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Thread: Why do you believe 'Sanathana Dharma' is the 'way to go' for real spirituality?

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    Light Why do you believe 'Sanathana Dharma' is the 'way to go' for real spirituality?

    Namaste,

    Everytime I come across the news that someone is converting to Sanathana Dharmam, I truly appreciate that and say to myself, "Truly, this person's karmas have ripened enough that they have found the right path". Whereas to some this does not seem to be so - for I have come across people who argue that Sanathana Dharma (Hinduism) may not really be that ideal for choosing "over their born religion" whatever it is... they cite Gautam Buddha and other realized souls of other religions to prove their point. Even if I argue that such saints have been very less compared to the 1000's of such example Hinduism has produced, they still argue that the numbers do not matter, the fact that there have been saints of other religions who were self-realized too is enough proof for the fact that all religions are the same and are equally good.

    I have always been skeptical of such arguments. I told one such person in an argument, "the lifestyle and hardships with accessing the right sources for striving for the same (attaining spiritual knowledge) becomes very limited for other religions, including Abrahamic ones. Whereas Hinduism by easy means, such as stotras, mantras, puranas, kathas, etc, not only elevate the soul but also provide sought-after results, even in spirituality, much faster. That is why, it is the well-accepted consensus among atleast Hindus that hinduism is a superior religion."

    Now, what could be the REAL reason why you believe Sanathana Dharmam is 'superior' and 'the way to go'?

    Thanks.
    jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar

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    Re: Why do you believe 'Sanathana Dharma' is the 'way to go' for real spirituality?

    Quote Originally Posted by Viraja View Post
    Now, what could be the REAL reason why you believe Sanathana Dharmam is 'superior' and 'the way to go'?
    Namaste Viraja Ji,

    I'm not sure I understand the question? Could you rephrase somehow more simply?

    ~Pranam
    ~~~~~
    What has Learning profited a man, if it has not led him to worship the good feet of Him who is pure knowledge itself?
    They alone dispel the mind's distress, who take refuge at the feet of the incomparable one.
    ~~Tirukural 2, 7

    Anbe Sivamayam, Satyame Parasivam

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    Re: Why do you believe 'Sanathana Dharma' is the 'way to go' for real spirituality?

    Quote Originally Posted by Aanandinii View Post
    Namaste Viraja Ji,

    I'm not sure I understand the question? Could you rephrase somehow more simply?

    ~Pranam
    I'm just trying to ask "If the reader finds Hinduism to be superior among religions" and "if so, why?".
    jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar

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    Re: Why do you believe 'Sanathana Dharma' is the 'way to go' for real spirituality?

    Namaste Viraja,

    Be very careful here... Dharma is not the same as religion, like mata, sampradāya, or pantha. Dharma is a code of conduct, like ahiṃsa, satya, asteya, shoucham (sp.? cleanliness of mind and body i.e., purity of thought, word and deed) and indriya nigraha. It is an entire way of life, like education, governing within a kingdom, marriage, 4 Dharmas, 4 stages of life, sciences, mathematics, engineering. It is a very encompassing view of civilization.

    That said, I do agree with you, Viraja, in that it is suspicious the claims that a person can be self-realized as "Saints" in Abrahamic religions when the basis of what a God is and how he views life on earth (don't forget the Dominionist view from Genesis 1:26 among other places) and how he treats humans as being incapable of understanding reasoning and instead gives instruction to them as though they were mentally 8-year-olds. Not only that, but also consider the exclusive and intolerant mindset as set forth in the authoritative scriptures of the Abrahamic religions.

    I think you want to read the PDF book, "DHARMA The Global Ethic" by Justice M. RAMA JOIS. It's only 100 pages, but has a lot of information that nails down what Dharma is and is not. http://www.vhp-america.org/dynamic_i...A_Ram_Jois.pdf This was my source for my response.

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    Re: Why do you believe 'Sanathana Dharma' is the 'way to go' for real spirituality?

    Quote Originally Posted by deafAncient View Post
    Namaste Viraja,

    Be very careful here... Dharma is not the same as religion, like mata, sampradāya, or pantha. Dharma is a code of conduct, like ahiṃsa, satya, asteya, shoucham (sp.? cleanliness of mind and body i.e., purity of thought, word and deed) and indriya nigraha. It is an entire way of life, like education, governing within a kingdom, marriage, 4 Dharmas, 4 stages of life, sciences, mathematics, engineering. It is a very encompassing view of civilization.
    Excellent, deafAncient, thankyou for the clarification, I stand corrected!

    That said, I do agree with you, Viraja, in that it is suspicious the claims that a person can be self-realized as "Saints" in Abrahamic religions when the basis of what a God is and how he views life on earth (don't forget the Dominionist view from Genesis 1:26 among other places) and how he treats humans as being incapable of understanding reasoning and instead gives instruction to them as though they were mentally 8-year-olds. Not only that, but also consider the exclusive and intolerant mindset as set forth in the authoritative scriptures of the Abrahamic religions.

