Sanatana Dharma (Ethical Human Life)

December 18, 1998

The ancient Hindus practiced the eternal religion known as Sanatana

Dharma. The Sanatana Dharma does not believe in a certain set of dogmas

or creeds but it believes in the attainment of God consciousness through

spiritual unfoldment. It is being and becoming Divine. It is being and

becoming the absolute Brahman. Swami Chinmayananda points out that Gita

starts with the word Dharma (Chapter 1, verse 1) and ends with the word

Mama (Chapter 18, verse 78). This Mama Dharma or Sanatana Dharma

signifies that the human soul is divine and an entire universe is the

manifestation of the Supreme spirit. God is within us, but due to our

own ignorance, we chose to practice our own religion.

The Tamil word for God is ‘Kadavul,' and the reference to "Kadavul" can

be found in the chapter on

Hinduism - The Gazetteer of India, Volume 1: Country and people. Delhi,

Publications Division, Government of India, 1965 (Author, C.P. Ramaswamy

Iyer and others). Kadavul in Tamil means that which transcends (kada)

all things and is yet the heart (ul) of all things. When the absolute

becomes manifest, it is as Force (Sakti) of which the universe is the

product. God pervades and energizes all souls and nevertheless, stands

apart. The Tamil word Kadavul is equivalent to Brahman and the

individual souls are the Jeevas and the manifestation is the "Maya" or

Myth.

According to Sanatana Dharma, God is eternal and resides in everywhere

(omnipresent, omnipotent, omniscient, infinite, all merciful and

impersonally personal). The Sanatana Dharma was prevalent from the foot

of the Himalayas to the shore of Kanyakumari. The Tamil Proverb

"Thoonilum Iruppan, Thurumbilum Iruppan" implies that God is present in

not only living objects but also in material objects of Nature. Agni

(creator of fire), Varna (creator of water), Surya (creator of light

-sun), Indira (creator of space), and Vayu (creator of wind) became

symbolic representation of the "CREATOR." The Nature (all other than

human beings) is always the gift giver and we are all the gift takers.

In Hindu scriptures there are references to Kamadhenu, the mythical and

miraculous "wish-cow" and Karpakavirucha, the incredible-tree.

Kamadhenu, the cow gives everything that anyone wishes. Kamadhenu is a

symbolic representation of the spontaneity of giving that prevailed in

all creatures of the Nature.

Trees and plants consumed the discarded products and in return happily

shared everything that they produced and possessed! Flowers, fruits,

honey and milk became sacred because they symbolically remind the law of

Nature to the human beings. These materials became the spiritual tools

to prepare the human soul to undertake the spiritual journey of life.

Symbolically, the presence of divinity is visible in the presence of

these spiritual symbols of the divinity. We the human beings need to

learn a lot from the spontaneity shown by the trees, plants and the

animals. Bhagavad Gita's Karma Yoga (perform duties spontaneously

without expecting rewards) is a restatement of Dharma of Nature!

The behavior of trees, flower plants and the cows constantly remind the

human beings that materialism is not the human dharma! The nature

including the trees, plants and animals are sacred and the human beings

have no option other than to follow the sacred law of the nature as

stated by the Karma Yoga. The goal of Sanatana Dharma is to conserve

the environment. The goal was achieved by treating all the inhabitants

of nature as sacred! The difference between spiritualism and

materialism can be explained by this often quoted statement: "The world

has enough food and resources for all needy persons and not enough for

one greedy person!"

Reference

Primeval Mother: Aditi, Infinity, begetter and origin of the Gods is a

mythical figure of light. Cf. RV I, 136, 3; X, 72, 4-5 (§ VII 2). In

point of fact, in RV I, 153, 3, Aditi is referred to as a cow. In RV I,

72, 9, she is compared to the Earth. She represents the maternal aspect

of Earth. Kamadhenu, the mythical and miraculous "wish-cow," is

colorfully described in the Ramayana. This reference comes from

Professor Raimon Panikkar's excellent English translation of Vedas

(Hinduism's Contemporary Holy Bible). The Electronic Version is

available from Hinduism Journal's Home Page in the Internet.

--

Ram Chandran

Burke, VA

December 21, 1998

In a message dated 12/18/98 7:04:34 AM Pacific Standard Time,

chandran writes:

(Some parts delated)

Ram Chandran <chandran