Read More about their accomplishments from the Naperville Sun.

Congratulation Jaya and Medha.

To share the genesis of this madness, I recorded the view. Here is a 67 second snippet, as the train crossed the Aghanashini River and approached the Kumta Train station. I recorded this from the doorway with my flip video, amidst the rain and rumbling of the train. Enjoy and tell me what you think.

Music: Mere Desh Ka Salaam, Shobha Gurtu.

Note: Move your mouse out of the video frame, to lose the black border.

• Kumta: Jewel of the Konkan
• Kumta: Main Street
• Kumta: Field of Dreams
• Young Women Making Papads in Kumta
• Shanbhag School in Kumta
• Academic Update from the Shanbhag School – 2009

On the Konkan Railway

• Konkan Railway: Welcome Aboard
• Young Couple on the Konkan Railway

Based on a series of questions I ask him (on camera, in Konkani), he shows us a portion of the woven braid. All those buds will yield about 10 feet of braid and take him an hour to weave. Notice the thread, it is actually a fiber pulled from the bark of the banana tree and kept soaked in water. Very eco-friendly.

These braids will be sold in the marketplace (see Kumta marketplace) and usually end up in temples or family shrines. Women also use to decorate (and perfume) their hair. The market rate for these braids is about Rs50-Rs100/ft ($1-$2/ft), but can be significantly higher during the festival season. The beauty of the braids is in the buds; and once they bloom, the braids are considered done.

Here you see such Jaaii-kaLe braids offered to the Nag Devata at a small shrine in Kumta.

View Larger Map

The Taj Mahal, Agra

However, instead of enjoying our vacation, we were beset by many pitfalls which we hope you will avoid by learning from our experience. Travel companies like Orbitz and Orbit Elite give the impression of being professional by presenting printed itineraries in binders, but they hide their crooked operations under the veneer of glossy printouts with very poor services delivered underneath all their PR crap.

The first red flag occurred after we had booked and paid for our tickets ($1,500 per person).  A month before our departure date, we received an e-mail stating that our return date was changed from January 10 to February 6 (nearly a month later).  When we called to inquire about this date change, we were told that the dates were changed because of bad weather – bad weather which was forecast two months before the departure date? I’ve never heard of such advanced and accurate forecasts before! Which planet are these people living on to peddle this kind of nonsense?

After several phone calls to “supervisors,” we thought the situation was rectified. However, upon reaching our destination and calling the airline to confirm our return journey, we found, to our surprise, that one of the tickets was not confirmed for January 10. The airline told us that while a reservation had indeed been made, they did not receive a payment.  Orbitz had collected our money and not paid the actual airline to issue the return ticket. Once again, we were forced to call several more times. We were able to secure a return ticket for January 17 (one week later and we incurred additional expenses).

This was just the tip of the ordeal. Orbitz had booked us with United from Chicago to London Heathrow and connected us with Air India from London Heathrow to Mumbai. The connection time was one and a half hours. When the Chicago flight was delayed by an hour, we had to literally sprint through Heathrow, take a bus to another terminal, and go through security again without a boarding pass because United could not issue us Air India boarding passes in Chicago.  We just barely made the connection – we were the last ones to board the Air India connecting flight.  On the return flight, we were not successful and missed our connecting flight (transferring from Air India to United in Frankfurt). This is because Air India, whose name should be changed to Ground India and whose license to operate should be revoked, does not still know that it has always taken them more than 2 hours to board a plane for the last 20 years that I can remember – some corporate MBA with an ounce of commonsense should have realized by now that boarding should begin at least 2 hours prior to departure instead of one hour.

Lesson to be learned: Never change international carriers in Europe, unless you have ample time to make the connection. Do not be fooled into doing this by some travel company offering you a “cheap” deal – it is simply not worth the hassle.

Humayun's Tomb, Delhi

After reaching Mumbai, we embarked on our 6-day sight-seeing trip to Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur. The Orbit-Elite package promised us transportation, stay at luxury resorts, and tour guides. The cost was roughly $600 per person for 5 persons (local domestic airfare was extra and came to $100 per person). A car picked us up from the airport and the car and driver we got were the best parts of our 6-day vacation. Although we were promised tour guides, no one called us and told us when and where the guides would meet us. And all the tour guides were scripted to take us to shopping places where they would get commissions instead of places that were useful to us. It was a pathetic and appalling display of shamelessness by wasting our time on such shenanigans.

