'Sanatan' Dharm: Afflicted with Exclusivity Syndrome

By Sumit Paul, New Age Islam 4 October 2023 Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Monday emphasised the significance of Sanatana Dharma, stating that it is the only religion and the rest of all are sects and methods of worship. Speaking at the 'Shrimad Bhagwat Katha Gyan Yagya' event, Yogi Adityanath said, "Sanatana Dharma is the only religion, the rest are all sects and methods of worship. Sanatan is the religion of humanity and if it's attacked, then there will be a crisis for humanity across the globe." Among a plethora of religions, cults and sects, it was pristine Hinduism which never claimed to be the only TRUE path. All other religions suffered from this obnoxious sense of religious superiority and considered themselves to be the best and others as false and adulterated. All three Abrahamic faiths still believe that each one is the ONLY true faith and others are interpolated. Now that affliction has crept into today's Hinduism which arrogantly calls itself Sanatan Dharm. Eastern consciousness was never pontificating. It was all-embracing and respectful to other religions. Even when Eastern or Oriental consciousness degenerated into an ism and became an organised faith, called Hinduism or Sanatan, it never professed to be the ONLY WAY. In fact, Bhamati school, named after Vachaspati Mishra's commentary on Adi Shankara's Brahma Sutra Bhashya, mildly criticises Krishna's exasperating megalomania of I'm the Way in Gita just the way Jesus claimed that He was the Only Way (Savior of mankind) in the Bible. "The Exclusivity Syndrome is a bane of a religion," opined Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan in his brilliant book, "The Hindu View of Life." What an irony! What the greatest modern exponent of Hindu way of life observed and cautioned in his book, spiralled down to the same religious megalomania in today's horrific Sanatan Dharm and its hardcore exponents like Yogi and his ilk. Though I've been explaining this recent religio-political construct Sanatan in different publications, I feel that I should explain it again for the esteemed readers. Those who've read Dr Radhakrishnan's book 'The Hindu View of Life,' may recall that Radhakrishnan stated in his book that for want of a better name or term, he was constrained to use Hinduism which was not exactly a doctrine or a fixed system of beliefs. He used the word Sanatan very few times and that too, not for Hinduism but for the continuation and evolution of Hindu view and way of life. In the past, Sanatan was never used or employed as a synonym of Hinduism. It was used with a view to underlining the ever-evolving nature of the Eastern consciousness or thought process. Sanatan doesn't mean right from the beginning. It means qualitative development, improvement and betterment in an existing or a given scenario. Sanatan is 'Nitya Pratibhasit' (evolving and manifesting constantly). It has nothing to do with any esoteric value system or religious mumbo-jumbo. It means ethical and spiritual evolution (Naitik-Adhyatmik Samunnati). But today's uneducated or at the most, semi-educated neo-Hindus and their political masters are hell-bent upon proving that Sanatan is Hinduism. Sanatan is an attribute of Hindu/Oriental/ Eastern way of life. Alas, who'll teach this simple and straight concept to these brainless wonders who're forever at loggerheads with reason, sense and sensibility? ------ A regular columnist for New Age Islam, Sumit Paul is a researcher in comparative religions, with special reference to Islam. He has contributed articles to the world's premier publications in several languages including Persian. URL: https://newageislam.com/spiritual-meditations/sanatan-dharm-exclusivity-syndrome/d/130816 New Age Islam, Islam Online, Islamic Website, African Muslim News, Arab World News, South Asia News, Indian Muslim News, World Muslim News, Women in Islam, Islamic Feminism, Arab Women, Women In Arab, Islamophobia in America, Muslim Women in West, Islam Women and Feminism