Hinduism/Sanatana Dharma

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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

[Guest guest]

i loved this article, george. it helps someone like me who is new to

this spiritual path. i was happy to read it.

 

 

 

pillai_george wrote:

 

>

> Dear Bro's and Sister's

>

> Article from another website

>

> HINDUISM/SANATANA DHARMA

> SANATANA DHARMA

 

 

Be Love,

Berijoy

http://www.egyirba.net

 

-=-=-

.... "That which moves about in joy in the dreaming state is the Self,

fearless and deathless. That is Brahman, the supreme."

--Chandogya Upanishad. Excerpted from The Upanishads, translated by

Eknath Easwaran, copyright 1987.