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Hinduism/Sanatana Dharma -
06-21-2005, 06:56 AM
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HINDUISM/SANATANA DHARMA
SANATANA DHARMA
What is Sanatana Dharma? It means the oldest religious philosophy or
way of life. It is the name by which realisation of truths and
varied experiences of thousands of sages and seers immortalised in
scriptures like the Vedas and incorporated in them, and practised
for thousands of years in ancient Bharata Varsha, is known. These
sages did not give any name for their religious philosophy and those
who came later denoted it by this name.
But the alien invaders like Romans, Greeks and others who came to
ancient Bharata Varsha called it as the land of Sindhu as they came
across the river by that name now flowing in the western part of the
sub-continent. They gave the name of Sindhu not only to the country
but also to the people living on the banks of that river and beyond
it and called them as Sindhus or Hindus and the religious philosophy
practised by the people as Hinduism. The name of Sindhu later became
India and this was how the vast landmass, lying between the
Himalayas in the north and Kanyakumari in the south, came to be
known by that name. Hence to call the religion practised in ancient
Bharata Varsha as Hinduism, though widely accepted now, seems to be
rather inappropriate.
This landmass was the place where one of the ancient civilisations
flourished. The people who lived there in times of yore and who saw
and experienced the bad and good effects of Sun, Moon, thunder,
lightning, sea, rivers, mountains, rain, trees, fire and other
elements of Nature, worshipped them in the form of stones or
implements, which they carved out and sheltered them under trees.
Later they erected structures around them with the help of stones or
wood. They later built temples when the worship of Gods in the form
of paintings, murals or idols carved from stones or wood came into
vogue.
VEDAS: When they felt the need for conducting prayers to these Gods,
Vedas and Vedangas were preached. They were not written down in
manuscripts but were handed down orally. There is a Tamil
term, "Ezhuthaakkilavi" or unwritten word in the ancient Tamil
grammar work, "Tholkappiyam" to denote the Vedas, which confirms
this view. The Supreme Lord handed them down to the four-headed God,
Brahma, who was also known as "Chathurmugan" and he, in turn taught
these Vedas to saints or "Rishis", who handed down them to their
disciples and through them they spread to every nook and corner of
the country and also to other parts of the world. The four Vedas are
Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva. The first two generally consist of
prayers and hymns to be recited while conducting various rituals to
propitiate Gods. These four Vedas are further divided into six parts
known as Siksha, Vyakarana, Nirukta, Sandas, Jothisha and Kalpa. The
four Upa-ankas or sub-parts of Vedas are Meemamsa, Nyaya, Purana and
Smriti.
Vedas are also denoted by the Tamil term of "Marai" as they contain
hidden truths and details about religion. As Vedas form the basis of
the religion it is also known as the Vedic religion or "Vaideeka
Matham". It has six branches known as "Shannmatha" — Vaishnavam,
Saivam, Saaktham, Kaumaram, Gaanapathyam and Sauram -- describing
the ways of worshipping six Gods — Vishnu, Siva, Sakthi or Parvathi
or Mother Goddess, Kumara or Skanda or Subrahmanya or Muruga,
Ganapathi or Vinayaka and Surya or Sun-God.
The four Upa Vedas that arose from Vedas are Ayurveda (medical
science), Dhanurveda (archery), Kandarva Veda and Artha Sastra. Sage
Vyasa, considered as an incarnation of Lord Narayana, the Supreme
Lord, collected the four Vedas from different sources and codified
them as Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharva and hence he is known as Veda
Vyasa.
Upanishads, which are considered to be the essence of the Vedas, are
also known as Vedanta, Veda Siras, Rahasya and by other names. They
are 108 in number, according to one section of scholars and
according to another group they are 120 in number. Twelve of these
Upanishads — Isavasya, Kena, Kada, Prasna, Mundaka, Mandukya,
Thaithiriya, Aithreya, Chandokya, Brahadaranya, Swedasvathara and
Kaivalya — are considered to be important.
As it was felt that Vedas and Upanishads could not be easily
understood by laymen, Puranas and Itihasas, which contained stories
from the lives of saintly men and God's incarnations, were written
during the Vedic period to stress the need for leading virtuous
life. The term "Purana" in Sanskrit means old. The Puranas and
Itihasas help us understand the way of life of the people, who lived
thousands of years ago. They give detailed information about the
universe, its creation and destruction, holy places, trees and water
sources, astrology, medicine, art forms, music, government and its
administration, social life of the people, greatness of chaste
women, justice, moral codes and other essential things to be
understood and practised in life.
