OHM HINDUISM A little Introduction: Hinduism is really the other name for humanism.

In many respects it is more than a religion; it is a way of life. About eighty percent of Indias population belongs to Hindus and thirty million more Hindus live outside of India. A total of nine hundred million Hindus worldwide, make Hinduism the third largest religion in the world. The word Hinduism is thought to have come from the Persian word hindu, meaning river , used by outsiders to describe the people of the Indus River Valley. Hinduism is not a manmade religion, founded or created by any prophet. Hindus refer their religion as Sanathana Dharma. It is the religion of experience. It is not based on dogmas and creeds to be accepted with blind faith, but it is based on self-realization. It has no origin and has no end either. Since humans did not compose it, it is known as apourusheya. Hinduism has a very close understanding with

the Almighty. Hinduism has produced numerous sages and saints like Sree Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Swami Vivekananda, who had the vision of the Almighty and experienced God in their lives. It has stood the test of time. The Doctrines of Hinduism: Hinduism believes that God is not sitting somewhere very far from the human and world. It never separates religion from life and life from religion. Hinduism is a religion of tolerance and patience and treats other religions with respect. Hinduism gives due respect to each and every creature and to everything in the world. The aspects of nature like earth, sky, mountains, rivers and living beings like animals, plants and things like wealth, education etc., are all seen as divine and being connected to God. Hinduism considers all creatures as children of God and the whole world as a single family. Hinduism, its tradition: Hinduism is a tradition of ever growing knowledge. Hinduism does not separate science from religion. Hinduism has never been imposed

on anybody at any time. It is a religion of freedom and unlike most other religions, it allows absolute freedom of ones faith and mode of worship. Indeed, it is the only religion in the world , which respects the right of people to realize the Almighty by their own freewill. The history of Hinduism has proved that it is a living force . Both hostile rulers and foreign aggressors could not banish it because it is a religion of selfexperience and self-realization. It is not based on any dogmas or set of rules to be accepted with blind faith. Hinduis and sanathana Dharama: Hinduis and its pristine glory: The entire edifice of Indian philosophical thought, known as Sanathana Dharma, which means the eternal right path, is founded firmly on Hinduism, which is based on Vedas. Vedas are the original Scriptures of Hindu teachings, and contain spiritual knowledge encompassing all aspects of our life, also for the whole mankind in general. They carry the perennial wisdom of ages. Vedas can be really supposed to be the basic constitution of all religions. Veda means

wisdom, knowledge or vision. The laws of Vedas regulate the social, legal, domestic, and religious customs of the Hindus to the present day. All the obligatory duties of the Hindus from birth to death, owe their allegiance to the Vedas. The Vedas are mainly compiled by the Great Sage Vyasa, about five thousand years ago. Sanathana Dharma, embracing Vedas, draw forth the thought of successive generation of thinkers, and so from time to time according as the situation demands, essential things are added on to it, unnecessary things are made obsolete from it and requisite modifications suitable to the time, space and causation are brought to it periodically to keep it always new, fresh and most useful to the mankind, without even any damage to its pristine glory. It is handed down through generations by the word of mouth from time immemorial by Mantradrashtas or Rishis of the yore, as ordained. They are very strong and everlasting. No one can destroy it. Since it is intended for the well-being of all people on the mother Earth, it flourishes ubiquitously.

(Hopefully one day, not very far from today, the whole world will recognize its value, irrespective of caste, creed or color). A Perennial Philosophy: Sanathana Dharma is the only perennial philosophy, which can bring prosperity, peace and tranquility in the world. Sanathana Dharma extols love towards God and hence it is the Supreme Dharma, by which the heart of man achieves his highest welfare. It is the Eternal Faith. Though it is very vast and exhaustive, at the core of Sanathana Dharma, we can find four fundamental doctrines to follow, namely:1. The entire phenomenal world the perceptible universe Drshya Prapancham, with all its diversities consisting of every animate and inanimate object of creation, is only the manifestation of ONE single Divine Ground, known as BRAHMAN, and apart from that they are all nonexistent. 2. Human beings can, not only acquire knowledge about this Divine Ground by study of Scriptures, observation, reasoning and inference, but can also realize its existence by a direct communion with it through

contemplation and meditation. 3. Man possesses a double nature of which one is a phenomenal ego confined to the body, mind and intellect, and the other is higher Ego, which is the Eternal Self, surpassing the limitations of all earthly concepts of self-identification. It is possible for man through spiritual practice, and Divine Grace through Gurus blessings, to realize his identity with the Supreme Eternal Self, the BRAHMAN, the only one God. 4. Mans life on earth has only one end and purpose; and that is to realize his identity with the Eternal self and thus attain the undivided, unitive knowledge of the Divine ground BRAHMAN, and act accordingly. BRAHMAN is the only one Scientific Supreme Truth and it forms the Akhanda (Infinite), Nithya, Sathya, Shudha, Budha, Mugdha Swaroopa or the Omniscient and Omnipotent. The word BRAHMA literally means to grow or to expand or swell. Adi Shankara puts it as the quintessence of his philosophy:

