Sanatana Dharma Quotes

There will always be individuals in non-Hindu societies who will recover the mystique of Sanatana Dharma through their efforts at self-discovery.

If one desires clear sight One cannot place one’s trust in reflections. The way in is The only way out.

1. Mahabharata (3.281.34) 34. adrohah sarva-bhuteshu karmana manasa gira anugrahas cha danam cha satam dharmah sanatanah Never displaying malice towards any living being through actions, thoughts or words, acts of kindness, and giving in charity; this is the Sanatana Dharma adhered to by righteous persons.

the word ‘Hindu’ did not exist in any Indian language till its use by foreigners gave Indians a term for self-definition. Hindus, in other words, call themselves by a label that they didn’t invent themselves in any of their own languages, but adopted cheerfully when others began to refer to them by that word. (Of course, many prefer a different term altogether—Sanatana Dharma,

Religion is the secret of life. It teaches us to love, to serve, to forgive, to endure, and to interact with our brothers and sisters with empathy and compassion. Advaita (non-duality) is a purely subjective experience. But in daily life it may be expressed as love and compassion. This is the great lesson taught by the great saints and sages of India, the exponents of Sanatana Dharma.

God's creation was linguistic, & the letters of the first potent word that (S)He uttered contained all the forms of creation, each form presided over by the name of a letter of the alphabet, which is in turn composed of letters, each of which has a name, & so on to infinity... Creation, on other words, is eternal & ongoing: "the multitude of letters swells out into the infinitude," & "letters are continually generating other letters." The alphabet speaks a divine language, ... each letter calling up, but never pinning down, the enigmatic nature of reality, the word of God. (S.177)

God wants nothing from us. In that sense, then, He is completely impersonal. At the same time, however, He is very intimately personal where we ourselves are concerned, for He wants for each of us, His creatures, the perfection of absolute Bliss. Sanaatan Dharma offers a blend, one which, to reason itself, is perfectly acceptable, between God as both impersonal and personal. God, as Krishna explains in the Bhagavad Gita, and as I said earlier, dreamed everything into existence. He couldn’t mold anything, outwardly, for there was nothing “out there” to mold nothing in existence anywhere but His own consciousness.

I will definitely become research astronaut within 11 years but what can I choose in academics? Sanatana? Ecology? History? Literature? Mathematics? I am Hindu and Indian always whatever happens I will die as Indian and Hindu only. I have gained certain knowledge and still lack many things to be frank especially completely remembering Sanskrit and learning hindi that was taught by Saraswathi on top of my head (Akshara abyash to write on tongue but Saraswathi kissed on top of my head before I was born ) even before I was born and since I was born in Tamil Land, I have to respect Tamil always that is dharma. Whatever I have learnt and will be learning in each and every aspects and dimensions of life and lifeless inside universe and beyond will be applied through science and I am suitable for all sciences but I have to learn many things before I enter Most probably Nalanda or CMI then only I can eradicate bad people and good people will be happy. Neutral people will definitely survive and they have so many things to do

जाग्रत, उत्तिष्ठ, जगत् स्कन्धे गृहाण।

प्रेमसत्यं ब्रह्मसत्यम्। प्रेम विना अस्तित्वं नास्ति।। प्रेमदर्शनं ब्रह्मदर्शनम्। प्रेम विना ब्रह्माण्डं नास्ति।।

Sanatana Dharma is advaita sanskriti, that is, a culture of nonsectarianism, Hindutva means mindless saffronization.

Khalsa isn't Khalistan (The Sonnet) Khalsa means freedom from hate, Khalistan means nationalizing hate. Christ stands for love and compassion, Chistian nationalism is Christ's death. Sanatana Dharma is advaita sanskriti, that is, a culture of nonsectarianism, Hindutva means mindless saffronization. Islam means working for peace and welfare, Islamism is the ruin of synchronization. Intolerance is a worldwide pandemic, only terminologies vary culture to culture. Vaccine for the mightiest swords of hate, is the gentle glint of one heart, hatebuster. Give me ten unarmed transformers of love and light, I shall wipe out hate from its roots of fright.

tenets

Why make Ahoi Astami?

Khalsa signifie être libre de la haine, Khalistan signifie nationaliser la haine. Le Christ représente l'amour et la lumière, Le nationalisme chrétien est tout sauf chrétien. Sanatana Dharma est l'advaita sanskriti, une culture de non-sectarisme, Hindutva signifie safranisation insensée. L'Islam signifie paix et bien-être, L'islamisme est la ruine de l'harmonie.

Khalsa n'est pas Khalistan (Le Sonnet) Khalsa signifie être libre de la haine, Khalistan signifie nationaliser la haine. Le Christ représente l'amour et la lumière, Le nationalisme chrétien est tout sauf chrétien. Sanatana Dharma est l'advaita sanskriti, une culture de non-sectarisme, Hindutva signifie safranisation insensée. L'Islam signifie paix et bien-être, L'islamisme est la ruine de l'harmonie. L'intolérance est une pandémie mondiale, seules les terminologies varient d'une culture à l'autre. Le vaccin contre la haine la plus féroce est la douce lumière d’un cœur indivis.

