SANATANA DHARMA AND THE MODERN WORLD

Don't We Need Practices Designed for us Today?

We must have spiritual teachings appropriate for our changing circumstances, wherever we may live. For this it is essential that we follow a living spiritual tradition, not a dead and stereotyped belief which ties us to some by-gone era. Yet as the goal of the spiritual life is the Eternal, the teaching must be grounded in the Timeless Reality and not merely be a fad of the moment. The forms we follow should be based on the Eternal Truth but adjusted according to the needs of the times.

The universal teaching is a science of Self-realization. We are first of all who we are. To know ourselves is the most important thing, whatever our cultural or geographical background. That Self transcends time, space and objectivity. It is the Eternal Presence. Yet it is important to connect with a tradition of Self-knowledge, as a tradition allows a broad approach so that we can find a teacher and teaching suitable for our temperament.

Moreover, Self-knowledge creates a certain culture and way of life. It creates an awareness of our posture, from which the science of asana or yogic postures arose. It creates an awareness of breath, from which the science of pranayama arose. It creates an awareness of speech, from which the Sanskrit language arose.

It creates a science of health, from which Ayurveda arose. It creates an understanding of symbol and ritual, from which the science of puja (Hindu ritual) arose. A culture of Self-knowledge is useful and this is the essence of Sanatana Dharma. Naturally it has to be continually adjusted individually and collectively, but it has always done this.

What the West, and each part of the world for that matter, needs is a living spiritual tradition, which goes back to enlightened and Self-realized teachers. Since the West has not preserved such a tradition in its culture, it must connect up with traditions from the parts of the world which are still alive. Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma, offering such enlightened traditions, without insisting upon the adaptation of an exclusive religious identity, is a good basis for this.

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