The Dharma Manifesto
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[11] History of Greek Culture (New York: Ungar, 1963), p. 326.
[12] Hypatia was the leader of the Platonist school in Alexandria, and one of the very last pagan (Dharma) philosophers in what was quickly becoming a newly Christianized Egypt. This courageous and brilliant woman was tortured to death — her skin scraped off her living body — by a rabid mob of Christians. Her murder at the hands of fanatical Abrahamists marked the final waning of Classical Antiquity. The quotation is from Sandy Donovan, Hypatia: Mathematician, Inventor, and Philosopher (Minneapolis: Compass Point Books, 2008), p. 48.
[13] Thus, many of the original followers of Jesus were derogatorily called “Gnostics” by their later, spiritually corrupted Christian opponents.
[14] One of several early Christian theologians to have rejected the god of the Old Testament was Marcion of Sinope (85 CE–160 CE). He correctly understood that the imposter deity of the Old Testament (Yahweh) was a finite, nefarious entity that was ultimately subservient to the true God spoken of by Jesus. On his account, Yahweh was no more than the Demiurge responsible for the creation of the material universe, who had later rebelled against the true God. Thus, for Marcion, Yahweh was synonymous with Satan. This is the explanation for why the god of the Old Testament is clearly a vengeful and hateful being, whereas the God of the Gospels is loving and benevolent. The god Yahweh of the Old Testament and the God of Jesus are two distinct and separate beings, the former evil and the latter good. The Dharma Nation movement agrees with this assessment.
[15] In the Gospel of the Ebionites, for example, Jesus is credited with saying: “I am come to end the sacrifices and feasts of blood; and if ye cease not offering and eating of flesh and blood, the wrath of God shall not cease from you; even as it came to your fathers in the wilderness, who lusted for flesh, and did sat to their content, and were filled with rottenness, and the plague consumed them.” (Numbers, 11:32–34)
[16] One of the most famous early Christian theologians known to have openly taught the truth of reincarnation was Origen of Alexandria (183–253 CE).
[17] Jesus himself was clearly not an Abrahamist in any manner other than having been situated in an Abrahamist cultural context by the circumstances of his birth in the Abrahamist predominant Levant. In the Gospel of John 8:58, Jesus himself is attributed with having stated that “Before Abraham was, I am.”
[18] There are quite literally hundreds of quotes found directly in both the Qur’an and the Hadith (sayings of Muhammad) vociferously extolling Muslims to kill all those who disagree with Islam. For example, “Fight them until all opposition ends and all submit to Allah.” (Qur’an 8:39) “Fight and kill the disbelievers wherever you find them, take them captive, harass them, lie in wait and ambush them using every stratagem of war.” (Qur’an 9:5) “Fight those who do not believe until they all surrender, paying the protective tax in submission.” (Qur’an 9:29) “Fight the unbelievers around you, and let them find harshness in you.” (Qur’an: 9:123)
[19] “Men have authority over women because Allah has made the one superior to the other, and because they spend their wealth to maintain them. Good women are obedient. They guard their unseen parts because Allah has guarded them. As for those from whom you fear disobedience, admonish them and forsake them in beds apart, and beat them.” (Qur’an 4:34)
[20] This entire story is recorded in the Qur’an itself (Qur’an: 2:142–145)
[21] From a vyakarana, or Vedic grammarian, understanding, languages that do not stress the importance of vowels, and are comprised primarily of consonants, are considered to be barbaric and ugly. This is due, not to a base sense of xenophobic prejudice, but to the fact that the vowel sounds represent the direct shakti of the word (which is the basis of the aesthetic of sound), while the consonants represent the mere conduit of the shakti. It is for this reason that “a” tends to be the first letter of many languages (interestingly, including even the Semitic languages, i.e., the aleph/alif), that the sound a-u-m-(turiya) is the cosmogonical sound par excellence, why a vowel must exist as the seed element of even seed mantras, and why they consist of the first sounds uttered by human babies. Being a work that is an accounting of Vedic political theory, it is important to distinguish the vyakarana understanding of what constitutes a language proper versus an aesthetically displeasing language.
[22] Which was, on the face of it, merely another ego-driven manifestation of what I have termed the psychological defect of temporal-centrism, as defined previously.
[23] Neue Rheinische Zeitung (May 18, 1849), cited in Thomas Sowell, Marxism: Philosophy and Economics (New York: Morrow, 1985), p. 182.
[24] Peter’s Quotations: Ideas for Our Time (New York: Morrow, 1977), p. 44.
[25] The Works of Joseph de Maistre, ed. by Jack Lively (New York: Schocken Books, 1971), p. 194.
[26] While most modern atheists will at least feign a modicum of allegiance to a minimal standard of morality for appearance’s sake, the historical Charvakin atheists of ancient South Asian philosophy are quite blunt in their self-pronounced motivations for rejecting spirituality. Brihaspati, the most important of the Charvakin philosophers, is quoted as stating, “While life endures, let life be spent in ease and merriment. Let a man borrow money from all his friends, and feast on melted butter.” (From Madhava Acharya’s The Sarva-Darsana-Samgraha, or Review of the Different Systems of Hindu Philosophy, quoted in Sir Monier-Williams, Indian Wisdom, or Examples of the Religious, Philosophical and Ethical Doctrines of the Hindus [London: Allen, 1875], pp. 120–122.) Thus, the psychosis of atheism is ultimately rooted in, quite literally, an inelegantly expressed philosophy of eat, drink and be merry!
