- ‘Hindu’ is not a Vedic or Sanskrit word, and neither of
course is the word ‘religion’. The Sanskrit word dharma can
mean ‘law’, ‘duty’, ‘way’, ‘path’, ‘teaching’, ‘religion’, ‘the
natural or divine order of things’ or ‘the underlying reality
supporting all things’ (from the Sanskrit root dhr – to hold,
make firm or support). For the purposes of his book I
translate the particular expression Sanatana Dharma as ‘The
Eternal Truth’ - a translation in line with the Brahmana
Upanishad:
"Verily, that which is Dharma is truth. Therefore they say of a man
who speaks truth, 'He speaks the Dharma,' or of a man who speaks
the Dharma, 'He speaks the Truth.' Verily, both these things are
the same."
- The schools of late Tantric and Advaitic philosophy
known collectively as ‘Kashmir Shaivism’ and united by
that supreme 10th century synthesist of Indian religious
thought and practice: Sri Acharya Abhinavagupta.