BRAHMA SATHYAM; JAGAT MITHYA, JIVO BRAHMAIVA NA APARAH meaning, Brahman (the Absolute) is alone real; this world is unreal; and the Jiva or the Individual soul, is non-different from Brahman. Sat-Chit-Ananada: The forces opposed to Vedic Dharma were more numerous and powerful at the time of Adi Shankara than they are today. We owe him so much on that account, because without him Vedas would have remained inaccessible to us. BRAHMAN is not an object, it is the Subject- the only Subject and the Essence. It is constituted by Sat-ChitAnanda; Sat, that which exists eternally; Chit, is the light of knowledge; and Ananda is bliss. This is precisely the true nature of our spirit. The electro-magnetic waves of the Scriptures contained in Sanathana Dharma are helping all of us, in our day today life, knowingly or unknowingly to a great extent in making improvements in various fields of our lives individually, physically, mentally and spiritually.

Various Forms of God: Since Hinduism is a religion of freedom, Hindus worship various forms of Gods as different manifestations of the one and only Brahman, the unifying principle and the Supreme Reality behind all those various manifeststations. Many Hindus are devout followers of Lord Shiva and lord Vishnu, Goddess Lakshmy etc. More philosophical focus began to develop later with the advent of Upanishads and development of Vedanta philosophy. Several new belief systems like Budhism and Jainism also began to sprout. Still Sanathana Dharma is really meant for all and it is above religion; it envisages that every individual should attain the Self and thus bring about the welfare of humanity. It is beautifully depicted in Manusmrthy, an ancient scriptural text that, we should handle Sanathana Dharma, little delicately aswell: satyam bruyat priyam bruyat na bruyat satyam apriyam Priyam ca nanrutam bruyat esha dharmah sanatanah,

meaning:, all that you speak must be truth, but you do not have to say all that is true. Speak truth in such a way that it should be pleasing to others. Never speak truth, which is unpleasant to others. This is the path of eternal morality or Sanatana Dharma. Voluminous Literature: All Scriptures of other religions put together will come to only half of the Scriptures in Sanathana Dharma. Approximately 1280 foundation books are there, in hundreds of languages, with more than 10,000 commentaries, and more than one lakh of sub-commentaries. The Scriptures therein, reveal 330 million gods of various manifestatations, hundreds of thousands of Rishis and a huge variety of acharas, rituals etc, among many other precious gems of axioms, as well

(In this context, I would like to add that if we examine history little deeply we can easily find that strife started when different religions sprang up and it is a bare truth that as far as different religions exist, strife is never going to end. It will only increase proportionate to the

increase in the number of religions. What we want is to accept Sanathana Dharma, as our religion and then follow its doctrines strictly, and put it into practice truly, sincerely and with dedication, with malice towards none and charity to all) Place of Dharma in Hinduism: . There is also a famous axiom, Dharmo rakshathi, rakshitha, meaning, one who protects Dharma, is protected by Dharma. Ahinms Paramo Dharma, meaning, non-violence is the chief of all Dharmas. Any type of cruelty is also considered as Adharma. Dharmam chara is used to mean Practice righteousness and act accordingly. The world will transform into a Heaven, if we follow Sanathana Dharma. Since we cannot hide truth from anyone, people all over the world are being seen accepting those facts contained in the vast literature of Sanathana Dharma, about the veracity of Yogas, regenerations, rebirths and re-incarnations etc.to a great extent day by day. For instance regarding the statement of Yoga in Srimad Bhagavat Gita, the most authoritative Dharmayoga Grantha on Karma Yoga, it is laid down that ,

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Yoga, which rids one of woe, is accompanied only by him who is regulated in diet and recreation, regulated in performing actions, and regulated in sleep and wakefulness. When the mind, which is thoroughly disciplined, gets riveted on God alone, then the person who is free from yearning for all enjoyments is said to be established in Yoga. As a light does not flicker in a windless place , such is stated to be the picture of the disciplined mind of the Yogi prcising meditation on God. Cycle of birth and death: The ancient Scriptures re-iterates the fact that there is no birth and death to the Soul (Atma), because when a soul leaves the body, it enters gradually in another body to experience its residuary vasana and go on like that until the vasanas are over and free: na jayate mriyate va kadachinnayam bhootwa bhavita na bhooya: Ajo nitya : shashwatoyam purano, na hanyate hanyamane shareere meaning shortly that no one can destroy the soul.Brahman or the Supreme conscious Power can re-incarnate in any form for sustaining the balance of the world and to protect righteous lives . Subham

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