HINDUISOM (SANATANA DHARMA)
Swami Dayananda Saraswati
What is Hinduism?Before we get into the topic of values, I want you to understand a few things aboutwhat is known as Hindu religion. The name Hindu was given to the people who werefollowing the Vedas and had a unique religious culture. When some Persians fromacross the Himalayas came to North India where the river Sindhu flows, they saw apeople living a highly civilized life with a unique religious culture. They called thesepeople Sindhus. The letter s was pronounced in their language as h, so the wordbecame Hindu. We are told that that is how we have come to be known as Hindus. Infact we didn’t have a name. The people were following a body of knowledge calledVeda. Perhaps you have heard about the Vedas. It is important for you know thenames of the Vedas because the Veda is the most ancient body of knowledge. TheVedas are four in number—Rig Veda, Yajur Veda, Sama Veda and Atharva Veda. Likethe Bible for the Christians, for the Hindus these are the Bibles. All together they formthe scriptures.Veda in Sanskrit means a body of knowledge. These scriptures form the basis of thespiritual life of Hindus. The Hindus may not know the content of the four Vedasbecause they are voluminous. Your parents may not know them at all. But they haveimbibed the essence of the lifestyle based upon these four Vedas, the value structurebased upon these four Vedas, and certain attitudes, again, based upon the Vedas. Thesethings are handed over to the children. This is something very unique, which you mustknow.In humanity there are lots of things that are ancient, so ancient that they cannot beclaimed by any given country. For instance, we have the pyramids in Egypt. Supposethe Egyptian Government chooses to demolish one so that they can create a housingcolony. Do you think humanity will allow that? Definitely not. Even though thepyramids happen to be within the borders of Egypt, still, the government of Egyptdoesn’t have the right to destroy a pyramid, because it is too ancient to be claimed byany nation or group of people. More ancient than the pyramids are the Vedas. Tilltoday, the Veda is handed over by one generation to another generation orally. Youmust know that there are people even today in India who can repeat the entire Veda, agiven Veda, from memory, and it takes them many days. In chanting the Vedas thereis a style, based on intonations, which we call svaras. That style is retained even today.It is the same as it has always been. The Vedas are learned from a teacher with whomyou sit every day, and learn and commit to memory a given Veda. It takes twelveyears to learn one Veda. There are a lot of people, even today, who have family namessuch as Dvivedi Trivedi, Caturvedi, , that indicate how many Vedas were learned in thatfamily. Somewhere in the history of the family someone knew three Vedas, not one,and was given the title Trivedi. Or someone in the family knew four Vedas so thefamily name is Caturvedi. Thus the Vedas were committed to memory and handedover to the next generation of students. This forms the body of knowledge called theVedas.The Vedas belongs to humanity. They are too ancient to be claimed even by Indians.Most of the religions have beliefs that can be found in the Vedas, as many wouldaccept. And these Vedas form the basis for the Hindu religious life. Since what isknown as Hindu religion today is based upon these four Vedas, the religion is a ‘Vedic’religion or Sanatana dharma. These Vedas have a view of human destiny, of whatexactly one is seeking in life and wants to accomplish, essentially. This is addressed bythe Vedas. They have a clear vision of what is it that is to be discovered in one’s lifeand what it takes to be a mature person. It is a universal vision. It is something thateveryone wants to have, whether the person knows it or not. This vision can be calleda view of life. The Vedas have a view of life and to achieve the view, the end, theyprescribe a way of life. The way and view of life form the Hindu religion.The view of life concerns: What is life? What is the reality you are seeking? What isGod? Is there one? If there is, where is he, or she? What is this world? How it isrelated to that Lord? How are you related to the world, and what are you all about?Once you have a view, then you must definitely have a way to accomplish that end inview. The view is something that is entirely distinct and different from the views thatmany religions have about human destiny. For instance, the church has a view of life—it looks upon the individual basically as a helpless person who is a sinner and born ofsin because he is born of parents. Therefore, for the birth to be sinless it has toimmaculate. People born of sin require to be saved and there are means for that suchas confession, etc. If you live your life according to these means, after death you willgo to heaven. So heaven-going is their view of the purpose of life. Whether