Islam means working for peace and welfare, Islamism is the ruin of synchronization. Sanatana Dharma is advaita sanskriti, that is, a culture of nonsectarianism, Hindutva means mindless saffronization.

Tanrınator (The Sonnet) To the christian I'm christian - to neonazism, I'm nazarene ravager. To the jew I'm just a jew - to zionism, I'm thunderahava. To the sanatani I'm advaitin - to hindutva, I'm narasimha. To the muslim I'm sufi fakir - to islamism, I'm tanrınator. To the atheist I'm rationalist, to the militant I'm apocalypse. To the intellectuals I'm an idiot, to the narcissist I'm cataclysmic. I'm a brother to every believer and nonbeliever alike. I'm the bridge that unites the shores, I'm the bulldozer that obliterates divide.

Sanatana Dharma is the primordial religion of mankind. No matter how many faiths we construct for our own convenience and ego gratification, the reality remains that Sanatana Dharma will always be our actual religion, and Lord Krishna will always be our true object of worship.

Why is snanatan dhrama important for humanity?

En el hinduismo, cuyo nombre proviene de la denominación árabe, en su arribo a la India, de los habitantes que vivían en la ribera del río sindhu (de ahí “hindúes”), la tradición que sustenta toda expresión en función de la búsqueda de lo Sublime es llamada sanatana dharma o “verdad eterna”, refiriéndose a que lo que el hinduismo expresa en su tradición es el “modo de ser de las cosas”.

Sanatana Hindu Dharma, is created by the rishis whose brain was at least few thousand times more active than any possible human brains can happen in the future. Because of enlightenment, they (the rishis) operated beyond the body, mind and brain. That is why I am saying, only the traditions created by the Vedic rishis, the truths declared by them, the truths revealed by them, the lifestyle created by them, is capable of the enlightened thinking created by them, enlightened thinking presented by them; only that is capable of standing the scrutiny of the developed human brain of this century. This New Age thinking era, only that tradition, that enlightened thinking, the science of enlightenment, science of Completion, Advaitha, is capable of standing the scrutiny of the modern-day brain. That is why I am telling you, in the future, if at all religions exist, they may have any name, but the stuff will be simply the pure Advaitha presented by Upanishads.

बुद्धिज़्म (बौद्ध धर्म) सनातन का वो बेटा है जो विदेश में जाकर बस गया। अच्छा नाम कमाया।

Call it India or Bharat, but not Hindustan. Because no matter the intellectual stupidity of linguistic origin, in practice calling India Hindustan is like still calling humankind mankind.

Understand, the primary, fundamental, foundational first principle of Sanatana Hindu Dharma is Guru-Disciple relationship. Everything starts there, everything ends there.

The fundamental principle of Sanatana Hindu Dharma is Guru-Disciple relationship. And fundamental, primary secret to make it successful; what is the success of Guru-Disciple relationship? You realizing the Oneness with Sadashivatva, you realizing the ultimate. That is the success of Guru-Disciple relationship; that is the purpose. The fundamental primary secret, raja vidya, raja guhyam, royal knowledge and royal secret is, to make Guru-Disciple relationship successful is realizing – by His state He is compassionate, all-encompassing, all committed and non-demanding.

The darkness you see when you close your eyes is Kali.

The day India stops being secular, she'll stop being India.

There is no such thing as Hinduism - the actual phrase is Sanatana Dharma, which is not a religion, but an everyday sense of oneness or advaita - which is the very backbone of the Indian society. Only in India people celebrate Eid with as much enthusiasm as they celebrate Diwali - they celebrate Christmas with as much enthusiasm as they celebrate Nanak Jayanti - and that's Sanatana Dharma for you.

Sanatana dharma or Hinduism passed no judgments, gave no diktats, told no one what to wear and when to worship. It was not a martial code based on dark regulations imposed by a handful of so-called holy men. It was a glowing way-of-life. To each his own.

Khalsa means freedom from hate, Khalistan means nationalizing hate. Christ stands for love and compassion, Chistian nationalism is Christ's death. Sanatana Dharma is advaita sanskriti, that is, a culture of nonsectarianism, Hindutva means mindless saffronization. Islam means working for peace and welfare, Islamism is the ruin of synchronization.