The five essential characteristics of these "Puranas" are "Sargam"
or the creation of the universe, "Pratisargam" or the creation of
the universe after the great deluge, "Vamsam" or the
dynasties, "Manvantaram" or the ushering in of various periods named
after "Manus" who were prominent in those periods (the present one
is known as "Vaivaswata Manvantaram", named after Vaivaswata Manu)
and "Vamsanu Charita" or the details about kings who belonged to
solar, lunar and other dynasties.
PURANAS, ITIHASAS AND AGAMAS:
PURANAS: The total number of Puranas is18 and there are 18 more sub-
epics, known as "Upa-Puranas". Of them 10 are Siva Puranas as they
speak about the glory of Lord Siva, the Destroyer. They are Saivam
(also known as Vayu Puranam), Bavishyam, Lingam, Skaandam,
Brahmandam, Mathsyam, Markandeyam, Koormam, Varaham and Vaamanam.
There are four Puranas describing the greatness of Lord Narayana,
the Protector. They are Vishnu Puranam, Bhagavatam, Naratheeyam and
Gaarudam.
Two Puranas — Brahmandam and Padmam -- are dedicated to Lord Brahma,
the Creator. Brahma Vaivartham speaks about the glory of Sun God and
Agneyam, the glory of Fire God.
There are 18 Upa-Puranas—Kapilam, Uchanam, Kaali, Sanathkumaram,
Saambavam, Sivadharmam, Sowram, Durvasam, Naarasimham, Nandi,
Naaradam, Parasariyam, Angeerasam, Barghavam, Manavam, Mareecham,
Vaasishtam, Lingam and Vaarunam.
Each Purana consists of thousands of verses known as Slokas. For
example, Skaandam, singing the glory of Skanda or Muruga, is said to
consist of one-lakh Slokas. Many of the Puranas are in Sanskrit and
they have not been translated into Tamil. Lord Siva handed down Siva
Puranas to Nandikeswara, who gave them to Sanathkumara, who in turn
handed them down to Sage Vyasa and from him they were passed on to
Sudhas and other sages. Vishnu Puranas were given by Lord Narayana
to Brahma, and from him they came to sages like Vyasa, Romaharshana
and others.
ITIHASAS: The Ramayana and the Mahabharata are known as Itihasas and
they speak about the glory of Lord Narayana's incarnations as Rama
and Krishna. The Lord came down to earth to save the sages, savants
and others from the evil designs of demons and these incarnations
are said to be countless. However, ten of them – Matsya (fish),
Koorma (tortoise), Varaha (wild boar), Narasimha (half lion, half
man), Vaamana (dwarf), Parasurama, Rama, Balarama, Krishna and
Kalki – are considered to be most important. According to scholars
these ten incarnations signify the evolution of life on the earth,
first as fish, which lived only in water, then as tortoise, which
lived both on land and in water, wild boar, which eats the root of a
grass known as "Korai", half animal and half human form, known as
Narasimha, then as Vaamana or short-stature man, Parasurama, an
angry young man, Rama, a virtuous man and Krishna, the universal
teacher, who gave the Bhagavad Gita. The last incarnation, Kalki, is
yet to take place.
AGAMAS: Many temples were built in which various forms of Narayana
(Vishnu) and Siva as described in the Puranas and Itihasas were
worshipped. Details about the lands to be chosen for building
temples, forming streets around them, tanks to be dug up either
inside or outside these temples, formation of gardens, installation
of idols in temples and their consecration, various rituals to be
conducted in temples every day, the food to be offered to deities
after due preparation, the Poojas to be conducted and the festivals
to be held in temples are explained in ancient texts known as Agamas.
They generally come under two categories – Vaishnava and Saiva.
Vaishnava Agamas are said to number 108, but only two of them –
Pancharatra and Vaikhanasa – are in vogue now. Lord Narayana Himself
preached both the Agamas. The first one got that name as the Lord
handed it down to sages during five nights or "Pancha Ratris". It
described the five kinds of worship of the Lord in temples –
Adaagamam, Upadaanam, Eejyam, Swadhyayam and Dhyanam. Sage Vikhnasa,
considered to be an incarnation of Lord Narayana, gave Vaikhanasa
Agama to this world. It describes the worship of the Lord by showing
the lamp, performing Homam and Archana before the "Archa Roopam" or
the idol form of the Lord in temples.
Yours
George Pillai
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