The word ‘dharma’ is a relatively minor word in Vedic times, appearing barely 70 times in Rig Veda, indicating something that is foundational and stable. The word for horses appears about 210 times, and the word for cows appears about 180 times.

In one hymn (Rig Veda 3.3.1), there is a suggestion of gods being aware of the eternal (sanata) framework of rituals that creates stability. This indicates a belief that the rituals were seen as eternal, even performed by the gods, and so you have to keep performing them to keep order and rhythm in the world. Later, ritual belief turned into a more intellectual idea.

The word ‘dharma’ and phrase ‘sanatan dharma’ became more important in the 2,000-year-old Mahabharata. By this time, even Buddhist and Jain scriptures were referring to their way (Buddha-Vachana, Jina-vani) as sanatan dharma which is the eternal path shown by the Buddhas and the Tirthankars.

Buddhists traditionally believed there was not one Buddha or one Jina. There were hundreds of sages who appeared from time to time and they shared the same knowledge, the eternal knowledge i.e., sanatan dharma.

Sanatan dharma cannot come from one person. It is not bound to history or culture. It is the realisation that nothing is permanent. Seasons change. People die. Plants die. Animals die. Cultures rise and fall. Even death is not permanent. Hence, rebirth is integral to sanatan dharma.

The difference between the Buddhist sanatan dharma and the Jain sanatan dharma was that the Buddhists did not believe in a soul. They did not believe anything was permanent, so there was not even a soul. But the Jains believed there was a soul inside the body. Both of them were united in the idea of monasticism.

This was opposed by the Brahmins, who also believed in sanatan dharma, but they felt that the point was not to be a hermit, but to be a householder. You have to marry, produce children, take responsibilities, do your social duties. There were many social duties. Many dharmas. There was Stri-dharma for women. There was a Raj-dharma for kings. There was Varna or Jati-dharma on caste, which was a man’s Sva-dharma, or personal contribution to society. There was Ashrama-dharma based on your age. And there was Apad-dharma, which is duty in times of emergency.

Sanatan Dharma basically is different from ideas that come from West Asia. Muslims, Christians, and Jews believe that God created the world. God established human laws from the beginning of time. These laws are communicated by messengers and therefore technically, even West Asian religions can claim to be eternal because it has begun from the start of time. So how are monotheistic religions of West Asia different from sanatan dharma of India?

It’s very simple. Sanatan dharma doesn’t believe in a creator god. At most, there is a god who ‘wakes’ up when creation begins and who ‘sleeps’ when creation ends. Essentially, there is no beginning, there is no end, there is no start, there is no finish. The world has always been like this, which means that all of us experience the same things over and over again, we all experience hunger, fear, insecurity, jealousy, anger, hatred. These are common things which never will change. Technology will never end these experiences. Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Agricultural Revolution, Industrial Revolution, Digital and AI Revolutions, do not change the flow of time, seasons, planets and stars. They pollute the air and sea, but have no impact on emotion. Newborns cry today at birth and seek their mothers as they did 10,000 years ago. Feminism does not change it. Patriarchy does not change it. Marxism has no impact on it. This awareness of the eternal unchanging nature of life is sanatan dharma. No one can control everything. There is no certainty in life. Everyone is filled with wonder and doubt. Even those who claim to know it all.

So these Indian models say, this is the way life is always going to be, no matter whether you’re rich or poor, powerful or powerless, uneducated. You cannot escape your body, you cannot escape your hunger. This is timeless. This is the eternal truth. And how to manage it? The paths differ. There is a monastic way, there is the householder way. It depends on who you are, what your social status is, what is the body you inherited: are you male, are you female? Are you privileged? Are you without privilege?

There are different solutions depending on what you are born into. The core sanatan dharma idea is that life will not change except technologically. We will continue to experience hunger, fear, frustration, we have to deal with idiots, we have to deal with intelligent people, and we have to live life filled with fantasies about our own value. Real growth will be personal and psychological. We can experience contentment but we can never pass it on. Seeing life as a problem to be solved is not sanatan dharma.