Hari Om .
HINDUISM
In the contemporary world , there are many religions of recent origin .
Likewise , many ancient religions that existed earlier are now extinct .
Neo-religions are “founded” in the sense that they were started by
individuals at specific points in time . When we trace the history of
these religions , we find that they have emerged at the cost of
disturbing pre-existing religions , and
destroying indigenous cultural traditions in different parts of the
world . In Europe , a new organisation known as “The World Congress of
Ethnic Religions” has been formed by some individuals who are interested
in preserving indigenous religious traditions in Europe . Although the
membership base of this organisation is negligible , we must give them
credit for having survived the onslaught if new religions and having
come together to form an organisation . The secretary of this
organisation recently appealed to Hindus on the Internet , requesting
the Hindus , as the representatives of the largest ethnic tradition , to
come forward and lead the movement to preserve indigenous religions in
the contemporary world .
Hinduism is “Sanatana Dharma”
The Hindu religion is the indigenous religion of India , and is
different from the neo-religions in the fact that it was not founded by
any particular person . Krishna did not found Hindu religion . Rama was
born within the religion , which is testified by the fact that he was
the product of a particular Vedic ritual called putrakameshti . When he
was born , he was given the name “Rama” , and a ritual known as jateshti
was performed . Even though Rama and Krishna are worshipped as
incarnations of the Lord within the Hindu tradition , they were not
responsible for the Hindu religion . In fact , they were born within the
Hindu tradition , and their own lives exemplified the values unfolded
by the Vedas . Just as we cannot trace the origin of physics to a
specific person or a given intellect , the Hindu religion cannot be
traced to a specific individual . The Hindu religion is simply a view
and way of life . The Hindu Dharma offers a very clear view of life and a
view of reality , which can be accomplished by a self-conscious human
being . The Hindu Dharma is therefore called sanatana-dharma . This
compound can be broken in two ways : sanatanasya dharmaḥ ,
sanatana-dharma or sanatanascha asou dharmascha , sanatana-dharma . The
first meaning of sanatana-dharma is Isvarasya , sanatasya , dharmaḥ . It
is a dharma of the Lord , and therefore has no worldly beginnings or
endings . The second meaning of this compound can be understood in the
sense of pravaha-nityatvam . The dharma flows perennially , and keeps
re-emerging with each cycle of creation .
Just as the science
of physics has no particular author , the Hindu dharma also cannot be
attributed to any specific personality . Similarly , everybody has some
knowledge of physics , including the monkeys . A monkey could not jump
from one branch to another without some knowledge of gravity . Even a
newborn monkey knows that if it lets go of its mother , it will fall
down , which could have hazardous results for its health , and for the
propagation of the species . The only difference between the body of
knowledge known as physics and the body of knowledge that is known as
sanatana-dharma is that the first deals with a variable reality , and
the second with the invariable . Even within sanatana-dharma , certain
day to day aspects of the tradition might undergo a few changes ; but
the truth of this religion will always remain the same . In Sanskrit ,
truth is defined as abhaditam . Satyam or truth . is that which is not
subject to negation or improvement . Anything that is subject to
modification , or is dependent upon something else for its existence
cannot be satyam . Expounding the nature of truth is the greatest asset
of sanatana-dharma .
~ Swami Dayananda Saraswati
