Daily Readings
Sanatana Dharma (2)
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. Sanatana Dharma is experience based rather than belief based.
'Satyam vada, Dharmam chara' Literally means, Speak the Truth and Practice Dharma. Ancient Hindu scriptures emphasize the importance of 'Satya' and 'Dharma'. Satya is the eternal, absolute and unchanging truth. Dharma is often translated as righteousness, Law or Natural Law. In the Rigveda, the word appears as an n-stem, dhárman-, meaning "something established or firm"
The Upanishads saw dharma as the universal principle of law, order, harmony, all in all truth, that sprang first from Brahman. In the Brihadaranyaka's own words: Verily, that which is Dharma is truth. In the Mahabharata (12.110.11), Lord Krishna defines dharma as, "Dhaaranaad dharma ity aahur dharmena vidhrtaah prajaah, Yat syaad dhaarana sanyuktam sa dharma iti nishchayah," meaning, Dharma upholds both this-worldly and other-worldly affairs.
The prayer, “तमसोमाज्योतिर्गमय” Tamasoma Jyothirgamaya, in the tradition of Sanatana Dharma means “Lead me from darkness to light”. Darkness symbolizes ajnana or ignorance; while light symbolizes jnana or knowledge.
The Guru alone is capable of guiding one from the darkness of ignorance to the light of knowledge. It is due to this fact that utmost importance is given to the Guru in Sanatana Dharma.