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Dharma ≠ Religion
All the people saying that Hindu"ism" is some sort of a religion are clueless. Hindu is not a religious identity. At most, it is a geo-cultural identity.
Sanatan Dharma is ultimate reality and a seeker aligns his life towards it.
It's not a belief system.
All the people saying that Hindu"ism" is some sort of a religion are clueless. Hindu is not a religious identity. At most, it is a geo-cultural identity.
Sanatan Dharma is ultimate reality and a seeker aligns his life towards it.
It's not a belief system.
The mischief makers again and again proclaiming Satya Sanatan Dharma as a religion have an abrahamic lens of looking at the phenomena of our Samskriti.
Dharmic Paths are reproducible methodologies and not some dogma or a system of mere beliefs.
Dharma is for all. All are invited. But they must put their belief systems at rest and then come.
Dharma is about reproducible methodologies of realisation of the nature of reality.
यस्तर्केण अनुसन्धत्ते स धर्मो वेद नेतरः
Only those who methodologically approach with the usage of logical reasoning and experimentation can really know truth, not otherwise.
यस्तर्केण अनुसन्धत्ते स धर्मो वेद नेतरः
Only those who methodologically approach with the usage of logical reasoning and experimentation can really know truth, not otherwise.
"हिन्दू रिलिजन है हम मानने को तैयार नहीं हैं"
-PM
Hindu is a geo-cultural identity pertaining to the people living in land between Himalaya Parvat Shrankhala and Indu Sagara who carry out a way of life aligned with Sanatan Dharma. Sanatan means eternal.
-PM
Hindu is a geo-cultural identity pertaining to the people living in land between Himalaya Parvat Shrankhala and Indu Sagara who carry out a way of life aligned with Sanatan Dharma. Sanatan means eternal.
How religions (dogmatic concretised belief systems) die out but the perennial river of Sanātana Dharma flows eternally.
The Brihaspati Agama clarifies Hi-indu as a geographical identity:
हिमालयं समारभ्य यावदिंदुसरोवरम् ।
तं देवनिर्मितं देशं हिंदुस्थानं प्रचक्ष्यते ।।
Same thing is said by Naradiya Puran.
Greeks, Chinese, Arabs, Japanese, Koreans still refer to Indians as Hindu, Indu, Yindu...
हिमालयं समारभ्य यावदिंदुसरोवरम् ।
तं देवनिर्मितं देशं हिंदुस्थानं प्रचक्ष्यते ।।
Same thing is said by Naradiya Puran.
Greeks, Chinese, Arabs, Japanese, Koreans still refer to Indians as Hindu, Indu, Yindu...
By the foreigners, all the people living beyond Sindhu were called Hindus. Still in languages such as Rajasthani, Gujarati.. many S starting words are replaced with H. For example Saanp to Haanp, Saheli to Heli, Samajh to Hamaj. Same was the infliction that the foreigners caused.
Maharishi Sri Aurobindo also stresses on the same definition. Geography and the cultures that inhabited it is what is Hindu and Hindu Samskriti. Veer Savarkar also gives the same definition with minor changes. Foreign texts such as of Persian, Greeks, Chinese etc say the same.
We are always supposed to be the land of seekers of truth - Sanatanis. Never of believers who went by a set of concretised assumptions which is called religion and which is a western imposition.
One beautiful Shloka says the following:
One beautiful Shloka says the following:
यं शैवाः समुपासते शिव इति ब्रम्होति वेदान्तिनो
बौध्दा बुध्द इति प्रमाणपटवः कर्तेति नैयायिकाः ।
अर्हन्नित्युत जैनशासनरताः कर्मेति मीमांसकाः
सोयं वो विदधातु वांछितफलं त्रैलोक्यनाथो हरिः ।।
बौध्दा बुध्द इति प्रमाणपटवः कर्तेति नैयायिकाः ।
अर्हन्नित्युत जैनशासनरताः कर्मेति मीमांसकाः
सोयं वो विदधातु वांछितफलं त्रैलोक्यनाथो हरिः ।।
Shaivas adore that as Shiva, the Vedantins as Brahma, the Bauddhas as Buddha, the Naiyayikas as Karta, the Jains as Arhan, the Meemamsaka as Karma, may that, the ultimate holder of the three worlds fulfil our longing.
Shiva Mahimna Stotra puts it even more beautifully.
त्रयी सांख्यं योगः पशुपतिमतं वैष्णवमिति
प्रभिन्ने प्रस्थाने परमिदमदः पथ्यमिति च
रुचिनां वैचित्र्यात्टजुकुटिलनानापथजुषा
नृणामेको गम्यस्त्वमसि पयसामर्णव इव ।।
त्रयी सांख्यं योगः पशुपतिमतं वैष्णवमिति
प्रभिन्ने प्रस्थाने परमिदमदः पथ्यमिति च
रुचिनां वैचित्र्यात्टजुकुटिलनानापथजुषा
नृणामेको गम्यस्त्वमसि पयसामर्णव इव ।।
As the one ocean is of all waters, you are the one goal of all, who, according to their configuration, take to the specific trails, considering this as superior or that as wholesome among the differing paths- the Vedas, the Samkhya, the Yoga, the Shaiva and the Vaishnava.
