Udhayanidhi Stalin, Tamil Nadu minister and son of Chief Minister MK Stalin, has created a stir after he made a controversial remark on Sanatana Dharma. Udhayanidhi, while making his remark at a writers’ conference in Chennai, opposed Sanatana Dharma and likened it to diseases like dengue and malaria.
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Sanatana Dharma, which existed 6000 years ago, have been historically upheld by saints and gurus, political leaders and important figures of India including Mahatama Gandhi and Swami Vivekananda.
Here is a list of some of the prominent figures who have upheld the importance of Sanatan Dharma:
Mahatama Gandhi
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, or Mahatama Gandhi, proudly proclaimed to be a Hindu and proudly asserted that he was a Sanatani Hindu. Days before India won her freedom, Gandhi said, “Sanatan Hindu Dharma is not circumscribed like the proverbial frog in the well. It is as broad as as the ocean. Thus interpreted, it is the property of all humankind, no matter by what name it is called.”
Gandhi used to say reminding Hindus that Hinduism is the most tolerant religion and gave shelter to early Christians who fled persecution. Hinduism also protected the Jews known as Beni-Israel and also the Parsis. “I am proud to belong to this Hinduism which is all inclusive and which stands for tolerance,” he used to say.
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda gave an outline of Sanatana Dharma and he showed for the first time that Hinduism as a whole has certain basic concepts which are common to all the sects. According to him, the three essentials of Hinduism are belief in God, in the Vedas as revelation, in the doctrine of Karma and transmigration.
Speaking of Hinduism, Vivekananda said, “No religion on earth preaches the dignity of humanity in such a lofty strain as Hinduism, and no religion on earth treads upon the necks of the poor and the low in such a fashion as Hinduism.
Sadhguru
Yogi and mystic Sadhguru has given a new dimension Hinduism saying that Hindu is a way of life, not a religion. He has argued that Sanatana Dharma is the eternal law, that needs no protection as it is eternal.
Speaking on the Sanatana Dharma, Sadhguru in an article for India Today wrote, “This is the only culture which has looked at the human mechanism with such profoundness that if you present it to the world properly, this will be the future of the world.”
Yogi Adityanath
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath has said that Sanatan Dharma is the national religion of India and every Indian citizen must respect this.
While speaking at an event at the Neelkanth Mahadev Temple in Bhinmal, Rajasthan, Yogi Adityanath is heard saying, “Sanatan Dharma is India’s Rashtriya Dharma. Rising above selfishness, we connect to Rashtriya Dharma. Our Country remains secure, if a campaign begins for restoration of religious places that were desecrated.”
Madan Mohan Malviya
Madan Mohan Malviya, Indian scholar, educational reformer and founder of Akhil Bharat Hindu Mahasabha, believed in the ancient religion of Sanatana Dharma and preached the gospel of the immanence of God. In 1946, few days before his death, Malaviya delivered a Sanatana or eternal message to the Sanatana society highlighting the importance of Sanatana Dharma among other things. He also established “Bharata Dharma Mahamandal" in 1887 to propagate Sanatan Dharma and Hindu culture.
Sri Aurobindo
Sri Aurobindo, philosopher, poet, and Indian nationalist, believed that India must rise to give Sanatana Dharma to the world, to the whole of humanity. He said, “(While) other religions are preponderating religions of faith and profession, but the Sanatana Dharma is life itself; it is a thing that has not so much to be believed as lived. This is the dharma that for the salvation of humanity was cherished in the seclusion of this peninsula from of old.”
