Sanatana Dharma – A beautiful publication by the Central Hindu collage, Benaras, giving the basics of Hinduism.
S A N A T A N A D H A R M A INTRODUCTION
PART 1
BASIC HINDU RELIGIOUS IDEAS.
The Vedas are the principle scriptures of the Sanatana Dharma. They are taught by the gurus by means of Sruti. In the Sanskrit language Śruti means “that which is heard”. Manusmriti states: Śrutistu vedo vijñeyaḥ (श्रुतिस्तु वेदो विज्ञेय:) meaning, “Know that Vedas are Śruti”. Hence the fundamentals of Sanatana Dharma, the four Vedas including their four types of embedded texts—the Samhitas, the Upanishads, the Brahmanas and the Aranyakas, were recited by the Gurus and heard and repeated and memorised by the Shishyas. Boys still learn the Shruti in the same way as their forefathers learnt it in very ancient days, and you may hear them chanting it in any Vaidika Pathashala at the present time. The Shruti consists of the Chaturvedali, the Four Vedas. Veda means knowledge, that which is known ; and the knowledge which is the foundation of Religion is given to man in the Four Vedas. They am named : Rigvedah ; Samavedah ; Yqjurvedah ; and Atharvaveda
Each Veda is divided into three parts:
1. Mantrah ; or Samhita collection.
2. Brabmanam.
3. Upanishat.
The Mantra portion consists of Mantras, or sentences in which the order of sounds has a particular power, produces certain effects. These are in the form of hymns to the Devas— whose relations to men we shall study presently— and when they are properly chanted by properly instructed persons, certain results follow. These are used in religious ceremonies, and the value of the ceremony depends chiefly upon their proper repetition The Brahmana portion of the Vedas consists of directions about ritual and explains how to perform the ceremonies in which were used the Mantras given in the first part; and further, stories connected with them.
The Upanishat portion consists of deep philosophical teachings on the nature of Brahman, on the supreme and the separated Self, on man and the universe, on bondage and liberation. It is the foundation of all philosophy, and when you are men, you may study it and delight in it. Only highly educated men can study i t ; it is too difficult for others. There was a fourth part of the Veda in the ancient days, sometimes called the Upavedah, or Tantram ; this consisted of science, and of practical instructions based on the science , but very little of the true ancient Tantra remains, as the Rishis took them away as unsuitable for times in which people were less spiritual. Some tantrika forms of ritual are, however, used in worship, along with, or instead of, the current Vaidika forms. The books now extant under the name of tantras are generally not regarded as part of the Veda.
That which is found in the Shruti is of supreme authority and is accepted by every faithful follower of the Sanatana Pharma as final. All the sects, all the philosophical systems, appeal to the Shruti as the final authority, determining every dispute. The Smriti or Pharma Shastra, is founded on, and stands next in authority to, the Shruti, and consists of four great works, written by Sages, the chief contents of which are laws and regulations for the carrying on of individual, family, social and national life. Hindu Society is founded on, and governed by, these laws. They are :— 1.Manu Smrtih or Manava Dharma Shastram. The Institutes of Manu. Yajnavalkya Smrtih. 3. Shankha Likhita Smrtih. 4. Parashara Smriti.
The first of these is the chief compendium of Aryan law, Manu being the great Law-giver of the race. Hindu chronology divides the history of a world into seven great periods or cycles of time each of which is begun and is ended by a M am / and is therefore called a Manvantara, Manu-antara! “ between (two) Manus.”
Six other Manus, very great-minded and of great splendour, belonging to the race of this Manu, the descendant of Svayambhu, have each produced great beings.’’ As there are two Manus for ‘each Manvantara, that shows that we are in the fourth Manvantara, under the rule of the seventh Manu, who is, the next shloka tells us, the son of Vivasvat. Some of his laws are handed down in the Manu Smrtih.
The Yajnavalkya Smrtih follows the same general line as the Manu Smrtih and is next in importance to it. The other two are not now much studied or referred to, except in some parts of Southern India. While the Shruti and the Smriti are the foundation and the walls of the Sanatana Dharma, there are two other important supports like buttresses ; the Puranani, Puranas, and the Itihasah or History. The Puranas consist of histories and stories and allegories, composed for the use of the less learned part of the nation, especially for those who could not study the Vedas. They are very interesting to read, and are full of information of all kinds. Some of the allegories are difficult to understand, and require the help of a teacher. The Itihasas comprises two great poems:-
1. The Ramayanam, the history of Shri Ramachandra, the son of King Pasharatha, and o f His wife Sita, and of His brothers, a most interesting and delightful story, as you all know.
2. The Mahabhdratam, the history of the Kurus, a royal family of Northern India, which split into two parties, the Kurus and the Pandavas, between whom a great war broke out. It contains an immense number of beautiful stories, noble moral teachings, and useful lessons of all kinds. These two books, the Rdmayana and the Mahdbhdrata, tell us most of what we know about ancient India, about her people and customs, and her ways of living, and her arts, and her manu[1]factures. If you read these, you will learn how great India once was, and you will also learn how you must behave to make her great once more.
T h e S c i e n c e a n d P h i l o s o p h y o f S a n a t a n a D h a r m a .
While the Shruti and the Smriti, the Purauas and the Itihasa make the edifice of Hindu Religion, we find that the Religion itself has given rise to a splendid literature of Science and Philosophy. The Science was divided into the Shad[1]angani, the Six Angas, literally Limbs; and these six Limbs, or Branches, comprised what would now be called secular knowledge. In the old days religious and secular knowledge were not divided. They included Grammar, Philology, Astrology, Poetry, together with sixty-four sciences and arts, and the method by which study should be carried on, so that anyone who mastered the six angas was a man of varied and deep learning. The Philosophy also had six divisions, the Shad-darshanuni, the Six Darshanas, or ways of seeing things, usually called the Six Systems. They all have one object: the putting an end to pain by enabling the separated human selves to re-unite with the supreme Self; and they all have one method;—the development of Jnanam, Wisdom. The ways employed are different, to suit the different mental constitutions of men, so that they are like six different roads, all leading to one town. As to what is contained in the Six Systems of philosophy, it will be enough for boys to know this: The Nyaya and the Vaisheshika arrange all the things of the world into a certain number of kinds ; then point out that a man knows all things by means of his senses, or by inference and analogy, or by testimony of others (wise and experienced) men and then they explain how God has made all this material world out of atoms and molecules ; finally they show how the highest and most useful knowledge is the knowledge of God, who is also the inmost Spirit of man, and how this knowledge is obtained in various ways. The Sankhya explains in more detail and in new ways the nature of Purushah, Spirit, and of Prakritih, Matter, and relation of each to the other. The Yoga says that as there are now generally known five senses and five organs of action, so there are other subtler senses and organs; and explains more fully how they may be developed by men who are seeking to know God, who is their own true inmost Spirit. The Mimansa explains what karma is, i. e., action, both religious and worldly, and what are its consequences, causes and effects, and how it binds naan to this world or to another. The Vedanta finally tells fully what is the exact and true nature of God, or Atma, and shows that Jiva of man is in essence the same as this inmost God, and explains how man may live so that karma shall not bind him; and finally, by understanding what the Maya Shakti of God is, by which all this, world comes forth and appears and disappears, how he may (after practice of Yoga) merge himself into and become one with God and so gain Moksha.
