it information on the internet or people.

At the same time, our Dharma does not advocate simply lying down and passively accepting things as they come. Once again, taking the example of Shri Rama, who willingly sacrificed the throne of Ayodhya just to keep his father’s word, he allied with the Vanaras and Maharaja Sugreeva, doing everything that was needed to declare war on Lanka and rescue his wife, Devi Sita, from the clutches of Ravana. This included actively taking matters into his own hands and getting them dirty by killing Vanaraj Vali in what appeared to be an underhanded move but was needed to establish Dharma. He applied his mind, weighed the consequences, made the judgment, and took the shot.

Then there were the tactics practiced by the Pandavas themselves under the guidance of Shri Krishna, uprooting the obstacles that stood in their way; despite the tactics appearing underhanded, they were necessary for the establishment of Dharma. They did not blindly follow Shri Krishna and surrender their human agency merely because he said so. It took the illumination of the Bhagavad Gita from the lips of Shri Krishna himself to enlighten Arjuna’s mind and dissolve his passivity to urge him to act against the adharmic elements among the Kauravas.

While these incidents highlight extraordinary factors, they also underline the root of lies used to wage psychological warfare that nearly broke the wills of warriors of Dharma, even though their minds were focused and committed. This is much like the misinformation generated by AI today, which is used to brainwash people into believing whitewashed lies that sway opinions in favor of misguided or deceitful causes. For instance, even Prabhu Ram, the most focused and calm warrior of his age, grew agitated when Indrajit, a master of illusion and deceit, cut off the head of Maya Sita to break his will and render his rightful cause headless by making it seem that his very reason to fight had been eliminated. It took Vibhishana’s intelligence and accurate information to dispel the source of Shri Rama's agitation, revealing Indrajit’s weakness and explaining Ravana's mindset regarding why he would never sacrifice Mata Sita. Vibhishana clearly advised Shri Rama on the next course of action, which was directing Shri Lakshmana to wage war at night to eliminate Indrajit before he became invincible.

There are numerous instances in the Mahabharata too where the cunning deceit of Shakuni was combated by the accurate intelligence and wisdom of Vidura and Shri Krishna, thereby eventually leading to Dharma emerging victorious despite the steep cost that had to be borne by the Pandavas and their lineage.