Dharma-as-law reduces moral life to servile conformity rather than freedom.

Evidence

To put it in plain language, what the Hindus call religion is really law, or at best legalised class-ethics. Frankly, I refuse to call this code of ordinances as religion. The first evil of such a code of ordinances, misrepresented to the people as religion, is that it tends to deprive moral life of freedom and spontaneity, and to reduce it (for the conscientious, at any rate) to a more or less anxious and servile conformity to externally imposed rules. Under it, there is no loyalty to ideals; there is only conformity to commands. — Ambedkar, B R, Annihilation of Caste_ The Annotated…, 996

Categorization

• XREF: Echoes the Frankfurt School critique in Wiggershaus that a system of obedience-producing commands suppresses reason and spontaneity.