Sanatan Dharma and Hinduism are NOT the same thing

I have been observing that the words Sanatan Dharma and  Hinduism are used by many well intentioned writers and bloggers almost interchangeably.

And while I am ready to accept that modern usage doesn’t always honour meanings of words, and indeed, changes meanings of words, I tend to agree with our ancient Grammarians that while the speech of clarity brings blessings and prosperity, misleading speech (such as that of our politicians & advertisers) does not.  Sanatan Dharma and Hinduism are not the same.  Far from it.  My purpose here is neither to define Sanatan Dharma nor Hinduism, but to demonstrate a clear difference in meaning.

I often read that the translation the traditional Hindu might provide for Hinduism would be Sanatan Dharma, or that the traditional Hindu expression Sanatan Dharma could be translated as Hinduism.

The word Hinduism is often used today, both inside and outside of India, as more of an identifier of the indigenous religion of India and even I use it for the sake of simplicity and economy of expression.  But let’s consider for a moment the difference between the words, with a bit of history, and in terms of the metaphysics of the words themselves.

It’s the … Read More »

Baba Rampuri speaks about the difference between the traditional and the post modern in terms of knowledge, authority, and the yogi.

“Language and the World became disconnected. Language began to express man’s ideas about the world rather than being an articulation of the world itself. A new mapping process began. Words got lost, they no longer marked anything and were condemned to live only on the pages of books, from which they were borrowed to colonize people’s speech.”

“What has become important is identities and differences, no longer resemblances. The consumer age is built on marketing. The age of resemblance has been left behind, and it leaves in its wake, games, whose enchantment grows out of the new kinship between resemblance and illusion, and the distorted memory of an oral tradition in which all the things in the world could be linked indiscriminately to man’s experiences, theatre, or credulities.

The noble, rigorous, and restrictive figure of the Yogi is to be forgotten.
The signs that mark him are to be thought of as the fantasies and charms of a knowledge that had not yet attained marketability.”

Baba Rampuri makes some comparisons between European Hermetic Alchemy and Indian Alchemy.

“In 1527, the alchemist Agrippa stressed in a letter that there is a secret interpretation and understanding which cannot be conveyed through the printed word alone, but must be transmitted from the master to the disciple, echoing Pythagoras and Plato.

And he wrote, “Whosoever therefore shall know himself, shall know all things in himself; especially he shall know God… and how all things may be fitted for all things in their time, place, order, measure, proportion and harmony…”

Agrippa was very suspicious of faith. He insisted on direct knowledge of the sacred by its experience.”

Baba Rampuri talks about his trials and tribulations in becoming a baba.

“Becoming a baba starts out as an exercise in copying and mimicking. This is to prepare the soil for a great spirit to enter. Many great spirits live in the world of babas, some benign, some horrific. Some spirits pass through whole lineages of yogis, while some might possess individuals. And in some, passes the spirit of Guru Dattatreya, himself.”

Baba Rampuri talks about how the Yogi reads the world as if it were a book.

“‘Hinduism’ is a recent word constructed in the West by India’s colonizers to represent a set of beliefs thought to be held by most Indians, thus a religion. But traditionally, those thought of as Hindus (originally referring to people who lived on the “other” side of the Indus River), have no concept of “Hinduism,” but speak of the sum of knowledge among their diverse traditions as the “Sanatan Dharma.” In the oral tradition of the Naga Yogis, we think of the Sanatan Dharma as the Book of the World.”

The world is the container of all things and The Book of the World is its articulation. Its language is Primary Language, not Sanskrit, but a language of signatures: marks, signs, flags, and cyphers, that call our attention to outer resemblances which indicate inner, hidden relationships.

Baba Rampuri narrates the history of Naga Babas and Sannyasis from Guru Dattatreya in the age of the Ramayana through Adi Sankara to the present time.

“I was enchanted by the yogi-shamans, the Naga Babas of India – naked in ashes, long dread locks twisted with Marigolds piled on their heads like crowns…”

“According to Indian storytelling, some 2500 years ago appeared a man who became known as Adi Sankaracharya, India’s greatest philosopher, prolific commentator of ancient texts, poet, and for our purpose here, the greatest organizer of the ancient tradition of Yogis, the founder of the monastic order known as Sannyasis. About 1500 years later, a number of lineages of Naked Yogis, or Naga Babas from among Shankaracharya’s order of Sannyasis, formalized even more ancient bonds into an association called The Akhara.

The Akhara’s collected lineages look back for their origins to the Age of Treta, countless thousands of years ago, the age of the epic poem, The Ramayana, and to the Three Headed Guru of Yogis, Dattatreya, their ultimate founder. Guru Dattatreya is naked, his dread locks touch the earth.”

NOW… before time was counted, the Devas, who we know as gods, and the Asuras, who we know as demons, let their eternal differences be forgotten for a timeless moment, and joined together to churn the Ocean of Milk (Ksirabdhi) for that Treasure of All Treasures, The Nectar of Immortality, Amrit.

To acquire such a treasure requires an effort equivalent to the fruit.  The Deva-gods lacked the numbers and strength for the Great Task, themselves, and had no choice but to invite their nemeses, the Asura-demons, equal to them in numbers and strength, to become partners in the greatest enterprise the cosmos had yet witnessed.  LIVE FOREVER!  Defy and defeat Death.  The massive cast of Extraordinary Characters assembled, the Deva-gods and Asura-demons agreed to share this AmritNectar, as well as the other treasures that would result from churning The Primordial Waters.  On this Sea, the great god Vishnu dreamt the world into existence while asleep on his bed consisting of the coils of his Endless Serpent.

They would churn the Endless Bottomless Waters as a farmer might churn fresh milk for butter.  The simple farmer, by rubbing his hands back and forth on a wooden rod, or pulling a small rope on the rod which is inserted in the … Read More »