The misinformation about tour guides proved to be a systemic problem in Delhi, Agra, and Jaipur and all other places where we were told that guides would show up. In Agra, we were ready at 9 AM, but the guide showed up only at 10:15 AM. And whenever we called Orbit Elite to inquire about the guide, we were told that someone would call us back. NO ONE ever called us back from Orbit Elite – a cell phone call in India costs roughly 3 cents a minute and this level of cheapness on Orbit’s part is unfathomable – that when a customer calls in to ask about the services that have been paid for, there is no direct response made to the customer. And the hotels where we stayed (with bed bugs and all) were supposedly upscale luxury resorts, but when we inquired later about the prices of these so-called resort hotels, we were told that such breakdowns are not given to customers after their money has been collected and that “we just operate on package deals.” The resort hotels which were booked in the “package deal” turned out to be very ordinary with poor front-desk service and an indifferent attitude to simple customer requests.

Hawa Mahal, Jaipur (Palace of Winds)

A friendly tip to visit India:  If you do want to visit India from the U.S. and take a ten-day tour of Delhi-Agra-Jaipur, contact Say Travels (http://www.saytravel.com/ ) or Smartchoicetravel (http://www.smartchoicetravel.ca/) – their rates are very reasonable – $999 per person which includes air fare to and fro from New York, stay at luxury 5-star hotels, entrance fees at all sites covered, and a dedicated tour guide for sight-seeing.  Certainly beats our 6-day price of $700 per person from Mumbai, which did not include entrance fees to the sites (which are outrageously high for non-Indian citizens).

All I can say about the trip is that it left a very bad taste of India for my children who were looking forward to learn about their heritage, least expecting such pitfalls to be inflicted by Indians on persons of Indian origin. When we brought these issues up with Orbit Elite’s office in Mumbai, they just shrugged it off, treating it as a part of our “learning experience.”

Such fly-by-night travel and leisure companies are symptomatic of greedy, mismanaged, and unaccountable corporations that snare customers without giving them a detailed breakdown of the actual horror of their package deals. Their corporate culture promotes profit at any cost over customer satisfaction. In fact, they probably take great pride in customer dissatisfaction.

If you want to avoid being victimized, shanked, and tortured, I would strongly recommend against using Orbit Elite or Orbitz to plan your next vacation.

This article is Part II of my earlier post titled, Brief Introduction to Hinduism.

There are four intersecting areas that are present in all religions. They are: an Ultimate Reality which some call God or Truth or Enlightenment, the human condition, salvation, and the nature of evil. In all religions there is a sense of doing the right thing. People are instructed to do several things: Keep promises, don’t lie, don’t steal, help others, take care of yourself, don’t hurt people, attend a place of worship regularly, or worship regularly.

Confucianism
Rather than a religion, Confucius (6th century, BC) founded an ethical system in order to bring out good social relations in the Chinese state.   Although Confucius respected the religious traditions of his time, he gave them a mere ethical interpretation. The supreme principle in the universe according to him is the moral law – a universal principle, omnipresent, hidden, and eternal.   His main concern was social life and the principles that should govern it for the welfare of society, family, and personal life. Human perfection cannot be attained by religious rituals or meditations, but only by proper education and by respecting moral values. Therefore, religious traditions have value only as the means to moral living. The most important ethical principle emphasized by Confucius was reciprocity.  He stressed three basic principles of living:   “What you do not want others to do to you, don’t do to them; do good for the benefit of others; and love and respect your parents.”  Confucius was interested in solving human problems so that his main concern was not the worship of gods but guides for good behavior.

Buddhism
Buddha believed that gods exist, but that they are only temporary beings that attained heaven using the same virtues as any human  disciple.  Gods are not worshiped, do not represent morality, and happiness is not found in them. The Ultimate Reality is a transcendent truth which governs the universe and human life.  Life itself is suffering. There is no grace from a personal god. Karma passes from one life to another so that one is reborn without transferring to another body.  According to the Buddha, one can stop the suffering if four noble truths are accepted and lived:  (1) The nature of existence is suffering; (2) Suffering is caused by desire, or thirst (tanha) to experience existence; (3) The complete cessation of desire leads to the cessation of suffering; and (4) Follow the Noble Eightfold Path, consisting of the eight practices of self-training (Right View, Right Intention, Right Speech, Right Action, Right Livelihood, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration).  Buddha saw evil as ignorance which can only be overcome by karma and reincarnation.   Once man knows the true nature of things he can escape from ignorance and suffering.