[27] Dwight Goddard, Buddha, Truth and Brotherhood (Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing, 2003), p. 121.
[28] The most well-organized expression of Luciferianism for the last several hundred years has been the Freemasonry movement. Albert Pike (1809–1891), one of the most influential Freemasons in American history, wrote the following: “Lucifer, the Son of Morning! Is it he who bears the Light, and with its splendors intolerable blinds feeble, sensual, or selfish Souls? Doubt it not!” (Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry [Charleston, 1871], p. 321)
[29] It has been argued by many over the years that the god of Judaism, Pauline Christianity and Islam is in actuality not the Supreme Absolute, but merely a powerfully evil demonic being. It has also been academically documented that Karl Marx wrote several poems in his life praising the personage of Satan. For example, in his poem “The Fiddler,” which he dedicated to his father, Marx wrote: “See this sword? The prince of darkness sold it to me.” And, even more chillingly: “With Satan I have struck my deal, he chalks the signs, beats time for me. I play the death march fast and free.” Though followers of the Natural Law do not acknowledge the existence of Satan, the salient point to keep in mind is that Marx certainly did!
[30] The very first inklings of a “Satan” personage was prefigured in the dualist teachings of Zarathustra (circa second millennium BCE), the founder of Zoroastrianism, which was in turn a remodeled branch of the original Vedic religion of ancient Persia. We find in Zoroastrianism the first notion of there being two competing gods, one good (Ahura Mazda) and one evil (Angra Mainyu).
[31] It is philosophically untenable to posit the existence of two or more omnicompetent beings. Omnicompetence designates the ability to perform any task to an infinitely capable degree. Thus, an omnicompetent being is by definition omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent, all-good, etc. The existence of multiple omnicompetent beings is an impossibility, since the omniscience of one would negate the omnipotence of the other, and the omnipotence of one would negate the omniscience of the other. In other words, for Omnicompetent Being 1 to be omnipotent would mea
n that this being would necessarily possess the ability to not allow His mind to be known by another. Simultaneously, however, for Omnicompetent Being 2 to be omniscient would mean that He cannot but know the full mind of Omnicompetent Being 1. Thus, a multiplicity of omnicompetent beings would lead to either a lack of omnipotence or a lack of omniscience in them both. This renders both beings not omnicompetent. The logical conclusion is that there can only be one omnicompetent being in existence, rather than a good God and an evil Satan.
[32] “Novels on the Great War,” Illustrated London News, April 19, 1930.
[33] Subjective relativism is often asserted in common conversation by such intellectually vacuous queries and statements as “Who gets to decide what’s right and wrong!?”; “Who says we shouldn’t be doing x!?”; “Who gets to make the decision about x!?; “That’s just your opinion!” and so on ad nauseum.
[34] Srimad Bhagavatam, Canto 4, Part 2 (New York: Bhaktivedanta Book Trust), p. 644.
4. HISTORICAL AND CONTEMPORARY CONDITIONS
The Crisis of Modernity
“A wise man should never go into a country where there are no means of earning one’s livelihood, where people have no dread of anybody, have no sense of shame, no intelligence, or a charitable disposition.”
Chanakya Pandita[1]
The world has apparently gone insane. It is no exaggeration to state that we are living in some of the most troubling times in recent memory. This is especially the case in America.
Despite being the wealthiest and arguably most powerful nation the world has ever known, Americans today are experiencing a collective state of pessimism about the future that has not been known since at least the Great Depression, if not as long ago as the Civil War. Unemployment is at an all-time high; gas prices are rising dramatically; the housing market has severely crashed; food and commodity prices are now going up; we are experiencing severe, record-breaking floods, tornadoes and other natural disasters throughout the nation; we have completely lost faith in all of our political leaders; American Christians have lost trust in their priests and pastors; it is now an undebatable fact that our culture has been purposefully and systematically infested with degeneracy, moral ugliness and a trash-laden culture by a secretive cabal of powerful elites who control our nation (and much of the world) from behind the scenes. We are in a crisis.
The only truly pertinent questions, however, are: what are the factual roots of the current economic and psychological crisis that we are facing? And more, what is its solution?
America seems to be hopelessly adrift. On the surface level, the peripheral symptoms of this crisis point to dire economic, social, political, and even environmental problems. The deeper problem, however, is one of a decades-long, continually increasing existential angst in the hearts and the minds of the people, even in the midst of an artificially constructed culture that is exclusively devoted to a seemingly unending commercial frenzy and entertainment-fueled escapism, as well as the rabid pursuit of self-pleasure at the expense of self-realization.
America has been a wealthy nation economically, but an impoverished nation spiritually. And now, more than at any other time in her history, the people are beginning to experience the dire cost of living a hedonistic “high life” devoid of a life of high spiritual aspirations. A life devoid of Dharma — or the natural spiritual way — is a life that is doomed to be lived without peace. And without peace, who can be happy?
