Sanatana Dharma
introduction
The term “Ideology”, as Fowler’s dictionary indicates, is a natural result
of the decline of religious faith in this modern age. We hesitate to accept
anything that has an association with religion, faith or creed; hence our
preference to the politico-social systems, like socialism, communism or
fascism which excite in us a quasi-religious enthusiasm or suggest striving
for a secular or humanistic ideal. Another reason for aversion to
religion-based ideologies or faiths is the historical record showing a
constant exploitation, military aggression, group hatred and rivalries in
the name of religion, causing endless misery to the common man. Each faith
has its own creed, dogma, mythology and rituals which are different and
sometimes diametrically opposite to those of other faiths. Having no common
ground or unity underlying these diversified faiths, the followers extol
their own and remain alienated with others. Very often they try to impose
their ideologies on others resulting in friction, proselytization, strife,
battle and war. These conflicts or “battle for ideologies” on the religious
field become detestable to the modern mind.
Concepts
But Hinduism, or more properly the Sanatana Dharma, developed altogether a
different ideology based on universal truths that arose from the depth of
consciousness of the Rishis of old. Knowledge can be acquired in three
ways: one, by direct perception through senses; two, by intellectual
faculty or reasoning: and three, through intuition or spiritual revelation
which is considered as the highest type of knowledge. The Sanatana Dharma
has emerged from the spiritual revelations of the Rishis. It rests on
certain eternal truths or principles and is not built upon historical
characters unlike Christianity, Mohammedanism or other faiths. The Vedas
containing eternal truths of the Rishis, are often called Apaurusheya, The
fundamental universal principles of Sanatana Dharma are:
(i) All beings are born of Brahman, after being born, live
in Brahman and finally enter into Brahman after dissolution. (Brahman is
the Absolute or the supreme Reality.) (Taittiriya Upanishad 3/1)
(ii) Existence is one; but sages call it by different names.
(Rigveda).
(iii) Verily all are Brahman. (Chandogya Upanishad 3/14/1)
>From these principles, it follows that man’s real nature is divine and he
is continuously struggling, consciously or unconsciously, to attain the
supreme goal of life which is attainment of Brahman or as vedanta refers as
Mokshaor liberation –liberation from the bonds of imperfection, death and
misery. And what becomes of the man who attains liberation? He lives a life
of infinite bliss. He enjoys the bliss with God. It also follows that the
great concept of one existence or oneness creates a feeling of unity in all
human beings and in all forms of life; hence the need for reverence to them
all. This is called lote which is an intense feeling of unity with all.
This love can be cultivated by purifying the mind which is generally
polluted by desire, attachment and frustration.
These concepts led to the conviction that spiritual values are the
highest value in life. There are other values as well, like the aspiration
for wealth, power, and material property (Artha and Kaama). But these are
never given the primary position among human aspirations, because these are
considered as means to attain the highest goal of life, namely Moksha. The
Hindu culture and civilization have rested upon this spiritual value since
the Vedic time. Hindu art, literature, philosophy and education have
expressed this great value.
The Smritis, Puranas, Epics and other Hindu scriptures have also
advocated this view. The Hindus flourished when they gave expression to
this spiritual value in their lives and activity; they degenerated when
they failed to give its expression. In short, Hinduism is Moksha-oriented.
Swami Vivekananda has truly said, “For good or for evil, our vitality is
concentrated in our religion. You cannot change it, you cannot destroy it
and put in its place another...This is the line of life, this is the line
of growth, and this is the line of well-being in India to follow the track
of religion.” (Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda: Vol. III, Pp. 178-179)
The Hindus have no ethics in the Western sense of the term; they
have developed dharma – a way of life, a way of truth. In fact, Hindu
ethics of dharma, is essentially a discipline of life which leads one to
liberation. The details of right conduct prescribed therein, therefore,
emphasize the transformation of the whole being into a Divine one or a
Jivanmukta purusha. Two paths have been prescribed for life’s journey. One,
the path of renunciation (Nivritti Marga) and the other, the path of active
participation in worldly affairs (Pavritti Marga) First is the direct route
to the goal of life and is extremely difficult. It is therefore meant for
the chosen few. The other path is meant for the common man and is long;
that is, it takes its course through the fulfilment of desires and material
aspirations. While doing work one has to bear in mind that material
aspirations are not ends but only the means to the ultimate goal. In the
context of this path, the Hindus prescribed the scheme of social
organisation known as Varnashrama dharma.
Hinduism holds that the spiritual evolution of man is a continuous
process which goes on from birth to birth. Death is not the final end. He
takes up another birth to proceed in spiritual evolution, which is delayed
if his ideal is hedonistic and is quickened if he performs good deeds and
undergoes spiritual discipline. Clean and moral life is therefore
encouraged in Hinduism. This concept is at the root of the Hindu ethics and
culture.