it is anyform of Christianity or Islam, going to heaven is the end.The view of life in Hinduism is entirely different. It is to be accomplished here, whileyou are alive. That is why it is so important. It is something that is connected to yourlife here. We are not worried about going to heaven later. We are concerned aboutmaking our life here. All that you have to accomplish as a successful individual, to beable to say, “I have made it,” is to be done here, and not in the hereafter. It becomesat once different and meaningful to you. We must know that this is something unique.The highest thing that a human being can accomplish is to be accomplished here andnow when you are alive and kicking, when your mind is working and when you are nottoo old. For this, a clean life style is given, a life style that will help you to grow intoan adult, a mature adult. That is what we call a religious life. One requires a structureto grow that implies a personal prayerful life, and also, a social structure.There is a certain structure that governs your interaction with society, and when everymember of society follow those rules, you have a societal structure. This is based uponuniversal moral structures, and within that, you operate, for your self-growth. Once youare grown up, of course you have something to discover—the view and way of lifewhich is what we call Hindu ‘religion’.There were religions in the world that are non-existent today. In Greece there was areligion. In the whole of Europe and the Arab countries there were a number ofreligions. All those are totally wiped out. All we have left are monuments and booksabout them. There are religions today that were non-existent before—Christianity, Isalmand Buddhism. All these were founded by some people, so they have a beginning. Ifyou look at the Vedic religion, you can’t determine when it was non-existent. Maybe itgrew up with humanity. When did physics not exist? When did it come into being?When you learn to walk it is physics, remember. That you don’t fly, and that, if youare not careful, you will fall from a tree, is all physics. It was there even for the caveman. Therefore, physics doesn’t have a beginning. It has been existing with humanity.It is important to understand that the Vedic religion was not founded by anybody. Thatis its uniqueness. That is why anybody can say, “I am Hindu,” and you have no wayof saying, “No you are not,” because, being a religion that was not founded byanybody, you don’t need to subscribe to a particular faith. It is based upon facts thatare in the Vedas.The main vision of Hinduism and the various things advocated by it are for one’s self growth.They are universal and anybody can understand them. That is why I can talkin this country, in Japan, Norway, Brazil etc. and I will pass. In spite of my funnydress I will pass because this vision has relevance to your life, your human life. It isnot a religion founded by any one person for a particular group. If at all you call themcommon founders we have the RISHIS, the ‘ones who know’. These RISHIS where the peopleto whom this Vedic knowledge was revealed. You can say that it was revealed or itwas discovered, but it is considered to be revealed because the nature of the knowledgeis such that it has to be revealed. The RISHIS form the media through which the Vedicknowledge came to us. That is all we know. It is too ancient and, at the same time,relevant.Sometimes things that are ancient are not relevant today. Think of a person riding abullock cart on the freeway! They will arrest him. In this country it is irrelevant. Hecan’t say, “I love this cart.” Some things may be relevant in other countries but nothere. There are lots of habits that are irrelevant. Thus, we have grown out of a lot ofthings, which is but proper and natural. The stone-age man had tools made of stones.You can’t say, “My forefathers used these stone tools, therefore I am going to usethem.” They are irrelevant now. They were in a different age. They didn’t havemodern knowledge and technology, therefore they had to make tools with what wasavailable then. We have figured out new things and, therefore, we don’t need to followour forefathers’ footsteps in this area. Even though we have respect for them, we neednot follow them. Thus, a number of things that the forefathers did have becomeirrelevant today. But a few things survived.Eating has not become obsolete. It continues to be the same. They also had minds todeal with. Our problems are not all physical, in fact, most of our problems are mental.All complexes, concerns, sorrows, depressions, anger, hatred and jealousy were ourforefathers’ problems and are our problems. They are not ancient and irrelevant. Theywould always be there. As long as the human mind is there, there will be problems.This mind has to be dealt with. If our forefathers could manage the mind well, thosethings that helped them to do that would be applicable even today. Even though wemay