The Depth of Sanatana Dharma - Srirama - Part 1

I have been thinking about writing on this topic for some time. Today seemed to be an especially good day to start this. 

Due to various reasons, many Indians, especially Hindus today have no idea about Sanatana Dharma, today known as Hinduism. Our education system is completely "secular". We have "educated", "modern" Indians who think it is wrong/are scared to be publicly religious or proud. I remember a relative telling me a story in an airport, possibly outside India. The guy was asked by the immigration officer whether he was a Hindu. He adamantly kept responding he was an Indian. 

We have people like Devdutt Pattnaik who write literally what they want in the name of Hinduism. We have the leftists who actively hate anything Hindu. I do not even want to get started about evangelicals and fundamentalists.

Hinduism is VAST in the scope of its literature. It is not dependent on one book or one prophet. The Vedas take precedence as the central texts. Everything else is ultimately based on what is said in the Vedas. Abrahamic religions do have underlying themes for which the outer words are allegorical. However, I am not sure how many followers are left who get these meanings. For example, there are certain sections of the Bible which mirror concepts in saamkhya (साम्ख्य​, సాంఖ్య) philosophy of Hinduism. This was revealed by a Hindu Guru, Swami Sri Yukteswar Giri. He was the guru of Paramahamsa Yogananda, author of Autobiography of a Yogi. Islam has Sufism which mirrors some advaitic concepts. The song bulla ki jaana for example is an expression of the advaitic na iti (न इति, న ఇతి) concept. Hinduism says that every soul is divine. It states that every soul has the potential to reach the state of a Jesus or a Mohammed. Even (today's popular versions of) Christianity and Islam do not say so.

After at least 10 centuries of invasions, Hinduism still retains the knowledge of these hidden concepts. It is not for nothing that the actual name of Hinduism is sanaatana dharma (सनातन धर्म​, సనాతన ధర్మము). The first word means eternal. These are concepts that are timeless. Hence, Hindu texts cannot and should not be translated using just a dictionary. In some cases this can give wrong interpretations. This is the problem created by Devdutt Pattanaik, western Indologists etc. There are people like the Americans Dr David Frawley and Dr Robert Svoboda who understand this.

What is being given here is just a sample of the treasure trove that Hinduism has.Imagine how big a library on Hinduism would need to be.

1. Central texts are vedas, also called shrutis (श्रुति, శృతి). They were and are passed down by hearing. Also, these were heard by people called rishis in a state of consciousness you and I cannot even understand. They convey some ideas in a very brief format.
2. These concepts are elaborated upon by the puraanaas (पुराण​, పురాణము) so that the general public can understand concepts discovered by the rishis.
3. They are further simplified by the itihaasaas (इतिहास​, ఇతిహాసము). The term literally means, it so happened.
4. There are the vedaangaas which are needed to be learnt to translate the Vedas. These are shikSHa (शिक्षा, శిక్ష), vyaakaraNa (व्याकरण, వ్యాకరణము), chhandas (छन्दस्, ఛందస్సు), nirukta (निरुक्त, నిరుక్తము), jyotiSHa (ज्योतिष, జ్యోతిషము) and kalpa (कल्प, కల్పము).
5. We have the concept of yoga. Concepts in this have been elaborated upon by the sage Patanjali in his yoga sootraas.
6. The mantra shaastra (मन्त्र शास्त्र​, మంత్ర శాస్త్రము) explains the concepts and applications of mantraas which are basically dependent upon the power of sound and repetition.
7. Well know aayurveda is related to health
8. Concepts of scultpure, architecture, buildings etc. are covered in shilpashaastra, aagamashaastra and vaastushaastra.
9. Even the names of Hindu gods and goddesses have multiple layers of meanings to them.
10. There are explanations on why Hindu gods and goddesses are portrayed in specific ways.
11. There are specific meanings even to the items that they hold in their hands.

One word Hinduism uses to describe these underlying concepts and essence is tattva (तत्त्व​, తత్త్వము).

I started this post wanting to write about meanings of the name of Srirama. However, the introduction itself has taken up so much space that I will take this up in the next post.

References: Discourses by Sri Samavedam Shanmukha Sarma
Sanskrit transliteration: https://www.lexilogos.com/keyboard/sanskrit_devanagari.htm