Gurukul are mostly under trees because of sufficient availability of oxygen, so that students can have more focus in learning. Studies have showed that oxygen stimulate brain activity and help in concentration.-Sasi Krishnasamy

Religion represents the outer form of spirituality, but Sanatana Dharma represents the more important inner heart of all spirituality. (p. 17)

Before there were any rigidly organized denominations, sects, faiths, or theocratic dogmas in the contemporary normative sense of these terms, there was the Eternal Natural Way. Previous to the concept of wars waged in the name of a jealous god, or the persecution of people who had a differing religious belief, or religion used by evil men to conquer, divide, and subjugate large portions of the human race, there was the Eternal Natural Way. Sanatana Dharma harkens back to a time in human history when spirituality arose naturally as an organic and vital expression of living beings' innate core essence as eternal consciousness expressing itself in the temporal and material world, when sanity and humility ruled the domain of spiritual expression, and when life was lived joyfully in accordance with transcendent Reality. (p. 17)

Sanatana Dharma is, as its name implies, the “Eternal Natural Way.” Being a transcendent metaphysical principle and set of eternal natural laws, thus necessitating that Sanatana Dharma transcends both time and space, it preexisted the creation of the material cosmos itself, and it will continue to exist even after the universe itself ceases to be. Sanatana Dharma always was. Sanatana Dharma is. Sanatana Dharma always shall be. (p. 19)

Śrīla Guru Mahārāj once gave a lecture in the library of Dhanbad before a gathering of many highly qualified paṇḍits and wealthy persons. He started his lecture with this verse. He explained that people think religion is found in books and that those books are written in particular languages, but that religion does not actually come from books or languages: religion is communicated through the transcendental language of heart transaction. All religion presented in scriptures is first revealed in the hearts of ṛṣis, munis, and sādhus. After it appears in their hearts it is transmitted forward from heart to heart, and it later may take the form of books. So what can we say about religion? How much can we understand it? It is a matter of the heart. How can we feel the beauty and understand the glory of religion if our hearts are presently as filthy as a dustbin? Because our hearts are impure we must try to understand religion from a cleanhearted sādhu. […] One who has no desire for selfish enjoyment, who wants to give rather than take, who is always engaged twenty-four hours a day in serving the desires of the divine Lord, he is a sādhu. He alone is a truly peaceful, perfect gentleman. Real religion is the beauty that appears within the heart of such a sādhu, the transcendental feeling revealed in such a sādhu’s heart through his life of service. Whatever advice and instruction such a sādhu expresses is true religious instruction and can never be harmful to anyone. If we will receive a heart transmission from that type of sādhu and follow his guidance, we must feel the benefit of a truly religious life and come to understand the universal religion of all souls (jaiva-dharma).

The Eternal Religion, the religion of the rishis, has been in existence from time immemorial and will exist eternally. There exists in this Sanatana Dharma all forms of worship--worship of God with form and worship of the impersonal Deity as well. It contains all paths--the path of knowledge, the path of devotion and so on. Other forms of religion, the modern cults, will remain for a few days and then disappear. -- Sri Ramakrishna in a conversation with a devotee on March 9, 1884

IT IS LIKE YOU DON'T WANT TO BE EXPOSING YOUR BLIND SPOTS TO YOURSELF; YOU WANT TO BE IN DELUSION, LIKE HOW THE INDIAN HINDUS ARE THINKING THAT THEY ARE MAJORITY AND SANATANA HINDU DHARMA IS NEVER GOING TO BE DESTROYED.

*BUT ANY GOOD THIS SCIENCE HAS - THE PURE SCIENCE COMPONENT - IS DIRECTLY FROM SANATANA HINDU DHARMA.

It is only when you stop calling yourself a Hindu, that you rise as a true Hindu, it is when you stop calling yourself a Christian, you rise as a true Christian, it is when you stop calling yourself a Buddhist, you rise as true Buddhist.

Sanatana Dharma is the Eternal Natural Way. As such, this path represents the pre-religious, primordial essence of all true spirituality, philosophy, and yearning to know the higher Reality, as well as the very foundation of any and all attempts to establish any civilizational constructs based upon such eternal ideals.

We live in a world that we know is infinitely complex, overpoweringly beautiful, and often times deeply mysterious. From time immemorial, human beings have peered into the heavens and contemplated the meaning of the world around them, and the meaning of their own lives within this world. When we human beings do begin to contemplate the meaning of our reality, there are really only two mutually exclusive conclusions that we can possible come to. And we must choose between one of these two possible explanations. The first way of viewing reality tries to convince us that the world we see around us is ultimately devoid of any real and lasting meaning. That everything happens in a thoroughly random manner. That the world is an inherently chaotic place, without an ultimate purpose, or any higher principle governing what happens in our cosmos or what happens to us. We are alone. This uninspired response to the mysteries of the world around us is the typical secular materialist response. It is the depressing conclusion that the atheist comes to. This atheistic way of viewing reality is now the dominant worldview, purposefully and systematically foisted upon us for over two centuries by those who control public discourse and culture. The second way in which we can choose to see our world tells us just the very opposite of the above pessimistic and ultimately hopeless scenario. This second way envisions the universe around us as being full of deep meaning and alive with exciting possibility. Our cosmos is understood to be a reality in which, while oftentimes seemingly chaotic or confusing at a cursory glance, is in actuality governed by a higher and benevolent intelligence. It is a reality in which a nuanced order, balance, harmony and purpose lay hidden behind every important occurrence. Ours is a cosmos that is ruled by Natural Law. Though each and every one of these eternal principles of this Natural Law are not necessarily all known to us at all times, they are nonetheless discernible by those among us who are wise, patient and sensitive enough to listen to the quiet whispers of nature and to humbly open ourselves to the many lessons to be learned from Her. When we fully realize the nature and power of this Natural Law, and live according to its wise guidance, then we are living in harmony with the cosmos, and we open ourselves to experiencing the peace, health, joy, sense of oneness with all of creation and with every being in creation, and deep sense of meaning that each of us, in our own way, yearns for. This second response to the mystery of our cosmos represents the optimistic and hopeful world-view of Sanatana Dharma, the Eternal Natural Way. The spiritual path of Sanatana Dharma, or “The Eternal Natural Way”, is the most ancient spiritual culture and tradition on the earth. Indeed, it is "sanatana", or eternal. To one degree or another, it forms the archetypal antecedent of every other later religion, denomination, and spiritually-minded culture known to humanity.

