| Hinduism : The Eternal Tradition Sanatana Dharma |
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| Books By David Frawley |
| RELIGION OR DHARMA : BELIEF OR THE NATURE OF TRUTH | |
| Is
the Word of God so simple that it can be put into one book. Can it
be reduced to human language at all? And is it salvation that we
need or self-understanding? Does mere belief change us or is a more
intimate contact with the truth of our being through meditation
necessary? A statement of
exclusive absolutes about religion is not possible for dharmic
traditions like Hinduism, nor would Hindus find it desirable. Coming
from a universal background such restrictions appear arbitrary.
They appear not as a deep understanding of the Infinite but as the attempt to arrive at a mental or emotional formulation that satisfies not the soul's longing to merge into the Divine, but the ego's need for certainty, security and control. Only that which is absolute can be absolute. The Eternal can be absolute, but to assert finality for a particular person or event in the historical realm, is to try to make absolute that which is relative. This is not spirituality, but spiritual materialism, confusing the absolute which is formless with a particular form. And why should a belief be asserted? Rather the Dharma should be recognized. Why should any Truth have to be asserted at all? Does not the truth of things speak for itself if we are open to it? We don't have to proclaim that fire burns. We don't have to shout to the world that the sun shines. It is an experiential fact. So too, spiritual realities should be approached as experiential facts. The insistence on belief indicates lack of experience, and leads to ignoring what experience teaches us.
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