What is the Right Path for India: Secularism or

Spirituality? – M.S. Srinivasan

(On the occasion of India’s Independence day on 15 th August)

There is almost a consensus among modern intelligentsia that secularism as it was

conceived and practiced in the West is the best ideology for democratic governance.
This secular ideology has its positive features and made important contribution for the
progress of western nations. But is this the right political ideology for India with her
deep rooted spiritual heritage at the very origin of the nation?

The Foundations of Indian Civilisation

To answer this question we have to go back to some of the unique features of ancient
Indian spirituality which gave birth to the Indian civilisation and what is called
“Hinduism.”

In India, whenever someone talks about the need for moulding the nation according to
great spiritual vision of the founders and seers of Indian civilisation, the secular pundits
and politicians raise a big hue and cry, calling it “Communalism, majoritism or “Hindu
cultural nationalism.” They argue that such an approach will destroy the “secular
pluralism” of Indian society and lead to the suppression and oppression of those who
belong to the minority religions. But ancient Indian Kings, especially the great emperors
like Chandragupta, Vikramadithya, Harshvardhana, Krishnadevaraya, Asoka, who
made a conscious attempt to build a society, polity and culture based on the moral and
spiritual values of Indian seers and sages, displayed unparalleled tolerance to minority
religious communion like the Buddhist, Jains, Sikhs, Zoroastrians.

In many of these kingdoms, human society as a whole reached a balanced development

where economic prosperity, efficient organisation, intellectual vigour, cultural
creativity, ethical sensitivity, religious efflorescence and spiritual seeking went together
harmoniously without any conflict. For example a team of American historians make
the following observations on the empire of Vikramadithya.

“Fa Hsien who had no reason to bestow unmerited praise (he does not even mention
the name of the great king Vikramaditya) described the government as just and
beneficent. The roads, he indicated, were well maintained, brigandage was rare, taxes
were relatively light and capital punishment was unknown. He testified to a generally
high level of prosperity, social contentment and intellectual vitality when the nations
of Western Europe were sinking into semi-barbarism.”

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Another important point to note here is that what is called as “Hinduism” is not like
other organised world- religions. Hinduism is not a religion founded by a single prophet
with a single inviolable dogma; it is a congeries of religious philosophies and practices
held together by a systems of shared values and ideals. In its origin, Hinduism emerged
out of a collective spiritual quest of many generations of seers and sages.

There are four unique features of this Indian spiritual and its discoveries, which make
them tremendously relevant not only for the future of India but also for humanity as a
whole.

First, they are not sectarian or dogmatic but something universal, not speculative or
philosophical, but experiential and practical. They point towards not to a “One God”
distinct or apposed to other gods, but to a Oneness of Being, Life and Consciousness,
where we can feel our unity with all humanity, earth and the entire creation as part of
our own self, not merely as an idea or a feeling, but as an inner experience or
realisation, as concretely as we feel our body as our own self. And the most important
part of this discovery is that it comes with a practical dimension in the form of the
Science of Yoga, which provides innumerable paths, disciplines and practices to arrive
at this experience or realisation of unity.

Second, when these Indian discoveries are put into practice, individually and
collectively, they can lead to the inner transformation of human consciousness, which
when expressed in the outer life can bring about a transformation of human life.

Third, they are scientific, experimental, which means they can be rediscovered, and re-
experienced. They are in fact rediscovered by a subsequent generation of seers which
continues up to this day, in the experiences and realisations of modern Indian seers and
saints like Sri Aurobindo, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Ramana Maharishi, Mata
Amritanandamayi, and Ma Anandamayi. This is now beginning to be recognised by
many Western thinkers. For example Ken Wilber, a well-known exponent of
transpersonal psychology, states:

“These eastern disciplines such as Vedantha or Zen are not theories, philosophies,
psychologies or religion,—rather they are primarily a set of experiments in the strictly
scientific sense—-To refuse to examine the result of such a scientific experiment
because one dislikes the data so obtained is in itself a most unscientific gesture.”

Fourth, Indian spirituality fostered a rich diversity in thought, art and literature and
encouraged free scientific, philosophical and spiritual enquiry. The spiritual discoveries
of Indian seer, sages and yogis expressed itself at the intellectual level in the form of six
systems of philosophy which includes logic, science, cosmology and yoga.

Free enquiry, expression and experimentation and vigorous debate are part of the
culture of Indian spirituality. Those religions and philosophies like Buddhism, Jainism
and atheistic cult of Cavvaka which questioned or rejected the dominant Vedic

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paradigm were given full freedom to propagate their ideas, practice their cults and build
their institutions. All the systems of philosophy intensely debated with each other in the
cultural life.

At the yogic domain, hundreds of folks and methods are attempted, tested and
experimental, including some radical innovations like the left hand path of the Tantra,
to attain that higher consciousness beyond the human mind.

Western Secularism and Indian Spirituality

This brings us to some important questions on the concept of secularism. In Europe,

the philosophy of secularism brought freedom of thought to the social and religious life.
Before the advent of the secular ideal, there was no religious or cultural liberty in
Europe. There was only the imposition of a single religion and its beliefs on the whole
society by the Church.

