iuliana varodi p o e t r y p h o t o g r a p h y a r t p r o j e c t s
The book slips on the knees, the gaze wanders through the landscape, the voices around are fading away. The velocity of the car makes the viscosity of the forest play games with the imagery of the mind. A continuously changing scenario of leaves, branches, trees, brown, green, yellow and gray, a dazzling multitude of views and gradations. As mist envelopes the landscape with a liquidity in which forms and colours fade away, the horizon melts with the sky, as if everything got swallowed by the inside of a cloud. Like one of those late winter afternoons in the hills, when the land covered by snow and the cloudy sky form a continuous body that has no spots, no edges, no curves, no ends, no beginnings. As if life would be happening on the inner surface of the globe of earth and the whole sky had moved inside it, a round world of white silence and hidden tales. Closing the eyes suffices to be carried on this white track to somewhere, somewhen. Keeping the eyes closed is the trick that reveals the visited time and space to the mind, the trick that makes seeing possible.
Sanatana is a Sanskrit word which denotes that which does not cease to be, that which is eternal, perpetual, permanent, everlasting, primeval. It is a rich notion that manifests in different realms of Indian heritage.
sanatana mood - related notes
The monier monier-williams dictionary has:
Sanatana: mf. n. eternal, perpetual, permanent, everlasting, primeval, ancient; m. N. of Brahma L.; a guest of deceased ancestors, one who must always be fed whenever he attends iraddhas L.; N. of a U...i (in MBh. and later 'a mind-born son of Brahma') TS.; of a king Buddh.; (with << Barman >> and << gosvamin >>) of two authors Cat.; pl. N. of partic. worlds Hariv.; f. N. of Durga Cat. [1141,2]; of Lakshmi or Sarasvati L."
The Pali English dictionary has:
Sanantana: for sanatana, old: (cp paratana) lat: seneo, sennex, (senile), senatus. Primeval, of old, for ever, eternal.
And the Dhammapada of Narada tells us: "Nahi verena verani - sammanti dha kudakanam.
Averenacasammanti - esa dhammo sanantano". (Hatreds never ceases through hatreds in this world. Through love only they ceases. This is an eternal law.)
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perennial_Philosophy :
Perennial Philosophy is a term that is often used as a synonym for Sanatana Dharma (Sanskrit for "Eternal or Perennial Truth"). It was used by Leibniz to designate the common, eternal philosophy that underlies all religious movements, in particular the mystical streams within religions. The term was popularized by Aldous Huxley in his 1945 book The Perennial Philosophy (ISBN 006057058X) in his description of Vedanta.
The concept is the fundamental tenet of the Traditionalist School, formalized in the writings of 20th century metaphysicians Rene Guenon and Frithjof Schuon.
from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sanatana_Dharma:
"The Eternal Way" (in Sanskrit Sanatana Dharma), or the "Perennial Philosophy/Harmony/Faith", is the one name that has represented Hinduism for many thousands of years. According to Hindus, it speaks to the idea that certain spiritual principles hold eternally true, transcending man-made constructs, representing a pure science of consciousness. But this consciousness is not merely that of the body or mind and intellect, but of a supramental soul-state that exists within and beyond our existence, the unsullied Self of all. Religion to the Hindu is the native search for the divine within the Self, the search to find the One truth that in actuality never was lost. Truth sought with faith shall yield itself in blissful luminescence no matter the race or creed professed. Indeed, all existence, from vegetation and beasts to mankind, are subjects and objects of the eternal Dharma. This inherent faith, therefore, is also known as Arya/Noble Dharma, Veda/Knowledge Dharma, Yoga/Union Dharma, Hindu Dharma or, simply, the Dharma."
Through history, religious, ethnic and political groups, aiming to be convincing and appealing for their followers, included such notions in the name or description of their mission or dogma. It is interesting to see how this has influenced the meaning that is associated today - in religion, philosophy, politics, common language - with the Sanskrit word Sanatana, in comparison with the meaning that it has in the Vedic literature (what was that precisely??).
NB. Politics is not an area of direct interest for our research, since we are trying to get close to authentic knowledge rather than to manipulations seen over times in political arena.
"This perennial wisdom, the eternal religion behind all religions, this sanatana dharma, the timeless tradition, wisdom uncreate, the same now that it ever was, and the same to be forevermore", says S. Radhakrishnan, in 'The religion of the spirit and the world need, from Fragments of a Confession', quoted after P. A. Schilpp in 'The philosophy of Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan', p. 80.
"Whether the Supreme is regarded as undetermined or determined, this Siva should be known as eternal (sanatanah); undetermined He is, when viewed as different from the creation, and determined when he is everything" according to S. Radhakrishnan interpretation of 'The Bbhagavadgita', p24.