    I think you want to read the PDF book, "DHARMA The Global Ethic" by Justice M. RAMA JOIS. It's only 100 pages, but has a lot of information that nails down what Dharma is and is not. http://www.vhp-america.org/dynamic_i...A_Ram_Jois.pdf This was my source for my response.
    I thank you for this recommendation. I will definitely read it.

    The reason I posted this thread is because I am having problem 'defining' to someone who believes all religions are created equal, why I think Hinduism is better. I wrote to them the following:

    People are into Sanathana Dharma aka Hinduism for the following reasons:

    1. Emphasis on Ahimsa
    2. Karma theory and prayaschittas
    3. Stotras, mantras, puranas, ithihasas that yield results
    4. Example of numerous saints and their sayings for motivation
    5. Emphasis of disciplined lifestyle (Surya namaskaras, consuming food offered to deities first, etc).

    Since the above are either unavailable to them or are unclear to them in the Abrahamic religions, whereas Hinduism lays a firm foundation and easy accessibility to those interested parties in the above fundamentals, I deem Hinduism to be superior in my view.

    I encourage all readers to please point me to factors that make Hinduism as an advanced path, in their opinion.

    Thank you.
    jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar

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    Re: Why do you believe 'Sanathana Dharma' is the 'way to go' for real spirituality?

    Vannakkam: I can list a few reasons.

    1) It absolutely makes the most sense.
    2) No other faith has the richness of mysticism.
    3) No other faith has given rise to the vast numbers of souls who reached moksha.
    4) If you get to a particular sampradaya, there is no confusion, or mixing of traditions that cause confusion.
    5) We know where we came from, where we are going, and have a wonderful road map to take us there.
    6) We love everyone, regardless of their path, because we know that there is a spark of divinity within all souls. No other religion can say that.
    7) We have living walking teaching Satgurus, realised souls who can guide us by direct and personal answers. In contrast other faiths leading teachers are mostly not in physical bodies any more. (It is far easier to choose a dead leader because he can no longer tell you what to do for your own good.)
    8) Our temples and houses of God are the most advanced (mystically) and busiest on the planet by far.
    9) It's 24-7.
    10) There's room for all ... the scholar, the bhaktar, the sage, the simpleton, the criminal, the saint ...

    You want more? You see, for me, this is all just blatantly obvious. No other religion has the depth of answers.

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: Why do you believe 'Sanathana Dharma' is the 'way to go' for real spirituality?

    Dear EMji,

    Great reply! Thank you!

    I was just reading deafAncient's other thread too... it is currently on in 'Today's Posts' view and is titled 'Distractions of Western Civilization'. I liked the following lines (thoughts from deafAncient):

    "Abrahamic religions do not qualify as inner science because the basis or focus of such religions is external to the person - history-centric view of things (what happened to whom and where), externality of God's interventions from above (which happen very rarely), and the understanding that Man is not capable of bridging the gap between himself and God without intervention of some kind. There is very little said about Man himself except the good and bad he is capable of, compared to the complexity of inner science of Indic thought. Anglo civilization is an example of a wood-burning culture with little thought on self-sustaining actions to maintain viability of people as well as the earth (which, by the way, came from eastern thought, fitted into the western framework, and then the original source of these ideas deleted or erased to make it look like WE came up with these self-sustaining ideas and no one else)."

    I see the above thoughts applicable to this current thread, somehow the words in them ring true to me.

    Thanks for the kind reply.
    jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar

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    Re: Why do you believe 'Sanathana Dharma' is the 'way to go' for real spirituality?

    Vannakkam: Yes, absolutely they are applicable, and so very apt. We are the source of so much. A couple of great religions unto themselves, Jainism, and Buddhism were offsprings of Sanatana Dharma.

    All this mystical stuff going on in the world today ... the New Age movement, the wide variety of Yogas, environmental stewardship, vegetarianism, all of it had roots in SD.

    So why not go to the source, and be proud of it?

    11) Pilgrimage ... whereas other faiths have mostly singular places to go to ... Hinduism had 100s, so many its difficult to make up one's mind.
    12) We're so alive. Other faiths brag of their crowds for once or twice a year, whereas in Hinduism we have several places that will gather those same numbers plus some EVERY SINGLE DAY OF THE YEAR. And then there are the kumbh-melas ... largest crowds ever gathered on this planet.
    13) Direct channel to God, no intermediary.
    14) Unbeatable, eternal ... we've survived invasions, wars, and more, where others failed. Where is the Greekl religion, the native American religions, the Egyptian religions ... gone, kaput, wiped out by alien external forces ... but not SD ... still thriving along.

