Q: Why is it that today, people misunderstand Sanatana Dharma or mix it with a political agenda? When it has been completely open and universal.
Mohanji: Sanatana Dharma is unignorable. What is Sanatana Dharma? It’s the basic ground rules of creation. It’s basic ground rules of existence. Just like the sun has to rise – it nourishes the Earth, and it also sets at some point in time. That neutral expression of kindness and compassion, the sun, is the prime example.
Imagine the sun always at noon state on Earth. Earth would be burnt to ashes because we cannot tolerate that. Because there is a sunrise and a sunset and equal distribution of energy on Earth. The plants are flourishing; birds, animals and human beings are living here. If the temperature rises or reduces beyond a certain limit, we are all finished.
Sanatana Dharma is like that. The equanimity, the quality, or the balance of existence is Sanatana Dharma. That has numerous dimensions for sure. For example, if you leave nature alone, nature takes care of itself. When human beings withdrew into their own abodes (because of the COVID situation), nature came back to its original state, to some extent.
Sanatana Dharma is not religion
Who is disturbing nature? Human beings. Sanatana Dharma has nothing to do with religion. It’s not religion. This is something that you cannot ignore; this is your life. Sanatana Dharma is the way our body is synchronised. Each organ is assisting one another, uniting, connecting to the other. The brain also functions, and all of these organs work in harmony and synchronicity.
This is Sanatana Dharma, the basis of creation, and how life on Earth works.
Sanatana Dharma is also how the universe maintains itself. Sanatana Dharma means the connection between all of the planets and the satellites. Imagine the moon is not put in that particular orbit, and it decides to move, up and down, if the moon collides with Earth, what happens? Moon is set there and is moving in its orbit. Earth is moving in a particular orbit; it’s disciplined.
This is Sanatana Dharma, a ground rule conducive to life not only on Earth, but everywhere.
There are numerous lokas (worlds), lokas that we can see and lokas that we cannot see. Some of the planets we can see – but there are so many other things, other lokas/worlds, that we cannot see – human eyes have limitations. All of this put together comes under the jurisdiction of Sanatana Dharma. So, it’s not a religion on Earth. Sanatana Dharma cannot be ignored. It’s unignorable.
The Hindu way of existence is in tune with Sanatana Dharma. That is why “Survee Bhavantu Sukhinaaha” – “Let all the beings be happy, let all beings have harmony, perfection and happiness.” This kind of correlated existence where we don’t disturb anybody. We save ourselves from disturbance as well – for self-protection – but we do not attack or kill anybody. That’s why Bharat never invaded any country. Bharat has never attacked or invaded any country. It has never gone and looted others’ wealth because we didn’t need that.
What is the real truth that you will ever find?
Yourself! What is inside you? Who is the real tenant inside this body? That’s the real truth. We understand we are not the projected personality, we have somebody who’s projecting this personality, and that’s the real truth. Once we find that, we are self-realised.
We are self-sufficient. We are happy with what we have.
It doesn’t mean complacency. It’s not complacency; it’s the awareness that whatever you’re supposed to have, whatever you deserve, will fall in your lap; it will come to you. It will reach you. It has to reach you. This awareness is already there, and that makes a person settle.
A Hindu is somebody who’s balanced. You don’t have to chase anything. You don’t have to conquer anything. You don’t have to change into anything. You are fine. Let everybody be happy. Let all people be happy in their own lifestyle or their own ways. That is our culture, our philosophy. This is Sanatana Dharma. This cannot be ignored. I believe that this should happen everywhere. Let all people be happy now, whatever religion.
Religion is usually formed out of a philosophy created by a teacher who understood the truth. Such people have found methods to reach that understanding, to reach that point. They have found methods, and that created a cult. It’s not a cult, actually; it’s a following. Cult is usually a negative word because it uses fear to control. A true path does not need any fear. There’s no need to control anybody, anything. True masters never control people, and never use fear to control. So, that’s the true path. A cult usually uses fear to control because there’s insecurity connected to that. We don’t have insecurity; we will never have insecurity. We are confident in the path, we know where we are going, we know the destination, we have found the destination. So, this is good.
