Sanatan: The Eternal Dance of Consciousness
Consciousness
Based on a Satsang given by Yogiraj Prakash Shankar Vyas
20th February 2025, Gisborne, Australia
The Eternal Question: Who Am I?
Humanity has forever been intrigued by the question of Who am I ? Through ages and ages many civilisations have come and gone with each leaving their imprints on mankind’s thought process, some that continue to this day.
The essential question is a quest that leads to deeper and deeper levels of inner scrutiny .
This quest for finding the truth and the perfect balanced chitta or conscious living has been a part of the ongoing search world over.
Origins of the Quest in Bharat
The main quest for it started 40 thousand years ago in Bharat . The ancient Rishi Sumera in his life time had the desire to create a perfectly balanced enlightened human chitta placed in a being capable of living life on the earth fully aware and of use to the humanity around. A being capable of using all the depths of consciousness to live life to the fullest . But he could not finish the work he had set out to do in that lifetime .
But his in-depth analysis in to consciousness ,chitta, human life and the cosmic manifestation of that consciousness took on a life of its own with many thousands of years of experienced wisdom taking shape in the formation of our Shruti's.
This knowledge for human kind was directly perceived by our seers, it was not based on imagination or experimentation It was a perception that took place by being fully immersed in consciousness . Vedic wisdom was a result of it . Along with this wisdom ,the methodology of inner search was also passed down for future generations .
This was a time of direct inner search and living in full consciousness of ones true nature and the knowing of the cosmic divinity inside each being .
A time that was pre any religion or , temples or even any set dogma to be followed by any person . This was a time when most of human life was spent in the deepest observation of the cosmos, world, nature around us. Through direct observation and constant connection to ones consciousness . Detailed analysis of the cosmos, stars, earth ,satellites ,Planets and the connection of our life to every aspect of nature was not just understood in depth but was also lived in perfect balance.
The experimentation of various medicinal herbs, medicinal metals, led to Ayurveda, study of the cosmos to the Surya Siddhant . Innumerable texts and knowledge systems were made available through direct perception of the sages and seers.
The social fabric of human life explored through the Ramayana and Mahabharata at a later stage . Which also left us with the Bhagwad Gita that is a preceptors direct guide to know ones consciousnesses living in the human body . The method of health and true unity with consciousnesses was explained in Patanjalis Yogasutras. All of this was known as Sanatan. Which means the eternal truth ,in other words the Consciousness .
But our Rishi's knew that the future might hold challenges for the coming generations who might encounter challenges to even realising their eternal nature due to a slow lowering of evolutionary intelligence .
The Rishi's looked at all the different attributes of the Consciousness /Chitta and certain Gods and Goddesses were created that held the manifestation of those attributes to keep a
human being striving towards staying connected to that Consciousness , beyond the materiality of daily life and prayers for those attributes to manifest wellbeing in their lives.
These forms of Divine Gods /Goddesses also imbibed not just those qualities but also some of the attributes of manifestation, because everything is Consciousness . It comes out of it and goes back in to it . The multiplicity of temples were created as places of energy where these divine specific attributes were worshiped as a way to connect now a much diminished humanity as more and more material realities began to take over the human kind . These were never created as a religion specific sites. The purpose was and still is to connect humanity with their true nature. A recognition that all is Consciousness .
Global Civilisations and Their Spiritual Quests
Different parts of the world had given rise to humankind in the form of Races of humanity ,that was all essentially the same in essence but had difference of priorities in the search of the self.
In some places the search for a perfect material life in balance with nature and its flow was of more importance ,elsewhere the search for power over nature and a more predictable outcome of ones life was given due importance.
Thousands of years ago the connectivity physically was limited and often the only way different parts of the world could connect was by walking across, for months and years . When more control and understanding was gained over the oceans then navigating them was also an option but was only taken by a few . Hence finding different lands and making them their own through power and domination was the priority for some .
Each area of the world gave rise to quests according to ones evolutionary primal force . Some material , some spiritual.
Bharat and its land for thousands of years has been a place of spiritual quest and true analysis into Consciousness . People born in Bharat naturally had the availability of thousands of years of research into understanding the human soul and its oneness. People who had an inclination towards a spiritual
life , had the entire landscape available in the form of vedic knowledge in the incorruptible scientific language of sanskrit, to support them on this journey . The experiences of past Seers embedded in the cultural and civilisational ethos by which to understand and express it .
This could not have been the case in geographic areas and locations that were far away . Yet the human quest to understand consciousness was also there in places far away from Bharat . People who were spiritual seekers and were fully conscious to their true nature.
Some of them created ways of understanding this universal truth for their society and their people . Since their society unlike Bharat did not already have an existing literature, language , words and even ways of expression of those profound spiritual insights new ones were created for them . These had certain ways of life, rules and methods of living prescribed for the good of society .
These later took on the form of dogma due to interpretations of those who came later , who were never the direct preceptors of those truths explained.
This became Religion and the followers of religion became further and further from the basic truth and search . Instead of merging into to ones own consciousness , fear of the Godhead as a seperate entity became the guiding principle . The search for Consciousness became the last priority in the followers of zealous religiosities .
Religions and religiosity might have started at the core to show a true path to the followers towards their true nature, but unfortunately it was lost in translation . It has only led to divisions , bloodshed and hatred of the living against that which is itself. Consciousness fighting consciousness just because each human being is asleep, and in total darkness within themselves. The forgetfulness of Maya,ignorance .
What Is Sanatan? Who Is a Sanatani?
