Sanātana Dharma — the eternal way
सनातन धर्म
Sanātana Dharma is the eternal natural law by which everything that exists holds its own place and does its own work. It has no founder, no date of origin and no boundary of membership. It governs the human being, the animal, the bird and the star alike — because it is not a belief about the world, it is a description of how the world is ordered.
श्रेयान्स्वधर्मो विगुणः परधर्मात्स्वनुष्ठितात्। स्वधर्मे निधनं श्रेयः परधर्मो भयावहः॥
śreyān sva-dharmo viguṇaḥ para-dharmāt sv-anuṣṭhitāt sva-dharme nidhanaṁ śreyaḥ para-dharmo bhayāvahaḥ
Better one's own dharma, though imperfectly done, than another's dharma well performed. Better to die in one's own dharma; another's dharma brings fear.
The eye was made for seeing; that is its dharma. It cannot eat and it cannot hear. The ear was made for hearing; it cannot see. Not one organ is superior to another, not one can take another's place, and by each keeping its own function the whole body works as a single unit of existence. That is the entire teaching, and everything on this site is an elaboration of it.
What is Sanātana Dharma
Svadharma, the dharma of the senses, varṇa by nature rather than birth, the 28 nakṣatras, and why the sun does not ask your religion before it shines on you.
The sources of knowledge
Nigama and Āgama, śruti and smṛti, the four Vedas and their four layers, the six Vedāṅgas, Itihāsa, Purāṇa and the Sūtras.
The four aims of life
Dharma, artha, kāma and mokṣa — and why a tradition that wrote a treatise on pleasure did not regard the world as an enemy.
The four stages of life
Student, householder, forest-dweller, renunciate — one lifetime read as four dharmas in sequence.
The sixteen refinements
From before conception to the final fire: what each of the sixteen rites does, and which are still alive today.
The six philosophies
Nyāya, Vaiśeṣika, Sāṅkhya, Yoga, Mīmāṁsā and Vedānta — six complete systems, and six different accounts of creation.
The living traditions
Śaiva, Śākta, Vaiṣṇava, Gāṇapatya, Saura and Kaumāra — the six paths, their revealed texts and their branches.
The tributaries
Buddhism, Jainism, Sikhism, the Nāthas, the bhakti sants — what each shares and where each departs.
Practice
The four yogas, Patañjali's eight limbs, svara yoga, meditation, mantra and daily worship.
Cosmos and time
The tattvas, the yugas and kalpas, karma and rebirth, the lokas, and the reckoning of the pañcāṅga.
Life and society
The daily routine, food, the social order, marriage, festivals, temples, service and the ethical foundation.
The deities
The many and the one, the Vedic devas, the Purāṇic order, and the ten descents of Viṣṇu.
इन्द्रं मित्रं वरुणमग्निमाहुरथो दिव्यः स सुपर्णो गरुत्मान्। एकं सद्विप्रा बहुधा वदन्त्यग्निं यमं मातरिश्वानमाहुः॥
indraṃ mitraṃ varuṇam agnim āhur atho divyaḥ sa suparṇo garutmān | ekaṃ sad viprā bahudhā vadanty agniṃ yamaṃ mātariśvānam āhuḥ ||
They call Him Indra, Mitra, Varuṇa, Agni; and He is the heavenly, fair-winged Garutmān. Truth is One — the wise speak of it in many ways; they call it Agni, Yama, Mātariśvan.
— Ṛgveda Saṁhitā, Maṇḍala 1, Sūkta 164, Mantra 46
This website is envisioned from that Vedic and Sanātana thought — that the one Truth is spoken of in many ways, and that its knowledge belongs to everyone without exception.
Śrī Śrī 1008 Svāmī Charaṇāśrit Giri Jī Mahārāj
Paramahaṁsa · Śrotriya · Brahmaniṣṭha · Mahāmaṇḍaleśvara
Read the vision in full