Christianity

All Christians believe that Jesus Christ, a Jewish carpenter, who was both God and man, died in 33 A. D. and rose from the dead.  There are many different sects that believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God, the basic belief of Christians.  However, not all denominations believe the same things.  All Christians hold the Bible as a sacred book.   Catholics believe in praying to saints to intercede to God.  Jesus was a spiritual, but not a political leader, and today most dominantly Christian countries practice a separation of church and state.  According to Christianity, sin has thoroughly affected human nature, conferring a hereditary status. This is called “the sinful nature” or “original sin.”    According to Christianity, salvation is only through belief in Jesus Christ as Savior.

Judaism
Judaism, the earliest monotheistic religion, centers around the personal God who revealed himself through the story of the Jewish people. About 4,000 years ago, God gave Moses the Ten Commandments and the Torah.  The emphasis of this religion is on practice than beliefs.  We find it in the scriptures called the Torah by the Jews and the Old Testament by the Christians.  In the very beginning of the Old Testament, God is presented creating the universe out of nothing.

Islam
Islam was founded by the prophet Muhammad at the beginning of the sixth century AD. The god of Islam, Allah, is presented in the Quran as an eternal being, transcendent and almighty. The Quran presents the creation and fall in a way similar to the Judeo-Christian tradition. Humans and angels were created to worship Allah. However, there is a major difference from the Biblical account. Allah created Adam and commanded that he be worshiped by all angels. Satan (Iblis) opposed this command and only then was he banished from heaven.  However, in Islam there is no such thing as original sin. Although Adam and Eve sinned, they repented and were forgiven, so that their sin had no repercussions for the rest of the human race.  Muslims believe that God is only one person, and that the Trinity is the belief in three Gods.   Muhammad is the founder of Islam. He, like all other Muslim prophets is believed by Muslims to be infallible and sinless. He was not only a religious leader, but also a political leader, which explains the common practice of integrated church and state in many Muslim countries.

Similarities and Differences

In all religions except Confucianism, there is a singular being or many beings that are superior to mankind.  In the case of a religion having more than a dozen deities, there will be one that is dominant in some way, or there will be a hierarchy.  In the Eastern religions, superiority to the human race is represented as: The Truth, Enlightenment, Oneness, Ultimate Reality, The Universe, Completion, Absolution, or Perfection.    In the case of a god, this god is often merciful, forgiving, righteous, perfect, etc., but he, she, or they will damn you to burn in hell, die, suffer for all eternity, suffer temporarily, give  bad karma, or something similar. If you ask for forgiveness, or complete a purification ritual of some sort, you will be forgiven.

The concept of evil is present in all of the religions although they are manifested differently.  The Eastern religions consider evil as the effect of spiritual ignorance. The first noble truth proclaimed by the Buddha states that the only reality of human existence is the all-pervading reality of suffering. The only possibility of escaping suffering is to know the true nature of things and thus escape from the dominion of ignorance, karma, and reincarnation. In the dualistic religions, evil is co-eternal with good.  Matter and embodied existence are evil, and our ignorance keeps us from attaining perfection as angelic beings. According to Christianity, evil is neither created nor a natural element. It is a state that perpetuates itself when individuals sin and inexperience an absence of God.

Judaism, Christianity and Islam do not regard salvation as an impersonal merging with the Absolute or God, but as liberation from the bondage of sin and re-establishing a personal communion with the creator. In Hinduism and Buddhism hell is analogous to the Catholic concept of Purgatory. It is not an eternal damnation, but only a place to expiate bad karma in order that the purified soul can continue its advance toward liberation.  The Western religions do not believe in reincarnation.

