Sanathana Dharma -1





























Sanatana Dharma is is the original name of what is now popularly called Hinduism or Hindu Dharma. The terms Hindu and Hinduism are said to be a more recent development, while the more accurate term is Sanatana Dharma. It is a code of ethics, a way of living through which one may achieve moksha (enlightenment, liberation). It is the world's most ancient culture and the socio, spiritual, and religious tradition of almost one billion of the earth's inhabitants. Sanatana Dharma represents much more than just a religion; rather, it provides its followers with an entire worldview, way of life and with a coherent and rational view of reality.

Sanatana Dharma is is the original name of what is now popularly called Hinduism or Hindu Dharma. The terms Hindu and Hinduism are said to be a more recent development, while the more accurate term is Sanatana Dharma. It is a code of ethics, a way of living through which one may achieve moksha (enlightenment, liberation). It is the world's most ancient culture and the socio, spiritual, and religious tradition of almost one billion of the earth's inhabitants. Sanatana Dharma represents much more than just a religion; rather, it provides its followers with an entire worldview, way of life and with a coherent and rational view of reality.


What is Sanatana Dharma? 


Sanatana Dharma do not denote to a creed like Christianity or Islam, but represents a code of conduct and a value system that has spiritual freedom as its core. Any pathway or spiritual vision that accepts the spiritual freedom of others may be considered part of Sanatana Dharma.
First and foremost, Sanatana Dharma is anadi (without beginning) and also a-paurusheya (without a human founder). It is defined by the quest for cosmic truth, just as the quest for physical truth defines science. Its earliest record is the Rigveda, which is the record of ancient sages who by whatever means tried to learn the truth about the universe, in relations to Man's place in relation to the cosmos. They saw nature — including all living and non-living things — as part of the same cosmic equation, and as pervaded by a higher consciousness. This search has no historical beginning; nor does it have a historical founder. This is not to say that the Rigveda always existed as a literary work. It means that we cannot point to a particular time or person in history and say: "Before this man spoke, what is in the Rigveda did not exist."

The Nature of Sanatana Dharma

By its nature, Sanatana Dharma is…
  • God-centered rather than prophet-centered.
  • Experience based rather than belief based.
  • Beyond any historical date of founding.
  • The process of growth, which comes from the seed.
  • Inherent in, and inclusive of all.
  • In the world, while above the world.
  • Both immanent and transcendent.
  • The whole and the parts.
  • Loving of all and excluding of none.




Basic Principles

  • Sanatana Dharma recognizes that the greater portion of human religious aspiration has always been unknown, undefined, and outside of any institutionalized belief.
  • The universal flow of Dharma, regardless of what name you call it, whether Dharma or some other name, has eternally existed. It has been before any of the great teachers were born. It is not better than, or alternative to, but is inclusive of all. Dharma is that out of which our earth and humanity itself emerged. Dharma not only is, but always was, and always will be. To live in alignment with, and to know the true nature of that Sanatana Dharma is one of the ways of describing the higher goal of life.
  • Sanatana Dharma thereby gives reverence to individual spiritual experience over any formal religious doctrine. Wherever the Universal Truth is manifest, there is Sanatana Dharma — whether it is in a field of religion, art or science, or in the life of a person or community. Wherever the Universal Truth is not recognized, or is scaled down and limited to a particular group, book or person, even if done so in the name of God, there Sanatana Dharma ceases to function, whatever the activity is called.
  • Sanatana Dharma comprises of spiritual laws which govern the human existence. Sanatana Dharma is to human life what natural laws are to the physical phenomena. Just as the phenomena of gravitation existed before it was discovered, the spiritual laws of life are eternal laws which existed before they were discovered by the ancient rishis (sages) for the present age during the Vedic period. Sanatana Dharma declares that something cannot come out of nothing and, therefore, the universe itself is the manifestation of the Divine being.
  • Since Sanatana Dharma is referring to those ways of being which are in concert with the Absolute, and are therefore axiomatic laws, this term is not referring to something which is open to alteration. Just as the laws of gravity, mathematics or logic are not open to sectarian debate or relative opinion (gravity, for example, is an inherent law of nature regardless of whether one believes in the law of gravity or not), similarly the subtle laws of God transcend all partisan concerns.
  • The world is made up of three tendencies called gunas: sattvic, rajasic, and tamasic. Sattvic tendencies are those that are pure, clean, good, wholesome, calming, and peaceful. Rajasic tendencies are those that are active, moving, indecisive, and forceful. Tamasic tendencies are those that are inert, lazy, dull, and dark. If it were not for these three tendencies, we would not exist. Everything is a mixture of them. Even a saint, who is primarily sattvic, has some level of rajas and tamas in him/her, however small.
  • Sanatan Dharma makes use of yoga as the means to attain moksha (God-realization). Yoga has been poorly translated to mean "union". It does mean "union", but that is a poor definition because it encompasses so much more. Yoga is the union with Brahman (Absolute God). Yoga is also the means to achieving union with Brahman. Therefore, the word yoga is not merely a statement of union, but it encompasses the actual experience of liberation.


