Cultural Refinement
The expanse of a human life starts at conception—even before the child is actually born—and continues even after death, albeit in the minds and hearts of people who know the individual. Through the course of this journey, sixteen different points of time were earmarked by our seers—spanning from conception until death, all of which were to be recognized by means of special ceremonies. Apart from this, they envisaged a yearly...
Freedom of Choice
There is a pre-existing universal order (ṛta), we are born into this world carrying the three great debts (ṛṇa), and we are expected to adhere to a path of sustainability (dharma). So, it is natural to ask: Where does individual freedom feature in the scheme of things?
Sanātana-dharma offers the greatest possibility for individual freedom with the caveat: My desire to be free should not trample upon your desire to be free.[1]...
Cosmic Order
Understanding reality in all its dimensions takes us closer to the Vedic conception of ṛta. The word ṛta may be roughly translated as the ‘cosmic order in the universe,’ ‘divine principles governing the world,’ ‘cosmic law behind existence.’ It refers to the dynamism inherent in the universe. Even in nature, dynamism means life and stasis means death—a man is deemed to be alive only if he is breathing, his heart is beating, and...
Fact and Value
To understand truth from a different perspective, let us take a look at Fact and Value. Seers of ancient India cherished the implications of facts and values, which are both outside the purview of blind faith. On the one hand, they did not completely exclude faith from philosophy and on the other, they did not attempt to explain everything within the narrow framework of faith. They were intelligent and mature to approach fact and...
Dharma
The world’s progress and sustenance depends on adherence to dharma. It is because of dharma that even a weak person can defeat a stronger person. In a world without rules, the stronger one always wins, irrespective of whether he is right. But in a world that is governed by principles, the winner is the one who adheres to the right precepts and not necessarily the one who is physically stronger.[1]
Dharma is broadly divided into two:...
Consciousness
There’s an old joke of a student in a philosophy class who asks his teacher, “Professor, how do I know that I exist?” Pat comes the response, “And who is asking the question?”
Every question that arises in our minds presumes the self-evident truth of our existence. From there, we proceed to perceive the world in our unique way. Needless to say, the process of understanding the world depends on our physical and mental faculties.
If...
Hinduism, the universal way of life, is practised by more than one billion people the world over. Adherents of the Hindu faith comprise a sixth of the global population. Available records tell us that it is the oldest religious order in the world, with an unbroken history of at least seven thousand years.[1] A person who follows Hinduism is called a ‘Hindu’ but we must remember that this term is more a geographical indicator than a religious one...