Sanatana is eternal and dharma is the righteous conduct. This immediately gives rise to the basic doubt that how can the code of conduct be beyond time and space? Can there be universal truth and conduct based on the tenets of truth. The answer is a firm yes.
Vedas are always said to be ‘Apourusheya’, not revealed by any mortal. Then who revealed this and what is the source. Unless one knows the answers to this question, how do we proceed further on the enquiry path? Similarly, the dharma shastra quoted for specific ages, are these authentic? If there is a contradiction between these shastra and the Veda propounded path, which should prevail? In such moments of conflict, who can be the arbitrator in the current murky times? Youngsters who can’t get the answers to these, do look out for easier paths. The onus of guiding is on the elders and who already should have become wise by the time greying happens. They need to answer convincingly when the nextgen reaches their teens and asks.
Some of the basic tenets if we take say ‘Satyam vada’ and ‘Dharmam chara’, the following can be simple but one needs commitment. Staying on the truth path should be natural. Keeping it Simple and Straight (KISS) is the easiest path one can follow. All deviations result in complexities, and managing these wastes one’s precious bandwidth which one could have used for ‘climbing the uphill’ in one’s pursuit. ‘Dharmam chara’ is another simpler tenet one can internalise. The Golden rule that is common across cultures that are a few thousand-year-old is ‘don’t do that which you don’t want to receive’. Again, so simple and straight. Don’t throw stone at another’s glass palace if you are living in one.
If the life principles and living code are based on eternal principles that can never go wrong, then one is following ‘Sanatana dharma’. The basic confusion often spread is ‘living conduct’ and ‘religious conduct’. Why one misses the fact that ‘life is superior to religion’ is often due to the fogginess created by the meaner and emotional verbal engagements, and venomous articulations. If the dictum is ‘Lokah samasta sukhino bhavantu’, there can’t be a second thought on following harmonious ‘Sanatana dharma’.
Prof S Ainavolu is a Mumbai-based teacher of tradition and management. He is with VPSM. Views are personal. www.ainavolu.in/blog