The Vedas were first composed in Sanskrit approximately 3800 BC. Previous to even this time, this literature is known to have been preserved orally, and passed down from generation to generation of priests, seers and sages before finally being committed to writing. Thus, no one can accurately date the antiquity of the Vedas and consequently of Dharma. Dharma is one of the most ancient concepts known to humanity. The word “Dharma” is found repeatedly throughout the entire corpus of the Vedic scriptures, from the earliest Rig Veda to the Bhagavad Gita. There is almost no scripture in the entirety of the Vedic literature where one will not come across the word “Dharma” as the preeminent name of the religio-philosophical world-view taught in these ancient, sacred texts. Sometimes the word “Dharma” is used by itself; at other times it is used in conjunction with other qualifying words, such as “Vaidika Dharma” (Vedic Dharma), “Vishva Dharma” (Global Dharma), “Yoga Dharma” (the Dharma of Union), or more frequently as "Sanatana Dharma" (the Eternal Natural Way). The diversity of adjectival emphases will vary in accordance with the precise context in which the word is used. Of these terms, the name “Sanatana Dharma” has been the most widely used name of the path of Truth, and is used as far back as the Rig Veda (3800 BC), the very earliest scripture of the Indo-European peoples, and the earliest written text known to humanity. It is also the most philosophically profound and conceptually beautiful name for the path of Truth. (p. 42)

Our world, according to Dharma, is a place that is replete with inherent meaning, value, and an intelligent design underlying its physical principles and laws, as well as a transcendent purpose that, while not necessarily discernible via empirical means, nonetheless forms a very concrete spiritual basis of all empirical reality. The material, according to Dharma, finds its origin and sustaining ground in the spiritual. The measurable is grounded upon the infinite. The spiritual necessarily precedes the material. The world is here for a purpose – and that purpose is God’s purpose. The word “dharma”, in this more important philosophical sense, refers to those underlying natural principles that are inherent in the very structure of reality, ordering our world as the metaphysical backdrop to the drama of everyday phenomenal existence, and that has their origin in the causeless will and grace of God. Dharma is Natural Law. Thus, if we needed to render the entire term Sanatana Dharma into English, we can cautiously translate it as „The Eternal Natural Way“. (p. 47)

Dharma has no recognized founder, or prophet, or originator, other than the direct will and causeless overflowing grace of the Absolute. At one time Dharma was the sole expression of humanity’s yearning to stretch its hearts and intellects beyond the known world, and to intimately know and experience the source of all reality. Dharma was humanity’s attempt to incorporate the will of the transcendent Divine into the everyday, phenomenal concerns of this world, and to live and explore politics, economics, the arts, music, philosophy, literary expression, and life itself as an everyday, every-moment celebration of the omnipresent imminence of the Divine. When the rational and divinely inspired laws of Dharma governed the world, spirituality served as a source of unity, tolerance, joy, and mutual understanding. It is only with the later rise of the denominations that religion was then used to divide people, and to aggressively conquer others in the name of a god. Being thus a pre-religious phenomenon, Dharma serves as the spiritual foundation of all later denominational expressions of spirituality, and thus, by extension, as the very source of all important civilizations on earth. Dharma is the common heritage of all humanity, whether or not individual humans today are ready to acknowledge this fact or not. (p. 51)

The Vedas say, srnvantu visve amrtasya putra (Svetasvatara-upanisad: 2.5): “O, you sons of nectar, sons of the nectarine ocean sea: please listen to me. You were born in nectar; you were born to taste nectar, and you must not allow yourselves to be satisfied by anything but nectar. So, however misguided you may be for the time being, awake! Arise! Search for that nectar, that satisfaction.” (p. 22)

The eternal flow of Truth is a non-empirically-audible sonic reality that transcends the realm of human sensory purview or intellectual speculation, but that is nonetheless directly accessible to any sincere seeker who eventually reaches the stage of being a liberated yogi. Such transcendent Truth can only be known by purifying oneself through the practices of Yoga, meditation and devotional consciousness (bhakti) toward the Supreme Godhead, and reforming one's character to the point of dissolving illusory ego completely. It is this living, transcendent Truth that the perfected sages encounter in the yogically inspired state of non-mediated spiritual perception of the Absolute.