Hindu

A Hindu is an adherent of Sanatana Dharma which is known today as Hinduism or Hindu Dharma, that represents a set of religious, spiritual, philosophical, scientific and cultural systems that originated in bharatavarsha (Greater India). Briefly a Hindu is basically any person who is born into the indigenous religion of Bharatvarsh.

The Meaning of Hindu

If we go by the original definition of the word Hindu, any one who lives in bharatavarsha (the Indian subcontinent) is a Hindu and whatever religion he or she practices is Hinduism. The word Hindu is not a religious word and literally translated it means Indian and the word Hinduism denotes any religion or religions that are practiced by the multitude of people living in the land beyond the river Indus.

Origin of the word Hindu

The word Hindu is derived from the word Sindhu, which is the name of a major river that flows in the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. The ancient Greeks and Armenians used to refer the people living beyond the River Sindhu as Indu/Hindu and gradually the name struck. When the Muslims came to the sub continent they called the people living in the region as Hindustanis to distinguish them from the foreign Muslims. Subsequently when the British established their rule, they started calling the local religions collectively under the name of Hinduism that denotes any religion or religions that is indigenous and practiced by the multitude of people living in the land beyond the River Indus.
It is interesting to note that the word is not Sanskrit in origin and did not originate in India. It was not used by the native people of Bharatvarsh (Greater India) in their descriptions or writings till the 17th century. When and how the word 'Hindu" was coined is not precisely established. It is absent in early sacred literature of Indian origin. It was used by ancient Persians, without religious connotations, for the people inhabiting the lands of river Indus.

Hindus are the followers of Timeless Dharma

The Hindu "religion" was used to be known as Vaidika Dharma or Vedic Dharma and even Yoga Dharma, as it has the Vedas for its authority and source (Vedokhilo Dharma Mulam) and its essence is Yoga. Thus is also more commonly known as Sanatana Dharma as it delineates and embodies values and doctrines which are of eternal validity.
Sanatana Dharma stands for "Rita" - the majesty of moral and spirtual law. It looks upon the whole universe as being under the purview of a divine principle and subserving to the supremacy of Brahman (Supreme Reality), its creator. Times may change, ages may roll by, continents may rise and disappear, but values of life like Truth, Love, compassion, one's duty to mother, father, preceptor and to fellow beings, and the eternal reality of the spirit and unity of all life, are truths and values that subsist and will subsist for ever. These are the eternal values and truths which are embedded in the Vedas and are embodied in the sampradaya (religion) that had evolved out of Vedas. These values being of eternal validity and universality, are the justification for the religion that embody them, for being called as Sanatana Dharma, the timeless Dharma.
Such a comprehensive teaching is evident in the many sided yogic and meditational practices of Hinduism, the vast culture of Hinduism including art, medicine and science, and in the Hindu recognition of the importance of all systems of knowledge, material, occult and spiritual. The social customs of Hinduism, with their emphasis on spiritual practices, are also based upon such universal truth, though some of them have departed from it through the long course of time. Hence they require adjustment in light of changing times.

Who is a Hindu?

Due to the wide diversity in the beliefs, practices and traditions encompassed by Hinduism, there is no universally accepted definition on who a Hindu is, or even agreement on whether Hinduism represents a religious, cultural or socio-political entity. In 1995, Chief Justice P. B. Gajendragadkar was quoted in an Indian Supreme Court ruling:
"When we think of the Hindu religion, unlike other religions in the world, the Hindu religion does not claim any one prophet; it does not worship any one god; it does not subscribe to any one dogma; it does not believe in any one philosophic concept; it does not follow any one set of religious rites or performances; in fact, it does not appear to satisfy the narrow traditional features of any religion of creed. It may broadly be described as a way of life and nothing more."
While Hinduism contains both "uniting and diverse views", it has a common central thread of spiritual, philosophical and scientific concepts (including dharma, moksha and samsara), practices (puja, bhakti etc) and cultural traditions. These common elements originating (or being codified within) the Vedic, Upanishad and Puranic scriptures and epics. Thus a Hindu could:
  • Follow a tradition centered on any particular form of the Divine, such as Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakta, etc.
  • Practice any one of the various forms of yoga systems; including bhakti (devotion) in order to achieve moksha.
In 1995, while considering the question "who are Hindus and what are the broad features of Hindu religion", the Supreme Court of India highlighted Bal Gangadhar Tilak's formulation of Hinduism's defining features:
Acceptance of the Vedas with reverence; recognition of the fact that the means or ways to salvation are diverse; and the realization of the truth that the number of gods to be worshipped is large, that indeed is the distinguishing feature of Hindu religion.


























Om Tat Sat

(Continued)




(((My humble salutations to  the lotus feet of  Swami ji, great Devotees , Philosophic Scholars, vedawikidot com       for the collection)

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