What is the true meaning of word 'Dharma'?

Preface
Quotes such as 'There is no substitute for religion' and 'Religion is like a narcotic pill' which are contradictory
create confusion in the mind of the common man. When we talk about Righteousness (Dharma) one thinks
about religious orders such as Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, etc. Others think that India being a
secular state talking about religion is highly objectionable. To eliminate these misconcepts and to realise how
there is no alternative to Righteousness as well as to unite all mankind one has to understand the true
meaning of Righteousness. Information on Righteousness - its meaning, importance, its various aspects,
mysteries, doctrines and types, its difference from culture and morality, its decline and assumption of
incarnations, importance of India in the context of Righteousness, etc. is given in this holy book.
Since generally people have heard only words like the Vedas, Upanishads, etc. they think that only these
texts are spiritual literature. They do not know what a vast treasure house of spiritual literature India has and
about its contents. To get acquainted with it this book gives information on the Vedas, their importance, aims,
divisions, subdivisions, parts, etc. The study of the Brahman texts and the Upanishads is important as they
include several doctrines of Spirituality; hence they have been elaborated upon. An introduction to the
Darshans is also made. Scriptures on Righteousness from the Smrutis which describe the righteous code of
conduct are discussed with respect to their importance, characteristics, number, their authority, the period
when they were written, how they are different from the Shrutis (Vedas), various texts of the Smrutis and their
authors, etc. An introduction to the divine mission of Maharshi Vyas and the foremost (Adi) Shankaracharya
has also been made to illustrate Their supremacy. To limit the size of the text, information on the four classes
(varna) and stages of life (ashrams) has been given in 'Science of Spirituality : Vol.1 C -
Varnashramvyavastha'.

Difference between 31 st Dec and Chaitra Shukla Pratipada for celebrating New Year.

Celebrations on the eve of the Western New Year, that is 1st January, is accepted by Hindus as a day of celebration for them as well. They make big plans for this day, with regards to shopping, eating at a restaurant, taking a vacation, etc. And mind you this is not only in big cities, it is also happening in villages, which do not even have the basic amenities of regular electricity and water supply ! By aping the West you are not only destroying your own tradition but are also impressing materialistic values upon the future generation. Hindus are completely in the dark about this fact. This picture is therefore meant to highlight these facts. 

‘Conversion’ for a day !

When a person converts to a new religion he begins to follow the customs and celebrates festivals of that religion. In the same way, in neglecting our own customs if we Hindus start celebrating Christmas or New Year as per the Christian calendar, then even if it be for a day we too are like converts to Christianity ! Hindus are completely oblivious to the fact that they will have to face the demerits of neglecting their own rituals and of being anti-Hindu, for following the materialistic 'Western days of celebration'. Today, to create respect for their religion and Dharma amongst Hindus, religious education is an absolute necessity.

Hindus endow more importance to 31st December!

Nowadays, from the young to the old, all wish each other a 'Happy New Year' or send greeting cards, on the night of 31st December; but Chaitra Shukla Pratipada is the New Year as per our Hindu culture. They consider this as a prestige point. In fact you will find only a handful of Hindus greeting each other on the occasion of Chaitra Shukla Pratipada.

Parents of the materialistic new generation are in hibernation !

As per the Hindu religion every auspicious event begins with ritualistic worship at the auspicious time (Brahma muhurta), which is on awakening at dawn, after a bath, wearing clean attire and ornaments. As a result, the sattva component in the atmosphere creates good impressions on the doer.
On the eve of the Western New Year people drink and make merry, in other words spend the night enjoying the pleasures of life. Thus automatically impressions of materialism are created on their subconscious minds. Besides, since at night the atmosphere is tama predominant the tama component in them grows. People are unaware of this because of the lack of religious education; the young generation falls prey to this materialism, fun and frolic. Their parents too are completely oblivious about what is happening to their children.

Destroy the invasion of foreign culture in the form of the demon Ravan

Today the Hindu religion is being attacked on all fronts, influence by Western culture being the most invasive. It is the duty of each and every Hindu to combat this attack. Just as on the day of Gudhi Padva Lord Rama killed the demon Ravan and returned to Ayodhya to hoist the flag of victory, so also Hindus must now combat Ravan who has assumed the form of Western cultural invasion and raise the Gudhi this year !

Hindus! Live as a true Hindu at least for a day!