This transcendent realm of Truth can be compared to the overwhelming majesty and power of a mighty rushing river. That Truth is ever-dynamic, ever-fresh, unalterable, unstoppable, and alive with spiritual power. That river of Truth has the power to quench our thirst and our longing for the nectarean sweetness of Reality unlike anything else in existence. That river of Truth is the only sustenance our soul will ever need. When directly encountered by any liberated yogi, that mighty river of Truth is experienced in its dynamic form. When this very same yogi then reveals this transcendent Truth to others in the material world, however, this dynamic Truth now becomes concretized in the form of the Vedic scriptures (shastra).

The Bhagavad Gita presents us with a unitary system of Yoga, one clear and systematic path, wherein all four Yoga techniques of jnana, karma, bhakti and classical ashtanga are - together – all considered crucial for spiritual realization. These four supposedly different paths, in actuality, represent four aspects of one, unified, integral Yoga system. They are akin to the four sides of a square. If one of the sides of the square is missing, then the very structural integrity and being of the square is itself compromised. Indeed, it no longer is logically qualified as a "square" at all. Similarly, the complete and authentic path of Yoga spirituality must include all these four components of Yoga in order to be fully appreciated. It is true that these four Yogas are linked by their common emphasis on devotional meditation upon, and the ultimate loving absorption of our awareness in, the Absolute. However, it is also inarguably clear that Krishna considers bhakti-yoga, or the discipline of focused devotional consciousness, to be not merely one component of these four branches of Yoga, but as the very essence and goal of all Yoga practice itself. Unlike the other aspects of the Yoga path, bhakti (devotional meditation) is distinguished by the fact that it is not only a means (upaya) for knowing God, but it is simultaneously also the goal (artha) of all human existence. As the means, bhakti designates devotional meditation; as the goal, bhakti means devotional consciousness. At no time does one abandon the practice of bhakti, even upon achieving liberation. Rather, devotional consciousness focused with one-pointed awareness upon the Absolute represents the very goal of the entire Yoga system.

The yogi must be prepared to plunge deeply and fearlessly into the ecstatic reality of the sweet Absolute. Nothing less than this sweetness of devotion will suffice. Nothing greater than this sweetness is to be attained. This is the essential teaching of the Bhagavad Gita.

A society that sees humans as soulless is a society that sees human beings as being of no more worth than machines. And machines are simply tools, objects, to be used for the benefit of the state...

When [God] is moving you toward a new consciousness, you need to recognize the winds of change at once, move with them instead of clinging to what is already gone.

The word "Hinduism" is not found anywhere in either Vedic or classical Sanskrit, nor in any of the recognized sacred scriptures (shastra) of this spiritual path. Rather, the proper name of this spiritual tradition, the name that is found throughout the scriptures of the tradition, is Sanatana Dharma, or the Eternal Natural Way. Additionally, followers of Sanatana Dharma are not properly referred to as “Hindus”, but as “Dharmis”, or followers of Dharma. (p. 18)

There is no place where God is not. Indeed, for Sanatana Dharma, it is the very presence of God itself within the very core of all things that gives all things their very existence ontologically, and their very raison d'être spiritually. God is present within all of the material creation, within all of nature, in the hearts of every living being, and ever-present within our own essential being as the very Soul of our soul, the very foundation of our being, and the sustainer of our existence. Indeed, it is understood that if you were capable of pointing to anything either perceivable or conceivable in which God were not present - you would actually be pointing to nothing at all! This is the reason why the very highest name for God in the tradition of Sanatana Dharma is the Sanskrit term "Sriman Narayana", or "the Auspicious Sustainer of All Beings." (p 28)

God (Brahman), the individual self (atman), prime materiality (jagat, or prakriti), Truth (satya), the Veda (Truth rendered into literary form), and Dharma itself all have necessary existence. They are sanatana. They always have been - and they always shall be. (p. 44)

Shabda, Transcendent Word, or logos ( λόγος ) in Greek, is the exclusive means by which transcendent truths are revealed. This is the case because shabda, being of the nature of the spiritual, corresponds in essence with the spiritual nature of transcendent truths. It is only via consciousness that we can know consciousness. It is only via spirit that we can know Spirit. It is only via atman (our individual soul) that we can know Brahman (God). It is only through shabda that we can know transcendent truths. Shabda represents the essential nature of spiritual realities as they exist in the form of trans-empirical vibrational frequency (thus Word, logos, etc.). Truth, being an eternal and living reality, can be accessed by human beings who have purified themselves, and who have absorbed their subjective consciousness in the Absolute supreme subjective consciousness (God), to such a degree that qualitative separation between themselves and God has ceased to exist. At this point, the medium (pramana) between knower (pramatr) and object of knowledge (prameya), which in this case is God, has evaporated. Thus, shabda is the only means of knowing in which we transcend even the use of a medium. In such a state of oneness with the Divine, the sage now has the ability both to know the transcendent truth, as well as to reveal the transcendent truth of the Divine for all the world to know. Thus, Veda, or perfect scriptural authority comes into being as a result of such direct, non-mediated insight into the nature of the Divine on the part of the sage. Word, as the eternal transcendent reality revealed to sages in deep states of meditative absorption (samadhi), becomes "the Word" as written scripture when these very same sages then write their realizations down.