present those things in a language that we can understand, we may change theaccent, and perhaps the phrasing, still, the basic principles cannot change. If theycannot be changed, then we retain them, and if they can be changed, then we changethem. What is applicable today should not be changed, cannot be changed.In the Hindu religion as in all other religions there are things that are optional for you.I can come in this dress or in some other dress also. This is optional for me. I am asannyËsi, a Hindu monk, and we have certain traditional colors and robes that we wear.I have respect for the tradition, so I wear them. But I can change, there is no problem.I can give up this dress, and in giving it up my knowledge will not suffer any loss.Please understand this. There are certain things that are essential, there are some thatare important but optional, and there are things that are non-essential. The nonessentialswe always drop. Even if you ask people to retain them, they won’t. Youwill have this problem at home. Sometimes your parents will say, “Do this,” and youdon’t understand why you should do it. It doesn’t seem relevant at all. Some thingsmay be non-essential in your view, but in their view they may be essential. You needto understand some of these things so that you can make informed choices about whatis important to you. When I talk to you, don’t think that I am someone who is goingto impose ideas on you. Not at all, I am a teacher. So keep an open mind.At home you have a certain culture, and when you go out, there is a different culture.At home there are certain values, and outside the values are totally different. Therefore,it is always a problem. You can’t own up your own parents because you can’tunderstand why they are insisting on some things that seem opposed to the culture inwhich you are living day to day. You feel that they are imposing some irrelevant ideasupon you. To grow properly, you must understand your parents first. To understandyour parents you must go to the roots. The parents themselves do not know much. AsI told you, they don’t know the Vedas. But, in spite of that, they have received theVedic vision and view of life, in a small measure, from their parents. Do you knowwhy? It is because this is not a founded religion. It is a view and way of life. Thereis no pontiff at the top.In the Hindu religion there is no papacy, diocese, bishops, parish or congregation. Wedon’t have that kind of organization. This may be our weakness, but I say this is ourstrength. Some think it is a weakness and that is unfortunate, because it means thatthey don’t understand our strength. There is some weakness in the lack oforganizational structure, naturally; anything has its own weakness. But what is viewedas a weakness, is, in fact, its strength. Its strength lies in the fact that it is not anorganization. If a religion is based on an organization, when the organization isremoved, the whole religion will fall apart. Here, in order to destroy the Hindu religionyou have to destroy every Hindu. Muslims tried and Christians are still trying, but it isdifficult, because Hindu dharma has no organization. Do you know why it hassurvived? It is because it has an intrinsic worth. What is worthy will always endure,because it is based upon certain facts and realities about life. You have to know this inorder to grow up in a society where alternatives are available.This is a country of choices. When you have too many choices you must have a betterunderstanding so that you can choose appropriately. Having choices means that wehave to learn how to choose responsibly and intelligently, and for that we have to beinformed.Everything is open to choice. Two fellows shared a ranch. Each one bought a horse,and they decided that an identification mark was needed to distinguish them. One said,“I will paint my horse with red ink, and you paint yours with blue.” It was done, andthey could tell which horse belonged to whom. Fine, but the rain came and washed offthe paint. So one fellow said, “Why don’t I cut the mane off my horse and you leaveyours uncut?” After some time, the mane grew and they had the same problem,“Which is my horse?” Then they cut the hair on the tail of one horse, but that alsogrew. They got vexed with the problem. So one fellow said, “Why don’t we solve theproblem this way. Let us say that the brown horse is yours and the white is mine!”This is what was available originally. When you have choices you must know how tochoose. When you are driving and come to a crossroad, you have choose whether to goleft or right. When you get onto the freeway, you must know which exit you have totake, otherwise you will be going in the opposite direction. Since you are growing upin a society of choices you are better off, I tell you, but you have to be informed. Ifyou are informed, you are better off than children growing up in India who don’t haveas many choices. So you have to know what is what. That is