Re: Question
namaste Sahasranama.
SanAtana Dharma is integrated with Hinduism, and as you say, "involves worship of deities, rituals and beliefs". Your perception about any hidden agenda by the author might be right or not, but we see here in HDF itself that almost all western Hindus, who prefer the word SanAtana Dharma naturally take to worship and rituals and find their happiness in them as much as in meditation. Western Hindus here prefer to call themselves that--not Western SanAtana dharmis, although some of them might not be favourably inclined towards India being their motherland.
• SwamiJ seems to favour the views of Universalists like Frank Morales, but he also seems to be with Adi Shankara: I was surprised to see a translation of Shankara's saundarya laharI in his Website:
http://swamij.com/saundaryalahari.htm
Besides, his another Website
https://sites.google.com/site/abhyasaashram/home
includes daily mantras such as aum namaH shivaya among other mantras that are also associated with bhakti sAdhana:
https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&p...TkyOTI3MDVjYjk
• SwamiJ's views on worship are also not alien to what Shankara and other prominent Advaitin teachers have taught us:
From http://www.swamij.com/vedantic-meditation.htm
Vedanta has a theistic side, recognizing a cosmic creator (Ishvara) who rules over the universe through the law of karma. God is the supreme teacher, the highest guru from whom all true teachings arise by the power of the divine word. Vedantic theism takes many forms such as the worship of Shiva, Vishnu, and the Goddess. In fact, it can accommodate almost any form of theism that accepts karma and rebirth.
...
Yet surrender, though easy to conceive, is also a difficult process because it requires giving up the ego and all of our fears and desires that go with it. To facilitate this way of surrender is added chanting of Divine names and other devotional forms of worship. These can also be practiced along with knowledge-oriented techniques like Self-inquiry.
In the Vedanta we approach the Creator as a means of discovering our true Self, in which both the soul and God are one. Union with God is part of the process of Self-realization. The Deity worshipped is ultimately the same as oneself and we must come to see it in all beings. Until we see the Divine beloved within our own heart, our devotion has not yet reached its highest goal.
All this is not to support SwamiJ who is not my guru, but only to show that he is not against recognising India and Hinduism as the birthplace of Yoga, unlike many other Western gurus.
Originally Posted by
Sahasranama
There is no good reason to say that the word Sanatana Dharma is more appropiate than the word Hinduism. These are just words and its more important how they are used in context. Sanatana Dharma = Hinduism. People who try to make a distinction often have a hidden agenda. The hidden agenda of this webmaster is to dissociate yoga from the Hindu religion which involves worship of deities, rituals and beliefs he cannot sell to an American audience.
रत्नाकरधौतपदां हिमालयकिरीटिनीम् ।
ब्रह्मराजर्षिररत्नाढ्यां वन्दे भारतमातरम् ॥
To her whose feet are washed by the ocean, who wears the Himalayas as her crown, and is adorned with the gems of rishis and kings, to Mother India, do I bow down in respect.
--viShNu purANam
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