Essence of Sanatana Dharma

Sanatana Dharma is the only wisdom tradition in the world that sees no difference between creator and creation. It happens to be the oldest wisdom tradition in the world. That perhaps explains why it is called the eternal religion. The insights contained in its teachings were experienced by our Rishis; they have the status of living truths precisely because they were lived. This is why they are considered sacred and sacrosanct.

The jiva or the individual being confused the body for the Self and gets absorbed in maya or delusion. This confusion can be described as the original sin because it is this confusion that is at the root cause of all difficulty. Maya is the power of involution: It helps the individual; human being mistakes the permanent of the impermanent and the impermanent for the permanent. This is its bare essence.

Under its influence, the individual identifies with sense objects and gets engulfed in the endless cycle of birth and death. The cause of this misery is desire. If satiating desire could lead to its elimination, there would be no problem with it. But desire invariably begets more desire. The more the individual succumbs to desire the more the creation of karmic bondages into which the individual sinks. Non-fulfilment of desire leads to anger that creates another chain of undesirable consequences. Trapped by actions performed without shraddha or concentration, Viveka or discrimination and vairagya or dispassion, the hapless individual is lost in the folds of delusion.

Endless cycles of birth and death cause the individual to break out from the delusion and awaken to reality. The Guru enters the life of the seeker when he is ready to be pulled out of that delusion.

The key to understanding our Vedic inheritance is dharma, karma and moksha. In our country bhakti is not necessarily complemented by knowledge and that should be repaired. The rich tapestry of what the mind considers good, bad and ugly in this world cannot exist apart from the Self. Whatever happens in the world is best viewed as the will of the Almighty. The past is destiny while the future is opportunity. Divine Grace opens access to it. The Self alone is real. That is why we are exhorted to realise it. This is the key to understanding Sanatana Dharma.