    Aum Namasivaya

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    Re: Why do you believe 'Sanathana Dharma' is the 'way to go' for real spirituality?

    Namaste Ji,
    Quote Originally Posted by Viraja View Post
    I'm just trying to ask "If the reader finds Hinduism to be superior among religions" and "if so, why?".
    Thank you so much for clarifying, Viraja Ji.
    I'm not sure I would use the word "Superior". That word to me holds egotism and judgement of others. I would certainly say 'more Mature' and 'All-Inclusive' though - and I would consider this one of the great strengths of Sanatana Dharma. Its broad inclusiveness gives it a flexibility that has allowed it to survive in the midst of exclusionary and narrow systems.

    I also am not sure I would use the word 'Religion'. This is a word I have a lot of trouble and baggage around. Abrahamic systems are 'Religious', meaning 'Organized, Domineering and Proselytizing' by their very nature. Sanatana Dharma is none of those things, and so to me it is more 'Spirituality'. The reason I vacillate on this though is that calling it 'Spirituality', sometimes seems to dilute it, or give it less power and meaningfulness than what it really has, and can also allow people to lump it in with New Age sillyness. So I go back and forth on this...
    Quote Originally Posted by deafAncient View Post
    Be very careful here... Dharma is not the same as religion, like mata, sampradāya, or pantha. Dharma is a code of conduct, like ahiṃsa, satya, asteya, shoucham (sp.? cleanliness of mind and body i.e., purity of thought, word and deed) and indriya nigraha. It is an entire way of life, like education, governing within a kingdom, marriage, 4 Dharmas, 4 stages of life, sciences, mathematics, engineering. It is a very encompassing view of civilization.
    A caution that a little care needs to be taken here as well, in that there is an implied assumption here that the entirety of the codes of the old Dharma Shastras are meant to apply directly to us here and now. Certainly Dharma is the code of conduct and the laws of a civilization, but not all of the laws of then apply to today. They are Smriti, so some of the codes are meant to change and evolve along with civilizations and Yugas - they're a living social and ethical code, and probably the first example of one, ever. It is this very wisdom of evolving with culture that is one of the greatest strengths and shows the maturity of Sanatana Dharma. Even the most successful of living social documents today - the Constitutions of many different nations - can not be said to be as successful, and certainly not over such a long time period.

    There is a core of ethics and science taken directly from the Vedas and other Shruti, and these are the common thread of all Dharma Shastras and should also apply today. However, not allowing the rest to evolve with society as it was meant to leads to arguments about Dharma versus Adharma, who is 'most pious' and who is 'impure' - arguments that, in my opinion, should be avoided. These arguments are very much like what we see from Abrahamics.

    Those who would claim that there are Buddhists and Jains and Sikhs who have claimed "Realization", "Enlightenment" etc, are forgetting that those people themselves were Sanatanis in the broadest sense. Gautama was himself a Shaivite, and most Buddhists do accept the Vedas. I am not as certain of Jains and Sikhs, but they did arise from Sanatana Dharma as well, and from what I have learned so far from a Jain friend, they seem to also accept the Vedas.

    Discussions around Abrahamic thought are usually a waste of energy, particularly when trying to discuss with them. They are so used to circular thinking and backtalk that it's exhausting trying to get them to look past their own noses. Most do not know or flatly reject the truth, history and origins of their own scripture, and haven't read the translations of their oldest and original scriptures - particularly not Christians. I agree, the faiths are rigid and dogmatic, often literal-minded, and based in a fear of a wrathful God and condemnation to Hell, requiring only blind faith and no reasoning or critical thought at all. They believe this is the only chance they get and they must "get it right the first time" or else. The goal is not realization or wisdom, and despite their talk it's not for the betterment of the world or society either. The only thing they have going for them is the emphasis on experience, which is often taken advantage of by charlatains and can also be easily confused with 'Crowd Mentality' or 'Hive Mind'.

    Thank you for the link, deafAncient, I will read it, too.

    Nice quote from the other thread as well, great summation except for these two points:
    1) ...and the understanding that Man is not capable of bridging the gap between himself and God without intervention of some kind.
    2) There is very little said about Man himself except the good and bad he is capable of..
    The first is a huge generalization based mainly on forms of Catholicism. One of the points of the Protestant movement was that people felt this was wrong and they did have a direct line to God themselves and the priests/Church needed to stop being profiteering middle-men, abusing and killing those who didn't kowtow.
    The second is that it does say plenty about Man: Humans are weak of mind and spirit, born in Sin, inherently flawed, there is no hope of doing anything good at all, we can only Sin and hope to be absolved enough before we die that we don't go burn for eternity, abandoned by the Creator - oh but, don't forget He's all loving and forgiving! Oh yeah, it also points out quite clearly that Women are the downfall of all mankind and brought on the original sin and evil nature that we are all born marked with. Nice, eh?

