An Introduction to Sanatan Dharma-Shastra
Author Kedi Ganapati
✦ Table of Contents ✦
- PCO Job: ₹100 in My Hand!
- Practice ABCD in Finance Class
- Forgot Cheat Sheet But Got Guilt
- Exam Cheating: Mistake, Sin or Crime?
- Mistake to Mission
- Study of Economics
- Study of Dharma Shastra
- Study of Nyayashastra
- Study of Kamashastra
- Study of Darshanshastra (Philosophy)
- Study of Purana Shastra
- Study of Upanishad
- Study of Veda Shastra
- Study to Become a Sage
- Conclusion
PCO Job: ₹100 in My Hand!
I was 17 years old. I was studying Economics at Swami Vivekanand College. My college timing was from 12 PM to 6 PM, so doing a daytime job was impossible for me. I was searching for night work so I could take responsibility for the house financially, but I was not getting work anywhere.
One day I saw a pamphlet for a PCO operator job on a wall; I went for the interview. They told me I would get 500 rupees. I had to work at the booth from 7 in the evening till 10 at night. I became happy, I would get 500 rupees per day, now very soon we would become rich.
I used to go from Ghatkopar to Chembur college on a bicycle. In college I was the only one who came on a bicycle. College ended at 6 PM, so from there itself I used to go to work. The PCO booth was between Asalfa and Sakinaka. Whoever customer came to the booth to make calls, I used to collect the charges for their calls.
On the sixth day I found out that I would not get 500 per day but for the whole month. The very next day I left that job. For 7 days of work I got only 100 rupees.
Practice ABCD in
Finance Class
After college ended at 6 PM, I used to search for work. When I could not get work anywhere, I stopped searching for jobs and after coming home from college in the evening, I started helping my mother teach tuition classes to children. My mother used to teach students from class 1 to class 4, and I used to teach students from class 5 to class 7.
I had difficulty writing English. I used to write in very tiny letters, because of which teachers had difficulty reading it. My teacher’s name was Suman Multani. Teacher used to teach every student properly according to their capability. It felt like teacher had taken a very big vow that no matter how big an idiot someone was, she would make him a scholar.
I was the only student in the batch. She slapped me roughly on the face for not attending the class when she was giving the project brief, and I was daydreaming while watching girls outside the window.
One day Suman teacher asked all the children in the class, “Who has a 4-line notebook?” There was a girl in the class, her name was Meenakshi. Like me, she also used to teach school children tuition classes at her home. Meenakshi said, “Teacher, I have one.”
Teacher Suman gave me the 4-line notebook and gave me homework to write ABCD and 1 paragraph every day. Teacher Suman wanted to improve my English handwriting. My English handwriting was very dirty, because of that in 10th class I got only 35 marks out of 100 in English.
Every student in the class was only studying Finance, and I alone was practicing Finance and ABCD writing together. In Finance we were learning subjects like Profit and Loss Account, Balance Sheet, Trading Account, Banking, etc.
My English was weak, because of that I could not remember the English explanations of Accounts and Finance. But because my mathematics was good, I could solve mathematical questions very easily.
Forgot Cheat Sheet
But Got Guilt
I had never cheated in an exam even once in my life. For the first time, in the 11th class exam, I was feeling the need to cheat, because I was unable to remember even a single English sentence. I could easily solve mathematical formulas, but wherever I had to write the definition or explanation of a word in English, I could not write it. So for the first time I made a plan to cheat in the exam.
I had written all the necessary explanations behind my writing pad. As soon as I saw the question paper, my mind went blank. The entire question paper was in English. In nervousness I forgot where I had hidden the cheat sheet. I was searching my pant pockets, looking above and below the bench, looking around me — I could not find the cheat sheet anywhere. Then I started writing the answers to the mathematical questions. After writing the answers to all the mathematics questions, when I started playing with my writing pad, then I saw the cheat sheet behind the pad, and after that I wrote the answers to those questions where I had to write explanations.
