Sanatana Dharma & Hinduism

"Hindu religion does not consist in struggles and attempts to believe a certain doctrine or dogma, but in realizing not in believing, but in being and becoming. The secret of religion lies not in theories but in practice." observes Swami Vivekananda.

What is Sanatana Dharma?

Sanatana means eternal, never beginning nor ending.
Dharma is from dhri, meaning to hold together, to sustain.
Sanatana Dharma eternally holds All together.

What is Hinduism?

It is important to recognize four important fundamental doctrines to fully understand Hinduism. These are derived from the philosophical Vedic texts of Upanishads.

1. The phenomenal world of matter, animals, humans and even gods is a manifestation of a Supreme Being called Brahman, without whom nothing would exist.

2. The human beings are capable of not only merely knowing about the existence of Brahman; they can also realize its existence by direct intuition and discursive reasoning.

3. The human being possesses a dual nature: one is Jiva-atman or the phenomenal ego and the other is an eternal Self (antar-atman), which is an inner spirit designed in the same mold as Brahman. If he so desires, it is possible to identify himself with the inner spirit and therefore with Brahman.

4. The only purpose of man's life on earth is to identify himself with the eternal Self called Brahman and unite with it through knowledge (jnana), service (karma) and/or devotion (bhakti).