Sanatana Dharma

Its Concept and Applicability

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 arisen 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 out of this 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 bliss infinite. 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 lotewhich 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 rest 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 Rigvedaruns 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 travel 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 Mahabharatasays that without Raja dharma the values of the three Vedas are lost and all other dharmasexisting 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 profetylise 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 Vurnashramasystem, 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 Buddhistic ethics.