What Sanatana Dharma teaches

Yogiraj Gambhirnath

Yogiraj Gambhirnath: Narrowness, bigotry, intolerance, fanaticism, hatred, animosity, disrespect for the saints and beliefs of other sampradayas,— all these are anti-religious factors in the human nature. A true spiritual aspirant must rise above them in order to be worthy of spiritual enlightenment. True religion means harmony and peace within as well as harmony and peace with all. It implies the realization of unity in all diversities. It demands universality of outlook. This is what Sanatana Dharma teaches.

Religious sectarianism not only becomes a source of many ugly disturbances in the human society, but also permanently blocks the path of spiritual progress of the simple-minded faithful votaries of these religious systems. Devotion to a Sampradayika Dharma is necessary and useful for self-discipline in the formative period of spiritual life; but the devotees must be cautious against narrow-minded fanatical devotion, which may mean spiritual suicide.

Sanatana Dharma is not a particular system of religion, not a stereotyped set of rules and regulations, not a specialised form of sadhana or upasana, not any particular doctrine or belief about God or the Ultimate Reality. It did not originate from the teachings of any Rishi or group of Rishis, any saint or prophet, any Avatara or Messiah, or any powerful religious organiser, at any particular time. It is the Eternal Universal Religion of Humanity, based upon

Eternal Universal Principles, by following which man can progressively spiritualise his whole nature, can bring about complete harmony between himself and the cosmic order, can attain perfect freedom from all bondage and sorrow, and can enjoy the bliss of Divinity in human life.

Religion does not essentially consist in the performance of certain rituals or religious acts in some prescribed manners, or in blind obedience to certain rules and regulations enjoined in some religious scriptures, or in the cultivation of some religious emotions and sentiments, or in the intellectual acceptance of certain religious creeds or articles of faith, or in the mechanical repetition of some Divine Name for a certain number of times a day, or in metaphysical speculation about the ultimate nature of the Supreme Reality, or in the acquisition of some occult powers and visions through certain practices. Each of them has got its spiritual value; but none of them is the essence of religion. Each of them contributes to the development of spirituality, when adopted as a means to it with awakened judgment ( Vichara) and earnest spiritual yearning (Mumuksha). But each of them may lead to spiritual stagnation,—and sometimes even to spiritual degradation, — if it is blindly and dogmatically adhered to as an end in itself.

Faith in the path is of course necessary; but the path must not be mistaken for the goal. A path is not truly a path if it does not lead to higher and higher stages of spiritual progress. A spiritual aspirant must always move forward in the path, must come across newer and newer spiritual experiences as he moves on, must experience greater and greater freedom from the bondages and sorrows and cares and anxieties of the world, must have more and more spiritualised outlook on all mundane affairs. A religious life should not be a static life, but a dynamic life, an ever-progressive life, a life that should not rest contented till the Ultimate Truth is realised, till the whole life is spiritualised. Religion essentially consists in the progressive spiritualisation of the entire human life, whatever may be the methods adopted, whatever may be the outer nature of the courses of self-discipline undergone, whatever may be the beliefs and sentiments studiously cultivated. Religion is meant for elevating the human nature from the physical and sensuous and lower mental planes to higher and higher spiritual planes and finally for illumining the entire human consciousness with the Divine Light and making man Divine. This is what Sanatana Dharma teaches.