    I've already listed some of the biggest reasons I think SD is more Mature. I agree with EM-Ji and deafAncient's lists, so would take them and would add:
    1) No discrimination - by this I mean the Vedas do not shun specific groups of people. Wherever Castism, Racism and Sexism started, it wasn't there.
    2) It is scientific as well as mystical. The knowledge of the Vedas and the understanding of the Rishis are paralelled by what modern Science is discovering today, to a degree that might be called 'uncanny' by some.
    3) The emphasis on co-existence even when your detractors don't want to. An off-shoot of Ahimsa, but worth noting.
    4) The understanding that everything around us, even inert matter, is Sacred and should be treated as such. Perhaps there are some Sanatanis who don't believe this, but I have yet to meet one. It's like a "Reduce, Recycle, Reuse, use Renewable Energy Sources" philosophy instead of a "Who cares, I don't care what kind of world my grandchildren inherit as long as MY life is easier, Global Climate Change is a Myth and anyone who mentions it is a Commie!" philosophy.
    5) The emphasis on Education, critical thought, discourse and experience! Abrahamics do not believe in this, they seek to stop these things because they free the mind and soul. Without them people are more easily controlled. SD teaches self-control, not over-arching dominion by a select few.
    6) Respect of self and Self.
    7) Patience. When you believe this life is all you have, it's easy to become stressed, angry and impatient. When you know you have all of eternity and you will acheive the ultimate goal in good time, there is far less immediate need to focus on the Now, and a whole lot more Patience with everything.
    8) Simplicity and Age. Occams' Razor reminds us that most times the simplest answer is the Truth. The old saying, "survival of the fittest", is qualified by the simplest organisms in a niche often outcompeting more complex organisms, and the more complex an organism the less adaptable it is to change. SD is the oldest, and at its core it's also the simplest living faith of Human kind, (it's something you know and feel deeper than ego, regardless of the high philosophy of the different schools). The oldest revealed scripture and the oldest ethical codes, and sciences that prove out even today... To reach the hights sometimes one must return to the roots.

    Lord knows I've probably left some things out. And I hope my post isn't too long or stepping over any lines.

    ~Pranam

    edit: I was working on this while EM-Ji wrote his second post. Perfection! Sir, you say it so much better than I can and with far fewer words!
    ~~~~~
    What has Learning profited a man, if it has not led him to worship the good feet of Him who is pure knowledge itself?
    They alone dispel the mind's distress, who take refuge at the feet of the incomparable one.
    ~~Tirukural 2, 7

    Anbe Sivamayam, Satyame Parasivam

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    Re: Why do you believe 'Sanathana Dharma' is the 'way to go' for real spirituality?

    Dear Aanandinii ji,

    First of all, I truly appreciate your reply that has scholarly standards all over it!

    I'm not sure I would use the word "Superior". That word to me holds egotism and judgement of others. I would certainly say 'more Mature' and 'All-Inclusive' though - and I would consider this one of the great strengths of Sanatana Dharma. Its broad inclusiveness gives it a flexibility that has allowed it to survive in the midst of exclusionary and narrow systems.


    Agreed, 'superior' is not the right word in that it claims others 'inferior', 'unworthy', etc. Afterall, I have nothing against those good souls born into and seriously practicing other (Abrahamic) religions and have had success with it! I have made a note of it and I will address the same term with better choice of words in future!

    I agree, the faiths are rigid and dogmatic, often literal-minded, and based in a fear of a wrathful God and condemnation to Hell, requiring only blind faith and no reasoning or critical thought at all. They believe this is the only chance they get and they must "get it right the first time" or else. The goal is not realization or wisdom, and despite their talk it's not for the betterment of the world or society either. The only thing they have going for them is the emphasis on experience, which is often taken advantage of by charlatains and can also be easily confused with 'Crowd Mentality' or 'Hive Mind.


    The second is that it does say plenty about Man: Humans are weak of mind and spirit, born in Sin, inherently flawed, there is no hope of doing anything good at all, we can only Sin and hope to be absolved enough before we die that we don't go burn for eternity, abandoned by the Creator - oh but, don't forget He's all loving and forgiving! Oh yeah, it also points out quite clearly that Women are the downfall of all mankind and brought on the original sin and evil nature that we are all born marked with. Nice, eh?


    ^The above clarifications - precisely what I wanted to know. I have always heard that the Abrahamic god condemns its non-believers to hell, whereas Hindu texts say no such thing... So its definitely a great plus point to be armed with this knowledge now!

    And the list you have given regarding the other salient features of Hinduism is also worth a thorough read.

    Thank you very much!

    jai hanuman gyan gun sagar jai kapis tihu lok ujagar

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