Sanatana Dharma- The Pathway To A Happy Life

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With the changing times, we seem to be too engrossed in our silos of individual growth and achievements and tend to ignore or even ridicule tradition. To be Western is the trend, without realising that the philosophical tradition of the West is trying to discover the beauty of Sanatan Dharm-an all-inclusive way of life. From Adi to Anant, Sanatan Dharm is the constant evolution and revelations of human possibilities. It keeps transforming with time to suit the need for existence. It is not rigid. But the moral order underlying existence never changes. When duty becomes a part of consciousness and gets the backing of impeccable philosophy of existence, life becomes much easier. Sanatan Dharm does just that.

As we step into this new world. Sanatan Dharm will find increasing resonance with those who wish to understand religion and its purpose in life this is because Sanatan Dharm is not prescriptive and gives individuals the liberty to be seekers and find their own enlightenment. It rather guides people to attain higher levels of spiritual discovery.

The westernised educated youth in India today finds it difficult to identify himself or herself with the Sanatan Dharm. For him, being a Hindu is to chant those mantras that appear mumbo jumbos. Worship in temples without being pious or keeping the temples clean. They are still guided by the stereotype that depicts worship. Priests and temples. They find the humane aspects missing. As society progresses from liberalism to neo-liberalism and various -isms come to dominate the thought process in the name of humanity, the essence of Sanatan Dharm or Hinduism is lost on them. It is only after some serious study of their culture and tradition that they would know that Sanatan Dharm encompasses the ideology of neo-humanism that seeks to value all animals and plants. Environmental consciousness and respect of all live forms has always been integral to Sanatan Dharm.

Sanatan in English means 'eternal or timeless' and dharm refers to 'duty, obligations, truth or righteousness. Sanatan Dharm, in reality, is nothing but a way of existence that evolved with evolution of humans into higher consciousness. In the process of this evolution, from the hunting stage to a settled existence, humans were confronted with various difficulties. As the solutions came up, people started weaving moral narrative to make the act of living better and more meaningful.

Hence, Sanatan Dharm is an embodiment of this evolutionary process which makes it all the more necessary to understand the underlying principles behind every tenet of Sanatan Dharm. Sanatan Dharm is eternal; that means it has no end. But it also does not have an origin. No one is credited as originator unlike other religious orders where the messages from heaven came through a messenger. It is the constant evolution and revelations of human possibilities from Adi to Anant. Therefore, it is as old as the civilization itself.

श्रीगणेशायनम। THE Religion based on the Vedas, the Sanatana Dharma, or Vaidika Dharma, is the oldest of living religions, and stands unrivalled in the depth and splendour of its philosophy. While it yields to none in the purity of its ethical teachings and in the flexibility and varied adaptation of its rites and ceremonies. "It is like a river, which has shallows that a child may play in, and depths which the strongest diver cannot fathom." It is thus adapted to every human need, and there is nothing which any religion can supply to add to its rounded perfection. The more it is studied, the more it illuminates the intellect and fulfils the heart. The youth who learns something of it ensures for himself a sure enhancer of happiness and certain consolation in trouble, for the rest of his life.

धारणाद्धर्ममित्याहुर्धर्म धारयति प्रजाः।'

"That which supports, that which holds together the peoples (of the universe), that is Dharma."

Dharma is not merely a set of beliefs having no necessary connection with the daily life of humanity, but is the very (set of) principles of a healthy and beneficent life. Therefore, to know those principles and act upon them is to be a true Aryan (or follower of Vaidika Dharma), and to tread the sure road to happiness, individual as well as general. The etymological meaning of religion is also the same, "That which binds together." "Vaidika" means "pertaining to the Veda or Perfect Knowledge." Hence Vaidika Dharma means "the Religion of Perfect Knowledge."

One of the most remarkable things in the Sanatana religion is the way in which it has laid down a complete scheme of knowledge, and has then crowned it with a philosophy composed of six faces, but governed by one idea and leading to one goal. No such comprehensive and orderly view of human knowledge is elsewhere to be found. This has been sketched in the Elementary Text-Book, but now requires some further elucidation.