Re: difference b/w hinduism and sanatan dharma
Namaste Prateek,
1. Hinduism
"Hindu" comes from Sanskrit "Indu", and means "Indian".
So, Hinduism means: "Indianness".
Therefore, Hinduism includes not only the religious practises of Indians but also their culture (food, dress, art, etc), social issues and politics as well.
Hindutva is defined to be same as Indian-nationalism (many of its proponents were/ are atheists, as a matter of fact).
The word "Hindu" is, not surprisingly, getting merged (rather, vanishing) into "India" already. We have, for example in recent times, a trendy slogan "India First" given by the Hindutvavādins.
2. Sanātana Dharma
It is a trendy word put in practice mainly by market oriented gurus who went to the West and wanted to universality and therefore "eternal-ness" of their product. Basically, as an address of someone or something, it is a non-word. Somewhat more hilarious is, "Sanatana Dharmi".
Dharmi? Really?
3. Ārya and Bhārata
Ārya and Bhārata are words used as the addresses of people who discovered the Vedic Way. For example, Bhārata were the people under whose tutelage Veda-s were composed. These two words can be used interchangeably, and both are an address of an Āstika, i.e. a bhakta of a Vedic/Purānic Devatā.
Ārya and Bhārata are spiritual types leading material and mental progresses of mankind, respectively. So there is subtle difference between the meaning of the two. Overall, both address the Āstika in general.
Similarly, Dharma (literally, "holding-on-to") can be more specifically, ĀryaDharma (Ārya Way) or BhārataDharma (Bhārata Way), depending on the context. Overall, it is, just, Dharma.
I do not, infact, hope that I made myself clear. Anyway
Things to remember:
1. Life = yajña
2. Depth of Āstika knowledge is directly proportional
to the richness of Sanskrit it is written in
3. Āstika = Bhārata ("east") / Ārya ("west")
4. Varṇa = tripartite division of Vedic polity
5. r = c. x²
where,
r = realisation
constant c = intelligence
variable x = bhakti
Bookmarks