So far sanātana-dharma is concerned, it means the eternal occupation. Śrīpāda Rāmānujācārya has explained the word sanātana as "the thing which has neither any beginning nor any end." And when we speak of sanātana-dharma we must take it for granted on the authority of Śrīpāda Rāmānujācārya that it has no beginning, nor any end. The word religion is a little different from sanātana-dharma. Religion conveys the idea of faith. Faith may change. One may have faith in a particular process, and he may change the faith afterwards and adopt another faith. But sanātana-dharma means which cannot be changed, which cannot be changed. Just like water and liquidity. Liquidity cannot be changed from water. Heat and fire. Heat cannot be changed from fire. Similarly, the eternal function of the eternal living entity, which is known as sanātana-dharma, cannot be changed. It is not possible to change. We have to find out what is that eternal function of the eternal living entity.
Sanatana-dharma means
Srimad-Bhagavatam
SB Canto 7
Sanātana-dharma means devotional service. The word sanātana refers to that which is eternal, which does not change but continues in all circumstances. We have several times explained what the eternal occupational duty of the living being is. Indeed, it has been explained by Śrī Caitanya Mahāprabhu. Jīvera 'svarūpa' haya-kṛṣṇera 'nitya-dāsa': (CC Madhya 20.108) the real occupational duty of the living entity is to serve the Supreme Personality of Godhead. Even if one prefers to deviate from this principle he remains a servant because that is his eternal position; but one serves māyā, the illusory, material energy. The Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement, therefore, is an attempt to guide human society to serving the Personality of Godhead instead of serving the material world with no real profit. Our actual experience is that every man, animal, bird and beast—indeed, every living entity—is engaged in rendering service. Even though one's body or one's superficial religion may change, every living entity is always engaged in the service of someone. Therefore, the mentality of service is called the eternal occupational duty. This eternal occupational duty can be organized through the institution of varṇāśrama, in which there are four varṇas (brāhmaṇa, kṣatriya, vaiśya and śūdra) and four āśramas (brahmacarya, gṛhastha, vānaprastha and sannyāsa). Thus, Yudhiṣṭhira Mahārāja inquired from Nārada Muni about the principles of sanātana-dharma for the benefit of human society.
Lectures
Bhagavad-gita As It Is Lectures
So there are so many questions that if we actually, philosophically study, then we can see vāsudevaḥ sarvam iti sa mahātmā sudurlabhaḥ (BG 7.19), how Vāsudeva, Kṛṣṇa is acting. Aṇḍāntara-stha-paramāṇu-cayāntara-stham (Bs. 5.35). So here the living entity is described as sanātana. And the process by which we can understand our sanātana nature, that is called sanātana-dharma, not that having a big tilaka and considering this rascal lump of matter as "I am brāhmaṇa. This body is brāhmaṇa, and sanātana-dharma." This is all nonsense. Sanātana-dharma means you first of all you must know what you are. That is sanātana-dharma. Is it... Is sanātana-dharma is limited to a certain area? How it can be? Sarva-gataḥ. Sanātana-dharma must be there everywhere. Īśāvāsyam idaṁ sarvam (ISO 1). Everywhere, Kṛṣṇa's kingdom, Kṛṣṇa's property. How is that you are simply claiming that "India, there is sanātana-dharma"? "In India there is brāhmaṇa"? What Kṛṣṇa creates, that is for everywhere. Because Kṛṣṇa is the father of everyone.
Dharma, if we take these two words... Sanātana means eternal. That is called sanātana. And dharma, dharma means occupation, characteristic. Dharma does not mean some superficial ritualistic ceremonies. Dharma means the characteristic. That is real meaning. Dharma is not a kind of faith. Dharma is characteristic. Sanātana-dharma means sanātana characteristic, eternal characteristic. The changing... Now, I have got now this body, Indian body, and then, next body may be cat's and dog's or demigod's, according to my karma. So the body changes. So sanātana-dharma cannot be applied to this body. Sanātana-dharma means the characteristic of the soul. That is sanātana-dharma, to understand the characteristic of the soul. Kṛṣṇa is describing here the characteristic of the soul: sanātana. And at the conclusion, He gives you information of the sanātana-dharma. What is that? Sarva-dharmān parityajya mām ekaṁ śaraṇaṁ vraja (BG 18.66). This is sanātana-dharma. Kṛṣṇa is sanātana, I am sanātana, you are sanātana.
