Sanatana Dharma

Sanatana means eternal, never beginning nor ending.
Dharma is from dhri, meaning to hold together, to sustain.
Sanatana Dharma eternally holds All together.

Sanatana Dharma is experience based rather than belief based.

'Satyam vada, Dharmam chara'

Literally means, Speak the Truth and Practice Dharma.

Ancient Hindu scriptures emphasize the importance of 'Satya' and 'Dharma'.  Satya is the eternal, absolute and unchanging truth. Dharma is often translated as righteousness, Law or Natural Law.

In the Rigveda, the word appears as an n-stem, dhárman-, meaning "something established or firm"

The Upanishads saw dharma as the universal principle of law, order, harmony, all in all truth, that sprang first from Brahman.

In the Brihadaranyaka's own words:

Verily, that which is Dharma is truth.

In the Mahabharata (12.110.11), Lord Krishna defines dharma as,

"Dhaaranaad dharma ity aahur dharmena vidhrtaah prajaah, Yat syaad dhaarana sanyuktam sa dharma iti nishchayah,"

meaning, Dharma upholds both this-worldly and other-worldly affairs.

 

The prayer,

 “तमसोमा ज्योतिर्गमय” Tamasoma Jyothirgamaya,  in the tradition of Sanatana Dharma means “Lead me from darkness to light”. Darkness symbolizes ajnana or ignorance; while light symbolizes jnana or knowledge.

The Guru alone is capable of guiding one from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. It is due to this fact that utmost importance is given to the Guru in Sanatana Dharma.

About 1200 years ago, Great saint, Jagadguru Sri Adi Shankaracharya, the great philosopher, in his brief life of 32 years was instrumental in the spread of Advaita Vedanta philosophy of the Upanishads.  According to Sringeri Peetam Jagadguru Sri Bharati tirtha Mahaswamiji, Adi Shankaracharya re-established the path through which everyone can experience and become one with divinity.

 

Video link to the documentary released from Sringeri Peetam, about Jagadguru sri Adi Shankaracharya .

Acknowledgements:
http://www.sringeri.net/2010/05/31/publication/dvd/kalady-the-triumph-of-faith-over-time.htm#watchonline

The Virtues of Compassion (Daya)

There is a widely told story that speaks to the value of compassion. It seems that a woman who lived a Tao-centered life came upon a precious stone while sitting by the banks of a running stream in the mountains, and she placed this highly valued item in her bag.

The next day, a hungry traveler approached the woman and asked for something to eat. As she reached into her bag for a crust of bread, the traveler saw the precious stone and imagined how it would provide him with financial security for the remainder of his life. He asked the woman to give the treasure to him, and she did, along with some food. He left, ecstatic over his good fortune and the knowledge that he was now secure.

A few days later the traveler returned and handed back the stone to the wise woman. "I've been thinking," he told her. "Although I know how valuable this is, I'm returning it to you in the hopes that you could give me something even more precious."

"What would that be?" the woman inquired.

"Please give me what you have within yourself that enabled you to give me that stone."

The woman in this story was living her life from a sacred place of compassion.

Compassion (Daya), an emotion in human beings, is the simple ability to feel for others. Compassion gives rise to an active desire to alleviate other’s suffering and it often leads us to be merciful rather than critical. 

 

Baba’s compassion for others was rooted in his love for God's creation. He was always compassionate, charitable and cared for all living things, be they plants, animals or human beings. Baba lived a simple life and dedicated his life to serving God, through serving people around him. He stayed in an old dilapated mosque which he called Dwarakamai (Abode of Mother), begging for food which he shared even with cats, dogs and crows. He tended to a garden (Lendi), dedicated his life to serving God by caring for the lepers, and the poor people.

Sadguru Baba, our Master of Compassion, teaches us that it is not the journey but the understanding of the need to forgive and find compassion in all happenings and things around us, as the purpose of our life.  Let us learn from Baba's simple life and dedicate our life to serving God, by being compassionate and serving people around us.

  

 

References:

Excuses Begone!: How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

Sai Satcharitra