The secular thought brought the idea of religious freedom which means the freedom for
each individual to practise the religion of his choice. Here we have to understand
clearly the meaning of the word “secularism” as it is understood and practiced with
potent creative force in the West, in contrast to the totally uncreative way in which it is
misunderstood and misapplied by the modern politicians in contemporary India.
Secularism, as it is understood by early European thinkers who conceived the idea, is
not atheism or anti-religion but neutrality of the State to the religious beliefs of the
people, freedom for each individual to pursue the religion of his choice and equal
respect for all religions. Another important feature of Western secularism is that
religion should be kept apart from politics or in other words religion and politics should
be kept in two separate compartments and should not be allowed to mix with each
other.

Let us now examine these tenets of secularism from a higher spiritual perspective. If
religion means dogmas of organised religion and the religions beliefs of people then
neutrality of the state to religion and keeping religion and politics separate are
admirable principles. But is it necessary for the state to be neutral to a universal and
uplifting spiritual vision like that of ancient and modern Indian seers which can elevate
human life to a higher dimension of consciousness and life? What is wrong if a state
actively and consciously sponsors such a vision and strives to mould the nation
according to this vision, especially when this vision is the very source and foundation of
the Nation, rooted in history, culture, civilisation, consciousness and destiny of the
Nation?

Indian civilisation was created and built on the foundations of such a spiritual vision.
Spirituality is the very soul and genius of India. In the western civilisation spirituality is
an exotic flower which blooms occasionally in a secular soil. But in India spirituality is
the very soil and ground of her civilisation. The spiritual vision which gave birth to the
Indian civilisation makes no distinction between the secular and spiritual life; it saw
with an inner gaze that there is deeper spiritual truth behind our every human activity—

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our business and politics, art and science, society and culture. One of the aims of this
spiritual paradigm of life is to awaken this deeper truth, and live or govern every activity
of our life with a clear understanding of this deeper and higher truth of the Spirit.

We, in India can progress better and faster, if we can draw our inspiration in every
activity of our life, private and public, secular and religious, openly and unhesitatingly
from our spiritual heritage. For example in science, the great Indian scientist, Jagdish
Chandra Bose, who demonstrated the presence of life in the stone and the plant, drew
his inspiration from the vedanthic and tantric philosophy.

Our mathematical genius Srinivasa Ramanujam said that he received his equations in a
dream from a Goddess who is his chosen deity. Some Nobel laureates in physics like
Erwin Schrödinger and Heisenberg found a deeper meaning in the discoveries of new
physics in the light of Indian insights on the unity of all life. Albert Einstein said to an
Indian scientist that he drew his inspiration from the Bhagavad Gita. Charles H.
Townes, a Nobel laureate in physics and the inventor of Laser said “Understanding the
universe I think is somewhat parallel to our understanding of our relations with the
creator. In this search for truth, it will be certainly beneficial to incorporate the spiritual
principles in their scientific works”

We have in India a spiritual treasure which can lead to a deeper and better
understanding of the truths, laws and principles of life, Nature and the universe and a
great science which can transform our life.

If we can convert this great and unbroken spiritual heritage of our nation into a living
force of inspiration for every activity of our individual and collective life, it will not only
lead to a lasting regeneration of our nation but also it will make India into a spiritual
guru of the world, leading humanity and earth towards their spiritual destiny.

So the western concept of secularism which is indifferent or neutral to spirituality is not

suitable to India because it is not conducive to the Indian swadharma and will not be of
much help in bringing forward the unique spiritual potentialities and genius of India.
For the regeneration of India we have to build a new system of polity, government,
management, education and culture based on the spiritual vision and values of our
civilisation.

An Indian government which wants to build India on the foundations of her unique
spiritual heritage and genius cannot be neutral to religion and spirituality. It must
actively and consciously strive to awaken the inherent spirituality in the consciousness
of the nation and its people, through a system of education which leads to mental,
moral and spiritual development of the people. An important part of this education is to
awaken the Indian masses to the deeper truth of religion and the true meaning of
spirituality or in other words right understanding of religion and spirituality has to be
an integral part of Indian curriculum, which must include the following elements:

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 1. The true meaning of religion and the difference between traditional or organised
religion and the true spirituality.
2. The main teachings of all major religions.
3. Teachings of the great scriptures of Indian religion like Upanishads, Bhagavad
Gita and Dhammapada.
4. Teaching of modern Indian spiritual masters and their new contribution.
5. Principles and Practices of Yoga

The most important is the fifth, Yoga, which means the principles and practices of the
inner disciplines which can lead to the moral, psychological and spiritual evolution of
the individual and helps him to or reunite his soul with the inner spiritual source of his
own being and the world, which is the highest goal meaning of all religion. Without this
practical dimension of Yoga with an emphasis on practice, mere theoretical or
conceptual understanding of religion or spirituality may not lead to any great spiritual
awakening. This doesn’t mean intellectual understanding is unimportant. In the
awakening of a collectivity like a nation, changing the thought-process of people
through the right and the true idea is very important. But for a lasting spiritual
awakening we must also provide the discipline for living the idea in life and action and
converting it into an inner realisation in consciousness.

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