JOIN USSanatana Dharma is the oldest spiritual tradition known to humankind. The Vedas on the other hand are the oldest or the earliest expressions known to humankind to define the Sanatana Dharma.
Scholars differ on dating its origins and estimates vary from 3000 BC to 15000 BC. The objective in Sanatana Dharma, according to Swami Satyananda, lies in freeing every atom of existence in its own way from karma and help it achieve its own state of perfection.
The Sanatana Dharma is known as the eternal religion because it represents the eternal idea of perfection.
In this hallowed tradition, there are as many paths to God as there are individuals. Not everybody understands this profound truth. The underlying truth of this statement lies in the recognition that God or the Supreme Being is without limitation.
He cannot be reduced to this name and that form or to this deity or that attribute. To think that the supreme consciousness can be reduced to one exclusive name or form is nothing but mere ignorance.
This explains why Ramakrishna Paramahamsa appealed to the Divine Mother by saying:
“Mother! Everyone foolishly assumes that his clock alone tells the correct time. Christians claim to possess exclusive truth. Countless varieties of Hindus insist that their sect expresses the ultimate position. Devout Muslims maintain that Koranic revelation supersedes all others.”
“The entire world is being driven insane by this single phrase: ‘My religion alone is true.”
“O Mother! You have shown me that no clock is entirely accurate. Only the transcendent sun of knowledge remains on time. Who can make a system of Divine Mystery? But if any sincere practitioner, within whatever culture or religion prays and meditates with great devotion and commitment to Truth alone, Your grace will flood his mind and heart O Mother.”
“His particular sacred tradition will be opened and illumined. He will reach the one goal of spiritual evolution.”
“Mother! Mother! Mother! How I long to pray with sincere Christians in their churches and to bow and prostrate with devoted Muslims in their mosques! All religions are glorious! Yet if I display too much freedom, every religious community will become angry with me. I might even be forbidden to enter Your temple again, O blissful Kali!”
“Therefore, take me secretly into the sanctuary of every tradition without exception and I will worship ceaselessly with all humanity, night and day.”
The state of perfection sought after in Sanatana Dharma is best expressed in a verse from the Upanishads: “That is whole and perfect, this is whole and perfect. From the whole and perfect, the whole and perfect becomes manifest. If the whole and perfect issue forth from the whole and perfect, still only the whole and perfect will remain.”