Chapter 1: Dharma: Explained in the Manu Smriti
विद्वद्भिः सेवितः सद्भिर्नित्यमद्वेषरागिभिः ।
हृदयेनाभ्यनुज्ञातो यो धर्मस्तं निबोधत ॥ १ ॥
vidvadbhiḥ sevitaḥ sadbhirnityamadveṣarāgibhiḥ |
hṛdayenābhyanujñāto yo dharmastaṃ nibodhata || 1 ||
Learn that Dharma, which has been ever followed by, and sanctioned by the heart of, the learned and the good, who are free from love and hate.—(1)
The present statement refers to the following three cases: — (1) when a person, without much thought, undertakes an action, through sheer impulse, — it must be right; this is what is meant by 'sanctioned by the heart'; — (2) the same expression also includes the case when one acts according to custom, depending upon the dictum 'that is the right path by which great men have gone'; — (3) when 'learned' persons, without any ulterior motives, are found to act in a certain manner they are never blamed for it, and even when people do not find their action authorised (by the Veda), they accept the fact that it must be based upon the Veda. In every way the present verse makes men have recourse to activity.
Other people explain this verse as serving the purpose of providing a general definition of 'Dharma'; the sense being — 'that which is done by such persons should be regarded as Dharma'; this definition is applicable to all forms of Dharma, — that which is directly prescribed by the Veda, that which is laid down in the Smṛti and also that which is got at from Right Usage.