what you are trying todo at the Gurukulam. You are trying to understand what exactly is the basic structureof the Hindu religion, what are its values, what is universal and special there, and whatis its unique vision. All this you must necessarily know; there is no choice in this.Since you happen to be born in a given family, you must know where your parentscame from, what their values are, and what their vision is all about. They themselvesmay not know and may not be able to explain it, because for them it is way of life.For them it is easy; for you it is not. They didn’t have any choice, but you have. Theyjust grew up with certain values. Here you have choices, so you have got to know andchoose responsibly. That is the difference between a person growing up in India and aperson growing up here. That is the reason why in this religion, being not an organizedreligion, every individual has to know his or her religion. You have to learn by firstimbibing it from your parents, and later, you imbibe more from a teacher.In Hinduism the teachers, called gurus, play an important role because you have to learnonly from an individual. There is no organization to fulfil that function. From therishis, the four Vedas have come down to us. The RISHIS themselves received the fourVedas from the Lord, they say. This body of knowledge, thus, has come down to us.What we are going to see is nothing but what the Vedas say in essence. The essenceyou should know.The four Vedas are supported by a number of other books. The Ramayana andMahabharata are called Ithihasa, while the Vedas are scriptures. Ithihasa means ‘this ishow it was’, iti ha ASA; iti thus; ha verily, indeed ASA, was. The Ramayana andMahabharata are based on historical facts, and therefore, they will have a skeletalhistorical background. Based on those historical facts, a lot of things were poeticallyexpressed, like the Dashasya(Dasavadana,dashamukha)Ravana in the Ramayana having ten heads. This isimaginary, but it has a meaning. It is not meant to be understood literally. Suppose athought occurs in one head, like a thought of a mango, and all the other nine headsthink of a mango. If this is so, then nine heads are useless. You only need one. Youshould have surgery to get rid of the extra nine. You can’t even walk into a house, sonaturally, it is better to get rid of the extra nine heads. Otherwise, you have to havenine shampoos, nine towelings; you’ll have nine headaches! It is a problem. Butsuppose they think differently—one head says “Grab Sita,” the other says, “No,”another says, “You can grab her, or you need not grab her.” If you have ten heads,with each one saying one thing or the other, then what will you have? Ravana. That isthe meaning there. Valmiki pictured Ravana as a person who had conflicting ideas,good and bad, right and wrong. He constantly had this problem. So who is a Ravana?Anybody who has conflicting ideas all the time, is never able to judge and proceed, is aRavana. That person is likened to a person with ten heads. That is all what Ravanawas. That is purely poetry. But there was a person named Ravana who had thatnature. Thus, there is a lot of poetry, and there is a skeletal fact also. Because thereare some basic facts that are historical, it is called Ithihasa. If it is purely imaginationthen it is called Purana. The Ramayana and Mahabharata are Ithihasa, historical, but thereis a lot of imagination involved to make them poetic works. In these works you willfind a lot of stories that you cannot believe, but they are not any different from StarWars. You have to understand some of them because behind them there is a lot ofmeaning. They are composed in a language that is meant to make you think. Thus, wehave the two supporting scriptures called Ithihasas and eighteen Puranas. They aresupporting scriptures to the Vedas, and illustrate and elaborate what the Vedas say.These scriptures form the basis of the Hindu religion.Though the name Hindu was given by somebody from Persia, as we saw in thebeginning, we accept it. We are stuck with a name that is a product of the languagelimitations of somebody. But then, the Sanskrit language is such a thing that even inthis we can find a meaning. The word him (which becomes hin when followed by daccording to grammar rules) in Hindu means falsehood, and du is one who condemns.Thus, a Hindu is one who condemns falsehood. Expressed positively, the one whopursues truth is called a Hindu. It is a good word; it is in keeping with what we aretalking about. Therefore, for a Hindu truth is important. It is a fact, a truth, that ismost important in our religion. What is truth, what is the truth of everything, what isthe truth of life? Anyone who condemns untruth, one who wants to discover the truthis a Hindu. It is view and a way of life.
Note---him kaaro (him iti shabda) dussuchakaha(dus,dur(eg-duragraha,dussahaneeya ) ).Tam(that) duushyathi iti Hindu.Him+du= (m is replaced by n .so you get) Hindu.