In times such as the recently experienced pandemic, normalcy was disrupted across the world and people were confined to their homes and isolation wards. With the loss of a dear one and trying to reconcile to the situation of not finding them around oneself, life will never be the same again for many. Thus, distanced from their loved ones, income and securities dwindling, uncertainty of the future coupled with survival instincts adding further fear to the widespread misery, the whole world has plunged into panic and pandemonium. Let’s understand as to what sanātana dharma has to say about the way out of it.

The Lord of Death – Yama enlightens the young seeker of truth – naciketā, in kaṭhopaniṣad, that all the senses have been created in such a way that they always go outwards, seeking the pleasures and comfort in the possessions and relations of the transient material world. However, it is only a certain person of spiritual courage and discrimination, a dhīra, who seeks to know the eternal truth of ones divinity and thus desirous of the bliss that springs from within, turns his gaze inwards.

पराञ्चि खानि व्यतृणत्‌ स्वयम्भूः तस्मात् पराङ् पश्यति नान्तरात्मन् ।
कश्चिद्धीरः प्रत्यगात्मानमैक्षत्‌ आवृत्तचक्षुः अमृतत्वमिच्छन् ॥

parāñci khāni vyatṛṇat svayambhūḥ tasmāt parāṅ paśyati nāntarātman ।
kaściddhīraḥ pratyagātmānamaikṣat āvṛttacakṣuḥ amṛtatvamicchan ॥

(कठोपनिषत् kaṭhopaniṣad 2.1.1)

‘The self-existent created the senses out-going. Therefore, one sees outside and not the ātman within. Some wise man, with his senses turned away (from their object), desirous of immortality, sees the ātman within.’

This is the inward path as preached by sanātana dharma, and the only way out of this otherwise chaotic world. This time it might have been the issue of a pandemic that was the cause of misery, but the world has always been suffused with the duality of pleasures and pains since time immemorial, and thus misery is not new to the world. In fact, Sri Krishna declares

अनित्यमसुखं लोकमिमं प्राप्य भजस्व माम्

anityamasukhaṁ lokamimaṁ prāpya bhajasva mām

(भगवद्गीता bhagavadgītā 9.33)

‘Having come to this transient and joyless world, meditate and devote yourself to Me.’

Here, when Sri Krishna advises the seeker to be devoted to Him, He truly means that the seeker ought to be devoted to the idea of the Supreme Divine Self within, which alone is the source of lasting happiness.

Everyone born on earth, knowingly or unknowingly, seeks the twin goals of duḥkha nivṛtti and sukha prāpti (freedom from sorrow and attainment of happiness). However, not knowing how to achieve these two goals, they simply try to avoid painful objects, people and situations and seek the pleasurable instead, totally unmindful of the fact that whether it is pleasure or pain, it germinates from the interaction with the world outside of us and is only temporary. And in this process of seeking pleasure and avoiding pain, one endlessly and alternatively oscillates between the two extremes. Therefore, as long as we keep seeking experiences outside of us, there is no way that we can enjoy steady and lasting happiness. Without any exception, this endless chase of pleasures is always punctuated with equal instances of pain.

Having known and understood this nature of the world, the ancient ones suggested the seeker of happiness to pursue the path within – the inner path of withdrawal into the inner most recesses of one’s consciousness where all dualities end, and a state of peace beyond dualities is achieved.

Many misunderstand it as physically withdrawing from the society, but it’s not so. All cannot and should not give up their hearth and homes in search of inner peace. Many others mistake it as undertaking certain practices like yoga, prāṇāyāma and the likes, to find peace. However, these are temporary fixes which help only as long as one is engaged in it. Soon after, the mind tends to go back to the old ways and thus plunges itself into the same old experiences of duality. Therefore, even such practices that are aimed to calm and control the mind and emotions are at best capable of yielding temporary results.

sanātana dharma on the other hand teaches us the permanent path to peace and clearly declares that knowing one’s true nature as divinity alone can steer one out of the ceaseless swings of duality.

The śvetāśvataropaniṣad from yajurveda says –

वेदाहमेतं पुरुषं महान्तमादित्यवर्णं तमसः परस्तात् ।
तमेव विदित्वाऽतिमृत्युमेति नान्यः पन्था विद्यतेऽयनाय ॥

vedāhametaṁ puruṣaṁ mahāntamādityavarṇaṁ tamasaḥ parastāt ।
tameva viditvā’timṛtyumeti nānyaḥ panthā vidyate’yanāya ॥

(श्वेताश्वतरोपनिषत् śvetāśvataropaniṣad 3.8)

‘I have known that great puruṣa (Supreme Being) who is effulgent like the sun and who is beyond all darkness. One who knows Him thus becomes immortal (even) here. There is no other path for liberation than this.’

