SANATANA DHARMA AND THE MODERN WORLD

Should We Not Combine All Spiritual Traditions?

All true spiritual teachings have an inherent unity, which is the recognition of the spirit or Self as the highest Reality. Such a universal tradition is intrinsic in Universal Truth. All true teachings are always part of it. Yet such a universal tradition cannot be arrived by putting together the fragments which may exist in different teachings, any more than the moon can be put together by collecting its reflections that exist in various pools of water.

 To discover the universal tradition it is necessary to discover the Self-existent reality behind the universe. Without knowing ourselves, to try to put together a universal tradition through what we have learned from books or from other people, however great, remains second hand and artificial and cannot possibly endure.

The beauty of Sanatana Dharma is that it is already based upon a universal understanding which uses all aspects of the spiritual life including theistic and non-theistic approaches, Yogas of knowledge, devotion, service and technique, and both imagistic and non-imagistic approaches. Yet without awareness of the inner Self such aids remain limited in value, like tools without the proper person to employ them. Sanatana Dharma provides the basis for a universal tradition but it needs the enkindling factor of our own Self-knowledge to truly manifest it.

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