Re: Is Hindu Dharma merely a legal or cultural usage?
Originally Posted by
yajvan
hariḥ oṁ
~~~~~~
namasté atanu-ji
It is to our benefit at HDF that you have chosen to post again. I have always enjoyed your questions and knowledge you bring to this community.
Your question is a good one, and asks ( as I see it) : what fits under the umbrella of sanātana dharma & what fits and complies to being an extension of hinduism.
For me, and me only sanātana dharma has no enemies. This takes some explaining, but will wait till other members weigh-in on their views before pursuing this reasoning.
The other observation is this ( for me): If you are born in India, that 'audit trail' of clinically being a hindu is quite simple. What is less so, is one practicing sanātana dharma. That too can be a matter of choice.
Yet for those that deny īśvara, paramaśiva and the like could not utter one word without this Being residing at their core. Even if they say 'no, this Supreme cannot be' do it with His will. The simplest and most profound realization is that existence (sattā) itself is rooted firmly in this Being. One cannot even deny the existence of the Supreme without existing themselves to say, 'he does not exist!'. This is how well the Supreme has hidden Himself from Himself. Only a Being of this infinite knowledge and freedom could do such a thing. It is like you saying ' I do not exist!', yet you still do it with lips, air, and voice.
इतिशिवं
iti śivaṁ
Namaste and Thank you Yajvan ji
I have always cherished your calm, peaceful, and wise presence. I was delighted to find you still the same here. I feel good.
The current post was prompted by a few jarring experiences. I have encountered some so called advaitins who however reject Ishwara, who reject outright that Brahman's intrinsic nature is consciousness, Karma, Rebirth .... and all other key tenets of Hinduism. They consider Soma an intoxicant which Indra uses to get drunk often. They hold that the current Deities of Hinduism are indigenous and not Vedic. Shiva is not Rudra. And that Vedas do not constitute the core of Hinduism.
On closer inspection, I find that actually they are atheists, Lokyatas, who also claim to be advaitins.
I have two concerns. First, there is no common point between Lokyata and Advaita Vedanta . So, by parading as advaitins, they are misleading people. Second, if we agree that Hindu Dharma includes Lokyata etc, then what actually remains of Hindu Dharma? Lokyata, atheism, on one hand, and Veda Vedanta on the other are poles apart, the former represented by culture of Virochana-s and the latter by Indra.
Anyway. This is a petty irritation, fit to be smoothened by meditation, as you mentioned, nothing happens without Shiva's knowledge.
That which is without letters (parts) is the Fourth, beyond apprehension through ordinary means, the cessation of the phenomenal world, the auspicious and the non-dual. Thus Om is certainly the Self. He who knows thus enters the Self by the Self.
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