So things are going on like... So sanātana-dharma means when one understands his real position, his real posi... that is self-realization. Or, in other words, Kṛṣṇa is sanātana. If you engage yourself in the service of Kṛṣṇa, then, by practicing the sanātana-dharma, you are transferred to the sanātana place, Vaikuṇṭha. That is sanātana-dharma. Dharma means characteristic. So what is our characteristic? I was going to explain. That we are now serving our senses. This is our material characteristic. Material characteristic because originally I am servant. I am not master. But I have given up service of Kṛṣṇa. Kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare (Prema-vivarta). "Why shall I become servant? I shall become Kṛṣṇa." All right, you become Kṛṣṇa. You become enjoyer. That is material world. Everyone is trying to become Kṛṣṇa, enjoyer. So there is fight. Always. You are becoming, trying to becoming Kṛṣṇa. I am trying to become Kṛṣṇa. As there are so many incarnations of God nowadays—every lane, every street.
So real our relationship with God, Kṛṣṇa, is to serve Him. Jīvera svarūpa haya nitya-kṛṣṇa-dāsa (Cc. Madhya 20.108-109). Anādi bahirmukha jīva kṛṣṇa bhuli gela, ataeva kṛṣṇa veda purāṇa kailā (CC Madhya 20.117). We have forgotten real position, sanātana-dharma. We have forgotten. Sanātana-dharma means a living entity is meant for serving the whole. Living entity's a part, part of the whole. So the living entity's business is to serve the whole. Just like this finger. This finger is the part of my body. Its business is to carry out my order, to serve the whole. I want the finger to come here. Immediately... Similarly, our business is to serve Kṛṣṇa, but when we want to become lord, independent of Kṛṣṇa, that is called māyā. Kṛṣṇa-bahirmukha hañā bhoga vāñchā kare, nikaṭa-stha māyā tāre jāpaṭiyā dhare. This is a statement in the Prema-vivarta. As soon as we desire to imitate Kṛṣṇa, that is māyā. Māyā is nothing. We create that situation of māyā. What is that? "I want to become Kṛṣṇa. I want to become God. I want to become the Lord." This is māyā. This is not possible. So Kṛṣṇa is sanātana. We are also sanātana. But when we forget to serve Kṛṣṇa, that is our asanātana. And when we are engaged again in the service of Kṛṣṇa, that is sanātana-dharma. So sanātana-dharma means eternally serving Kṛṣṇa. Another example, dharma... What is dharma? Dhṛ-dhātu. Characteristic. You cannot change it.
So the cultivation of knowledge how one can go back to that sanātana-dhāma and associate with the supreme sanātana and remain yourself sanātana, that is called sanātana-dharma. So we have to cultivate that sanātana-dharma, means we have to purify ourself from the material qualification or material designation. Here we have got material designation: "I am Indian," "I am American," "I am Hindu," "I am Muslim," "I am brāhmaṇa," "I am this and that." So one has to become free. That is purification, when we understand that, as Caitanya Mahāprabhu introduced Himself, that "I am not a brāhmaṇa, I am not a kṣatriya, I am not a śūdra, I am not a sannyāsī, I am not a brahmacārī, but I am servant of the servant of Kṛṣṇa (CC Madhya 13.80)." Gopī-bhartuḥ pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ. If we come to this understanding, that is our purification.
Srimad-Bhagavatam Lectures
So every human being should be educated to accept this sanātana-dharma, how one can go back to home, back to Godhead. That is Kṛṣṇa consciousness movement. So sanātana-dharma is not meant for a particular class of men. It is meant for all living entities. Unfortunately, the Hindu dharma, or sanātana-dharma, they have identified. And..., as if others have no right to enter into the sanātana-dharma. No. That's not a fact. The fact is every living entity is sanātana. And the process by which a living entity is transferred to the sanātana dhāma, sanātana place, that is called sanātana-dharma. It is... Sanātana-dharma is misunderstood. Just like in India there are classes of men who call: "We are sanātanists." Everyone should be sanātanist. Sanātana-dharma is not meant for a particular class of men or country or society. Sanātana-dharma means it is meant for the living entities.
