Sanatana Dharma or Hinduism?

The terms Hindu and Hinduism are said to be a more recent development, while the more accurate term is Sanatana Dharma. The term Hindu is said to have referred to the culture of the people on the othe r side of the Sindhu River. Although the terms Hindu andHinduism were created by foreign invaders, sometimes using them as derogatory terms, the indigenous peop le then co-opted these terms (mostly in the past 200 years) as collective or umb rella terms to describe themselves and their various ways of living, and many di fferent religions and spiritual practices, a custom which continues today. The o riginal term, predating these by thousands of years, wasSanatana Dharma, a profo und term that is rich with beauty and inherent wisdom. Out of that Sanatana Dhar ma emerged modern Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism, while significantly e ffecting many other religions or traditions, which also followed much later. The underlying reality referred to by the term Sanatana Dharma is actually eternal, and thus is beyond any reference to the first usage of the term, or to any reli gions or traditions stemming from it. Sanatana denotes that which always is, that which has neither beginning nor end, that which is eternal in its very essence. Dharma is designed to communicate the view that there is an underlying structure of natural law that is inherent in the very intrinsic constitution of Being itself - an essential nature. Thus, Sanatana Dharma refers to the eternal, natural way, the never beginning and never ending flow of the whole of being. See also: What is Sanatana Dharma? The following quotes are from in an article entitled Word As Weapon: The Misuse of Terminology in the Study of Hinduism (original article): ...Used often as a matter of convenience even by followers of the religion itsel f (including by this author), the term "Hindu" is not a term that is inherent to the religion itself. Rather, the term is known to have been first coined by the ancient Persians, who were culturally, religiously, and perspectivally extrinsi c to the culture. The term was first used by these ancient Persians in order to conveniently designate the ancient Vedic spiritual culture, and was mistakenly u sed to refer to the Vedic religion as primarily a geographic and ethnic phenomen on, more than as a religio-philosophical world-view. To the ancient Persians, th e word Hindu simply referred to the culture, people, religion and practices of the peoples who lived on the other side of the Sindhu River. In the ancient Avestan Persian language 's' grammatically became 'h'. Thus, the Persians pronounced th e name of this river Hindhu , rather than Sindhu . Thus, ironically, the currently use d word Hindu is itself a corruption of the Persian word Hindhu , which is in turn a c orruption of the term Sindhu , which is itself only referring to a river, and not a religion! Thus when the word Hindu is used today to refer to the ancient religion of India, the term is in actuality a corruption of a corruption of a word whose meaning is irrelevant to begin with. The terms "Hindu/Hinduism" are not self-referential terms that the practitioners

of the Vedic world-view chose for themselves or called themselves. These words are not attested to in any of the ancient Vedic or Classical Sanskrit literature s, or even in any of the many local dialects of ancient India until the medieval era. One will not find the term Hindu used to describe the Vedic religion in the Vedas, theUpanishads, the Puranas, the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, or anywhere el se in the Vedic scriptures. The word Hindu is not intrinsic to the religion of the Vedas at all. It was not, in fact, until as late as the 19th century, under the colonial rule of the British Raj, that these dual terms even acquired any legal significance on a national scale in India. The actual term that the Vedic tradition uses to refer to itself is Dharma . The wo rd Dharma is found repeatedly throughout the entire corpus of the Vedic scriptur es, from the Rg Veda to the Bhagavad Gita. There is almost no scripture in the e ntirety of Hinduism where one will not come across the word Dharma as the preemi nent name of the religion in question. Sometimes the word Dharma is used by itse lf; at other times it is used in conjunction with other qualifying words, such a s Vaidika Dharma (Vedic Dharma), Vishva Dharma (Global Dharma), or "Sanatana Dharma" (the Eternal Dharma). The diversity of adjectival emphasis will vary in accorda nce 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 this ancient religion, and is used as far back as the Rg Veda, the very earliest scripture of Hinduism, and the earliest written text known to humanity. It is also the most philosophicall y profound and conceptually beautiful name for our religion. While many reading this work have no doubt encountered the term Sanatana Dharma be fore, not every follower of Sanatana Dharma is necessarily as familiar with the full philosophical implications of the term's meaning. Thus it is necessary to e xplicate the term's full meaning in depth. The Sanskrit word "sanatana" is the e asier of the words to translate into non-Sanskrit languages. It denotes that whi ch always is, that which has neither beginning nor end, that which is eternal in its very essence. The concept of eternality that the word sanatana is trying to c onvey is a radically different concept than is ordinarily understood in the West ern Abrahamic religions. When the religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam e mploy the concept of eternality, it usually means that x thing, having come into being, will never come to an end. In other words, eternal for the Abrahamic relig ions, usually refers only to the future. A more accurate term for this Abrahamic concept is thus everlasting , rather than eternal proper. In Sanatana Dharma, however, the concept of eternality denotes something quite d ifferent from the standard Western notion. In this more expansive and bi-directi onal model, the concept of sanatanaextends not only into the infinite recesses o f the future, but into the past as well. By referring to something as sanatana , th e idea is that not only will it never come to an end, but it has always had nece ssary existence. Thus, God (Brahman), the individual self (atman), prime materia lity (jagat or prakriti), Truth (satya), the Veda (Truth rendered into literary form), and Dharma itself all have necessary existence. They always have been - a nd they shall always be.... Unlike the word sanatana , the term ''dharma" is a term that can be properly render ed into the English language only with the greatest of difficulty. This is the c ase because there is no one corresponding English term that fully renders both t he denotative and the connotative meanings of the term with maximal sufficiency. Rather than merely communicating a nominal subject for which there can be an ea sy word for word equivalency, dharma is communicating a metaphysical concept. Th e denotative meaning of "dharma" straightforwardly designates an essential attri bute of x object - an attribute whose absence renders the object devoid of eithe r rational meaning or existential significance. A thing's dharma is what constit utes the thing's very essence, without which, the very concept of the thing woul d be rendered meaningless. To illustrate the full meaning of this term, we can u se the following examples: It is thedharma of water to be wet. Without the essen