On this day one can take note of the 'do's' and don'ts' given below -
1. Do not wish a fellow Hindu 'Happy New Year' either on 31st December or 1st January.
2. If a fellow Hindu greets you that way, take time to explain to him how this is wrong and impress upon him that Chaitra Shukla Pratipada is actually our new year.
3. Instead of sending New Year greetings to relatives and friends for 1st January, do it on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada.
4. Ensure that you pass on this valuable information to your near and dear ones, thus preventing them from sinning by celebrating New Year on a day other than our real New Year.
5. Remember that ushering in the New Year on Chaitra Shukla Pratipada will help you develop pride in your religion, nation and language.

Digvijay Singh can be seen in the above picture, amongst Muslim leaders releasing a book called, RSS ki Sazish 26/11? A lot of Muslim world still believes that 9/11 was carried out by Jews. Similar kind of Muslims including the senior Congress leader A R Antualy have blamed 26/11 attacks on Hindus despite of confessions and proofs. ...

This kind of a sick attitude can be justified in a really perverted way if the Muslims nurse it. A lot of them cannot live with other religions and tom-tom the superiority of Islam even in the face of the obvious. One would expect a lot more from a leader like Antulay. He is in the know. What CANNOT be justified is someone like Digvijay Singh supporting these extremist Muslims in India and validating their falsehoods.

This is beyond vote-bank politics and is indicative of a diseased imagination of a desperate man. Despite all his tall claims, he has still not produced the call records of his discussion with Karkare and blames the Bharat Sanchar Nigam for not being able to produce the records.

Digvijay is towing the Pakistani line by endorsing Zaid Hamid’s theory of 26/11 Mumbai attack being the work of Hindu Fascist and Zionist Hinduvta organizations like the RSS.

If the Indian voters do not get rid of leaders like him, then those leaders will get rid of the only homeland for Hindus – INDIA!!

I am proud to be a Hindu: Reasons behind it...

For a religion to survive in its pure form in this world is a very difficult thing. Many other religions enforce their beliefs and values upon others, using conversion, preaching, oppression and force as their means of becoming ‘bigger’, ‘better’ and more recognized. Advertisement and ‘spreading the word’ is their main medium for survival, even if the new people they convert don’t understand the importance of that religion.

The faith in God is slowly becoming weak as people in the Western world, where this religion is most prominent, lose faith in God and turn to the materialistic dreams that have become ‘life’. These may be sweeping generalisations, but they lead me to the point of why I am proud to be a HINDU.
Hinduism is the oldest religion in the world. It has survived thousands of years and countless invasions of Hindustan. However, it still remains as strong as ever. Our faith is not enforced upon others. We are silent but strong, and this is what has kept us powerful for all these years. Instead of making rigid rules which all humans have to live by, it sets common morals which everyone can relate to and adopt. This flexibility and fluidity has allowed our religion to overcome erosion and corruption over the ages. Our values remain within our hearts, our hearts remain with God and our faith remains strong………all without the need for violence or any other type of infliction upon other fellow human beings!

HINDUISM = RESPECT, not only for other Hindus, but for every living thing. HINDUISM is a peaceful religion in this universe and we believe in non violence…. HARE KRISHNA…. HARE RAMA!

हिंदुत्व

Hinduism: An Overview

Hinduism, also known as the Sanatana Dharma, or "Eternal Way," is our planet's original and oldest living religion, with over one billion adherents. Today it has four main denominations: Saivism, Shaktism, Vaishnavism and Smartism, each with hundreds of lineages. They represent a broad range of beliefs, practices and mystic goals, but virtually all concur on certain bedrock concepts.

All Hindus worship one Supreme Reality, though they call it by many names. There is no eternal hell, no damnation, in Hinduism, and no intrinsic evil--no satanic force that opposes the will of God. Hindus believe that the cosmos was created out of God and is permeated by Him--a Supreme Being who both is form and pervades form, who creates, sustains and destroys the universe only to recreate it again in unending cycles. Each soul is free to find his own way, whether by devotion, austerity, meditation, yoga or selfless service.
Hinduism's three pillars are temple worship, scripture and the guru-disciple tradition. Hinduism strongly declares the validity of the three worlds of existence--physical, astral and spiritual--and the myriad Gods and devas residing within the inner worlds. Festivals, pilgrimage, chanting of holy hymns and home worship are dynamic practices. Family life is strong and precious. Love, nonviolence, good conduct and the law of dharma define the Hindu path.

Hindus are generously tolerant of other faiths. Hinduism explains that the soul reincarnates until all karmas are resolved and God Realization is attained. All souls, without exception, will attain this highest spiritual summit, though it may take many lives. This is a mystical religion, leading devotees to personally experience its eternal truths within themselves, finally reaching the pinnacle of consciousness where man and God are forever one.
Hindus prefer cremation of the body upon death, rather than burial, believing that the soul lives on and will inhabit a new body on Earth.

