I won but did Dharma win?

Whether it is an online debate, a major decision, a fight, an exam, a project, or a daily office task, these are four simple dharmic criteria to claim 'success'. These are both necessary and sufficient conditions:

1. you win and dharma won =>    you won
2. you lose and dharma lost => you lost
3. you win and dharma lost => you lost big
4. you lost and dharma won => you won big. #3 and #4 are the important ones. This is just Dharma saying: a lack of preparation on your behalf does not constitute an emergency on my behalf. A win for me doesn't automatically mean that it is also a win for dharma, just because I am a Hindu/Buddhist/Sikh/Jain and the opponent is some leftist, atheist, or racist, or from a different country. These rules are universally applicable and independent of race, religion, nationality, and gender, etc.

In the past when different dharma sampradayas debated in accordance with the rules of dharma, accepting personal defeat meant the dharma won. The win or loss for an individual or a group eventually pales into insignificance when dharma itself loses.

A loss for me (or unsure if I won or lost) in the pursuit of dhama that results in a win for dharma is a huge win, and should be cherished. That is the toughest test for us all. After all, Bharata is the land of Abhimanyu and his descendants. It is not always clear if dharma won or not in today's world with its many shades of grey in this Kaliyuga, the era of uncertainty. Yes, almost all of us are guilty of violating these rules at some point in time, either willfully or out of ignorance. However, if we keep these rules in mind in shaping our intent, we are less likely to make the mistake of hardwiring the dogmatic belief that our minuscule and transient personal success or failure implies dharma's success of failure.