HINDUISM AND SANATANA DHARMA

However, a revival in Hindu consciousness is now occurring throughout the world. Hindus are no longer willing to stand silent when faced with misrepresentations of their venerable tradition. A pride in being Hindu is arising, not as a religious arrogance, but as a recognition of the value of this vast and ancient spiritual heritage for the whole world. Such new Hindus are willing not only to affirm their tradition but to express its teachings, even when it may call into question other belief systems.

They are willing to give a Hindu point of view on religious and social issues, which is not simply to agree with everyone but to point out the deeper wisdom that the Hindu sages have gathered through millennia of yogic practices. Along similar lines, a number of Westerners are beginning to recognize that there is a greater spiritual tradition - including such teachings as Ayurveda, Vedic astrology, and Sanskrit - behind the yogic and meditational practices they have adapted and that the entire system has relevance.

The following section has been devised to deal with the problems of expressing Hinduism in the modern age, which requires affirming its universality without losing its character. It requires fostering a pride in Hinduism without making it into another sectarian belief. It requires redefining what Hindu means and connotes to people, above for all so-called Hindus themselves, so that hearing the word Hindu evokes the Himalayan majesty of the great yogis, not the timidity of a kind but defeated people.

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