While we have many sacred scriptures, all sects ascribe the highest authority to the Vedas and Agamas. Hinduism has tens of thousands of holy temples and shrines, mostly in India, but now located around the world. Its spiritual core is its holy men and women who have dedicated their lives to full-time service, devotion and God Realization, and to proclaiming the eternal truths of the Sanatana Dharma.

Why I am a Proud Hindu?

Why I am a Proud Hindu?

Hinduism is uniquely a religion without fundamentals. We have, after all, an extraordinary diversity of religious practices within Hinduism which have no single sacred book but many. Hinduism is, in many ways, predicated on the idea that the eternal wisdom of the ages and of divinity cannot be confined to a single sacred book and we have no compulsory injunctions or obligations. We don't even have a Hindu Sunday, let alone an injunction to pray at specific times and frequencies.


Instead, what we have is a faith that allows each believer to reach out his or her hands to his or her notion of the creative Godhead of divinity. A faith which uniquely does not have any notion of heresy in it--you cannot be a Hindu heretic because there is no standard set of dogmas from which you can deviate that make you a heretic. Here is a faith so unusual, so unique, that it is the only major religion in the world that does not claim to be the only true religion. I find that incredibly congenial. For me, as a believing Hindu, it is wonderful to be able to meet people from other faiths without being burdened by the conviction that they are embarked upon a wrong path.



Hinduism believes that there are various ways of reaching the ultimate truth. To me, the fact that adherents of this faith, in a particular perversion of its tenets, have chosen to destroy somebody else's sacred place, has chosen to attack others because of the absence of foreskin or the mark on the forehead, this ultimately makes me, as a Hindu, deeply sorrowful and, in a very fundamental way, ashamed.


"Build Ram in your hearts" is what Hinduism has always enjoined. If Ram is in your heart, it would matter very little what bricks or stones Ram can also be found in, but this is a pluralist notion of Hinduism, this eclectic tolerance, which was very much in the minds of the believing Hindus in the nationalist movement as well as of those emerging from this Indic civilisation, who shared this pluralist national conviction.


That this notion of Indianness has somehow been reduced to a sectarian notion of so-called Hindutva is, to me, a travesty of what Hinduism really is. I too, as a Hindu, can say when people tell me garv se kaho ki tum Hindu ho, that I'm proud to be a Hindu, but in what is it that we are to take pride? I take pride in the openness, the diversity, the range, the lofty metaphysical aspirations of the Vedanta; of the various ways in which Hinduism is practised, eclectically, tolerantly, that is what I take pride in.


Unfortunately, there are those who take pride in Hinduism the way in which one might support a football team--as a badge of identity, rather than as a set of values, principles and beliefs, and so Hinduism becomes reduced in their retelling to nothing more than a label.


The word for Indian has almost become Hindu. All the latter meant was the people living across the river Sindhu or the Indus. Of course, the Indus now flows in Pakistan but nonetheless, the fact is that the notion of Indianness and Hinduness is very much caught up in what Dr Radhakrishnan so memorably spoke of as a way of life. That way of life has very little room for intolerance, for dogma, for attacks on others because of what they don't believe.

Jai Hindutva!