Times of crisis, however, are often also times of tremendous opportunity. They are a gift from God meant to help us contemplate the deeper meaning of our lives, and to reorder our lives in accordance with His will and with His Dharma. Despite the troubling times we may presently find ourselves in, we are to never give in to pessimism. We must never lose hope. Let us instead use these dangerous times to reassess what is truly of importance to us in the bigger, spiritual picture.
This is a time to increase our spiritual practice with even more dedication and earnestness, to meditate each day with more regularity and conviction, to deepen our devotion toward God and continue to open our hearts to His grace, to live an even healthier lifestyle and to embrace all the benefits to body, mind and spirit that the path of yoga has to offer us. This is a precious time to prepare ourselves in every aspect of our being for whatever the future may hold.
Let us re-embrace an ideal spiritual culture wherein our material needs are all fulfilled, but without needlessly neglecting the quintessential spiritual dimension of life. Moreover, let us also couple our own spiritual pursuit with a dedication to work actively in our current society to change America, or whichever society we are living in, for the better. We are to take the inner realization and strength given to us by our spiritual practice, and use that empowerment to then change the world around us for the better. Such a balanced approach to life is precisely what the concept of Dharma is designed to offer us.
Imagine, if you will, a world in which both abundant prosperity and inner spiritual fulfillment can be simultaneously enjoyed by all living beings, a world in which both social justice and social liberty can coexist without one having to artificially place limits on the other, a world in which children can have good reason to hope and parents can have good reason to be secure in the future of their children. Such is the vision of Dharma. As The Dharma Manifesto has hopefully shown thus far, the only alternative to such a Dharma vision is to succumb to a nihilistic nightmare. May God grant us the wisdom to embrace the vision that Dharma has to offer us.
An Age in Transition
The Dharma Nationalist analysis of the historical cycles that our world continuously undergoes is very Spenglerian and Evolian in spirit. It is predicated upon the ancient arya (noble) concept of Yugas, or the great cycle of ages,[2] that proceed in a very similar way to the natural cycles that Spengler described in his groundbreaking work, The Decline of the West.[3] According to all ancient Dharma literature, we are currently living in the era known as the Kali Yuga, the very worst, and most spiritually and culturally decadent of ages.[4] As our current demonic “civilization” comes to a close, according to this Yuga principle, we will see the rebirth of an age of arya excellence and healthy civilizational expansion.
As the current, distorted decadence comes to an end, and a new, radiant Dharma civilization is reborn, this is a time, not for mourning, but for celebration...and for preparation.
The Two Revolutions
Beginning during the time in history roughly corresponding with the woefully misnamed “Enlightenment” era (circa 1701–1815), the world has experienced a radical re-shifting of organic values, culture, politics, attitude and overall worldview. Reality itself, one could say, has been fundamentally altered within this current era. During this period, the world has gone from being a realm in which transcendent spiritual values constituted the primary source of all ordering principles in civil society, to a world in which an interlacing set of primarily materialist, humanist, secular and hedonistic anti-values rapidly became the ordering principle of overriding importance.
During the antipodally misnamed “Age of Enlightenment” era, the world witnessed two separate revolutions against tyrannical royal regimes that, while seeming to share parallel historical roots, were in actuality motivated by very different forces, and that would lead to two radically dissimilar outcomes. These were the American Revolution (1776) and the French Revolution (1789). Both revolutions were long-building reactions to monarchical corruption; both were inspired by the post-Christian philosophical milieu that was the hallmark of the Enlightenment era;[5] both changed the face of the Earth as we know it. Here, however, the parallels between the two revolutions end, for the difference between the two revolutions are vast and unbridgeable.
The American Revolution was inspired by a tolerant mindset, a philosophically-oriented idealism, and a decidedly post-Church-dominated form of populist religious piety. It was a
revolution, the immediate aftereffects of which included a stable, decentralized, well-ordered and representative form of republicanism that naturally militated away from overly-intrusive statism. The central philosophical foundations of the American Revolution included such high-thinking principles as liberty, autonomy, self-reliance, fairness, justice, independence, ingenuity, a healthy work ethic, exploration, land reclamation, personal and civic responsibility, family values, patriotism, charity, privacy, religious freedom, ruralism, cultivation of farming, common sense, and a deep and abiding sense of spirituality. These are all values that Dharma Nationalism fully agrees with.
After the American Revolution was victorious, no one was stood against a wall and shot as “enemies of the revolution.” No one was guillotined. Our former oppressors were not perpetually demonized. We won our revolution, and then moved on, doing our best as a people to thereafter live in accordance with the principles for which our patriots bravely gave their lives — even if our successive government administrations rarely upheld these principles, and in recent decades have more often than not gone as far as to betray them outright. It is for all the above positive reasons that the American Revolution’s success served as a model for similar revolutions throughout the world for almost two centuries afterwards. It is also why the American Constitution remains the most copied and emulated constitution in the world. It was one of the very few revolutions in world history that actually seemed to succeed.