In India, 79.8% (2011) of people do not believe in or follow any religion. This is a truth that completely shakes up all the old concepts in the mind. What is called “Hindu” and “Hinduism” from morning to evening in the news, in books, and on the internet is actually a very big historical deception.
Millions of years ago, when foreign invaders and traders came towards India, they had to cross the Sindhu River (Indus River) to reach here. In their way of speaking, the pronunciation of 'S' was 'H'. Because of this, they started calling every person living near the Sindhu River a “Hindu”. This name was not of any religion; it was the name of a geographical area given by outsiders.
Later, when the British came, they put the stamp of “ism” on it to confine our identity into a small box like other religions and made it “Hinduism”. In the Western mind, religion means — a rigid book, a prophet, and blindly followed rules (Religion). Such a system never existed in India.
सनातन धर्म
SANĀTANA DHARMA
The people of India do not go by any religion, but by Sanātana Dharma. To understand this, we need to look at its two words separately:
Sanātana means that which is infinite. That which has no birth and no end (Timeless / Eternal). It is not something that was started by one person or created on a date. It existed in every era of time, exists today, and will continue to exist.
Dharma does not mean “Religion” at all. In religion, one has to blindly worship and follow rules blindly. But the real meaning of Dharma is — Rules of Nature / Human Duty (the right way to live life and our duty towards the earth). Just as the dharma of the sun is to give light and the dharma of the wind is to blow, similarly the dharma of a human is to live in balance with nature using their discernment (intelligence). Sanātana Dharma does not tell you to follow blindly; it gives a person the freedom to choose right and wrong with their own mind.
When these two are combined, Sanātana Dharma is formed — meaning those timeless and natural laws that run the entire universe. This is why the people of India do not consider bullets or exploitation as development. For India, development meant — raising human consciousness and learning the right way to live life.
According to Sanātana Dharma, time is not linear; it is cyclical (a great cycle) that rotates again and again. One complete cycle is called 1 Mahāyuga (Caturyuga), in which there are a total of 4,320,000 (4 million 320 thousand) human years. This Mahāyuga is divided into four parts:
This was the era of 1.728 million years where the human mind and consciousness were 100% pure. No law or police were needed; everything was open and free.
In this era of 1.296 million years, when a slight change began in society, Lord Shri Rama came and set the rules for living as an ideal human and with dignity.
In this era of 864,000 years, when greed increased, Lord Shri Krishna took avatar and established justice through the Mahabharata and gave the knowledge of the Gita.
This is the era of 432,000 years in which we are living today. In this, the human mind has become so small that it is fighting by dividing the earth into borders and exploiting nature.
This sequence never stops. It keeps going on:
Satya → Tretā → Dvāpara → Kali → Satya...
Sanātana Dharma has existed since before the universe itself came into existence. The very creation of the universe took place through Dharma the cosmic principle of order, duty, and righteousness.
This is why India is so extraordinarily diverse: Sanātana Dharma is not a religion. It is a living civilization, with traditions, philosophies, practices, and ways of life that have evolved continuously since the earliest history of human civilization on Earth.