What does Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism) have to teach us about world conflict and navigating crisis?
A spiritual perspective on our global crises
It is clear the world is in a crisis, not just with the structures in place but from a deep spiritual level. Vedic Hindu civilisation has a lot of perspective to offer the world in times of conflict, from an individual and a collective level.
How does Sanatan Dharma (Hinduism) help us navigate times of conflict?
First, a look at the history of colonisation and the fight for indigenous survival. And secondly, the deep philosophical and spiritual concepts which are universally applicable.
What is Sanatan Dharma?
What we term as dharma (duties, Hindu traditions and the laws of the cosmos) is not simply a book of rules the way that monotheistic religions have employed, but a cosmic understanding of the laws of nature, our connection with the universe and the nature of our soul. It goes much deeper than ‘right or wrong’ but the self-actualised alignment that we have with our divine origins; and in real life, the traditions and indigenous Hindu lineages which have been continued unbroken through thousands of years in the on-going fight for our survival.
The ancient Rishis of Hindu civilisation foretold of all the occurrences in Kalyug, which is what we are going through, where the world is tumbling into darkness.
We understand time not as linear, but cynical, and these cosmic cycles keep playing out. The aim of life is to gain freedom from within our consciousness; which then uplifts the world as a whole.
Let’s understand some essential concepts from Sanatan Dharma that can help us to navigate our global crisis. First, the historical context.
The modern history of the world is that of war, colonisation and artificial structures.
What we term as the ‘matrix’ is nothing but a product of the disconnection with have with our ancient origins and spiritual reality. Vedic civilisation is the oldest living ancient civilisation in the world. Before the invasion of modern Abrahamic religions, the entire planet was ancient civilisations and religions. And whilst every ancient civilisation from Mesopotamia to Mesoamerica was colonised and wiped out by, the Vedic Hindu civilisation is the last one to survive.
Ancient Kemet was colonised by Islam, so was the whole of Mesopotamia and most of Asia. Mesoamerica was mostly converted by Spanish Christian conquistadors. Africa and Australia, the native indigenous continue to be colonised by these two religions. And in the land of India, our ancestors continue to battle the on-going erasure of our people not only by those religions but modern western constructs too, which is what we term as ‘neo-colonisation.’ The trillion dollar pharmaceutical industry is an example of neo-colonisation of ancient knowledge systems which have been suppressed and demonised and replaced with artificial substances. The razing down of ancient temples and touristification of sacred Hindu teerths for profit is another example of neo-colonisation.
Colonisation affects every person on the planet - the reason that we have spiralling rates of depression and suicide is because our ancient origins have been colonised.
Our education system is colonised; we are manufactured to become cogs in the wheel of a system but never taught about our consciousness. The reason that we have extreme poverty is because we have drifted away from a dharmic balanced world-view and adopted a one-dimensional materialist one. We live completely unbalanced lifestyles with increasing artificial technology yet our problems keep multiplying.
It is very clear that our world is in a crisis. An ecological and environmental crisis, a humanitarian crisis with growing economic divide, geopolitical crisis and the crisis of erasing the ancient indigenous cultures of the world.
This crisis begs us to look deeper than the surface, and this is where Vedic civilisation can offer us guidance. Let’s take a look at just 4 simple concepts within Vedic civilisation to understand and navigate the current world crisis that we are in.
1. Asuras and Devatas: understanding the entire cosmos as an interplay of energy
The ancient Rishis directly perceived the nature of the universe from within their consciousness. This is how they derived the Vedas, which are as old as time and written in Sanskrit, which is known as Devabhasha (language of the Gods). They identified 33 Koti Devatas or key governing deities prevalent across existence, including the Sun (Surya) and Agni (fire). This has strong parallels with every single other ancient culture which also worshipped the planets, elements and nature with many parallel deities such as Sekhmet in Egypt and Viracocha in the Andes.
In Hindu Puranic scriptures, there is one story of the churning of the ocean, which is similar to the times we are going through right now. On one side there were the Asuric or demonic forces, and on the other side there were the Devatas or divine beings. From the churning of the ocean emerged Amrit or the nectar of immortality.
When we think about world conflict in the modern times, we tend to analyse situations from an intellectual perspective. In Hindu tradition, we analyse things from a cosmic and energetic perspective of the forces that are influencing reality. This is not just an analysis but brought into our daily life practice.
Hence, even the smallest rituals that we do such as offering water to the sun are rooted in the upliftment of consciousness and our internal and external well-being.
In times of conflict, there is a great need for us to understand that solving the issues of the world outside involves bringing a shift within our consciousness.
The practice of dharmic traditions does exactly this, which is why the practice of dharmic traditions (aside from new age spirituality) helps with uplifting global consciousness from its core, rather than superficially. The practice of dharma is very specifically defined for those born into a Hindu ancestral lineage and generally applicable to every human being in simple terms as well.
This doesn’t just include personal spiritual practice, but the way we interact with nature, our finances, and the whole spectrum of activities.
2. Recognising the sacred nature of life and un-doing societal inversion
One of the major reasons why the modern world is in crisis is because we have forgotten the sacred nature of reality. We eat our food without thinking, we treat our body like a machine. Ancient cultures across the world understood the sacred nature of reality which is why we lived in balance with nature and ourselves.