Paden in his book entitled, Religious Worlds: The Comparative Study of Religion mentions that there is a second dimension in studying the structures of religion.  Each religion is similar because they have events of human activity that have typical expressive forms such as initiation rites, passage rites, and marriage rites. All religions have stories that are myths or legends that describe gods, rituals, and sacrifices made by humans.   For instance, the Quran is a book of mostly sayings and injunctions.  The Hindu Vedas are a collection of hymns, chants, rituals, and teaching dialogue.  Confucius’ writings are quoted at every opportunity and discussion on the discourses of life.  The Holy Bible tells stories, but also lists laws, proverbs, psalms, genealogies, and prophecies.  The Jewish Torah surrounds every syllable with commentary and interpretation. The holiness of all these words are memorized, traditional education is based on them and every major event includes mention of them.  Christians say “Our Father,” Buddhists say nembutsu, and Hindus say Om (pronounced A-U-M).

Many writers have described Om as the real name of the Almighty. This word does not belong to any particular religion or language. It is nature’s word, nature’s mantra. Om occupies a very prominent place in all languages of the world. Omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent are the highest names for god. Hindu prayers usually end with Om, English prayers with Amen, and Arabic, Persian and Hindustani prayers with Amin.

References

1. I Bloom, J Martin, & W Proudfoot (Eds), Religious Diversity and Human Rights, Columbia University Press, New York, 1996.
2. John Bowker (Ed), Cambridge Illustrated History of Religions, Cambridge University Press, 2002.
3. William Paden, Religious Worlds:  The Comparative Study of Religion, Beacon, 1994.
4. Subhash Kak, The Wishing Tree: Presence and Promise of India, iUniverse, 2008.

Every day should be Mothers’ Day and Fathers’ Day. This Mothers’ Day (May 11), I started to pen some thoughts regarding my parents (Dr. Vasant R. and Mrs. Uma Koppikar), but life intruded and I did not complete my piece to honor them. One awful summer in 1978, we were devastated by my father’s fatal heart attack on July 2. Within a couple of months (Sept. 3) my mother lost her brave fight against leukemia. Doubly mourning, numb with shock, we could barely function. All 5 sisters (I am the second) consoled each other, drew strength from our spouses, and managed to live through bereavement. Sadly, the third of the daughters, Padmini Rao, succumbed to multiple myeloma in Sept. 2006. This article is dedicated to her memory, with thanks to her husband, B. Udayanand Rao for being such a dedicated care-giver.

In the preface to “Manache Shloka” (24 Feb. 2000), His Holiness Sadyojat Shankarashram Swamiji writes “Our Parama Guru, Swami Anandashram used to speak of three Shankars in our community. They were Justice K. Shankarnarayan Rao, HSR (H Shankar Rau) and A.V. Shankar Rao.” I am proud to call the first-named Shankar my maternal grandfather. He bequeathed to us a precious legacy of caring and sharing which we hope to pass on to future generations. My parents were karma-yogis and are my role models. They touched many lives and helped make this world a better place. Even after 30 years, people remember my parents and speak respectfully of them. They express gratitude for their kindnesses: e.g., being surrogate parents to homesick young brides, assisting families over rough patches, lending a helping hand in financial crises, and simply being there when needed. All this was done quietly, unobtrusively, and with no strings attached. We grew up surrounded by warmth and affection, compassion for the less fortunate, and kindness and consideration for all. Our household was the opposite of the “himTee” (miserly, penny-pinching) reputation attached to Koppikars.  Indeed my parents were generous almost to a fault. Hardly a day went by when they were no guests. Doors were open and no alms-seekers were turned away. Midway between Mumbai/Pune and southern destinations such as Shirali, Mangalore, Bangalore, travelers would halt in Belgaum and were treated as part of the family. If there were people travelling with no stops, my mother brought tiffin carriers full of home-made food to them. Rather than purchasing a railway platform ticket each time, she would buy a season pass for convenience. On the off chance that someone may come in on a late bus etc., extra food was put aside. She followed the tradition of her parents’ home (nicknamed “Liberty Hall”) where many young men from smaller places lived to complete their education, and generosity was the byword. My paternal grandparents also created a haven. A well-known ophthalmic surgeon, Dr. Ramdas Koppikar was also a reputed dentist, and patented and manufactured affordable medicines.