This verse describes the Supreme Self as the self-effulgent One beyond the dualities of darkness and light, signifying pains and pleasures, and knowing that Self within alone is the way to freedom and eternal life.

Thus, against the backdrop of the temporary world, this idea of the eternal Self has been pitched as the only way to liberation from the ephemeral experiences of the world that swing one in and out of pain and pleasure.

The pandemic in a way left us with no choice other than to seek happiness and peace within, when all the external support systems started to collapse. This conviction of one’s true nature as the eternal and ever blissful existence (sat-cit-ānanda) alone could help several people evade mental issues like depression and panic.

This belief which arises from the very moment one starts identifying oneself with the Divinity instead of the body and mind, gives tremendous confidence to a sinking heart.

The great Sage aṣṭāvakra says in aṣṭāvakragītā,

मय्यनन्तमहाम्भोधौ जगद्वीचिः स्वभावतः ।
उदेतु वास्तमायातु न मे वृद्धिर्न च क्षतिः ॥

mayyanantamahāmbhodhau jagadvīciḥ svabhāvataḥ ।
udetu vāstamāyātu na me vṛddhirna ca kṣatiḥ ॥

(अष्टावक्रगीता aṣṭāvakragītā 7.2)

‘Let the world wave rise or vanish of its own nature in the infinite ocean of myself. There is no increase or diminution to me from it.’

Just like the surface of the ocean that experiences the rise and fall of waves, yet per say is not affected by it, so also these waves of experiences of pleasure and pain rise and fall on this ocean of consciousness, but one remains unaffected due to the understanding of one’s true nature as the supreme consciousness.

This inward path allows people to accept the unavoidable that has come their way and make peace with it, instead of resisting the change that cannot be avoided and suffering due to one’s inability to do anything about it.

sanātana dharma is the most practical way of dealing with all situations in life, especially the ones that cannot be controlled or avoided, like the pandemic. The key to lasting happiness lies in constant contemplation and practise of this thought that one is divine and thus become capable of withdrawing the mind and senses that get afflicted by the dualities, like the tortoise that withdraws its limbs into its shell, and thus remains safe.

Sri Krishna says –

यदा संहरते चायं कूर्मोऽङ्गानीव सर्वशः ।
इन्द्रियाणीन्द्रियार्थेभ्यस्तस्य प्रज्ञा प्रतिष्ठिता ॥

yadā saṁharate cāyaṁ kūrmo’ṅgānīva sarvaśaḥ ।
indriyāṇīndriyārthebhyastasya prajñā pratiṣṭhitā ॥

(भगवद्गीता bhagavadgītā 2.58)

‘One who is able to withdraw the senses from their objects, just as a tortoise withdraws its limbs into its shell, is established in divine wisdom.’

A concept that has eluded everyone alike – the ordinary and the elite, the statesmen and common folks, rulers and the ruled – is the idea of a utopian world where there is absolute peace and harmony. Yet most of the cultures talk about harmony and peace as the most fundamental value and prayer. Every Indian prayer ends with three repetitions of ‘śānti’ which is peace. Similarly, ‘shalom’ in Jewish traditions, or ‘Peace to You’ in Christianity; all these religions seem to have always emphasised on the idea of peace as the most basic prayer and blessings. However, despite such prayers, world peace has remained a distant dream. Especially in the last two millennia, the conflict, strife, invasion and terrorism has destroyed peace into pieces. So, why has peace not been achieved despite such scientific and societal progress? This must make one introspect and take a closer look at the reason behind it despite all the talks and treaties.

sanātana dharma goes to the root cause of the real reason for lack of peace in the world by turning the entire concept on its head, in other words by coaxing every individual to begin from within rather than looking for achieving peace without. Let’s understand the way of sanātana dharma in achieving world peace.

Peace is the absolute state of rest and harmony, and now that we know that as humans we are not one but three – the one we think we are which is the body, the one others think we are which is the mind and the one that we truly are which is the soul or jīvātman. This jīvātman, soul or spirit, is but the reflection of the same paramātman, just like the sun which appears manifold when reflected in various pots of water, whereas it is only one. Therefore, peace must be looked at on all the three levels of body, mind and soul. This is precisely the reason why in the śānti mantras or for that matter any prayer in sanātana dharma we hear the chanting of peace thrice – ‘śāntiḥ śāntiḥ śāntiḥ’ in an effort to invoke peace at all the three levels of our existence.