In Sanatan Dharma, there is also a strong component of protecting the sacred - which is seen clearly in our depictions of the Divine Feminine Maa Durga who holds swords and slays the demonic forces (which are also representations of patterns within our own psyche). Our great warriors like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj who fought to defend our ancient civilisation from Islamic invaders were all Shakti worshippers. One of the greatest inversions of the modern colonial religious patriarchy is attempting to suppress the sacred feminine.
So what has been inverted by the modern world?
Well, everything from the food system to the medicine system, the economic system and the education system. Although modern technology has rapidly advanced, we are still seeing a crisis of health and basic food and water. Ancient cultures viewed health from the perspective of the mind - body - spirit whilst modern medicine only looks at the physical level. Even these ancient systems have been distorted by the modern world. Yet we are seeing a massive comeback in interest in ancient shamanic plant medicines, yoga and other systems for better health. As the world tumbles into crisis we are naturally seeking solutions from the ancient world.
Another major example of modern world inversion is that of the sacredness of sexual energy. If we look at the extremes of the pendulum either high level misuse of this energy or complete repression or demonisation. In Sanatan Dharma this energy is understood as creative life force energy and there is an entire science of the transmutation of sexual energy into spiritual states of enlightenment. The process itself was deeply scientific and one purpose of which was to continue ancestral lineage. The modern world has further distorted these sacred knowledge systems with ‘neo-tantra’ which is often completely misplaced from the Tantra of Hindu traditions.
Another example is the inversion of the sacredness of sacred plant medicines. In a world with severe lack of education and misuse of substances, this is a growing concern. Hemp which is indigenous to India was banned to promote the plastic and paper industries, yet this is terms as Vijaya in Sanskrit and a cure for multiple diseases. Once again, the Western world takes a massive U-turn and is now investing millions of dollars into studying the medicinal and therapeutic use of shamanic and ancient healing modalities. What was once sacred, has been inverted by the modern world and eventually we have to reclaim the original meaning.
So many things in the modern world are complete inversions of what is sacred.
Sanatan Dharma shows us a way back to the sacred beyond the constructs of modern society and its dysfunctions.
3. Connecting to the divine within ourselves
The reason that the modern world is tumbling into dysfunction is because we view life mostly from the limited lens of our ego, with little recognition or time to connect to something higher. The ‘matrix’ world is so dense that our whole reality is wrapped up in chasing unconscious activities - we go through the process of modern schooling (indoctrination), are taught that life is just about ‘live, make money, and die.’ Plain and simple, this is complete bullshit.
We suffer because our consciousness has ACTIVELY been dulled, and we no longer connect to something higher.
Call it spirit, call it universe, whatever you want to call it. We need it and Western society has forgotten it in its chase for empty materialism which then causes war and ecological destruction. The movements of the 1960s were exactly about dismantling societal norms because the artificiality of the Western world had just gone too far. This eventually led to a mass influx of Western people into India, and the cross-national transfer of ancient Indic knowledge systems to the West. The hippie movement continued forward into new age spirituality, which is now what many people turn to after experiencing the difficulties of unhappy jobs, toxic relationships, seeking deeper meaning in life and ultimately what we seek is ancestral and spiritual reconnection. Through new age spirituality, many then go deeper into the origins of the Hindu traditions which are all systems of connecting one to something higher.
Dharmic traditions offer deeply systematic ways of healing mind, body and spirit. Even though there is a lot of dilution, appropriation and distortion of these traditions (even by Hindus themselves) - whether it is Ayurveda, Yogic systems, or further - these offer us ways to reclaim our spiritual power.
The change within the individual then translates into the change in society at large.
4. Integrating practical reality with spiritual reality
Dharmic traditions contribute to the global discourse by offering a balanced view of life. Whilst the Western world has gone on an increasing chase for the material, Hindu traditions specify something called the Four Purusharthas of life. These are Dharma (tradition) Artha (wealth) Kama (pleasure) and Moksha (liberation).
Dharma comes in multiple forms, there is Swadharma which is one’s individual dharma or duties. Then there is varnashramadharma which includes duties towards your lineage and continuation of that particular lineage. Then there are the four ashrams of life, of which most people will enter Grihastashrama (worldy life) and a very small percentage will take Sanyas (sanyas is renunciation, but not in the modern sense, Sanyas is only real with deeksha from Guru Shishya Paramapara).
In the general discourse, dharma can be understood as practice of dharmic traditions which also includes ‘Dincharya’ daily routine in alignment with our circadian rhythm, living in alignment with one’s spirit, soul purpose and spiritual practice. Artha means generation of wealth, which is also given equal importance. Kama is pleasure which can manifest in many different forms, and can also be understood as the essential happiness of life that we access within. Moksha is liberation.
In this way we can see that in Sanatan Dharma, nothing is discarded, and there is an understanding of every dimension, be it material or spiritual. Our ancient societal structures looked very different to the modern conventions that we term as ‘normal.’ There was an understanding of ecological balance, our relationship with ourselves and others in all its myriad forms, of our worldly responsibilities and also our own spiritual evolution, our pursuit of authentic happiness and ultimately our own liberty of spirit beyond government or state.
Whilst modern systems often oppress us with rules and structures that stifle our spirit, force us to live imbalanced lifestyles - dharmic traditions offer pathways for us to understand the cosmic laws of the universe and create balanced systems.
Overall, there are many ways that dharmic traditions can offer the world a pathway towards a more spiritually conscious life. More will be shared on this in due course.
Jai Shri Krishna