Dear Sir! Despite Sanatan Dharma being so clear to understand, why the religions like Hinduism, Islam and Christianity etc have more followers resulting in the present state of affairs?

ANSWER:  (Please also see the answer to question above) The question is not of Sanatan philosophy versus other philosophies. Although sanatan philosophy is more identified with the so-called Hinduism for obvious reasons, the core concept (its VivchAra) is to be found in all religions of substance. There is no quarrel there. A part of a muslim is also a hindu or a christian. A part of a christian is also a muslim or a buddhist. So also a part of hindu is also a muslim, a christian or a buddhist.

The sanatan philosophy recognizes that all faiths seek the same thing. All paths lead to same destination. Paths are many so that each man according to his nature may undertake the journey with his own ease and application. More the paths, more are the opportunities, more are the possibilities. Is not that desirable?

The sanatan philosophy strongly believes in oneness of spirit in its truest sense, as the humanity’s goal but accepts no limitations of paths or religious conducts leading to that goal.

Sri Aurobindo put it very well (in fact all great thinkers are one with this concept) when he talked about ‘Spiritual Oneness’. He said “A spiritual oneness not dependent upon any intellectual or outward uniformity ……but ready always to enrich its secure unity by a free inner variation and freely varied outer self expression”.

The ‘present state of affairs’ is the result of man’s foolishness in not recognizing and respecting the commonality but harping upon the dissimilarities and misplaced individualities.

No matter which dharma has more followers, the need is to understand the very purpose of our existence, understand God and understand the usefulness of dharma.

QUESTION 3 FROM Ms DOROTHY CHABLIS 

 If  Brahman is everything, then the evils of the world around us must also be Brahman’s doing. Is that the character of Brahman?

ANSWER: Such questions come to mind when not only the true character of Brahman, but also the divine principles of the creation is not fully understood. (This also we have discussed in AHWAN on many occasions. If you have interest, the old articles in AHWAN are suggested for reading).

Even if Brahman is the prime source of everything, He remains unaffected by the effects of His own creation. That is because He has the knowledge – being the creator Himself- of the intrinsic meaning and purpose or tattva, behind all things. Where as our understanding, is governed by our own ignorance and limited knowledge. We can not fathom the true meaning behind all happenings until we also become aware of the total information. This is the character of ‘ignorance’ until ‘knowledge’ changes it.  Darkness is darkness till the lamp is lit. When light dawns, the darkness has no place to hide and does not frighten any more.

God’s relationship with both good and bad is characterized by an intelligent detachment, unaffected by either.

Our scriptures give a good simile to explain this. If you examine any beautiful gold ornament carefully, you will be struck by its beauty of craftsmanship. You will also, if you see minutely, discover little cracks and defects here and there. Analysis will also reveal that the gold is not pure but has added dross to mold it into an ornament.

When the gold is melted to return to its pure form again, neither the beauty nor the defects remain to characterize and undermine the purity of gold. Gold remains unaffected by either. So is the Brahman in the midst of his own ever-changing creation. The absolute is beyond the conditions.

But why are they there? One may well ask. The dross and the workmanship both have their purpose. The dross provides sustainability, craftsmanship the pleasure, even the defects lead to the quest for further excellence.

So is this creation. The good and the evil – when properly understood- both serve their purpose in shaping the evolutionary process. One raises our aspirations; another opens our eyes to what should be improved upon. Without this understanding we shall never realize our potential. By the help from God we receive the knowledge and the enlightenment follows.  

 QUESTION 4 FROM Ms UMA GOVIL 

Sir, Pranam. For last four years I am going through lot of difficulties. Constant prayers and pujas, havens etc to end my problems do not seem to be working. I can take no more the cruelties of my fate.

ANSWER: We have addressed similar questions many times in the past. I hope you find time to go through systematically the old issues of AHWAN. It will help.

Coming to your problems, please be rational. It is not that by prayers and pujas one’s difficulties will simply vanish away. ( Some self styled Gurus or Sadhus often ofcourse promise this. But they only delude people’s minds more).

God does not give us difficulties and therefore it is not in the divine scheme of things, that, by prayers and ritualistic pujas etc the difficulties can simply be washed away. It behoves every intelligent being to understand the divine principle and work out his way through life intelligently. That indeed is the true spiritual approach to life.

The difficulties that we face in life are invariably the outcome of the jiva’s own acts of commissions and omissions born out of ignorance.  God created this world with every possible constituent and means that will assist us in our journey towards perfection and happiness. Positive things to reward us, and negative things to make us realize the value of better things. All are governed by the divine principle of cause and effect.

To understand this process, God also endowed us with Viveka or intelligence. When man fails to see the light, he blames God for assuming that darkness has been forced on him. The coward absolves himself from his own efforts.

Inspite of all this God’s grace never abandons man. God waits for the man to take his first step and he then rewards him in good measure. With the first sincere effort and consciousness of the Divine, miseries start changing to stepping stones for happiness.

Puja’s and rituals have effective meaning only for intelligent people. They create a psychological conditioning of mind to understand the truth behind everything and the Divine acts operating through them and assist man to act upon. Ignorants (mudhas) keep on lamenting. It is the jiva who brings misery upon himself and it is the jiva himself who works out his own deliverance. God’s helping hand never abandons him.

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