We live in an age in which people have found it increasingly challenging to express the life-giving principles of spirituality and religion with as much seriousness, enthusiasm and dedication as was once the case. All around us, we witness on a daily basis all the destructive ravages that materialism, consumerism, greed, anger, lust and self-centeredness have forced upon our once saner world. Much of the war, poverty, sense of depression and meaningless, and social ills that are rampant today are directly due to the clear failures of atheism and an unsatisfying lifestyle dedicated to the pursuit of material acquisitions to the detriment of our inner spiritual growth. We have substituted television for meditation, emailing for prayer, texting for real communication, the Internet for community, and sports for spirituality. Given all the daily challenges that we find ourselves facing today, it is understandable that some of us might find ourselves asking the question: “Why should I be a follower of Sanatana Dharma?”
What precisely does Sanatana Dharma have to offer us? How can this ancient, spiritual world-view and culture help us as individuals, help our family, and help to bring about a much better world?
The truth is there are many reasons why Sanatana Dharma (sometimes mistakenly referred to as “Hinduism”) offers us the best way to find the happiness, peace and prosperity that we’re all seeking. This small article will only offer a very small number of these many benefits of the Dharmic way of life. For more in-depth information, however, visit Dharmacentral.com, the largest and most authoritative source of information on Sanatana Dharma available on the Internet today. In addition, take the time to read the other informative articles available here.
Sanatana Dharma is the most ancient and respected religion in the world. Due to the spiritual peace, personal empowerment, overall health and satisfying lifestyle it offers its followers, Sanatana Dharma has survived intact for over 5000 years. It has survived – when many other religions didn’t – because its teachings are time honored and true. Its lasting influence can be seen in the very name of our tradition, “Sanatana Dharma”, or The Eternal Natural Way.
Dharmic ideas, philosophy, spirituality, and art have influenced more people in world history than any other religion on earth. Among those in the West who have been highly influenced by the teachings of Sanatana Dharma are: Schopenhauer, Herman Melville, Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, Mark Twain, Romain Rolland, Einstein, Aldous Huxley, J. Robert Oppenheimer, Christopher Isherwood, J.D. Salinger, Arlo Guthrie, George Harrison, movie director David Lynch, and actresses Julia Roberts and Heather Graham, among the many thousands of other well-known writers, intellectuals, scientists, celebrities and artists who have incorporated aspects of Sanatana Dharma into their lives. Even today, tens of millions of Americans, Europeans, famous celebrities, scientists and scholars find spiritual solace and intellectual assurance in the amazing teachings of Dharma.
Sanatana Dharma is the most tolerant, peaceful, and non-fanatical religion in the world today. Unlike many other religions, Sanatana Dharma isn’t based on blind belief, dogma, closed-mindedness or fanaticism. Rather, it is based upon your own intelligent discernment in searching for Truth, your personal experience with God, the guidance of the Vedic scriptures (the most ancient collection of writings in human history), the living example of hundreds of generations of liberated yogis and sages who traversed the path before us, and respect for you as a free person and an intelligent seeker.
In addition to having very rational and fulfilling religious principles, Sanatana Dharma is also a very practical path that offers us real tools for having more peace and joy in our lives. The Yoga, meditation, prayer and ritual practices of Sanatana Dharma have been scientifically proven in thousands of academic research studies to reduce stress, depression, anxiety, nightmares, and many other illnesses. These Dharmic practices have produced multiple millions of enlightened beings throughout world history, and have been proven to be just as relevant and effective in our own modern age. It is for this reason that hundreds of millions of the world’s inhabitants practice meditational techniques today, almost all of which can be ultimately traced back directly to the tradition of Sanatana Dharma.
The Dharmic diet of lacto-vegetarianism (a diet free of meat, fish and eggs…but in which milk products are fine) has been shown by the entire medical community to be the healthiest and most nutritious diet in the world. The traditional Dharmic medical system of Ayurveda is now being studied in many of the top medical colleges in the world as a safe, natural and highly effective sister-modality to contemporary allopathic medicine. And Yoga, the Dharmic path of self-realization, is now practiced by hundreds of millions of people outside of India for optimal health, stress-reduction, clarity of mind, as well as to experience the direct reality of their true spiritual selves. In American alone, about 20 million people practice Yoga on a regular basis. The reason why so many millions of intelligent, educated, health-conscious and spiritually-inclined people practice Yoga is very simple: They’ve seen that it works!
Of all the many reasons why you should be a Dharmi, however, the most important one is because it is through Sanatana Dharma that you can have a personal and vividly transformative experience of God. The ultimate goal of Sanatana Dharma is to experience God’s presence in a radically personal and real way. When God is placed in the center of your personal life and your family life, there is no challenge, no problem, no illness, and no difficulty that you cannot face with courage and contentment. Sanatana Dharma is the most direct path there is for knowing God’s love and grace in your life.
Sanatana Dharma is a religious path that is open to all human beings, regardless of your race, nationality, ethnicity, previous religious background or language. Sanatana Dharma is not “Eastern”, “Indian”, or “Asian”. It transcends all nationalities and ethnicities. All that is required to achieve the maximum benefit that this dynamic path has to offer you is sincerity, humility, an openness to guidance and growth, and your own eagerness to know the Truth. Sanatana Dharma is open to all.
If you find the teachings, lifestyle and practice of Sanatana Dharma to be the answer to your spiritual search, the members of International Sanatana Dharma Society (ISDS) welcome you to embrace this spiritual heritage with joy and renewed vigor. Sanatana Dharma is God’s gift to you and to our suffering world.
For much more information on how you can deepen your understanding of Dharma and begin your exciting journey on this spiritual path today, please visit:
http://www.dharmacentral.com/dharmainfo.php
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