My parents’ house was “KuLaar” (Parents’ place) for everybody, regardless of gender or age. Entire families would come over if one person had eye surgery. My father was the official opthalmologist to our revered Swamijis. Rich and poor alike were treated with equal care. Patients with modest incomes sometimes voluntarily paid in kind. He was one of the few to treat inmates of the missionary leper colony. He set up one of the first eye banks in that part of the world and participated in the Lions Club, cooperating in vaccination drives, fundraisers, eyeglasses for the needy, etc. Even after death he kept on giving the gift of sight via organ donation. His corneas have been successfully implanted in 2 individuals.

My mother was his partner in all ways, from helping him at his clinic to working side-by-side for deserving causes. She taught Hindi to poor children, found homes for neglected kids, helped unwed mothers, and volunteered for the Red Cross. Many a bride was given a mangal-sutra and a sari for her wedding if the parents could not afford these marriage must-haves. It was a warm and jolly household, filled with laughter, brimming with art projects in various stages of completion, observation of festivals, etc. Along with good food and fragrant filter coffee, classical music and dancing, books in various languages, Winsor and Newton paints, easels, beads, embroidery hoops and colorful yarns were part and parcel of our lives. Encouraging our hobbies, tolerant and non-judgmental, forgiving our childish transgressions, my mother let each of us pursue our interests in our own fashion with no pressures. She was ahead of her time and was a true feminist. The best advice she gave us was that we should be self-sufficient, see the bright side of everything, that every individual has something they excel at and can share, and that we should walk in another’s shoes before criticizing.

We grew up believing that beauty is skin-deep and actions speak louder than words. “Handsome is as handsome does” is a motto we still strive to live by. Though he brought us up with firm discipline, my father advised us not to take ourselves too seriously and find humor in everyday situations. “Even if everyone around you is goofing off, do your work diligently and do the right thing. Remember good actions as well as bad ones have consequences, so behave accordingly.” We got an education for life, one which no school or university can ever offer. They taught us by example as well as precept. I can never forget how, even during her terminal illness, my mother treated the visiting Ranisahebs of Kurundwad and Sawantwadi with the same courtesy as the humble “bhaajiwalis” (vegetable sellers) whose produce she bought. Nor can I forget how, on the heels of my marriage expenses, my father emptied out his savings account so I could join my husband in the U.S. after the rupee was devalued and my own tiny savings as a college lecturer got swallowed up. These were lessons in grace under fire.

My father was born in Karwar. Educated in Karwar, Dharwar, Mumbai and London, he got married to K[undapur] Uma Rao. After a distinguished career in the Indian Army Medical Corps, he worked for the government touring seven districts with a mobile unit. He settled down in Belgaum and made a name for himself in his profession as well as social work. Born in Shimoga, brought up in Bangalore, my mother married at the tender age of 14. She was yanked away from her loving home and parents (K. Shakarrnarayan and Mrs. K. Shyambhavi Rao). The sheltered teenage bride had to cope with the vagaries of being an Army wife. Together my parents accomplished the tough job of bringing up 5 daughters, educating them, finding husbands for each and marrying them off. My father used to joke that they only got the “Pancha kanya” portion of the traditional marriage blessing and ignored the “Ashta-putra” part! (After a Hindu wedding, the priest blesses the newlyweds and prays that they will have healthy kids: 8 sons and 5 daughters and have a happy married life) Though they had no sons, they gained 5 great sons-in-law. Today, scattered over 3 continents, they have 9 accomplished grandchildren and 6 great-grandchildren.

My second son (Dr. Samir Bangalore) met and married a brilliant corporate lawyer, Sheila, granddaughter of my father’s friend and fellow ophthalmic surgeon, Dr. (M.) Ramanath Bhandari. Among all the eligible matches, he chose this gem of a young woman to join our family. What an amazing coincidence!

I thank God for this and all His Blessings. If we can pass on even a minuscule portion of the values they brought us up with, we will truly honor the memory of my parents. May their souls rest in peace!

On Saturday, Oct 17, 2009, 5:00- 9:30 om
at the Unted Methodist Church, 87 Church St, Wilmington, MA 01887

Includes Bhajans, Pooja, and Entertainment Program, followed by Pot-luck Dinner.
5:00 pm Snacks and Socializing
6:00 – 6:30 pm Bhajan and Arati
6:30 – 7:30 pm Cultural/Talent Show
7:30 – 8:00 pm Admission [Shreya Pai and Mithali Shenoy]
8:00 – 9:30 pm Dinner & Dessert

RSVP by October 10th, 2009.
Contact Sabita Pai [Sabita_pai At yahoo]

A Day-long Celebration of KAOCA’s 25 years of thriving existence
Program Includes
Konkani Entertainment – Music, Dance, Skits, Plays
And of course Konkani Food -
Lunch, Tannik, Banquet Dinner and Dance Included

All North American Konkanis Invited !!

