eternal. We have an intimate relationship with the Lord, and we are qualitatively equal to the Lord. The transcendental abode is also eternal. The association of the Lord and the living entities in the transcendental abode is the ultimate aim of human life.
The Lord is so kind to the living entities because the living entities all have a claim to being sons of the Lord. The Lord says that, of every type of living being, whatever it may be, He is the father. The Lord wishes to reclaim all these souls, to have them back in the eternal sky. The entities can be restored to the eternal sky, once they are free of illusion. So, He comes Himself, in different incarnations, or else He sends His confidential servants as son or as teachers, to reclaim the conditioned souls. This reclaiming is no sectarian religious process. It is the eternal function of the eternal living entities in relationship with the eternal Lord.
Sanatana-dharma  means the eternal religion. This word eternal is explained as something without beginning and without any end. We must accept it like this. The word religion is somewhat different from  sanatana-dharma . It means faith, and faith may change from one object to another. But  sanatana-dharma  means that which cannot be changed. Liquidity cannot be taken from water. Heat cannot be taken from fire. Similarly,  sanatana-dharma  cannot be taken from the living entities. We must find out the eternal function of the eternal living entities, in order to know what  sanatana-dharma  is.  Ramanujacarya  says that this has no beginning and no end. Some may feel that this is a somewhat sectarian concept, but if we look deeper, we will see that  sanatana-dharma  is the business of all the people of the world—nay, of all the living entities in the universe.
Now a particular religious faith may have some beginning in the history of human society, but  sanatana-dharma  lies outside of history, for it belongs to the living beings who have no birth and who never die. They continue to live after the destruction of the material body, just as they lived before its formation.
Let us try to understand this eternal religion from the Sanskrit root word for dharma. This word  root ,  dhr , means to sustain. Therefore,  dharma  is that quality which remains always and which cannot be taken away. When we speak of fire, it is concluded that light and heat will be there. Otherwise we cannot call it fire. In a similar way, we must find the constant companion of the living being. That eternal part or quality is his religion.