When I was reading the introduction to the Rāmāyana I was completely lost as to what they meant by dharma and I really appreciated the way that it was explained in this chapter. It was explained both simply, by acknowledging that it just translates to the English word "religion," but then it also went deeper and explained what it meant contextually as well (72). It's my understanding that everything in your life relates to dharma. Dharma is the belief that you have to carry out certain social responsibilities in order to have the good life (95).
In terms of my own life, I think there are certain expectations that we need to follow for social order (95). In the current day with the pandemic, we are expected to maintain six feet distance, wear masks, and complete our healthchecks. All of those responsibilities directly contribute to the betterment of our community and doing those things is important to my religion because caring for others is key to Christianity and it's similar in a lot of religions. I think that it's important in Hinduism for similar reasons. How we treat our community is a direct representation of how we perform our religion. I think it's focused on so much in the Rāmāyana because it's an epic that's supposed to tell a tale that guides your morals. Dharma and morals go hand in hand making it an important theme to include. Having a more personal devotion as seen through bhakti could allow for a deeper connection which in turn makes people more conscious of their choices therefore more likely to care about their dharma (78).