Sanatana Dharma- A Universal Dharma and a Way of Living
Hinduism is the only religion which
is non-dogmatic, amenable to criticism, adaptable to new situations and
has the power to reinvent itself. Hence it does not hinder a practicing
Hindu to live according to changing times and in different parts of the
globe. It is these qualities which has helped Hinduism to survive the
onslaught of Semitic religions like Christianity and Islam.
In its journey in pursuit of Reality,
Sanatana Dharma has come a long way. In the beginning our sages looked
at nature with awe and showed reverence to various forces of nature like
wind, fire, thunder and lightning. In the next stage they composed
hymns to propitiate these nature forces and expected boons from them. In
the third stage they composed elaborate rituals and believed that if
correctly conducted the gods will be forced to give them the boons so
desired. The fourth stage was the stage when they transcended from the
materialistic plane of worship and contemplated on concepts like karma,
rebirth, soul, ultimate reality and (moksha) salvation. The result of
this contemplation was the Upanishads, the essence of Hindu philosophy.
Sometimes it may appear strange that the
way majority of Hindus worship is in contradictory to the philosophy of
Upanishads. Why did our spiritual leaders allowed the continuation of
the ritualistic practices instead of encouraging the practice of
contemplation and meditation as enunciated in the Upanishads? This is
because our wise seers knew the nature of human mind. Men have different
aptitudes, mental set-up, desires and goals which in total was called
gunas by our ancients. These gunas were categorized into sathvika,
rajasika and tamasic. The practice of contemplation and meditation could
have been followed by those possessing the sathvika guna, but what
about others? If our seers had insisted only in one medium as a path for
realization for a spiritual aspirant, a large number of people with
rajasika and tamasic gunas could had turned irreligious. Hence they
allowed the continuation of the old rites and rituals so that at least
they do not turn into atheists.
Different Paths for Salvation
In fact the Bhagavad Gita gave a death
blow to the performance of Vedic yajna and nishkaama karma (activities
without expectation of results) took the place of kaamya karma. But the
Vedic mantras survived as it was uttered by the Brahmins during their
daily prayers. In imitation to the Vedic worship, the tantric form of
worship came into vogue and was adapted by all class of people. In this
form of worship devotion is the chief element. While the Upanishads
propounds the Jnanamarga (knowledge path), the Bhagavad Gita Karmamarga
(activity without expectation of results), the most popular form of Self
Realization was enunciated by the saints of south India, the Alwars and
Nayanmars, which is Bhaktimarga (devotional path). It was the saints
who followed this path who tried to reform the Hindu society and spoke
against the futility of caste inequalities and meaningless rituals
associated with Hinduism. They created awareness among the masses the
need to develop true love towards god and consider all men as the
children of god. These saints played an important role in unifying the
Hindu society and strengthening its morals.
Hinduism is the only religion which has
shed practices considered obnoxious. One may point out that Hinduism too
had their share of prohibitions and discriminatory practices as
evidence in their dharmashastras and smriti texts. But just notice the
so called ancient texts of the Hindus. It comprises of the Vedas,
Vedangas, Upanishads, Puranas, Bhagavad Gita, epics (Ramayana and
Mahabharatha), Dharmashastras and Aagamashastras. Of these only the
Dharmashastras which are works of Brahmins prohibits sea travel, inter
caste marriages and dining; and has expiratory rites and rules for
worshiping manes, all meant for Brahmins who form a minuscule percentage
of the Hindu population. This has nothing to do with Hinduism. The
reactionary views on women and non-Brahmins found in these works were
written by unscrupulous persons with an intention to protect their
interests. One may find offensive and derogatory remarks against women
and non-Brahmins even in the epics and Bhagavad Gita. This is due to the
interpolation done at the time of putting the texts into writing or
during subsequent revisions once again by unscrupulous persons. At that
time few people knew Sanskrit and hence only after these texts were
translated into English that we know these kinds of omissions done to
our religious texts by a microscopic minority for selfish ends. The real
philosophies of the Hindus are contained in the Upanishads, the
Bhagavad Gita and the Vedanta theories propounded by our Acharyas. While
Buddhism and Jainism denied the infallibility of the Vedas, they did
not repudiate the philosophy of Upanishads. The main grouse of these two
religions was against the burden of ritualism and domination of the
Brahmins in the religious sphere.
Hinduism has no qualms even in adapting
practices followed by religions which grew as a protest against the
Vedic practices of ritualistic worship. Under the influence of Buddhism
and Jainism, Hindus gave up animal sacrifice and adapted idol worship.
The devotional form of worship as enunciated in the tantra form of
worship also gave impetus for idol worship. Hinduism gradually
incorporated the folk gods into its fold and these folk gods were
associated with the Vedic gods. For instance Thimappa of Tirumala became
Venkateshwara or Balaji, another name of Vishnu and Manjunatha of
Dharmasthala was associated with Lord Shiva and in these temples the
Vedic form of worship was introduced. Today new gods like Ayappa and
Shirdi Sai Baba has crores of adherents who come from all castes and
classes of the society. For devotees who take vows to visit the shrine
of Ayappa at Shabarimalai, the initiation is given by mostly
non-Brahmins.
Universal appeal of Hinduism
The uniqueness of Hinduism is its
philosophy contained in the Upanishads which has a universal appeal. One
may be an atheist, an agnostic, may question the infallibility of the
Vedas, could be a theist but anti ritualistic, may be a follower of any
faith; but still by adapting the path enunciated by the Upanishad could
realize his true nature and obtain salvation. Over-all the philosophy of
Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) is
- Universally applicable for all times
- Have different paths for people with different temperaments for achieving self-realization.
- Hinduism does not believe in attracting adherents by using force, by inducement or by trickery.
- It is not a religion with dogmatic rules and regulation. Even followers of other religions without giving up their faiths can obtain salvation by following the teachings contained in the Upanishads and Bhagavad Gita.
- Hinduism does not believe in a God sitting in the cloud, dictating people to do this and not to do that and punishing those who do not obey him or promising a place in the heaven for sense indulgence for those who obey his orders.
- Normally in all religions an adherent prays and begs God to fulfill his/her wishes; seek blessings and repents for his/her sins so that he may seek a place in the heaven. But in Hinduism one can transcend from this materialistic mode of worship and seek for the ultimate bliss by knowing his true Self. Who I am, is the enquiry a Hindu makes and finally realizes that he is a part of the divine.
- While in other religions it is a sacrilege even to praise or show reverence to gods of rival religions, Hinduism believes that everything (animate and inanimate) is a manifestation of Brahman (God), Sarvam Brahmamaya. This was a bold declaration by our ancient seers. When each one of us is God, where is the need for fear, to feel guilty or even the need to put efforts for salvation? The only thing is to realize our true being and this realization happens through contemplation and meditation.
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