tial attribute (dharma) of wetness, the concept and existential fact of water lo ses all meaning. Likewise, it is the dharma of fire to be hot, the dharma of spa ce to be expansive, etc. The denotative meaning of dharma is easy enough to comp rehend. It is, however, when we come to the connotative meaning of the term "dha rma" that we then leave the more microcosmic concerns of Vaisesika categoriology behind, and then enter the realm of the overtly philosophical. For, according to the Vedic tradition itself, the very empirical cosmos in which we find ourselves currently situated also has its own inherentdharma, its essen tial attributive nature, without which the universe becomes meaningless. In this more macro-cosmological sense, the term dharma is designed to communicate the v iew that there is an underlying structure of natural law that is inherent in the very intrinsic constitution of Being itself. The Vedic world-view sees the univ erse as a place that has inherent meaning, purpose and an intelligent design und erlying its physical principles and laws. The world is here for a purpose 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 r eality, and that have their origin in God. Dharma is Natural Law. Thus, if we ne eded to render the entire term Sanatana Dharma into English, we can cautiously tra nslate it as "The Eternal Natural Way". Sanatana Dharma is the true name of our religion. The term Sanatana Dharma more accurately communicates the axiomatic metaphysical n ature of this concept than do the less meaningful and concocted terms Hindu/Hindu ism . Thus, when the terms "Hindu/Hinduism" are repeatedly used by both Euro-Ameri can and Indian scholars, as well as by actual followers of this eternal spiritua l tradition, we fall very far short from fully communicating the metaphysical, e thical and ontological components of the world-view of Sanatana Dharma. The form er term i.e., Hinduism - is a word mistakenly created to describe a culture in a p urely ethnic, national and social context. The latter Sanatana Dharma - is describ ing an illustrious science of Being in a purely philosophical - and therefore hi ghly rational, and inherently beautiful - sense. It is understandable that the t erms Hindu/Hinduism will continue to be used periodically as a matter of convenien ce. After all, it takes time, coupled with continuous education, for people to b reak themselves of a two hundred year old habit. For the sake of accuracy, as we ll as to uphold the dignity, beauty and grandeur of our ancient and sacred relig ion, however, we must always do our utmost to use the much more meaningful, ling uistically correct and beautiful name Sanatana Dharma when referring to our reli gion. Our religion is Sanatana Dharma....

------This site is devoted to presenting the ancient Self-Realization path of the Trad ition of the Himalayan masters in simple, understandable and beneficial ways, wh ile not compromising quality or depth. The goal of our sadhana or practices is t he highest Joy that comes from the Realization in direct experience of the cente r of consciousness, the Self, the Atman or Purusha, which is one and the same wi th the Absolute Reality. This Self-Realization comes through Yoga meditation of the Yoga Sutras, the contemplative insight of Advaita Vedanta, and the intense d evotion of Samaya Sri Vidya Tantra, the three of which complement one another li ke fingers on a hand. We employ the classical approaches of Raja, Jnana, Karma, and Bhakti Yoga, as well as Hatha, Kriya, Kundalini, Laya, Mantra, Nada, Siddha, and Tantra Yoga. Meditation, contemplation, mantra and prayer finally converge into a unified force directed towards the final stage, piercing the pearl of wis

dom called bindu, leading to the Absolute.