I passed the exam with 66%. All the students in my class had passed with good marks. Teacher became suspicious of all the students. Teacher made everyone swear on their mother and said, “Swear on your mother and tell who all cheated?”
For the first time in my life, I took a false oath on my mother. At that time I was feeling fear, but that fear was not of getting hurt, that fear was of losing my respect. Till then I had never felt what the fear of losing respect feels like. For the first time I felt that I had some existence, I had my own respect.
Having my own respect and being afraid of losing it, this was a new experience for me. Before that nothing used to matter to me. Maybe because I got 66 marks in the exam, a feeling of respect had been born inside me.
At the age of 17, for the first time I was feeling a sense of respect. I had started feeling proud of myself, but the moment I took a false oath on my mother, I started feeling like I had committed some crime, and because of that guilty feeling I became afraid of losing my pride.
There is another mind inside me, his name is Ganesh. Ganesh is very knowledgeable. Ganesh has answers to all my questions. I did not want to get trapped in mental restlessness. So I decided to tell my confusion to Ganesh.
Exam Cheating
Mistake, Sin or Crime?
Kiran: “I passed the exam by cheating and along with that I took a false oath on my mother — have I committed some crime? Can there be any repentance for this?”
Ganesh: “Why did you want to pass the exam?”
Kiran: “What kind of question is this? To go to the next class, it is necessary for everyone to pass the exam.”
Ganesh: “Why do you want to go to the next class?”
For the first time, instead of answering my questions, Ganesh was continuously asking me questions. I understood, maybe I was asking some wrong question. I started thinking, where am I making a mistake, what question should I ask. I could not understand anything, so unknowingly I asked Ganesh;
Kiran: “Is cheating in an exam wrong or is it a crime?”
Ganesh: “The exam in which you have to cheat, in that exam passing or failing are equal. It becomes a crime when after cheating in the exam, you use the certificate of that exam to commit some crime. The day you think of cheating in an exam, that itself is your mistake.”
Kiran: “I did not understand anything, explain like a friend, you are talking like a teacher.”
Ganesh: “You are giving the exam of a doctor to become a doctor, not studying, you are cheating in the exam to pass and get a certificate. Till here, whatever you are doing is a mistake. But after getting the certificate, if you do medical job or business, that becomes a crime. Because of your incomplete studies, you will give laxative medicine to a cough patient, his cough will not stop, instead he will start coughing from both mouth and backside. On the strength of fake certificate you will play with the lives of others, because of you patients will become more sick instead of getting cured, this will not only be a crime, but you will commit a terrible sin.”
Kiran: “But I am not studying medicine, I am studying Finance.”
Ganesh: “If you pass Finance by cheating and make finance reports for some customer, then you may show loss as profit and profit as loss. A customer who is already in loss, you will show him in profit and make him pay lakhs in income tax, and he himself will not even know why he is filing income tax even after being in loss.”
Sometimes Ganesh gives such long speeches, those answers get fixed in the mind forever. I had understood that by cheating in the exam I had made a mistake. I wanted to correct my mistake.
Mistake to Mission
Kiran: “How can I correct my mistake?”
Ganesh: “A mistake is corrected when someone knows that he has to do the right thing, yet he still does the wrong thing. You yourself do not even know what the right thing is, then how will you correct your mistake?”
I gave up because I was already troubled, so for me what was right and what was wrong — I could not understand anything. I said to Ganesh, “I surrender before you, right now my mind is not working. You tell me yourself what is right and what is wrong.”
Ganesh: “Until we know where we are going to use the subject we are studying, till then studying that subject is wrong. That study causes economic and social damage. Until you know where you will use whatever you are studying, whether you pass that subject’s exam by cheating or without cheating — both are harmful for you, both are wrong for you.”
Kiran: “I have always heard that studying brings economic and social development. Then how can studying cause economic and social damage?”
