Sanatana Dharma - from Sanatana or eternal + dhr , to support, fasten, support; hence that which is eternal, perpetual, and upholds and supports. But upholds what? This total creation. Some call this eternal law. Some call it eternal duty, as dharma has been co-mingled with duty. Yet it is also considered 'religion' of the Bharat ( India) a.k.a. Hinduism. Yet this sanatana dharma is much more robust and is considered Arsa Dharma of the religion of the rishi's. Using the word religion here is in its truest sense,that is relig(āre) to tie, fasten or re- + ligāre to bind, tie. But to what? To sanatana , to the eternal , non changing fullness (bhuma) of Brahman.
Discussion
Note that at the root of understand this sanatana dharma is, dharma itself is key. There are various levels of this:
· Varna asrama dharma - ones specific dharm/duty for various stages of life, bramachara, householder, sanyas, etc.
· Sanatana dharma - the eternal dharm of upholding creation
· Apad dharma - dharm prescribed at time of adversity
· Yuga dharma - the dharm fundamental to the 4 yugas, ( sat, treta, dvapa, kali)
· Sadharana dharma - general obligations of the social individual to uphold within society
· There is also the notion of that dharma is a specific quality ( visesa-guna) that belongs to the SELF.
· Others on HDF also talked of dharma as the Dharma chakra pravartana of the wheel of law. Please see
http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=13Reference

In some cases the selection of action one considers is key - that is, to do what is pleasant vs. what is right. It is the authors' position of this post that this dharma all comes together as satyam-ritam-bharat or the Truth the Right and the Vast.

References Used:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanatana_Dharmahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanatana_Dharma http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanatana_Dharmahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanatana_Dharma
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma#Meanings_and_linguistic_origins_of_the_word_Dharmahttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dharma#Meanings_and_linguistic_origins_of_the_word_Dharma

HDF discussions on Dharma: http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=13http://www.hindudharmaforums.com/showthread.php?t=13
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