Swami Paramatmananda further clarifies on "the way of life" phrase.
The centerpiece of Dharmic System is Freedom from the known and unknown.
It's not about sitting in some God's lap in 7th heaven. It's about freedom. It's about Mukti.
The centerpiece of Dharmic System is Freedom from the known and unknown.
It's not about sitting in some God's lap in 7th heaven. It's about freedom. It's about Mukti.
Sanatan Dharma is a way towards Sanatana Satya. It is an endeavour to discover. Not to believe. It's not a faith based dogma.
Swami Chinmayananda brings even more clarity to the word Dharma.
Part - 2
Part - 3
Prabhupada says -
"Sanatana-dharma is meant for all living entities, not just the so- called Hindus. Hinduism, this ‘ism’, that ‘ism’—these are all misconceptions. Historically, sanatana-dharma was followed regularly in India, and Indians were called ‘Hindus’ by the Muslims."
"Sanatana-dharma is meant for all living entities, not just the so- called Hindus. Hinduism, this ‘ism’, that ‘ism’—these are all misconceptions. Historically, sanatana-dharma was followed regularly in India, and Indians were called ‘Hindus’ by the Muslims."
"The Muslims saw that the Indians lived on the other side of the River Sind, and the Muslims pronounces Sind as Hind. Therefore they called India ‘Hindustan’ and the people who lived there ‘Hindus’."
"But the word Hindu has no reference in the Vedic literature, nor does so-called Hindu dharma. Now that sanatana-dharma or Vedic dharma, is being distorted, not being obeyed, not being carried our properly, it has come to be known as Hinduism. But that is a freak understanding."
Dharma Patha is not a promise of an otherworldly realm somewhere. It is here and now. It is scientific.
स्वल्पमप्यस्य धर्मस्य त्रायते महतो भयात् ||
Taking even a small step in the methodology of Dharma can free you from a lot of bondages leading you to enormous wellbeing.
स्वल्पमप्यस्य धर्मस्य त्रायते महतो भयात् ||
Taking even a small step in the methodology of Dharma can free you from a lot of bondages leading you to enormous wellbeing.
A Tibetian Bauddha Sannyasini describes Dharma in a soul stirring way...
The path that the Vedas lay out is of Dharma. And it is the path of truth.
Bhishma explains in the Mahabharata
Bhishma explains in the Mahabharata
averena ca sammanti
esa dhammo sanantano
- Gautama, the Buddha
Compassion and inclusion of all beings is the eternal Dharma.
esa dhammo sanantano
- Gautama, the Buddha
Compassion and inclusion of all beings is the eternal Dharma.
vatthu sahāvo dhammo - Saman Sutta of Jainas
Dharma is the inherent nature of an entity. The Sanatana Dharma will then be that nature which is eternal and indestructible.
Dharma is the inherent nature of an entity. The Sanatana Dharma will then be that nature which is eternal and indestructible.
"Religion means a creed, or a sect, it does not mean Dharma. Dharma is a very broad concept. It is concerned with all aspects of life. It sustains society. It sustains the whole world. That which sustains is “Dharma’’
- Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya
- Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya
"The fundamental principles of Dharma are eternal and universal. Yet their implementation may differ according to time, place and circumstance."
- Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya
- Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya
Parampujya Jyotirmath Shankaracharya, Swami Vasudevanand explains how Sanatan Dharma is not a belonging of Hindus, Buddhists, Jains, Christians, etc but it is for the whole Humanity. It is about experiencing that you are the whole cosmos. That you are the Vedas essentially.
To experience that Sanatana Satya, you have to do Prayaasa (work) and our great sages have codified the various paths to experience it with minimal obstacles.
Dharma is not various sects. It is realising that the individual is the universal.
Dharma is not various sects. It is realising that the individual is the universal.
Swami Satchidananda explains the importance of just being open without believing or disbelieving. The emphasis is on Knowing. And for Knowing you evolve yourself to that level from which the enlightened sages speak. Until then, you don't pass comments unnecessarily.
Sri M, celebrated Nath Yogi, talks on the importance of asking questions to dig deeper, and finding out answers oneself.
He explains - just because something is Tradition, it's NOT sane to reject it. These Dharmik Paths are tried and tested methodologies since time immemorial. Believers : disbelievers are in same boat. One believes negatively, other positively. Both are away from truth.
Akhadeeshvar Mahamandaleshvar Swami Gurusharananand Ji explains how understanding of what is Dharma can be developed only under a Sadhguru and all the definitions provided are not definite definitions but only indicative definitions.
Dharma cannot be grasped as a set of codes laid out by a book. It is the life itself and one can grasp it only through being in the presence of an enlightened master.
Swami Gurusharananand Ji explains how Religion ≠ Dharma.