Ganesh: “Your friend Sachin has a slipper shop. He knows that his whole life he is only going to run his shop. His 5 years of college study are not going to be useful for him at all. Still he will pay 5 years of college fees and take admission in college. For 5 years he will try to study subjects whose knowledge will not be useful even 1% in his life. He will waste his time studying to gain such knowledge which is not going to bring any change in his life. He will spend his money and time on knowledge which is of no use to him, this is economic and social damage.”
Kiran: “Whatever subject we learn, should we first know why we are studying that subject?”
Ganesh: “Yes, first know where you will use the subject you want to learn, then learn that subject — this is the basic mantra of knowledge. To gain knowledge of a subject and then never use that knowledge anywhere is injustice to that knowledge and injustice to yourself also. Therefore any subject should only be learned when we know why we need to learn that subject and when we will be able to use it after learning it.”
I had absolutely no idea why I was studying Economics. Everyone else was doing it, so I was also doing it. Where that study would be useful, I had absolutely no idea.
Kiran: “I do not know why I am studying Economics, and what should I actually study?”
Ganesh: “At the age of 12 you had taken a vow that when you grow up you will become a Rishi. Do you still want to become a Rishi and search for Dharma, or do you want to do something else?”
I remembered, I wanted to become a Rishi.
Kiran: “Yes, I want to become a Rishi. I want to study to become a Rishi.”
Ganesh: “Rishi of which subjects?”
I became shocked — can a Rishi who knows Dharma and God also have different subjects? I did not know anything.
Kiran: “What subjects does an all-knowing Rishi have?”
Ganesh: “Economics, Dharmashastra, Nyayashastra, Kamashastra, Darshanashastra, Puranashastra, Upanishads, and Vedas etc. are the 8 subjects of a Rishi.”
Kiran: “Which subject should I choose to become a Rishi?”
Ganesh: “Why do you want to become a Rishi?”
Kiran: “I have some questions related to my Dharma and God, for which I want real experience, and I want to discover deep knowledge of Dharma and God for this world.”
Ganesh: “The world needs deep knowledge of all subjects, then why do you not want to learn all subjects?”
Kiran: “Can a Rishi learn all subjects?”
Ganesh: “Yes, a Rishi learns all subjects.”
Now I became curious to know all the 8 subjects of a Rishi. I wanted to know the depth of all the subjects. I wanted to know which subject would be easier for me to learn.
Study of Economics
Kiran: "What is economics?"
Ganesh: "Researching and studying appropriate policies related to these subjects — finance, banking, investment, sales, marketing, service, manufacturing, farming — that is called economics."
Kiran: "Explain it like a friend, I don't get textbook stuff."
Ganesh: "Whatever work you do to earn money, how much money you should get in return for that work, whatever savings you do, where that should be invested, whatever you buy from the market, what the policy should be for fixing the right price of that thing — practicing this is economics."
Kiran: "What does a sage need economics for? Should a sage also do business?"
Ganesh: "A sage should write those formulas of economics by adopting which humanity remains intact in financial transactions — to understand those economic policies, learning economics is necessary."
Study of Dharma Shastra
Kiran: "What is dharmashastra?"
Ganesh: "Your life has a purpose, you didn't just randomly get born without a reason. Who are you? What is the reason for your birth? Why did you get born specifically on this earth? What are your rights? What is your responsibility? What are the rules of your physical and mental makeup? What do you actually need? What are you to give to this world? Why are others different from you? Who is it that is going to shape you? What is the law of this world and nature? Practicing all these questions is dharmashastra."
After knowing the subjects of dharmashastra I was stunned. I thought dharmashastra would mean worship and rituals, which worship to do when — all that stuff.
Study of Nyayashastra
Kiran: "What is Nyayashastra (Jurisprudence)?"
Ganesh: "Drafting a constitution to run the country with morality, making national laws so that nobody does inhumane acts in the country, and creating a penal code to punish those who commit injustice and crime in the country — practicing these 3 subjects, constitution, national law, and penal code, is jurisprudence."
Kiran: Does a sage also have to become a judge?