Actually, Hindu is not a religion. Hindu is a name given by the foreigners. The religion is, of India, varṇāśrama-dharma, following the institution of four varṇas and four āśramas. That is varṇ... Or sanātana-dharma. Sanātana-dharma means eternal, eternal religion. Religion of human being is one. That is called sanātana. A living entity is described as sanātana. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūto jīva-loke sanātanaḥ (BG 15.7). In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find sanātanaḥ, and Kṛṣṇa is also addressed in the Eleventh Chapter as sanātanas tvam. And there is another place, or spiritual world, which is also called sanātana. In the Bhagavad-gītā you'll find, paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). So this sanātana term is very important. The living entity is sanātana and God is sanātana and the spiritual world is sanātana, and the process by which your lost relationship with God established and you go back to home back to Godhead, that is called sanātana-dharma. Sanātana-dharma. That is our eternal relationship with God.
The living entity is described as sanātanaḥ. Mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ jīva-loke sanātanaḥ (BG 15.7). Sanātana means eternal. And there is another nature, which is also described, sanātana. So when a living entity is constitutionally sanātana, if he wants to go back to that sanātana nature, that is called sanātana-dharma. It is called... You have heard the name sanātana-dharma. Sanātana-dharma means when the sanātana-jīva, living entity, tries go to back home... That is our real home. Here it is not home. We have taken America as home. How long it is your home, sir? Say, fifty years, hundred years, that's all. Not this kind of home. So that home is eternal. That is called, therefore, sanātana. Avyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ. Yasmin sarveṣu naśyatsu means when in the material world everything will be dissolved, annihilated, then it is said that the other nature... We have tried to describe in our Easy Journey to Other Planets, antimaterial, material and antimaterial. So that world, the spiritual world, there is if you go beyond this covering of the sky. You cannot touch even the ultimate covering even, Brahmaloka. We can see there is a covering round, what is called? Horizon.
Actually, religion does not mean to improve your material condition. That is not religion. Śrīmad-Bhāgavata therefore says that sa vai puṁsāṁ paro dharmo yato bhaktir adhokṣaje: (SB 1.2.6) "That type of religion is first class which elevates one to the platform of pure devotional service to the Absolute Truth." That is religion. People are not attracted to the bhāgavata-dharma, or the religion. Bhāgavata-dharma is actually sanātana-dharma. Sanātana-dharma does not mean that one must have a certain type of religious life. Sanātana-dharma means the eternal religion. Sanātana-dharma is applicable for all living entities. A living entity is eternal, God is eternal, and there is an eternal abode also. Paras tasmāt tu bhāvo 'nyo 'vyakto 'vyaktāt sanātanaḥ (BG 8.20). So the religious principles which promote a follower to the highest platform of serving the eternal, supreme God, that is called sanātana-dharma. Nityo nityānāṁ cetanaś cetanānām (Kaṭha Upaniṣad 2.2.13). That is first-class religion.
Sanātana-dharma means that eternal occupational duty which you cannot cease. Now, Prahlāda Mahārāja is advising that, dharmān bhāgavatān. Bhāgavatān means... Bhāgavata means pertaining to Bhagavān. And Bhagavān means to the Supreme Personality of Godhead. So bhāgavata is the adjective form of the noun word Bhagavān. Bhaga, real form of the word is bhagavat. Bhagavat. Vat means possessing, and bhaga means opulences. One who possess all the opulences, He's called bhagavat. And from bhagavat this word has come, bhāgavata. So bhāgavata means pertaining to God and His devotees. That is called bhāgavata. Just like this book is called Bhāgavata because it deals only with the subject matter of the Supreme Personality of Godhead, nothing more. Bas. Therefore it is called Bhāgavata. And you'll find description in this book, the dealings between Bhagavān, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, and His devotees. So there are two kinds of bhāgavatam. The devotee bhāgavatam and the book Bhāgavatam.
