The way that can be spoken of is not the constant way; the name that
can be named is not the constant name. Everything is mystery upon
mystery - one day the wind shall pass like a wakening bugle call among
the pines and we shall all see how beautiful is the earth in this
lonely hour...
Hinduism Is
Sanatana Dharma
Rig Veda says: "Ekam Sat, Viprah Bahudha
Vadanti", which means that there is only One God (Truth) and
people see Him (It) differently.
Thank
you for visiting this website about Sanatana
Dharma.
Do you actually know what it is? Well, there is a lot of disinformation…
Someone rules this world... Moreover, there are not many valuable
books around with Truth. Many "Coca Cola Gurus" come here
with intention to manipulate. What is Hinduism then? First
of all, it is living with the principles of this beautiful Universe;
many outwardly complicated things are simple from within and are only
made "complicated" by people
who want to mask their purpose to manipulate others. But what is Sanatana
Dharma? Let us answer this complex question.
Hinduism
is one of the oldest religions of the world. It is a hybrid corpus
within the body of which many different opinions, even the contradictory
ones, can coexist peacefully with one another; if someone tries to
define this nonmonolithic hybrid with "Western thinking"
(or the "European one"), he or she will usually write a
definite nonsense.
On the picture (right) Lord Skanda enjoys
presence of His two consorts.
Thus, it is not a good thing to try to define Hinduism. The first
approach to Sanatana Dharma is
in the article about Lord Ganesh, but here
we can say at least the following: Sanatana
Dharma is the religion revealed by Gods in a very
ancient history of our Earth, several thousand
years before Christ.
For followers of Sanatana Dharma the
Vedas, or the epics like Ramayana or Mahabharata,
are the same what Bible is to
Christians and Holy Qur'an to
Muslims. Hinduism differs from Western (and European) style of thinking
which - on a philosophical premise - does not solve problems for most
of the time but rather makes huge knots of interpretations even of
the simplest things - in India, you will not find a book about
who is faster - a turtle or Achilles; in Europe, it is in libraries...
Sanatana Dharma is not a speculation, it does not have one founder,
it does not have one theological system, and it consists of
a variety of religious groups that had come into being many
thousand years ago and which gradually evolved and are evolving even
today. Like every religion, it has false and enlightened teachers.
As it is difficult to judge many aspects of life, society, proper
conduct and opinions of a variety of people, etc., a "guru"
is often chosen to help followers grasp the ancient wisdom of Gods.
Sanatana Dharma is a theistic
approach. For Buddhists, Gods are not so necessarily important on
their path to nirvana, but in Hinduism no one can achieve liberation
without approaching the Gods. Some teachers became generally accepted,
for example, a famous Indian philosopher Adi Shankar, as well
as many others.
The goal of Sanatana Dharma
is moksha - it is the final
state of a soul that liberates itself from the circle of reincarnations
and comes to the world of the Devas - Higher Beings. A path
to this goal is contoured in Hindu scriptures and brought closer via
instructions of gurus, who often do not share the same views among
themselves. Moksha results in
the Absolute Peace (Shanti),
Absolute Knowledge (Videh),
Absolute Enlightenment (Kaivalya)
and Absolute Bliss (Swarga).
Within the concept of Sanatana Dharma, the term Trimurti
(Holy Trinity) covers three Absolute Gods: Brahma
- the Creator, Vishnu
- the Preserver, Shiva
- the Destroyer. However, some groups place more emphasis on Parvati
(Shiva's consort), Skanda or Ganesh (Shiva's and
Parvati's sons), or even Surya. These all can be approached
as Absolute Divinities.
In Ganesha Purana
it is written:
At His command Lord Vishnu maintains
the universe. At His command Lord Shiva destroys the universe. At
His command the Sun, Lord of the day, moves throughout the universe...
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(c) George Sipos
The website started on July 2, 2007, and was last updated on October 2, 2013