The Dharma Chronicle

Image source: VedicFeed   The sacred texts of all other religions can be dated. The Buddha's teachings can be traced back to 500 BCE, when the Buddha lived. The New Testament was written 2,000 years ago,  Quran 1,400 years ago.  However, no one has been able to determine the age of the Vedas. The unique way that the Vedas have been transmitted to us is to credit for this. They were first heard by few great rishis, who orally transmitted them to their disciples. The knowledge was then passed down orally throughout the ages, only to be written down eventually. Apaurusheya and Sanatan Vedas  In Hindu/Sanatan Dharma, it is a fundamental belief that the Vedas are sanatan (eternal) and apaurusheya (not composed by any human being). However many Westerners and Western-educated Indians, cannot accept that the Vedas have no advent. Generally,  the time of the composition of Vedas has been fixed at 6000 BCE, because certain planetary positi...

Is Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma a religion? Religion generally denotes a system of morality based on the concept of God. Sanatana Dharma is not something exclusively like that. It evolved in the Gangetic plains in prehistoric times, when the world had not seen or heard the word religion at all. To speak then of Hinduism or Sanatana Dharma as a religion is, to say the least, preposterous. The word dharma does not have an English equivalent, although righteousness can be an approximate word to convey what dharma stands for. Dharma denotes the power or process of sustaining human life in all situations, in fortune and misfortune, favor and disfavour, prosperity and adversity. The word Hindu also calls for a discreet analysis and assessment. Barhaspatya Samhita (a section of the Rig Veda) defines it as the land lying between the Himalayas to the north and Indusarovara (the Indian Ocean) to the south. The relevant verse reads thus: हिमालयात्समारभ्य यावदिन्दुसरोवर...

The term Swastika emanates from the Sanskrit word swasti = su (good) + asti (being). As a symbol, swastika is a line-design invented by the vedic sages. Its specific geometry is believed to have some relation with certain natural energy fields. It is drawn as a cross with equal arms when all the arms are continued as far again at right angles clockwise. The sublime effects, in terms of the cosmic energy currents superimposed in the unique pattern of swastika, correspond to what the swastika symbolizes auspiciousness, wellbeing. The clockwise - (daksināvarta) direction is of significant importance, as it also happens to be the direction of movement (as we see it on the earth) of the sun, which rises in the east and sets in the west. The four sides of the swastika thus represent the four principal directions. The symbol of swastika is being used as a holy sign in India since the times immemorial. Scriptural descriptions define it as ...