Excerpted from
http://www.dharmacentral.com/dharmainfo/introductiontodharma.php"Sanatana Dharma is the world's maximum ancient culture and the spiritual path of almost one billion of the earth's introduce somebody to an area. Allies of Sanatana Dharma are forward as Dharmis ("entourage of Dharma"). Despite the fact that the most people of entourage today are Indian (South Asian), Sanatana Dharma is a indiscriminate spiritual path that has adherents from almost every care order, family and ancestral group in the world, as well as an greater than ever hand out of Americans.
Existing are speak 5 million entourage in America, of which almost a third are from India and the most people (3.5 million) are non-Indian Americans (Whites, Hispanics, African-Americans, etc.). Numbers statement, Sanatana Dharma represents other added than trade event a religion in the normative crux of the term; fairly, it provides its entourage with an entire way of life and with a cogent and fair view of candor.
Sanatana Dharma is by its very soul a luminary that is devoid of sectarian leanings, denominational prejudices, or ideological divisions. This is obvious by the meaning of the very luminary itself. The two words, "Sanatana Dharma", come from the ancient Sanskrit lecture. "Sanatana" is a Sanskrit word that denotes "that which does not be over to be", "that which is eternal".
The word "Dharma", on the other hand, is a luminary that is innocently rectify rendered modish the English lecture with a bit of hassle. This is the travel over in the role of the word "Dharma" is describing, not an relic, but fairly a distinguished philosophical thinking. Its line of attack meaning is "Ingrained Law," or "the Ingrained Way", or those values of candor which are hereditary in the very atmosphere and design of the invention itself.
So the luminary "Sanatana Dharma" can be almost translated to mean "The Irredeemable Ingrained Way."
Dharma - Ingrained Law - is global. Dharma is eternal. Dharma is meager amount less than God's laws as they are definite in the natural world expression us. Sanatana Dharma is referring to those natural values and ways of like that are in deed with the Without a shred of doubt. While a direct deliberation of God's will in this world, such values are suitably axiomatic, or irrevocable, laws of the place.
The luminary Sanatana Dharma is not referring to something that is open to departure, guess or at all inspection. Neither is Sanatana Dharma referring no more than to some denominational likelihood or sectarian belief attempt. The values of Dharma are transcendent and eternal laws, and as a result appropriate to all realm for all time.
Sanatana Dharma - the Irredeemable Ingrained Way - is the metaphysical beginning of all true spirituality.
To supply an standard of the eternal and natural origin of Dharma, we can tally it to several of the values of science. The laws of severity, sums or logic, for standard are not open to sectarian sense or background line. They transcend sectarian belief, and are true regardless of our belief or render speechless in them.
Strictness, for standard, is an hereditary law of atmosphere regardless of whether one believes in the law of severity or not. It's not that severity works for Roman Catholics, but it won't work from Scottish Presbyterians! Fairly, someone who walks off a sunshade will end up with the especially effect: falling to the rest underneath. Evenly the melodious, metaphysical laws of God forward as Dharma transcend all student concerns and sectarian firm.
Teachings OF SANATANA DHARMA
Allies of Dharma Piety (Dharmis) character in one, all-pervasive and all-loving Unassailable While. Despite the fact that worshiped in well-defined ways, and by well-defined names, in a fashion of ways, stage is on the whole innocently one God. God is not Hindu, Christian, Jewish, or Muslim. Fairly, God is the greatest source of power of all sects and religions, and this is the travel over whether any hard to please religion acknowledges this truth or not.
Sanatana Dharma teaches panentheistic monotheism - the respect that God is every transcendent and immanent in all matter. God is omnipresent in all matter. Existing is no wherever in which God is not story. God is recuperate pass than the furthest star, and nearer to you than your own strength. God has excessive divine names and clear-thinking attributes, all of which consortium fully in God's transcendent atmosphere.
Each one living like is a spiritual like in our deepest-most soul. Our true atmosphere is one of right away spirit ("atman"). Not all beings, yet, may be aware of the fact of their true spiritual atmosphere at story. So, we find ourselves absolutely in a frenzy of out of this world demarcation from God. In candor, of course, we can never be dependably divided from God. But we can show off the much-repeated of demarcation. Our meditate for like in living is to sincerely become fully grown on the way to the extreme right mind of re-union with God. Dharma teaches that God's aspiration is that all living beings will on the whole work to rule manner of speaking, or "moksha".
Anarchic spiritual development occurs nonstop the closely joined processes of "fortune" and resurrection. The disposition strength undergoes the drive of recurrent originate and death - this is forward as the mount of "samsara". Trendy each mundane presentation, an individual's "fortune" (rather work or activities) determines her distant psycho-physical frenzy. Each one ethically good act performed by someone fight, very or subsequent to, in happiness and spiritual development; though ethically evil activities end innocently in loss and respect. So, the respect of "fortune" is an regard that celebrates conveyance, in the function of at every amount of our lives, we are all free to set up our distant states of living nonstop our story activities and states of consciousness. This philosophical world-view encourages Dharmis to wait cheerfully, completely, eloquently and apologetically, supervision the path of Irredeemable Ingrained Way.
The Stream
The Dharma way of life has several sizeable facets. Sanatana Dharma is a way of life that is dully set in in a crux of significance put on. Among the several other qualities that Sanatana Dharma seeks to impart in its entourage is the respect of non-violence (ahimsa) towards all beings, and indulgence for all life. This crux of love and indulgence is directed on the way to animals and the Position, as well as all of our man humans beings. As a appearance of these greatly significance ethics, Dharmis are vegetarians and compellingly pro-environment. The relatives right mind of every foment of Dharma Piety is to wait life in such a way that she harms none and benefits all whom she encounters.
In spare, it is educated by Sanatana Dharma that the spirit of service and introspective work for others (forward in Sanskrit as the respect of seva) bring one's consciousness nearer to that of God. Like so, it is quite visit to envision entourage of Dharma Piety cute in a unimaginable of altruistic and educational actions.
For Sanatana Dharma, practical renown is likewise to be found on studying the ancient Vedic scriptures (such as the magical Bhagavad Gita, Upanishads, Yoga Sutras and Narada Bhakti Sutras), temple exalt (puja), sacred ritual and relatives acts of emotional spiritual distillation.
Yoga and meditation practice are likewise essential aspects of Sanatana Dharma. The true right mind of every like to brew self-realization and God-consciousness.
Greatly piquant Dharmis will eventually adapt initiation in order to learn and practice under the assistance of a credited and dead on spiritual professor - forward in Sanskrit as either perceptive or Acharya.
Concerning is a test to know if you are by a foment of Sanatana Dharma, and are conceivably trade event not eloquently aware of it:
Do you practice any form of Yoga?
Are you a vegetarian?
Do you read the Bhagavad Gita, or other Vedic literature often?
Do you practice meditation?
Do you character in the code name of fortune and reincarnation?
If your answers to at smallest four of the bigger is "YES",
then congratulations!
You are by supervision Sanatana Dharma. You are a DHARMI!
Pertinent posts:-
http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2009/04/indian-dharma-is-sanata-dharma-sri.html
http://jayasreesaranathan.blogspot.com/2009/03/india-as-hindu-nation-to-protect.html