Coupled with the living guidance of a successive lineage of realized Dharma masters (enlightened rishis and Acharyas) stretching back to the beginning of time, and still present in our own era, the philosophy of Sanatana Dharma originates from transcendent perfection. (p. 107)

God, or Brahman, is the source of all. In the state of illusion, the soul (Atman) sees itself as an exploiter of matter (Jagat), and lives in an unnatural state of illusory separation from God. Thus, the soul psychologically finds himself in a unnatural, unnecessary and discomforting state of self-imposed conflict (virodha) and adversity with God, with other living beings, and with the material world around him. Such an unnatural state is the source of all our suffering. However, in the most ideal of circumstances, God, soul and materiality all exist in harmonious balance, drawn to one another through a metaphysical bond of love, and a unity of transcendent purpose - Atman and Jagat serving Brahman, and Brahman giving Atman and Jagat their sense of purpose and operating as the ontological source and sustaining principle of their very being [...] When we live in such a state of natural balance, we are then living in accordance with Dharma. We are then living our lives naturally and in perfection. (p. 115)

To the sage, the soul of the cow, the soul of the dog, and the soul of the elephant is just as worthy of dignity, respect, and spiritual equality as is the soul contained in the human being. Sama Darshina, or equal spiritual vision, is the highest form of equality toward which we can all aspire – for it sees the inherent equality that exists in the spiritual essence of all living beings. It is, in fact, the only realistic form of equality that we can ever hope for. Seeing all beings as our spiritual brothers and sisters, we will then, by natural extension, offer all people our respect on the political, social, cultural, and economic realms. The truly just society, then, is the Dharmic society, a society comprised of citizens who aspire toward the finer and nobler spiritual aspirations of life, and who thus view the world from a spiritual perspective. That nation which will most justly serve the interests of its people is the Dharma Nation, a nation in which the eternal principles of Dharma serve as the foundational governing philosophy of the state. We must make ourselves truly worthy citizens of God’s eternal Dharma Nation by spiritualizing our own vision and viewing our neighbors and fellow living beings as the atmans they truly are. We must begin the Dharma Revolution in our own lives.

People do not know what real progress is. The Vedic civilization is not interested in the false progress of economic development. For instance, sometimes people boast, ‘We have gone from the hut to the skyscraper.’ They think this is progress. But in the Vedic system of civilization, one thinks about how much he is advanced in self-realization. He may live in a hut and become very advanced in self-realization. But if he wastes his time turning his hut into a skyscraper, then his whole life is wasted. Modern so-called civilization is simply a dog’s race. The dog is running on four legs, and modern people are running on four wheels. The learned, astute person will use this life to gain what he has missed in countless prior lives – namely, realization of self and realization of God.

[...] the most ancient religio-philosophical system on earth, Sanatana Dharma: the Eternal Natural Way.

Being the Eternal Natural Way, Sanatana Dharma is a world-view that is universal in nature, and that can be followed by all. It is not relegated only to a particular people, nation, ethnicity or geographical region. Dharma is not a race, a parochial cultural expression, a nationality, or a geographically-bound phenomenon. Rather, Dharma is as universally applicable a truth and a systematic methodology as are the knowledge-revealing intellectual realms of mathematics, science, logic, or philosophy. As a result of the universalism of Dharma, this path is open to any sincere seeker on Earth, regardless of the person's national or ethnic heritage. Sanatana Dharma is not a race, a nationality or an ethnicity. Sanatana Dharma is not Indian, Asian or Eastern. Sanatana Dharma is he Eternal Natural Way, and it is the spiritual inheritance of all living being. (p. 28)

Being the Eternal Natural Way, Sanatana Dharma is a world-view that is universal in nature, and that can be followed by all. It is not relegated only to a particular people, nation, ethnicity or geographical region. Dharma is not a race, a parochial cultural expression, a nationality, or a geographically-bound phenomenon. Rather, Dharma is as universally applicable a truth and a systematic methodology as are the knowledge-revealing intellectual realms of mathematics, science, logic, or philosophy. As a result of the universalism of Dharma, this path is open to any sincere seeker on Earth, regardless of the person's national or ethnic heritage. Sanatana Dharma is not a race, a nationality or an ethnicity. Sanatana Dharma is not Indian, Asian or Eastern. Sanatana Dharma is the Eternal Natural Way, and it is the spiritual inheritance of all living being. (p. 28)