Being healthy in the body is the first level of peace. Even hunger can disturb one’s peace, let alone severe sickness. Therefore, being in good health is a prerequisite to peace. Much of that has to do with the discipline of habits that harm the body, be it the kind of food that we consume or the deeds that we engage in. The second level of peace is of the mind, which is but a bundle of all kinds of thoughts and emotions. So, peace of mind is ensured when we have positive thoughts arising out of positive ambiences and associations. Thus, the idea of satsaṅga or company of the noble is very important in sanātana dharma which alone can help one with the quality of one’s thoughts and emotions, and thereby the ensuing positivity and peace.

The last but most important aspect of peace is experiencing harmony at the innermost level of the ātman. This may apparently sound paradoxical as one may wonder how is it that the ātman which is a reflection of the paramātman cannot be at peace. Well, the reason is that the ātman is always at peace but our access to that peace is denied when our body and mind are not in harmony. This idea of harmony within is called trikarṇa śuddhi in sanātana dharma, which means congruity of body, mind and spirit. In other words, the harmony of thoughts, words and deeds. When our thoughts are based on the idea of our true self as Divinity, the ensuing thoughts, words and deeds or manasā, vācā, kārmaṇa, will also be divine. But, most often the thoughts are based on the ignorant idea that we are the body and mind complex and therefore the disharmony.

On the other hand, a staunch proponent of the formless aspect of divinity, Sri Adi Shankaracharya, who wrote the highest treatise of non-dualistic philosophy of advaita vedānta also composed many poems in the worship of several deities of different names and forms without any prejudice.

Humans, born with a strong sense of attachment to their bodies naturally need to overcome this attachment (dehābhimāna); this needs to be done progressively by shifting attention from their own forms to a divine form and subsequently reach the formless aspect. It’s like removing one thorn stuck in the foot using another one, but eventually discarding both. The worship of divine forms helps the seeker overcome ego and attachments arising out of body consciousness, and thereby transcend even the form of the divine, to attain the formless truth.

Many have ridiculed this approach but that is only because they haven’t understood the depth of sanātana dharma. Once, Swami Vivekananda was questioned by a king who did not believe in idol worship. Swami Vivekananda replied in the most practical way. He asked the minister to spit on the portrait of the king that hung on the wall. The minister refused and the king too was enraged considering it as a personal insult. Witnessing this frenzy, Swami Vivekananda replied that he had only asked the minister to spit on a piece of canvas on the wall and not on the real king who was seated on the throne and questioned the reason for their outburst and anger. This way, he proved that while the canvas carrying the picture of the king, though was not the real king, it did symbolise and represent the king and therefore it was equally respected. The same is the case with worship of the Divine in a form which is simply a representation of the formless, thus ought to be respected. The concept of pratikopāsanā – ‘worship of symbols’ is seen in the most ancient cultures of the world; when the seeker could not comprehend the formless Divine, he created a symbol of worship which he believed to be a representation of the Divine. This is comparable to the national flag or the national emblem that represents the entire nation and any disrespect to these symbols of the nation, is equal to disregarding the entire nation.

In the wake of depleting resources and increasing population, much is being discussed these days about sustainability of the planet and human race. ‘Is there a solution to this problem in sanātana dharma?’ is what we are going to understand today. Generally, when we hear about sustainability, we are often given to understand three words – reduce, reuse and recycle. But this apart, our sanātana dharma provides the fourth and the most effective solution to this problem, which is to ‘refuse’ what we don’t need. In today’s use-and-throw culture driven by mindless spending and endless consumption, sanātana dharma teaches us how to lead our lives so that while we live, we let others live too.

In the bṛhadāraṇyakopaniṣad there is a story that when the three-fold progeny of Prajapati Brahma namely gods, men and demons approached him for advice and instructions, he replied ‘da’, which was understood by each of them differently.

Gods are endowed with tremendous powers and therefore must restrain themselves from using them lest they should harm others, and thus they understood the utterance ‘da’ as ‘dama’ which means self-control or restraint.

Men or humans interpreted the utterance ‘da’ as ‘dāna’ which means charity, and that is because humans by nature are greedy and therefore charity is the way to rein in their excessive greed.

The demons who also heard the same instruction of ‘da’ inferred that their father was asking them to practise ‘dayā’ or compassion, as demons are said to be inherently cruel.

Accordingly, the lessons for the three kinds of personalities were – ‘dama’, ‘dāna’, and ‘dayā’ – control, charity and compassion.

This symbolic story from the upaniṣad carries a deep lesson for all. In every human being, there are godly qualities called sāttvic (state of selfless serenity), human qualities called rajasic (state of selfish activity) and demonic qualities called tamasic (a state dominated by survival instincts), representing the three sons of the Creator. Inevitably, every human being needs to practise all the three virtues. In today’s world divided between the haves and have-nots, where a handful of humans own and control most of the world’s wealth and resources, these values are of even greater significance. But how do these three values correlate to the popular formula of sustainability, that of reduce, reuse and recycle?

