Sanatan Dharm
Sanatan Dharm in a Nutshell
Swami Rajarshi Muni
Sanatan Dharm (Eternal Religion) is the primeval and timeless religion. Though its philosophy developed from the Vedic thoughts, the Seers or Sages of the Vedic Mantras themselves declare: ‘We are not the creators of the Vedas. The Vedic Mantras are not composed by us. They are revealed to us during meditation as the utterances of the Supreme Power of God. We have presented what we heard and perceived for the benefit of mankind.’ Thus Vedas are considered to be Apaurusheya, i.e. not the composition of any human author. There are many Sages who are the Seers of the Vedic Mantras. Hence the philosophy of Sanatan Dharm cannot be said to have been developed by any single person. It is a collective contribution of many Seer–Sages. Thus there is no single founder of Sanatan Dharm, as is the case with all other religions of the world.
Since the last few centuries, people coming from other countries have been calling Sanatan Dharm as ‘Hindu Dharm’. Those who came to India from the west had to cross the great river Sindhu. So they called the people residing in the land across the river as Hindu and their religion to be Hindu Dharm. As a matter of fact, the term ‘Hindu Dharm’ is not mentioned in any of the Indian scriptures. The name ‘Sanatan Dharm’ is appropriate because the Supreme Power that revealed the Vedic Mantras to the Seer-Sages is Sanatan or Eternal. Thus Sanatan Dharm is a gift received by mankind from the Eternal Supreme Power through the medium of the Seer-Sages. (Go To Continued)
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