Hinduism.....gave itself no name, because it set itself no sectarian limits; it claimed no universal adhesion, asserted no sole infallible dogma, set up no single narrow path or gate of salvation; it was less a creed or cult than a continuously enlarging tradition of the God ward endeavor of the human spirit. An immense many-sided and many staged provision for a spiritual self-building and self-finding, it had some right to speak of itself by the only name it knew, the eternal religion, Sanātana Dharma....

- Sri Aurobindo

The history of the Indian civilization is old and mysterious, but it lives on through its Dhārmic traditions. Dharma in Samskrta means one's highest innate duty encoded into one's being by the eternal natural laws of existence. Since the word Dharma has no equivalent in English, it has often been misinterpreted as "religion".

Sanātana Dharma embodies some of the world's oldest philosophies, sciences, technologies and spiritual practices. It comprises of a large body of texts categorized into Sruti ("revealed") and Smriti ("remembered"). It has no single prophet, no single scripture, and not any one set of religious rites.

Its sister Dharmic traditions viz. Sikh, Jain and Bauddha dharmas share the concepts of karma and rebirth, mantras such as Om, emphasis on meditation or Dhyāna, love of environment and wildlife, benefits of a vegatarian diet, and the spirit of universal co-existence. However they differ in that they do not endorse Sanātana Dharma's Varna system of division of labor or elaborate Vedic rituals and sacrifices.