Throughout the unceasing course of human history, there have been a small number of revolutionary ideas that have served to define the nature and shape of an entire era and people. These ground-breaking ideas have been neither parochially limited, nor culturally demarcated in scope, but rather have served as meta-cultural, trans-geographical ideological principles that have assisted in guiding and molding the direction and purpose of entire civilizations and epochs in history. Such world-views are weltanschauung, a German word which has no English equivalent. The closest translation is perhaps the phrase "world-perspective", or a “world-view”. It is a way of perceiving reality, a way of seeing. A weltanschauung can be of either a positive and life-enhancing nature, while others can be devastatingly destructive. Some of the meta-ideas responsible for such civilizational transformation have included the world-altering ideas of theism, science, secularism, materialism, Marxism, hierarchy, equality, and democracy, among others. Of all the known ideological world-views to have arisen in human memory, the ancient principle of Dharma (“Natural Law” one can say) is by far the most important, universal, compelling, and surprisingly least known in our age, of all weltanschauung. It is a world-view that has shaped entire intercontinental civilizations in the ancient past, and that is still making its presence known today. It is also the one world-view destined to shape the future of our new global civilization in the 21 st Century and beyond. (p. 39)

Throughout the unceasing course of human history, there have been a small number of revolutionary ideas that have served to define the nature and shape of an entire era and people. These ground-breaking ideas have been neither parochially limited, nor culturally demarcated in scope, but rather have served as meta-cultural, trans-geographical ideological principles that have assisted in guiding and molding the direction and purpose of entire civilizations and epochs in history. Such world-views are weltanschauung, a German word which has no English equivalent. The closest translation is perhaps the phrase "world-perspective", or a “world-view”. It is a way of perceiving reality, a way of seeing. A weltanschauung can be of either a positive and life-enhancing nature, while others can be devastatingly destructive. Some of the meta-ideas responsible for such civilizational transformation have included the world-altering ideas of theism, science, secularism, materialism, Marxism, hierarchy, equality, and democracy, among others. Of all the known ideological world-views to have arisen in human memory, the ancient principle of Dharma (“Natural Law” one can say) is by far the most important, universal, compelling, and surprisingly least known in our age, of all weltanschauung. It is a world-view that has shaped entire intercontinental civilizations in the ancient past, and that is still making its presence known today. It is also the one world-view destined to shape the future of our new global civilization in the 21 st Century and beyond. (p. 39)

Shabda, Transcendent Word, or logos ( λόγος ) in Greek, is the exclusive means by which transcendent truths are revealed. This is the case because shabda, being of the nature of the spiritual, corresponds in essence with the spiritual nature of transcendent truths. It is only via consciousness that we can know consciousness. It is only via spirit that we can know Spirit. It is only via atman (our individual soul) that we can know Brahman (God). It is only through shabda that we can know transcendent truths. Shabda represents the essential nature of spiritual realities as they exist in the form of trans-empirical vibrational frequency (thus Word, logos, etc.). Truth, being an eternal and living reality, can be accessed by human beings who have purified themselves, and who have absorbed their subjective consciousness in the Absolute supreme subjective consciousness (God), to such a degree that qualitative separation between themselves and God has ceased to exist. At this point, the medium (pramana) between knower (pramatr) and object of knowledge (prameya), which in this case is God, has evaporated. Thus, shabda is the only means of knowing in which we transcend even the use of a medium. In such a state of oneness with the Divine, the sage now has the ability both to know the transcendent truth, as well as to reveal the transcendent truth of the Divine for all the world to know. Thus, Veda, or perfect scriptural authority comes into being as a result of such direct, non-mediated insight into the nature of the Divine on the part of the sage. Word, as the eternal transcendent reality revealed to sages in deep states of meditative absorption (samadhi), becomes "the Word" as written scripture when these very same sages then write their realizations down.

Truth, including the very highest of spiritual and philosophical truths, can be known to us with ever-increasing depth and clarity. We can know truth, both in theory, as well as through direct experiential insight, by employing the Vedic tools of Yoga and meditation, all under the capable guidance of the Vedic scriptures, the authentic guru, and the power of our own sincerity and direct insight into the nature of the Absolute. This is the Vedic way of knowing. (p. 80)

And beauty will be victorious in the world. Love will be victorious in the world. We will sacrifice everything to see that the banner of divine love will flutter all over the world, for a particle of that divine love will be able to keep peace and distribute peace in all directions. Just as fighting soldiers dedicate everything, and give their lives so their countrymen will benefit in the future, we should sacrifice our lives and work to bring real peace for everyone. (p. 26)

Western philosophy has remained more or less true to the etymological meaning of ‘philosophy’, in being essentially an intellectual quest for truth. Indian Philosophy has been, however, intensely spiritual and has always emphasized the need of practical realization of truth. The word ‘darshana’ means ‘vision’ and also the ‘instrument of vision’. It stands for the direct, immediate and intuitive vision of Reality, the actual perception of Truth, and also includes the means which led to this realization. ‘See the Self’ (ātmā vā are draṣṭavyaḥ) is the keynote of all schools of Indian Philosophy.