In an essay called "Who Invented Hinduism", David N Lorenzen refers to the the terms "Hindu" and "Hindu Dharma" as never admitted to the premodern Sanskrit lexicon. The roughly equivalent term 'sanatana-dharma' can, he writes, be traced back to the Bhagavadgita and the Puranas, but, as Wilhelm Halbfass and other scholars have argued, its precise meaning has always been ambiguous. He adds in a footnote: 'I suspect that the use of the term << eternal dharma >> may have been used in part to distinguish Brahmanical and Hindu religion from the more historical religions of Buddhism and Jainism, but Buddhist scholars have told me that Buddhism itself is sometimes called the << eternal dharma >> (see discussions and references in Halbfass 1988: 310-48). Pointing at a continuity that he sees from ancient texts such as teh Puranas, Lorenzo concludes: "This Hinduism wasn't invented by anyone, European or Indian. Like Topsy, it just grew".
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Sanatana in Bhagavaaat Gita - related verses
We had a look at the use of the word Sanatana in Bhagavaaat Gita, with the commentary of Adi Shankaracarya in a translation by Swami Gambhirananda:
1.40 From the ruin of the family are totally destroyed the traditional (sanatan) rites and duties of the family (when a head of a family is killed). When rites and vices are destroyed, vice overpowers the family also.
NB. this verse refers to ancient rites and duties as maintainers of the social order. The disappearing of these 'rites and duties' has corruption and ruining of the social structures as its consequences.
2.24 It (the Self) cannot be cut, It cannot be burned, cannot be moistened, and surely cannot be dried up. It is eternal (sanatana), omnipresent, stationary, unmoving and changeless.
NB. For the understanding of this verse, we must have a look at the preceding ones, that describe the same (self) as eternal, using other Sanskrit words than sanatana. For example:
2.20 Never is this One born and never does It die. Nor is it that having come to exists It will again cease to be. This One is birthless, eternal, undecaying, ancient. It is not killed when the body is killed.
4.31 Those who partake of the nectar left over after sacrifice, reach the eternal (sanatan) Brahman. This world ceases to exist for one who does not perform sacrifices.
NB. The sacrifices mentioned in the preceding verses are: having the food regulated, living in austerity, practicing yoga, acquiring knowledge and so on. At some point, knowledge itself is seen as a (greater) sacrifice that brings a higher understanding (we'll come back to this later).
7.10 O Partha, know me to be the eternal (sanatana) Seed of all beings. I am the intellect of the intelligent, I am the courage of the courageous.
NB. the word buddhi is used for 'intellect' in this verse, meaning the power of discrimination (of the mind).
8.20 But distinct form that Unmanifested is the other eternal (sanatana) unmanifest reality who does not get destroyed when all beings are destroyed.
NB. This needs some wise comments...
11.18 You (God) are the immutable, the supreme one to be known. You are the most perfect repository of this Universe. You are the Imperishable, the Protector of the ever existing religion. You are the eternal (sanatana) Person. This is my belief.
15.17 It is verily a part of Mine which, becoming the eternal (sanatana) individual soul in the region of living beings, draws (to itself) the organ that have the mind as their sixth and which abide in Nature.
NB. To be commented.
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Sanatana in the Vedas - related writings
In an article about Yajna and Dhamma, Ravi Ravindra remembers us of the rishi Dirghatamas of Rigveda, and his statements about the relationship between the I (aham) and the cosmos (idam): "I know not clearly whether I am the same as this cosmos: a mystery I am, yet, conceived in mind I wander". One verse later Dirghatamas says "when the first borm principle of Rta entered in me, then of this vak I obtained a portion". Rta is translated here as water, sacrifice, truth, cosmic law, governing the universe. Vak stands for the first born of Rta. Satya stands for truth. The author mentions that satya and rta are born from tapas, are twins, coeternal.
Discussing absolute knowledge, R. Ravindra mentions about the vedic sacrifice as the "sacrifice of the mind (citta) for the sake of purusa, the only true seer. This purusa is not your or mine, is the pure power of seeing". The seer, the seen, the seing are all one: purusa. This state is called kaivalya = of alones, not is the sense of separation, but simply because there is no other (only purusa, purusa is only).
Another researcher states that "Rta is like a wave pattern and satya like a particle pattern. Both of them are one reality, rta is the flow of time and satya the expansion of space, they are mutually transformable and mutually dependent. Together they ensure a proper balance between change and continuity, going for eternity in a dynamic way. Even a small imbalance leads to chaos (disorder) and disaster. Though Rta having been absorbed in Dharma (at the creation of...) To be continued.