Saturday, October 24, 2009
10:00 am to 11:00 pm
Campbell Heritage Theater, Campbell (Bay Area), CA

Limited seats (100 tickets) available for Konkanis outside Bay Area
Non-member Ticket Price $75.00 each, on First-Come-First-Served Basis

Please make payment by October 1:
Muralidhar Kamath: mkamath98 AT yahoo)

Payments thru PayPal: www.kaoca.org/2009/page816.html
www.kaoca.org for details

See an earlier post for a brief background on Ganapati.

During aarti on the last (5th) day.

Read more; additional Ganapati pics!

This article was written with the purpose of educating my children on the essence of Hinduism and how it compares with other religions. My forthcoming article will contain a brief comparison of other religions.

Religion has been a part of every society since the beginning of humans. Oral traditions passed on the beliefs and practices of societies that did not have a writing system to record the history of religion. In these early societies, religion played a controlling part in the lives of people, much as some religions do today.

According to Stephen Oppenheimer of Oxford, the journey of humankind started with its roots in Ethiopia over 160,000 years ago (see www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey). It took a considerable amount of time for the human mind to evolve and introduce the concept of religion as it is known today. By most scholarly estimates this may have occurred between 5,000 and 7,000 years ago.

So, how did humankind survive as a society for such a long period of time? It is believed that society could not have survived without Dharma which is ingrained in every living being. Dharma can be defined as “our right to live a truthful and just life,” which implies that we are at liberty to live our lives without encroaching upon the rights of other individuals. This right of Dharma gives freedom to every individual human being to live an independent life. Dharma provides a rational approach to distinguish right from wrong and good from evil. In this philosophy, duties and responsibilities are emphasized more than rights and privileges.

Sanatana Dharma
Even before the advent of organized religion and Gods like Krishna, Moses, or Jesus, and even before the human mind could even comprehend and articulate the concept of religion, Dharma is what helped humanity survive. The root of Dharma is Sanatana Dharma which has existed since time immemorial.

Sanatana denotes that which always is, that which has neither beginning nor end, that which is eternal in its very essence. Dharma is designed to communicate the view that there is an underlying structure of natural law that is inherent in the very intrinsic constitution of Being itself – an essential nature.

Sanatana Dharma comprises spiritual laws which govern human existence. Sanatana Dharma is to human life what natural laws are to physical phenomena. Just as gravitation existed before it was discovered, the spiritual laws of life existed before they were discovered by the ancient sages. Sanatana Dharma declares that something cannot come out of nothing, and therefore, the universe itself is the manifestation of the Divine being.

The universe comes forth from the Divine and therefore all things and beings are sacred and must be treated so in human thought and action. The Divine sleeps in minerals, awakens in plants, walks in animals, and thinks in humans.

Sanatana Dharma recognizes that the Ultimate Reality, which is the ground of infinite potentiality and actualization, cannot be limited by any name or concept. The potential for human wholeness (or in other frames of reference, enlightenment, salvation, liberation, transformation, blessedness, nirvana, moksha) is present in every human being. No race or religion is superior and no color or creed is inferior. All humans are spiritually united like the drops of water in an ocean.

Hinduism
Hinduism appears a strange amalgam of classical literature with gods and goddesses, rituals and festivals, ceremonies and celebrations. The Hindus themselves are confused and confounded by this mixture. Hinduism is not a polytheistic religion. The different forms of worship, the number of superstitions and misleading spiritual practices have all contributed to the wrong impression that the Hindus are polytheistic. The different gods and goddesses of the Hindu pantheon are mere representatives of the powers and functions of the one Supreme God in the manifested world.

The terms Hindu and Hinduism were created by Persian invaders, sometimes using them as derogatory terms, to refer to the culture of the people on the other side of the Sindhu River. The original term describing the religion of these people predates these terms by thousands of years and is called Sanatana Dharma. The modern religions of Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism, all emerged out of Sanatana Dharma.