Ganesh: A sage doesn't need to become a judge, but he has to write jurisprudence to make judges aware of what is proper justice and what is improper justice. Without knowing the constitution and national law, nobody can deliver proper justice — because sometimes the constitution itself is the criminal, and sometimes certain criminal and casteist laws are written into national law specifically to commit crimes using the law's help.
Kiran: When the constitution itself is the criminal then how will justice happen? Who will fix it — I've heard that nothing is bigger than the constitution?
Ganesh: Bigger than the constitution is a patriot, is humanity. The constitution of any country can never be bigger than humanity and a patriot. So correcting the flaws of the constitution or replacing the constitution — that is the only option when the constitution itself becomes the criminal.
I was never taught any subject about constitution, national law, and penal code in commerce college. Just hearing the names of jurisprudence subjects started giving me fear.
Study of Kamashastra
Kiran: "What is Kamashastra?"
Ganesh: "There are various species of humans — such as male, female, transgender, etc. — all of them have different sexual desires. Certain parts of the human body increase sexual arousal and give sexual satisfaction. There are many sexual acts. There are many categories of sex. There are many proper and improper types of sex. Practicing all of this is Kamashastra."
Kiran: "Why does a sage need to acquire knowledge of sex? Will I also have to acquire knowledge of sex?"
Ganesh: "Sex is a necessary art for the completeness and liberation of human life. Due to not having proper knowledge of sex, some people consider their sexual desire to be a sin, and considering themselves to have complete ownership over their life partner, they commit immoral rape on them. To erase the misconceptions caused by sex and to give proper humanity-based knowledge of sex, a sage must have knowledge of sex. You too should experience sex and acquire knowledge of sex."
Hearing that I'll have to experience sex to gain knowledge of sex — I felt grief hearing this, also got excited, and also felt fear of embarrassment.
Kiran: "If society finds out that I had actual sex with someone to gain knowledge of sex, society will start rejecting me — then why would they read the scripture I write, why would they respect me, how will I be able to teach them knowledge of dharma? Then I can become a sex guru, how will I become a sage?"
Ganesh: "A sage doesn't become a sage to gain respect. Rather he becomes one to give society new knowledge and a new revolutionary direction. If you had sex and gained knowledge of sex and thinking about that nobody will accept you — that is their right. It is not necessary that everyone will accept you. What is necessary is how you study, how you acquire knowledge, and what new knowledge you give society by writing scripture. Don't start sitting around preparing to gain knowledge of sex right now. Your curiosity about sex is bothering me."
Kiran: "I was just asking. When should I study these subjects?"
Ganesh: Right now you haven't even properly started growing a moustache — the day you suddenly start styling your moustache or start shaving it, you'll get the answer to that yourself.
Study of Darshanshastra (Philosophy)
Kiran: "What is Darshan Shastra (Philosophy)?"
Ganesh: "The subjects that you cannot see with your eyes, but your intellect can understand the existence and nature of those subjects — practicing those subjects is philosophy. Like you can understand emotions but cannot see them, you can understand the thoughts running in your mind but cannot see them, you can experience the state and mood of your mind but cannot see them, you can understand the reason behind the different actions and reactions of all people but cannot see those reasons in their actions, you can understand the mystery of the changes coming in nature but cannot see those mysteries, you can experience the touch of God through devotional singing and worship but cannot see God. Whatever is not visible to the eyes but affects the living beings and matter that are visible — the study of that element is philosophy."
Kiran: I started feeling that there are more things in this world that are not visible to the eyes than what I see with my eyes. Am I half blind?
Ganesh: Can you see your own chest without a mirror?
Kiran: Yes, I can see my chest.
Ganesh: Can you see your own back without a mirror?
Kiran: No, I cannot see my back.
Ganesh: Congratulations, you are right, you are half blind. The whole world is half blind. That is why a sage needs to study philosophy — so that he can tell the world about those subjects which the world cannot see with its physical eyes.
There is so much in philosophy, I had no idea. I didn't even know what a philosophy book looks like.
Study of
Purana Shastra
Kiran: "What is Puranashastra?"