Proud to Be a HINDU

हिन्दु तन मन हिन्दु जीवन रग रग हिन्दु मेरा परिचय॥

हिन्दु तन मन हिन्दु जीवन रग रग हिन्दु मेरा परिचय॥
मै शंकर का वह क्रोधानल कर सकता जगती क्षार क्षार
डमरू की वह प्रलयध्वनि हूं जिसमे नचता भीषण संहार
रणचंडी की अतृप्त प्यास मै दुर्गा का उन्मत्त हास
मै यम की प्रलयंकर पुकार जलते मरघट का धुँवाधार
फिर अंतरतम की ज्वाला से जगती मे आग लगा दूं मै
यदि धधक उठे जल थल अंबर जड चेतन तो कैसा विस्मय
हिन्दु तन मन हिन्दु जीवन रग रग हिन्दु मेरा परिचय॥
मै आज पुरुष निर्भयता का वरदान लिये आया भूपर
पय पीकर सब मरते आए मै अमर हुवा लो विष पीकर
अधरोंकी प्यास बुझाई है मैने पीकर वह आग प्रखर
हो जाती दुनिया भस्मसात जिसको पल भर मे ही छूकर
भय से व्याकुल फिर दुनिया ने प्रारंभ किया मेरा पूजन
मै नर नारायण नीलकण्ठ बन गया न इसमे कुछ संशय
हिन्दु तन मन हिन्दु जीवन रग रग हिन्दु मेरा परिचय॥
मै अखिल विश्व का गुरु महान देता विद्या का अमर दान
मैने दिखलाया मुक्तिमार्ग मैने सिखलाया ब्रह्म ज्ञान
मेरे वेदों का ज्ञान अमर मेरे वेदों की ज्योति प्रखर
मानव के मन का अंधकार क्या कभी सामने सकठका सेहर
मेरा स्वर्णभ मे गेहर गेहेर सागर के जल मे चेहेर चेहेर
इस कोने से उस कोने तक कर सकता जगती सौरभ मै
हिन्दु तन मन हिन्दु जीवन रग रग हिन्दु मेरा परिचय॥
मै तेजःपुन्ज तम लीन जगत मे फैलाया मैने प्रकाश
जगती का रच करके विनाश कब चाहा है निज का विकास
शरणागत की रक्षा की है मैने अपना जीवन देकर
विश्वास नही यदि आता तो साक्षी है इतिहास अमर
यदि आज देहलि के खण्डहर सदियोंकी निद्रा से जगकर
गुंजार उठे उनके स्वर से हिन्दु की जय तो क्या विस्मय
हिन्दु तन मन हिन्दु जीवन रग रग हिन्दु मेरा परिचय॥
दुनिया के वीराने पथ पर जब जब नर ने खाई ठोकर
दो आँसू शेष बचा पाया जब जब मानव सब कुछ खोकर
मै आया तभि द्रवित होकर मै आया ज्ञान दीप लेकर
भूला भटका मानव पथ पर चल निकला सोते से जगकर
पथ के आवर्तोंसे थककर जो बैठ गया आधे पथ पर
उस नर को राह दिखाना ही मेरा सदैव का दृढनिश्चय
हिन्दु तन मन हिन्दु जीवन रग रग हिन्दु मेरा परिचय॥
मैने छाती का लहु पिला पाले विदेश के सुजित लाल
मुझको मानव मे भेद नही मेरा अन्तःस्थल वर विशाल
जग से ठुकराए लोगोंको लो मेरे घर का खुला द्वार
अपना सब कुछ हूं लुटा चुका पर अक्षय है धनागार
मेरा हीरा पाकर ज्योतित परकीयोंका वह राज मुकुट
यदि इन चरणों पर झुक जाए कल वह किरिट तो क्या विस्मय
हिन्दु तन मन हिन्दु जीवन रग रग हिन्दु मेरा परिचय॥
मै वीरपुत्र मेरि जननी के जगती मे जौहर अपार
अकबर के पुत्रोंसे पूछो क्या याद उन्हे मीना बझार
क्या याद उन्हे चित्तोड दुर्ग मे जलनेवाली आग प्रखर
जब हाय सहस्त्रो माताए तिल तिल कर जल कर हो गई अमर
वह बुझनेवाली आग नही रग रग मे उसे समाए हूं
यदि कभि अचानक फूट पडे विप्लव लेकर तो क्या विस्मय
हिन्दु तन मन हिन्दु जीवन रग रग हिन्दु मेरा परिचय॥
होकर स्वतन्त्र मैने कब चाहा है कर लूं सब को गुलाम
मैने तो सदा सिखाया है करना अपने मन को गुलाम
गोपाल राम के नामोंपर कब मैने अत्याचार किया
कब दुनिया को हिन्दु करने घर घर मे नरसंहार किया
कोई बतलाए काबुल मे जाकर कितनी मस्जिद तोडी
भूभाग नही शत शत मानव के हृदय जीतने का निश्चय
हिन्दु तन मन हिन्दु जीवन रग रग हिन्दु मेरा परिचय॥
मै एक बिन्दु परिपूर्ण सिन्धु है यह मेरा हिन्दु समाज
मेरा इसका संबन्ध अमर मै व्यक्ति और यह है समाज
इससे मैने पाया तन मन इससे मैने पाया जीवन
मेरा तो बस कर्तव्य यही कर दू सब कुछ इसके अर्पण
मै तो समाज की थाति हूं मै तो समाज का हूं सेवक
मै तो समष्टि के लिए व्यष्टि का कर सकता बलिदान अभय
हिन्दु तन मन हिन्दु जीवन रग रग हिन्दु मेरा परिचय॥