No Conflict
The Sanatana Dharma has no conflict with other religions; it has no “battle
for ideologies” with other faith’s. India, the land of dharma, never
preached her thoughts with gun and sword. She never waged war on her
neighbouring countries on matters religious nor she conquered any territory
on the pretext of religion. She never said: “My God is true and yours is
not; let us have a good fight over it.” She knew no proselytization. On the
other hand, she exhibited a spirit of catholicity throughout her history.
She gave shelter to the Farsi refugees who fled a few centuries from their
homeland following political trouble. Today their descendants are known as
Parsis. They follow Zoroastrian faith. St. Thomas, one of the apostles of
Christ, came to India to preach his Master’s gospel. India accommodated him
with love and care and helped build a church in South India which is still
functioning. She had been preaching her philosophy, art and literature for
the good of mankind. Her principle had all along been to “do good and be
good.” Her influence in the world of thought was sweet and graceful. “Slow
and silent, as the gentle dew that falls in the morning, unseen and
unheard, yet producing a mosttremendous result, has been the work of the
calm, patient, all-suffering spiritual race upon the world of thought” said
Swami Vivekananda.
Spiritual Values
Spiritual principles of Sanatana Dharma were given practical shape in
the form of Varnashrama Dharma which provided a wonderful success in the
scheme of social organisation. The whole society, adopted a positive
attitude to life. We read from the Isha Upanishad (Verse 2) that one should
desire to live for one hundred years performing one’s duties. The marriage
vow given in the Rigveda Runs as: “I take your hand in mine for a happy
future that you may reach old age with me as your husband.”
One of the Vedic prayers says: “Thou who art Power, fill me with power;
Thou who art Valour infuse valour into me; Thou who art Strength, give me
strength. Thou who art the Vital Essence, endow me with vitality. Wrath
against wrong art Thou, instil that wrath into me. Thou art Fortitude, fill
me with fortitude.” (Shukla Yajurveda Ch. xix/9) We read in the Chandogya
Upanishad (V/ix/5) that King Asvapati Kaikeya declared that in his kingdom
there were no thief, no miser, no drunkard, no man without sacrificial
fire, no ignorant person, no adulterer, much less an adulteress. The
picture of Ramarajya, as described in the Ramayana and the great advice,
both spiritual and secular, given by Vishwadeva, on his death-bed to
Yudhishthira, as found in the Mahabharatashows a high moral tone of society
in the epic age. Dharma established in the reign of King Ashoka * and King
Harshavardhana in the historical period show how the Hindu society
flourished in the human as well as in the social welfare activities.
We also read in history the record left after a wide trip in India,
by the Chinese traveller Fa Hien and Hiuen Tsang. “About one hundred and
fifty years before Shankara, the Chinese pilgrim, Hiuen Tsang came to India
and he was struck by the intellectual curiosity of the people of this
country, their eagerness for knowledge, readiness to accept new ideas and
interest in education. Himself a great scholar, he came here to learn to
slake his thirst for intellectual and spiritual knowledge” writes Swami
Ranganathananda in his book: Eternal Values for a Changing Society. (Page
209)
Downfall
Downfall came to the Hindu society when India lost her freedom to the
Muslims in the eleventh century. In the absence of political freedom, Raja
dharma which was a vital unifying and constructive force in society ceased
to function. The Mahabharata says that without Raja dharma the values of
the three Vedas are lost and all other dharmas existing in a society become
extinct. The Muslim rulers with their religion which had an alien concept
and culture, disturbed the Hindu culture and tried to destroy it ruthlessly.
The Britishers then came not only with their military strength for economic
exploitation, but also with a band of Christian missionaries to proselytise
the Hindus by force, fraud and temptation. They also attempted to
de-Hinduise the Hindus through English educational system. On account of
its strong vitality Hinduism did not disintegrate totally, but it lost
considerably its vigour and dynamism. It, however, did not forget
completely to foster the ethical and the spiritual values in its society.
Revival of Spiritual Values
For more than a century, India is passing through a spiritual renaissance
which began from Raja Ram Mohan Roy. The other leaders of thought in this
period were Sri Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Rabindranath Tagore, Sri
Aurobindo, Mahatma Gandhi and Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose. Their
contribution for the revival of the Sanatana Dharma and regeneration of
India is immense. Sri Ramakrishna was the “living embodiment of the
Sanatana Dharma” and he infused in his life “the universil spirit and
character of this Dharma so long cast into oblivion by the process of
time.” And Swami Vivekananda, his chief disciple, broadcast the eternal
principles of this Sanatana Dharma to make it practical in daily life of
everybody. (He, however, preferred to use the word “Vedanta” in place of
the word “Sanatana Dharma”.) He wanted that its main principles namely
oneness of existence, divinity of man and god-realization - the aim of
human life, already mentioned minus its theoretical rituals should be given
a practical shape and practised on the national level. He said: “The
Abstract Advaita (the non-duality, the Oneness must become living and
poetic in everyday life; out of bewildering Yogism must come the most
scientific and practical psychology and all must be put in a form so that a
child can grasp it.” “All ratiocinations of logic, all these bundles of
metaphyics, all these theologies and ceremonies may have been good in their
own time, but let us try to make things simpler and bring about the golden
days when every man will be worshipped and the reality in every man will be
the object of worship.”