Ganesh: "After God descends on earth, he teaches humans various subjects of Sanatan Dharma through his autobiography — studying those autobiographies is Puranashastra. Like the autobiography of God Ram is Ramayana, the autobiography of God Krishna is Mahabharata, the autobiography of God Buddha is Buddhagatha, etc."
Kiran: How many Puranashastras are there and which Puranashastra should I read?
Ganesh: Puranashastras are man-made. Different sages write Puranas themselves based on the power of their devotion to their particular God. Some Puranas are dedicated to the stories of Bhagwan, some Puranas are dedicated to the stories of Ishwar, some Puranas are dedicated to sage ideology. The number of Puranas can increase or decrease with time.
Kiran: What is Bhagwan Purana, Ishwar Purana, and Rishi Purana?
Ganesh: The Purana in which matters of dharma are written along with the real life experiences of Bhagwan — the saga of how Bhagwan came to earth and re-established Sanatan Dharma — that is Bhagwan Purana. Bhagavat Gita, Mahabharata, and Ramayana etc. are Bhagwan Puranas.
Kiran: What is Ishwar Purana?
Ganesh: The Purana in which matters of dharma are written along with the imaginary and symbolic life experiences of Ishwar — that is called Ishwar Purana. Ganesh Purana, Bhagavat Purana, Shiva Purana etc. are Ishwar Puranas.
Kiran: What does imaginary and symbolic life experiences of Ishwar mean? Why not their real life experiences?
Ganesh: Ishwar and Bhagwan are both one, yet there is a difference in their form. Bhagwan can enter a human body, but Ishwar cannot enter a human body. Ishwar is omnipresent, therefore he does not have a real life the way Bhagwan has a real life. So to depict the life of Ishwar, imaginary and symbolic stories are created. The purpose of which is like serving dharma-knowledge with a tadka on top.
Kiran: What is Rishi Purana?
Ganesh: Many awakened sages, to write about their experience and attainment regarding Bhagwan and Ishwar, present their ideology through the stories of Bhagwan and Ishwar — the scripture in which that ideology is written is Rishi Purana.
Kiran: What is the way to identify a Rishi Purana — how to know that this is a Rishi Purana and not a Bhagwan Purana or Ishwar Purana?
Ganesh: The Purana that has a sage's name in front of it is a Rishi Purana. The day you become a sage and write a Purana, that Purana's name will be Kiran Purana.
Kiran: Puranas will have imaginary, symbolic, and sages' own experiences — so Puranas can also have lies, imagination is also false after all.
Ganesh: Yes. Only a Bhagwan Purana written by some sage in the presence of Bhagwan himself, or written by Bhagwan Ganesh himself, or a Rishi Purana written by that sage himself — only those can be true. Any Purana written by another sage or any other writer cannot be true. There is a full possibility of more than 90% lies in it.
Kiran: When there is a possibility of 90% lies in a Purana, then why read Puranas?
Ganesh: Puranas should be read not for knowledge but for entertainment and to build up a stock of dharma-related vocabulary.
Study of Upanishad
Kiran: "What is Upanishad?"
Ganesh: "Some sages don't write any new shastra, but they write certain texts to give their personal opinion and commentary on the shastras or books that have already been written — those texts are called Upanishads."
Kiran: "Why is it necessary to read an Upanishad where someone has commented on someone else's text? When the original text is available?"
Ganesh: "Reading Upanishads shows you both the mentality of the original sage and the mentality of the reader influenced by that text — that is why studying Upanishads becomes necessary to know the different mentalities of different sages."
Kiran: If I don't know the mentalities of different sages and focus only on one mentality, can I not get knowledge?
Ganesh: If you focus only on one mentality your whole life, your whole life you will only see the elephant's ass. The elephant's belly, horns, ears, its massive form, and most importantly the beauty of the pond where the elephant is drinking water — you won't be able to see that. The incredible sight of the forest where the elephant roamed its whole life — you won't be able to see that. Your whole life, hanging from the elephant's tail, you will only be able to see the elephant's backside.
