Let me put it straight, THERE IS AN IMMINENT NEED for Sanatanis to unite and take pride in our culture, lest we let our culture be extinguished systematically under the garb of secularism. What we are witnessing in current times is nothing new. It is a culmination of a millennium long struggle for religious hegemony by Abrahamic faiths and we all know how over the last thousand years, these faiths, driven by dogma and hatred for “idol worshippers and heathen” have sought to systematically eradicate Indic faiths and any trace of it from the face of the Earth.

Nevertheless, Sanatana Dharma has always found a way to circumvent these challenges simply because of the way it is structured…there isn’t one. There are NO central texts, messengers, divine sons, or anyone else for that matter. Sanatana Dharma is a way of life based upon the collective experiences of the people of a certain geography. Therefore, there is no concept of exclusion anywhere in the Dharma. This ONE aspect of the Sanatana Dharma makes it resistant to attacks. Basically, it is like a hydra, you cut one head off and you find another one somewhere else, in an endless cycle. Along the way, the Dharma has also been protected and nurtured by a slew of successive warriors who have stood up to aggression by invaders from the Middle-East, Central Asia, and Europe. In fact, it took Islam close to 500 years to consolidate in India. The Christians are still trying. Yet, here we are after a millennium under colonial yoke, all of eighty percent of the Nation’s population still practicing Dharmics. what do we learn from this? That we have also won a lot many times and that we fought for and defended our way of life.

The essence of Sanatana Dharma is captured in the conversation between Parth and his Sarathy

Sanatana Dharma has made innumerable contributions to the world of science, literature, warfare, economy, as well as architecture. Our rich heritage of scientific reasoning produced greats such as Aryabhata and Bhaskaracharya. In fact, Bhaskaracharya wrote the Siddanta Siromani detailing the causes and prediction of cosmic events such as eclipses. He also plotted the positions of planets to within a few units difference of modern calculations. Sanskrit grammar was first compiled and collated in modern day Afghanistan (then, the kingdom of Gandhara known by its modern name Kandahar) by Panini in a place which was then Hindu/Buddhist and now is a hub of terrorism. I am referring to Swat Valley which derives its name from the santhi of two separate words “Su” and “Vastu”, implying “the best place to live in”. Apart from whatever i have stated, we also have Aryabhata who gave us the numeral zero.

Varahamira redefined many mathematical derivations of Aryabhata and worked extensively on binomial coefficients. In fact, he studied the magic squares and “pascal’s triangle” about a millennium before Blaise Pascal himself was born. His proposition that the Earth was round and his accurate calculation of its circumference and radius are mind boggling going by the standards of the day. At a time when one could be impaled in the rest of the world for “questioning the clergy” on the shape of the Earth, here was a man whose work in Astronomy was so far ahead of its time that it attracted scholars from the world over.

Varahamira

In terms of military conquests, dynasties from as far back as 500 B.C. dominated the world scene. The Nandas, Mauryas, Satavahanas, Mahameghavahanas, followed by the Kushanas, and Karkota in the North while the Southern regions were ruled by the immensely powerful Cholas with a naval force that the world had never seen before. India of old times stretched from modern day Uzbekistan in the North to Indonesia in the South, almost in every case, the dominant way of life being Sanatana Dharma. Add to this mix the enigmatic and much revered Chatrapati Shivaji Bhosle Maharaj Ji and Maharana Pratap Ji and you have a culture which is not only ancient, but so far ahead of its times in each era that western and Islamic faiths may not be able to catch up at all.

Lalitaditya adn the Karkota Empire

Is there ONE good reason why we should not be proud of our rich heritage? Why are we glorifying being ashamed of this culture? What IS it in western philosophy which attracts us like a candle attracts insects? The answer lies in our fascination of anything imported such as skin colour, goods, language, and philosophies. Moreover, the Western European and Central Asian philosophies are steeped in the murder of millions and plunder. I could go on till the cows return home.

Ultimately, I conclude by saying that we as Sanatanis need to revive our Indic culture. We have to inculcate awareness among the masses and the first step towards doing just that is to identify the issues plaguing the Dharmic belief system. We need to RECOGNIZE the predatory equation of foreign philosophies in relation to the existence of Sanatana Dharma. We need to attract people into the Sanatana fold again and revert to a more fluid caste system so we can get back to an ethical and a more prosperous way of life.

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