So you practice it. The sanātana-dharma means this bhakti-yoga. Because we have forgotten. Everyone is trying to become God. Now practice here how to become a servant of God. And if you are qualified, factually, that now you are rest assured that you have become a servant of God, that is bhakti-mārga. As Caitanya Mahāprabhu said, gopī-bhartur pada-kamalayor dāsa-dāsa-dāsa-dāsānudāsaḥ. When you are expert in becoming the servant of the servant of the servant of the servant of the Lord-hundred times down, servant—then you are perfect (CC Madhya 13.80). But here everyone is trying to become the Supreme Lord. Somebody is misusing the word "so 'ham," "ahaṁ brahmāsmi" and therefore "I am the Supreme." But that is not. These are Vedic words, but so 'ham does not mean "I am God." So 'ham means "I am also the same quality." Because mamaivāṁśo jīva-bhūtaḥ (BG 15.7). Jīva is the part and parcel of God, Kṛṣṇa, so the quality is the same. Just like you take a drop of water from the sea. So the chemical composition of the whole water of the sea and a drop of water—the same. That is called so 'ham or brahmāsmi. Not that we misuse these words, Vedic version, and I think falsely that "I am God. I have become God." And if you are God, then why you become a dog? Does God becomes dog? No. That is not possible. Because we are minute particle.
General Lectures
So the conclusion should be that sanātana-dharma means that the living entity is eternal, he must seek out his eternal service. That is called sanātana-dharma. Sanātana-dharma does not mean that having a great big tuft, and tilaka, or dressing in a certain manner, or... Then everything are changing. That is not sanātana-dharma. Whatever is changeable, that is not sanātana-dharma. Sanātana, try to understand sanātana. Sanātana means eternal, and the living entity, being eternal, he must have some eternal engagement. That is called sanātana-dharma. Here, in the Bhagavad-gītā, the word sanātana has come in many places.
So the sanātana-dharma means that to find out the eternal engagement of the living entity. At the present moment, the living entity is changing the position. As we change our position even during this life—sometimes I am working in this office, sometimes working in that office, sometimes in this way, sometimes that way—similarly, we are changing eternally. We are creating our desires within the mind, thinking, feeling and willing, and according to the thinking, feeling and willing, we are getting a certain type of body, one after another. This is the process. Dehino 'smin yathā dehe kaumāraṁ yauvanaṁ jarā, tathā dehāntaraṁ prāptir (BG 2.13). Just like in this span of life, I was a child. Everyone was. Everyone remembers. Then I became a boy. I was playing. I can remember what I was doing in my childhood, boyhood. Then I became a young man. That also I remember. But those things have passed as dream. Now I am a different condition of life as old man. But I, the spirit soul, I remember that I was a child, I was a baby, I was a boy, I was a young man. Now I am old man. So the conclusion should be that although I have changed my bodies, I remember all these things. So the body and the remembering capacity, mean the subtle body, thinking, feeling and willing... That is called subtle body.
Correspondence
1972 Correspondence
Please accept my blessings. I beg to acknowledge receipt of your letter dated December 5, 1972, and I am greatly pleased to hear from you that you have increased the selling books five times more in Chicago centre. That is very good news to me. Yes, there must always be competition, that gives life, that cannot be separated from life. Sanatana dharma means the strong will utilize the energy of the weak, the weak must serve the strong, that we see everywhere, is it not? Who can deny? So that competitive spirit makes us strong, otherwise it is a society of weak men only, and what is the good of such society? But if you ask anyone are you weak or strong, he must answer that he is weak—he cannot control even his toothache, what to speak of his death. Therefore, in fact, it is a society of weak men—everyone is weak before Durga Devi or the material energy. If you see sometimes her picture, the foolish materialist is being held by the claws of her tiger-carrier, while she pierces him to death with her trident weapon. She has got ten arms, each with weapon, she is so strong, but we are so weak that simply by piercing with her trident, the three-fold miseries, adhibhautika, adhidaivika, and adhyatmika, the foolish materialists are all defeated! And before Krishna, Durga devi is very weak—Krishna is the controller of Durga.
| Page Title: | Sanatana-dharma means |
| Compiler: | Sharmila, Serene |
| Created: | 19 of Dec, 2008 |
| Totals by Section: | BG=0, SB=1, CC=0, OB=0, Lec=14, Con=0, Let=1 |
| No. of Quotes: | 16 |