THE CORRECT NAME FOR HINDUISM IS SANATANA-DHARMA

By Stephen Knapp

It is generally accepted that it was the Persians who invaded India during the 6th century B.C. who gave the name “Hindu” for a society of people who lived in a certain region of India near the Sindhu river, later known as the Indus river. In Persian, the letter H and S are pronounced almost the same so they mistook the S in the word Sindhu as H and then started calling the people Hindus and their religion as Hinduism. Thus, the name is actually a misnomer since there are many schools of thought and views of God within the umbrella term of Hinduism, each with its own specific name.

Dr. Radhakrishnan has also observed about the name Hindu: “The Hindu civilization is so called since its original founders or earliest followers occupied the territory drained by the Sindhu (the Indus) river system corresponding to the North West Frontier Province and the Punjab. This is recorded in the Rig Veda, the oldest of the Vedas, the Hindu scripture which gives their name to this period of Indian history. The people on the Indian side of the Sindhu were called Hindu by the Persian and the later western invaders.” This indicates that the name is not based on religion or theocracy, but is merely a name based on the particular locality of a people. This could also mean that numerous people, even tribals of India, Dravidians, or even the Vedic Aryans are all Hindus. Again, in this way, Hinduism can accommodate different communities, rites, various gods and practices.

Other originations of the word Hindu may be given, but they all essentially show that it was a name indicating a locality of a society, and it had nothing to do with the religion, philosophy, or way of life of the people. This is why some followers of Sanatana-dharma or Vedic culture do not care to use the name Hindu, including gurus, to describe their spiritual path, even though it is based on the Vedic system.

The more correct term for the Vedic process is the Sanskrit word Sanatana-dharma. This is a path and a realization. Sanatana-dharma means the eternal nature of the living being. Just as the dharma of sugar is sweetness, and the dharma of fire is to burn and give warmth, the spiritual being also has a dharma. That dharma is to serve and love, and that love ultimately is meant to be the relationship between the living being and God and all other living entities. When that love and spiritual realization is attained, then the living being regains his natural Divinity. To attain this stage, one can follow the path of dharma. Thus, dharma is also a code of conduct. This, however, is not a dogma or forced standard, but it is a natural training that brings people to a higher level of consideration and consciousness. Thus, the whole of society can develop in this refined manner to a higher level of awareness and understanding of our connection with each other, with nature, and with God.

The Manu-samhita recommends the following characteristics to be developed. These include fortitude, forgiveness, self control, non-envy, purity, sense control, the ability to discriminate between good and evil, learning, truthfulness, and absence of anger. So we can imagine how much nicer the world could be if everyone developed these qualities. So Sanatana-dharma is also the path to attain our natural spiritual qualities.

Dharma also means the natural laws that sustain and hold together the whole universe. So dharma is also that which brings harmony and unity, because that is how the universe, along with society in general, is maintained and preserved. In this way, Sanatana-dharma is also the path that allows the individual to realize his or her spiritual position and true identity, and also brings the ultimate stage of harmony and balance to each person, to society, and to the whole planet. This is the Vedic process. It is thus a Universal Truth in that it can be applied anywhere in the universe and at any time in history, to any people or culture, and it will produce the same results for all. This brings us to our next point.