Now we come to the essential question what is Sanatan and who is a Sanatani?
As explained previously Sanatan means that which is the eternal way . What is eternal ? Consciousness is eternal having no birth , no death , yet is everything and everywhere.
It was, It is and always will be .
There can be no end to it .
Any one in pursuit of this eternal truth is a Sanatani .
Irrespective of Race , Irrespective of religion , Irrespective of age, or gender .
So in a way the entire world is Sanatan. Because everyone is Consciousness . Whether they are aware of it or not, in pursuit of it or not . It is beyond divisive narrow materiality ,or ignorant dogma. It recognises the most essential and vital truth . That the entire universe ,the cosmos everything living and non living is conscious and connected to each other .
I am Consciousness .
This is understood as Sanatan Dharma .
The question now arrises as to what is Dharma ?
Is it morality ,righteousness , dos and donts of life ?
Absolutely not . That has been again interpretation given by conditioning , and lower evolutionary understanding of the eternal truth .
To understand this we need to address the explanation of the four purusharth of human life.
Our seers and Sages who investigated the in-depth life cycle of a human being came to the conclusion that to aid and support a human being to living life with full consciousness one needs to follow a certain trajectory of expressing the complexity of life . A method that would support and also give full open expression to each human individuality .
The Four Purusharthas
The four purusharths are named as :
Dharma
Arth
Kama
Moksha
Dharma is universally as a mundane explanation understood as a righteous way of life. That would be a moral implication hung on the shoulders of the word.
Dharma is धारयित इित धमर्ः" – "That which sustains is Dharma
Some can understand that as Prana or the breath. As each is born with breath at birth and the stopping of breath at death . But what is it that sustains the breath of each living being ? It is the Prana in the form of Soul . Hence that which sustains is the soul and soul is nothing but Consciousness .
Hence the living of a life that sustains living with full Consciousness is Dharma .
Anything or any action that takes one away from that pursuit or goal is Adharma.
Hence the moral and righteous connotations to the word are more social and to sustain a societal cohesion where people are made to live with a certain code of conduct that would aid a simplicity of social ethos.
Arth
Arth translates as Meaning .
Meaning to what ? Meaning to life. When each person tries to find that which gives them meaning , that which makes them find their value and worth through the development of their natural talents or capabilities it adds meaning to life.
The search and finding of that Value, that meaning is Arth .
Social understanding of Arth is usually translated as Money or Lakshmi. The pursuit of wealth is seen by many as the meaning of this word.
But when a person finds the true Meaning to their life, and pursues that with the fullness of their being , with
purpose ,wealth follows automatically ,which brings material comfort that aids the physical wellbeing of a human being.
Kama
The western and even modern understanding has translated and understood this as sexuality and the pursuit of ones sexual pleasures to the fullest. There cannot be a more incorrect interpretation of this purusharth .
The meaning of the word Kama means Desire. Desire cannot be just a sexual one, it can be a part of it but not the only one . Human beings have all kinds of desires. The pursuit of ones
desires and likes is seen as an important part of self expression of personal choices and expression of individuality .
Our Rishis understood the importance of this important need in each and every one of us . A negative suppression of this quality can leads to all kinds of perversions .
Kama leads to creativity , exploration , experimentation , discovery and satisfaction which is necessary to live life.
A freedom to express and fulfil desires slowly leads to a stage where none is left . That is the ideal stage that one strives towards in a natural way and not by negative pretence.
When ones reaches a stage of neutrality and lack of any more desires the human naturally moves towards the forth and final stage.
Moksha
Moksha means the end of the cycle of birth and deaths, or illusion and ignorance towards ones true nature. A freedom from living life in darkness and living unconscious of ones true eternal nature.
Moksha is the most desired stage because this is the last stage that makes a human being fully complete . To understand the eternal nature of life . To know that all is Consciousness and to henceforth live with total awareness . To live fully awake and conscious is Moksha. And when a human reaches this stage they have naturally reached an end to a constant cycle of birth and death in the pursuit of this knowledge. The true wisdom eternal wisdom then leads the soul to merge into itself as Consciousness.
This is Sanatan or Sanatan Dharma. The pursuit of Awareness while living and to be fully Conscious is Yoga.
Unfortunately people have given it a connotation of a religion and narrowed down its wisdom which is eternal ,to dogmatic rituals and ways that do not serve the true purpose. To understand Consciousness as an abstract concept is impossible for a human who is at the evolutionary level that needs more tangible visual forms as divinity.
Some hold on to the images of the attributes of that consciousness seen in Divine representations of Gods and Goddesses, which do help humanity to a certain level but after that it can be an impediment . To go further one has to move to the abstract . The difference between Sagun and Nirgun is exactly that .
Sa-gun means with attributes Nir-gun means without attributes.
To go forward one has to move to a stage which is Nirgun where everything and everyone is an expression of that Consciousness .
If cosmic energy were to be seen as Brahama the creator
The potential energy is Shiva who is deeply immersed within himself and is static .
The kinetic energy can be seen in the expression of Vishnu which sustains the living.
Hence the worship of Vishnu or Kinetic energy is the
most ,since the moving world cannot be sustained without kinetic energy .
This can be also seen as an expression of trinity found in other religions around the world because all arose from a desire to understand Consciousness .
So to understand one self
To know oneself
One has to become One
Consciousness is that One
To merge back and be Conscious is Yoga. Yoga is Sanatan
Sanatan Dharma is eternal.
( compiled by Smt. Monica Singh Sangwan )