tomorrow's dharma

Tomorrow’s Dharma for today’s youth Govind Nishar

America yesterday

What happened?

How did the Hindus manage to survive for 5000 years under constant attack but without attacking anybody else?

Hinduism is Sindhuism

1st wave Sanatan Dharma - Vedic

Central focus – Yagna (Karma)

1st wave Sanatan Dharma - VedicWorldview: Sacrifice of the Divine Purusha. One spirit becoming infinite manifestationGoal: Invocation of gods through sacrifice (ritual) and attainment of heaven

1st wave Sanatan Dharma - VedicThis first wave Vedic Hinduism was revived by Swami Dayananda Sarasvati when he founded the Arya Samaj

2nd wave Sanatan Dharma - Vedantic

Central focus – Sanyasa (Jnana)

Worldview: World and works (Sansara and Karma) product of Maya or Mara i.e. force of IGNORANCE / AVIDYA. Goal: The one absolute, unchanging truth (SAT). Transient world is a temporary illusion (ASAT) not permanent fact

2nd wave Sanatan Dharma - Vedantic

This second wave Vedantic Hinduism was revived by Vivekananda for modern times as a universal religion

2nd wave Sanatan Dharma - Vedantic

Knowledge absorbs and predominates over Karma

Central focus – Archana / Aradhana / Prarthana (Bhakti) of pauranic gods

3nd wave Sanatan Dharma - Pauranic

Worldview: LEELA (play) for the delight of god/goddess and his/her devoteesGoal: The delight of god through love and aspiration to god

3nd wave Sanatan Dharma - Pauranic

This is the Hinduism we all practice today and which we generally associate with the name and where it is most popular and dynamic

3nd wave Sanatan Dharma - Pauranic

Bhakti absorbs and predominates over both Karma and Jnana

What’s next for Dharma?

1st wave – Vedic – Yagna - Karma

2nd wave – Vedantic – Jnana - Sanyasa

3nd wave – Pauranic – Aradhana - Bhakti

4th wave - ??

Is there something that ties all of these and yet is greater than all of them put together?

The great secret

• What is the one connecting thread through all of these?

• There is one power that runs through all these• Without it

– Yagna (Karma) is empty ritual– Jnana is mere philosophy– Bhakti is superficial religion

• The word that denotes this power is frequently attached to the end of all three

The Gita reveals the answer

What is the Gita’s Dharma? YOGA

What does Sri Krishna ask Arjuna to become?

Answer: A YOGI

Why Yoga?

• There are many types of yogas and many types of yogis • Each yoga consists of sadhana aiming at one or many siddhis or supernormal powers

• The Gita’s yoga is to attain the highest siddhi – union with the Divine within oneself and in all

Yoga ties Karma, Jnana and Bhakti

Gita itself brings out the yogic essence of all three and integrates them all into one YOGA

Vivekananda’s greatest workHe initiated for the fourth wave of Hinduism that is just beginning to sweep the world

What’s next for Dharma?

1st wave – Vedic – Yagna - Karma

2nd wave – Vedantic – Jnana - Sanyasa

3nd wave – Pauranic – Aradhana - Bhakti

4th wave – Yogic – Sadhana – Siddhi (self-perfection)

It is Yogic Hinduism that is today spreading throughout the world

Modern Masters of 4th wave Sanatan Dharma

What is missing?

• Yogic world-view

• Individual and universal goal

What is missing? Yogic world-view

But all life, when we look behind its appearances, is a vast Yoga of Nature who attempts to realise her perfection in an ever-increasing expression of her potentialities and to unite herself with her own divine reality.

Yogic worldview: Evolution as yoga• All of creation is a great yoga of nature• All life is nothing but the yoga of god seeking to manifest

his own perfection

Life evolving is god growing

Yoga is conscious evolution from man human to man divine or super-man

Life evolving is god growing

“The animal is a living laboratory in which Nature has, it is said, worked out man. Man himself may well be a thinking and living laboratory in whom and with whose conscious co-operation she

wills to work out the superman, the god. Or shall we not say, rather, to manifest God?”

Sri Aurobindo – 4th wave dharma sansthapana

Recovered the complete yoga of the Gita integrating karma, jnana and bhakti

Sri Aurobindo – 4th wave dharma sansthapana

Discovered the secret yoga of the rishis in the Veda

Sri Aurobindo – 4th wave dharma sansthapana

Developed a new synthesis of vedic, vedantic and tantric yogas called the PURNA YOGA or the Yoga of Integral Transformation

Sri Aurobindo – 4th wave dharma sansthapana

A revolutionary new orientation: • Moksha is no longer the final goal, not just escape from life on earth but only the first step to a new divine life on earth• Veda-anta for man is veda-arambha for super-man

Sri Aurobindo – 4th wave dharma sansthapana

Revelation of para-shakti as the yoga-shakti that descends from above when called

Yoga not just for ascent of soul but for descent of God

The goal

Take up yoga for self-perfection and world transformation

Find out thy soul, recover thy hid self, In silence seek God's meaning in thy depths, Then mortal nature change to the divine.