A deeper thought would reveal that restraining oneself from consuming incrementally even though one may have the wealth and power to do it, is nothing but ‘reduce’. Think of the wealthy nations of the world who have within their reach whatever they want, but if they spend endlessly and consume excessively, they would create artificial demand and price rise, which would then make the same things inaccessible and unaffordable to the people in poorer nations. Is it not then expected of them to ‘reduce’, by restraining themselves or in other words practise dama?

Now, think of those who have finished using an item or an object which is no longer required by them. For example, clothes and shoes that don’t fit anymore, or a bicycle that is too small to use now, or for that matter any other thing of utility, including excessive wealth that they may never need. Unable to get rid of the attachment to such things, people generally pursue storing them or simply discard them without minding the environmental hazards of such waste; in either of the cases, the resources haven’t been utilised in the best way. Instead, if they chose to share it with those who may need them, would it not lead to better distribution of resources and a more equitable society? And that is precisely practising dāna or charity. In other words, it is ‘reusing’ resources by giving others who need them more but cannot afford or access them.

The third value of dayā or compassion is equivalent to ‘recycle’. When we consume, we essentially use up earth’s resources that belong to all including insects, birds and animals. For production of utilities, we use natural resources like water that flows in the rivers where many creatures dwell, air that is breathed by one and all for their sustenance, and earth and space that shelter all beings, flora and fauna. When we use these resources, they gradually diminish and become less available to other life forms and also get polluted in the process – like clearing a forest or diverting a river or disposing effluents into the water systems or discharging harmful exhausts into the atmosphere. All this is a form of cruelty, wherein knowingly or unknowingly, we are causing harm to the numerous other co-dwellers of our planet earth, both seen and unseen. Therefore, when we consume carefully and also ensure that we don’t pollute the environment by thoughtlessly eliminating our wastes, but instead recycle them to extend their usability, we are showing compassion to all and that is dayā.

In Indian households, we always practised these values from ancient times, as no one bought anything more than what was necessary even if they had the money to do so, let alone borrowing and buying. No one discarded things after one use, instead found ways to reuse them, like the old clothes of the older child were used by the younger ones and likewise, plus everyone practised charity to the poor and the needy. In fact, most of the households cooked an extra meal for someone hungry or donated to the temples where the destitute were fed. We as Indians also were very careful not to discard things mindlessly as we considered all life sacred and worshipped earth, rivers, trees, animals and even mountains with gratitude. Most of the Indian societies used supplies that were naturally and organically produced starting with their food, all the way to their houses. Thus, these could be bio-degraded easily, without causing any harm to the ecosystem. Ergo, these three values of ‘dama’, ‘dāna’, and ‘dayā’ – reduce, reuse, and recycle – were in action in our daily lives.

But that was not all. Another much greater value that was taught by the sacred texts of sanātana dharma was that of ‘tyāga’ or sacrifice which we may call ‘refuse’ all that which is not needed. īśāvāsyopaniṣad which is a part of the yajurveda, proclaims in it’s very opening verse:

ईशा वास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किञ्च जगत्यां जगत्‌ ।

तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृधः कस्य स्विद्धनम् ॥

īśā vāsyamidaṁ sarvaṁ yatkiñca jagatyāṁ jagat ।

tena tyaktena bhuñjīthā mā gṛdhaḥ kasya sviddhanam ॥

(ईशावास्योपनिषत् īśāvāsyopaniṣad 1)

Meaning: All that you see in this changing world, is all enveloped by the Divine. Therefore, consume with sacrifice and do not take any other person’s wealth.

However simple this may sound it is very profound and deep. Since sanātana dharma taught that one must consider everything and everyone as Divine, it was imperative for everyone to think of others before oneself and sacrifice for the sake of others before consuming. It taught that one had to be mindful of others who may be in greater need, and one ought to think of anything before consuming that might be required more by others than oneself as rightfully belonging to others who needed them more. As a result, the need defined what truly belonged to whom, and not the purchasing power.

These four values of dama (reduce), dāna (reuse), dayā (recycle) and tyāga (sacrifice) can be seen mentioned in the yogasūtras of patañjali, albeit in different terms in the basic spiritual practises of yama-niyama, that one must undertake to realise one’s divinity. Sage patañjali asks the seeker to practise santoṣa or contentment which is to reduce one’s wants and desires, which is nothing but dama; aparigraha or not hoarding what is not necessary which is to give away in charity or dāna; ahiṁsā or non-violence which is to not cause harm, in other words to practise dayā; and finally, asteya or non-stealing, which is to not take anything that belonged to others as they may be in greater need – which is to practise tyāga.