During the long period of the political subjugation, India lost much
of her treasure of the Varnashrama-system, which raised her to the highest
pinnacle in the past, on account of the intrusion of the aggressive foreign
culture. During the British rule, she relinquished even her age-old
spiritual values of life and came to a sad state of degradation. Now India
is politically free. There is no foreign power to interfere in her
development of spiritual culture. A time has come when she should restore
her lost values and resume her march with a greater zeal and enthusiasm to
take her true rank in the hierarchy of nations, by applying the great
principles of the Sanatana Dharma in the modern context.
* Ashoka later on embraced Buddhism. The Buddha retained the subjective
spirit of the Hindu ethics. The life of righteousness was the key to the
Buddhist ethics.
Courtesy Ramakrishna Mutt K Rajaram IRS 13 10 23
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Markendeya Yeddanapudi <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, 13 Oct 2023 at 07:37
Subject: The Manifestation and Decline of Sanathana Dharma
To: ggroup <[email protected]>, thatha patty <
[email protected]>, <[email protected]>,
Satyanarayana Kunamneni <[email protected]>, <[email protected]>,
viswanatham vangapally <[email protected]>, Rajaram Krishnamurthy
<[email protected]>, Ramamurti PV <[email protected]>, Rangarajan
T.N.C. <[email protected]>, Kunamneni Satyanarayana <
[email protected]>, Ramu S <[email protected]>, Deepali Hadker <
[email protected]>, Krishnamacharyulu Nanduri <
[email protected]>
--
*Mar*The Manifestation and Decline of Sanathana Dharma
Sanathana Dharma or its reduction, Hinduism, as it is called today, evolved
as a manifestation of nature in evolution. The emotional symbiosis among
all organisms of the Biosphere, in free, thick, and lush nature, manifested
as Temples at many places, with nature’s freedom as the essential requisite
to enable the Gods of those Temples function as Gods. The power of God, the
power of Divinity of the God depended on the lushness, freedom and
happiness of the nature around the Temple. Every organism must feel the
Divinity and the functioning symbiosis. The Temples were actually the
Temples of the Biosphere.
The decline of Sanathana Dharma started with the decline of
nature-centricism and shift to anthropocentricism among the humans. The
Belief, Trust and Devotion complementing function of every organism was
stifled by the takeover of anthropocentricism. While every organism even
today lives in nature-centricism, the human deviated to anthropocentricism
and from there to the destructive Darwinism, to the cult that believes that
all organisms are at war with each other. As the Darwinist belief is that
all organisms are at war with each other, (while incongruously admitting
the basic ecological complementation, inaudibly of course), the human feels
that economics which has converted every organism into just an economic
resource is natural!
Economics is war in progress against nature, with nature getting routed
into another leisurely evolution.
The revival of Sanathana Dharma is revival of nature in symbiosis. It is
deviation from anthropocentricism to nature-centricism. The first step is
the revival of Ecology, on the basis of the basic paradigm of symbiosis in
the living of all organisms. Nature needs Ecology and not Socialism or
Marxism.
We have to first admit the glaring and staring truth that nature today is
on the death bed. The basic paradigm of economics must be ecology and not
the present Newtonian mechanics.
As it is, the Temples of Sanatana Dharma are under the confiscations of the
government, which is running them, as public sector commercial undertakings
where it is making huge commercial profits.
If a Temple is revived with freedom to surrounding nature as the basic
paradigm, the symbiotic breathing, smelling, sensing and perceiving, will
gradually create courage, which grows into belief and freedom from the
stranglehold of acceptance of uncertainty and probability, the cult
embedded into physics by that Nazi, the late Heisenberg. Today, uncertainty
and probability are taught as chapters’ right in Quantum Physics, the
ultimate physics of consciousness. There is uncertainty and probability
only when one attempts, the basically abstract quantum physics, the physics
of emotions, into Newtonian Mechanics.
The first step in the revival of the Sanathana Dharma is doing meditation
in free and lush nature where the Biosphere is not under economic
destruction. It must start with the Universities.
Let us hope that at least one university among the thousands of
universities today gets the courage to take to the cause of freedom to
nature and freedom from economics.
YM
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