Religions are usually concepts or philosophies, created by somebody who had found himself – ‘apparently’ found himself or, thought, he’d found himself – a written philosophy based on his teachings and about certain methods, certain paths. I will never say “this is wrong, this is right” because this is good for somebody – Let it be. Sanatana Dharma is a way of life; it is eternal.
But the problem is, when do you experience religion? Only when you are awake. What happens when you’re sleeping? You go back to Sanatana Dharma – the ground rules of existence. Sanatana Dharma is not a religion; it’s your way of life. It’s you. It’s how you are. Sanatana Dharma is eternal, and it will remain eternal, whether we like it or not.
A Pattern of Life with Oaths and Vows
The whole universe is built with certain principles, and Sanatana Dharma simply means those principles in action.
Human beings have refined intellect and can create something from nothing – we have that capacity. That also comes with responsibility. When you have a higher capacity, that also means higher responsibility.
And understanding how the world and the universe function and being in tune with that law is following Sanatana Dharma. These are the basic principles of creation and existence.
When somebody decides to follow the Sanatana Dharmic principles, we would like to officiate them; not many organizations can do that. It’s like an induction into a pattern of life with certain oaths and vows, such as non-violence.
We do not entertain violence in thoughts, words or expressions and actions.
Another thing is the ability to share what you have – being selfless.
Like that, the principles of the highest order or the highest possibility for a human being. These are the principles, and then such things are taught to them.
This is not forced – no compulsion, but the facility is provided.
This year onwards, because we have centres coming up, we will have places happening, our own locations happening. People can come, people can stay, and practise. That’s why we wanted to define the system in such a way that people can merge with the system.
And the whole idea is simple: to create and maintain refined human beings in the world, which in turn helps the collective consciousness.
Many people believe that spirituality is activity, meaning you learn certain techniques, you follow certain techniques and that they’re fine – but evolution or experience is discarded.
Here our focus is on experience, such as human life defined well through scriptures, practices, orientation, and lifestyle. These are the Sanatana Dharmic principles.
It is completely voluntary, and if somebody says, ‘okay, this is what I want to follow for the rest of my life,’ then we orient them and initiate them into this.
This is not just like a simple initiation of Kriya. This is more like a system initiation. You’ve got to practice it. You’ve got to formally practise it. It’s like an education system, fully systemized without any compulsion – nobody is asked to follow it.
Each person can assess their own growth by being fully human; that’s the idea.
Sanatana Dharma is Within You
Rituals are for yourself. Everything is for yourself. What is the purpose of all these activities is to connect yourself with yourself. All the deities, 330 million deities, are inside us; 330 million deities of the Sanatana Dharma tradition are dimensions which are possible of the Supreme Consciousness. They are all inside us. Because inside us, we have various frequencies, and which frequency is predominant in you – that is you. That is what people conceive or perceive as you. This is exactly how we work…
Indian Art Forms are Rooted in Sanatana Dharma
I love the Indian art forms and numerous varieties. Every state has its own. And they are all rooted in Sanatana Dharma, the perpetual ground rules of existence, means – how Nature is. We have picked them up from Nature and we have practised them over time.
Everything is harmonious. Something which creates harmony inside and outside. This is the beauty of most of our art forms. Our various deities and our various festivals all have this aspect, the harmony aspect.
Whether people know about it or not, over a period of time, everything changes. Evolution happens in everything. We may not know the real philosophy behind everything. For example, why we worship the basil plant – Tulsi, people may not know. Tulsi plant is one of the plants which has an aura eighteen times its size, which people have said. This is in the scriptures. That is why something which has a great aura is respected. A person who has a great aura is a saint. He is respected. Like that, the plant is respected because of the size of its aura.
Every philosophy has a deep root. There is a meaning and a method; there is a reason, proper reason. Everything is coming towards alignment, personal alignment, and harmony. All these festivals, all these art forms, everything is a spontaneous expression of personal harmony. That is why I love them.
They are not just something that will break up your emotions and just make you unconscious, or just make you follow something without knowing. Not that it takes you to a level of unconsciousness. Instead, it takes you to a level of full consciousness. That is liberating.
When something you can connect to, or something connects to you, it evokes in you a level of higher consciousness, and that is beautiful. That is why I love it. I think that there should be a lot more explanations and kind of details to be given to people so that they can start experiencing them.
Compiled by Biljana Vozarevic