The teachings of 1) the Upanishads, coupled with 2) the Bhagavad Gita and 3) the Brahma Sutras, form the scriptural foundation of Vedanta, which constitutes the highest philosophical teachings of Sanatana Dharma. The term "Vedanta" is composed of two Sanskrit words. "Veda" means knowledge, and "anta" means the end, or culmination. Thus, Vedanta represents the "Culmination of all Knowledge". Of the 108 volumes of the Upanishads, several are extremely esoteric, while some are more easily understandable by modern readers. In either case, the only way to fully understand the teachings of both the Upanishads and any other sacred work of the Vedic literature is to study these works under the expert guidance of an authentic and self-realized guru (spiritual master). It is impossible to understand the inner spiritual essence of the Vedic scriptures without the grace of an authorized guru.

We do not have a soul. Rather we are soul. Our soul is our innermost identity and synonymous with the most intimate level of "I" that we know to be the core of our personhood. Both God (Brahman) and soul (Atman) are of the nature of pure sentient consciousness. Thus, being spiritual, they both transcend matter itself, as well as all the limitations necessarily associated with matter.

By choosing to perform actions that are either ethically positive or negative, we are choosing at the exact moment of such activities to create our own future states of being. We are choosing to mold our psycho-physical state, our mode of consciousness, our future course of action. The principle of karma teaches us that we have the power through our own present free-will decisions to literally create who and what we will be in the future. Thus, rather than being a doctrine that teaches the importance of "fate", "predestination", or a type of unalterable "destiny", the principle of karma actually teaches us the opposite: That we are radically free beings, with the ability at every given moment to choose to mold ourselves and our individual futures. Karma is thus a doctrine of radical freedom.

The earliest preoccupation of man in his awakened thoughts and, as it seems, his inevitable and ultimate preoccupation,—for it survives the longest periods of scepticism and returns after every banishment,—is also the highest which his thought can envisage. It manifests itself in the divination of Godhead, the impulse towards perfection, the search after pure Truth and unmixed Bliss, the sense of a secret immortality. The ancient dawns of human knowledge have left us their witness to this constant aspiration; today we see a humanity satiated but not satisfied by victorious analysis of the externalities of Nature preparing to return to its primeval longings. The earliest formula of Wisdom promises to be its last,—God, Light, Freedom, Immortality. (Collected Works 21/22, p.3)

Who among us has never, at some contemplative point in our lives or another, asked the truly big questions, questions about the ultimate meaning of the world we find around us, and of our lives within it? Questioning the reason for our human existence is a very natural pursuit on the part of any intelligent human being (manushya). Indeed, unlike any other species of life, human beings alone have been gifted by God with the unique cognitive ability to engage in self-reflection upon our very own existence as human beings. To be human means to question what it means to be human.

Having the Supreme Godhead as our source, our souls participate in the positive spiritual qualities of the Absolute. Both our souls (Atman) and God (Brahman) share in the inherent spiritual qualities of necessary being and existence, eternality, wisdom, beauty and goodness.

For the Dharmi, the world around us is seen as being alive with sentiency and personality. Some of this life is readily seen through the senses, while other forms of life exist on more subtle realms and cannot be as readily detected. Consciousness – life – inhabits the four corners of our cosmos in all its myriad forms, and is all meant to be appreciated for its own inherent value. As a result of this unique way of perceiving reality, the Dharmi has deep respect and reverence for his surroundings, including respect for all life-forms, all natural phenomena, as well as for the Earth Herself. The trees, mountains, the oceans, rivers and lakes, the myriad diverse biospheres, and the planets and stars are all seen as being beneficent friends and blessings upon us all. The Dharmi never considers himself to be at war with other species of life, but views the diverse living entities found in nature with love and acceptance. All living beings have an inherent right to life […] In actuality, Dharma teaches us that every corner of the cosmos is filled with consciousness and is alive with personality. The Sun, the Moon, the Earth, the lakes and trees, and Nature herself are all seen as being living persons, with their own will and inherent value, and are accordingly treated with the highest respect. (p. 63 f.)

On the question of the nature of the Absolute, Sanatana Dharma falls very clearly under the heading of a monotheistic religion. We believe that there is only one supreme being who is the origin and sustainer of all reality, and that the highest goal (artha) in life is to know, to love, to serve, and to come to a eventual state of intimate communion with the Divine Being, God. (p. 25)

The Vedic way calls upon all intelligent human beings to become noble (arya) in the character and behavior. We become noble when we strive to achieve superlative excellence in every aspect of our lives. For the noble person, the ideal of striving for perfection in all things is never a cause for trepidation or excuses. Excellence is our very purpose in living. We live in order to exceed our present state. For the arya (the noble person), the attitude of either being or doing something that is ‘good enough’ can never be good enough. Strive always, and in every facet of your being, to be noble and excellent. Praja Arya Jyotiragrah. ‘The arya are led by the divine light’ (Rig Veda, 7.33.17).