Study of Veda Shastra
Kiran: "What is Veda?"
Ganesh: "How various cultural rituals and customs should be followed, what is the science and history behind those customs, what effect performing those customs has on a person's individual life and society, which mantras should be chanted to perform those customs — practicing all these subjects is Veda."
Kiran: I have heard of four Vedas, should I read all four of those Vedas?
Ganesh: Those four Vedas are of no use to you. Your mother tongue is Marathi and the language of the Vedas you are talking about is Sanskrit.
Kiran: I didn't understand. People have been saying since time immemorial that those Vedas were composed by Brahma — those Vedas are of no use to me?
Ganesh: You heard right. In this world there are 4 lakh breeds of humans, and 4 lakh types of throats, therefore there are 4 lakh types of human languages. Every bhajan kirtan written in every language is itself a Veda. Vedas are not composed by God or Brahma — they are composed by devotees and sages. Since your mother tongue is Marathi, the bhajan kirtans composed in Marathi, or the bhajan kirtans composed in other languages that you understand both the language and the meaning of — only those bhajan kirtans are Veda for you.
Kiran: I don't enjoy listening to bhajan kirtan, I am an atheist. Is there any other option — I like meditating while lying down alone, I don't like worship and rituals.
Ganesh: Out of the qualities necessary to become a sage, you have only 10-12% of those qualities. You will first have to develop your qualities, only then will you be able to understand Veda and compose a new Veda yourself by writing bhajan kirtans.
Kiran: I have noticed that nobody performs worship the same way, everyone has a different way of doing worship — why is that?
Ganesh: This is the very rule of Veda. Veda is always composed according to one's own mother tongue and civilization. Nobody should follow someone else's civilization — rather, by following their own civilization, they should write Vedas in their own language.
Study to Become a Sage
Kiran: "Right now I am knowingly or unknowingly studying economics — is what I am studying, am I studying it correctly?"
Ganesh: "A sage becomes a sage only when he himself discovers some knowledge. What you are reading right now is someone else's experience and knowledge. For you it is only information. The real study of economics will happen when you work in different fields, learn the difference between work and conduct, learn business planning — that will be your real study."
Kiran: "If I work in different fields and study economics that way, will my work be done then? After that what will I have to do, what will my duty be?"
Ganesh: "A sage's duty is to give society that knowledge which is not available in society, and which society cannot search for by abandoning its family responsibilities. When a sage acquires such profound knowledge, only then does his life become meaningful. The day you acquire proper knowledge, to return that knowledge to society you will have to write dharmashastra — that will be your duty."
Conclusion
That day I understood the real purpose of studying and examinations. Now I didn't want to study to pass exams, but I wanted to study to find and give society that profound knowledge of economics. I didn't want to just read only 2 books for studying — I wanted to find the knowledge that was missing in those books. Until yesterday I was trying to study to pass exams. Now I wanted to study to provide society with higher knowledge for learning.
When in 2021 I went to Geeta Bhawan Rishikesh wearing a sadhu's dhoti to experience the life of a renunciant for a few days, I became aware of the 6 shastras and 12 sections of Sanatan Dharma.
Sanak, Sanatan, Sanandan, Sanat, Veda, and Purana — these are the 6 shastras of Sanatan Dharma.
Kamashastra is one section of Sanak shastra.
Devshashtra and Dharmashastra are the 2 sections of Sanatan.
Arthashastra, Rashtrashastra, and Nyayashastra are the 3 sections of Sanandan.
Darshanshastra, Khagolshastra, Jyotish Shastra, and Bhautik Shastra are the 4 sections of Sanat.
Rituals and customs and Karmakand are the 2 sections of Veda.
Bhagwan Purana and Ishwar Purana are the 2 sections of Purana.
Rishi Purana and Upanishad are not Sanatan scriptures, but they are a medium to easily understand Sanatan Dharma.
Note: This content represents a chapter of Kedi Purana, a 64-chapter work authored by Kedi Ganapati. Kedi Purana is a modern Purana of the present and final Kaliyuga.