Sanatana Dharma has existed since time immemorial and therefore Hinduism is not a religion about preaching, but when defined as Sanatana Dharma Hinduism has existed for the existence of life itself. Society has survived because of the ingrained Dharma in every living being and even before the word Hindu was coined by Persians.

Sanatana Dharma teaches that all forms of life are different manifestations of Brahman (the Ultimate Reality or the Ultimate Self, and not to be confused with Brahmin which is a caste). The individual Self is called Atman, and it is identical with Brahman in the sense that our real Self is not different from the ultimate Reality called God (or Brahman). This realization is described in the Hindu Upanishads by the phrase “Tat tvam asi” meaning “Thou art That.”

Sanatana Dharma looks upon a person as a part and parcel of the mighty Whole, but never regards a person as “the Measure of all things.” In the West, “person” is a supreme and final value, while Sanatana Dharma regards person as a part of the Whole, having the same vital essence as all other human and sub-human creatures of the universe. This cosmic view of Hinduism transcends the sectarian or group dogmas and paves a way for the coexistence of all creatures under the Vedic principle of “The Universe is One Family” (Vasudev Kutumbhkam). This principle guides humankind towards universal harmony through acceptance and tolerance.

The three main Hindu Gods who are worshipped, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva (Shiva), represent the three fundamental powers of nature which are manifested in the universe, namely, creation, maintenance, and destruction, respectively. The word karma literally means “deed or action” but implies the entire cycle of cause and its effects. According to the Law of Karma, every human action—in thought, word, or deed—inevitably leads to results, good or bad, depending upon the moral quality of the action. It adjusts wisely, intelligently and equitably each effect to its cause. But it is also the law of opportunity, which allows an individual to change his past for a better future. If we understand karma as the law of order and opportunity, we will become self-reliant and understand that we cannot and should not escape responsibility. In this sense the law of karma is a law of harmony and equilibrium and not a doctrine that punishes the wicked and rewards the virtuous.

The goal of a Hindu is to realize that God has become this universe and everything in it. Till this goal is realized, an individual goes through a cycle of births and deaths until he achieves the state of moksha, or freedom from limitations where there is no more need for birth or death. And when one prays to God, it should not be, as many do, for personal gain or wealth, but for help in enlightening one’s understanding of the mystery of creation. The traditional Hindu prayer, the Gayatri mantra can be translated as: “O Lord, You are the Light of the World. Please enlighten my understanding. Let me see everything in the right light.” The attitude when praying should be one of thankfulness for what you have, and of seeking guidance to put you on the right path towards your goal in life.

Practical Spirituality
There are many so-called Hindu “worshippers” who give donations to temples and go temple-hopping (like bar-hopping) to curry personal favors from God for their continued professional success and wealth accumulation. These very same worshippers, however, engage in selfish actions and activities based on a question of greed, namely, “What’s in it for me?” This question, though, is not the right one to ask and answer. A fundamental question one must answer is: Are we essentially human with occasional spiritual experiences, or essentially spiritual beings with occasional human experiences? Spiritual seekers of Vedic Dharma believe in the second part of the question.

For a spiritual seeker, there are two practical approaches to life, regardless of which religion he or she follows. The first is to choose actions that bring happiness and success to oneself and to others. By so doing, the fruits of your own karma will be happiness and success. The second is to acknowledge that every human being, including you, has unique talents. You should discover and develop your unique talents and list all the things that you love to do when expressing your unique talents. When you use these unique talents in the service of humanity you create abundance both in your life as well as in the lives of others. Only by being true to your own Self will you be able to open the door to the Divine Self within you (being true to your own Self is how Lord Krishna summarizes the concept of Dharma to Arjuna in the Bhagavad Gita).

1. Kim Knott, Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction, Oxford University Press, 1998.
2. Stephen Knapp, The Power of the Dharma: An Introduction to Hinduism and Vedic Culture, iUniverse, 2006.
3. Arun Shanbhag, Prarthana: A Book of Hindu Psalms, 2007, www.ArunsPrarthana.com
4. Stephen Oppenheimer, The Real Eve: Modern Man’s Journey Out of Africa, Basic Books, 2004.