Introduction

Enquiry for human sustainability acquires considerable significance in the context of postcolonial and postmodern historical experience because as historical records show, the colonialists had denigrated the cultural and religious legacy of the colonized people and even denied them the right to history. In other words, the colonists believed that that the colonized people were not civilized, and hence, “Europe had to colonize them as a civilizing mission.” Similarly, the ignoble impression that the Western historians and thinkers created in the minds of the middle-class English educated intelligentsia in colonies about their own culture and religion has done considerable damage in recognizing the worth of one’s own cultural and spiritual legacy at the time of nation-building after political independence.

The view that the intellectual and academic hegemony of the West have been stifling the voices of varied marginalized cultures and religious traditions in other parts of the world and denying them due to space in the mainstream history as well as academic and intellectual discourse is examined and discussed in this paper. The examination is contextualized in the Indian concept of time and law of cyclical view of history enshrined in the Manu dharmaFootnote 1 which is testified and validated in modern times by the revelatory spirituality of Navajyothisree Karunakara GuruFootnote 2, the founder Guru of Santhigiri Ashram.Footnote 3 Ancient civilizations denied appropriate space and importance to matter which sought to spiritualize all realms of human life. In modern civilization, spirit is neglected and everything has been materialized to the extent that the worth of human self is neglected.Footnote 4 An examination of the history of civilizations shows that all hitherto civilizations have grown in particular directions instead of the whole and on attaining maximum efficiency in particular directions, their decay and disintegration start with the shifting of creativity, power, and wealth to another region or continent. This shifting of power, creativity, and wealth from one place to another and one civilization to another have been an inexorable law of human history.Footnote 5

Modern civilization is caught in a vicious cycle of its own making and has been seeking solutions to these haunting problems within the self-same value premises and thought patterns that have produced them. Modern civilization is losing its sheen under the impact of unsustainable modern lifestyle, consumerist culture, and the resultant ecological tragedies, violence, wars, racial animosity, and religion-induced extremism.Footnote 6

However, the rise of nations grounding on unsustainable prosperity and military power should not be mistaken for the emergence of a new human civilization. A civilization that fosters total efficiency of all sectors and domains, instead of maximum efficiency of a few alone will endure. The new civilization will synthesize matter and spirit in its natural and organic processes and will reinstate the lost equilibrium. Such a civilization will be based on yugadharmaFootnote 7 and will be sustainable.

Context

Spirituality as a science of the human soul and life found its fruition in the Sanatana dharma or Atmajnana tradition of India fostered and sustained through the Guru-disciple order.Footnote 8 The wisdom tradition of India is universalistic and whole-embracing and aims to attain the total efficiency and perfection of humans. This tradition influenced the cultural universe and world view of even the poorest in the poor in India. If we talk to a common person in India, he or she would tell us that all beings possess the radiance of the same cosmic power, and therefore, we should respect it and if we purposively do any harm, it is sinful. Such a positive orientation towards cosmic well-being and harmony characterized by compassion, love, and tolerance of the other, despite the material inadequacy of life, reveals the power of the spiritualistic world view that India pursued through yugas. However, at a particular point of social development, the path of rishi tradition was eclipsed and gave way in course of time to the present form of Hinduism which the modern world mistakes as Indian spirituality and religion.Footnote 9 It is in this context the mission of Santhigiri Ashram founded by Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru assumes global significance. Santhigiri movement, drawing upon the teaching and mission of the Guru, is a novel experience and experiment that seeks to restore dharma in accordance with yuga and the rishi tradition of India.Footnote 10 It aims at a spiritual and cultural renaissance grounded on the fundamental ideals of Santana dharma. Spiritual and material find its due space in the teaching of the founder Guru and is exemplified by the rising parampara of Santhigiri. A way of life and thinking based on the Guru’s teaching and Guru-disciple order facilitate unification of humans beyond religion, caste, and creed with an objective to achieve material and spiritual progression in life. If we can shed our biases and feeling of hegemony—which are unsustainable and unfounded—and come out of our world view structured by modern science, technology, and instrumental rationality and seek the whole, all of us can enjoin in this global mission of raising human consciousness to higher levels of attainment.

As part of this global mission, it is important to probe and bring out the fundamental truths and virtues in all other cultural and religious traditions in different parts of the world so as to give them hope and strength to reinvent the worth in their culture and civilization. Since the ideals and path of Santhigiri are universalistic and all-embracing, such an initiative will bring about solidarity beyond regions and open up a new space for striving together in order to make a new humane world order.

Dharma: Ideal and Praxis

Dharma, the cosmic will and design, is believed to have been revealed to humanity by Atmajnani Gurus or rishis in ancient India.Footnote 11 They revealed eternal fundamental truths and laws that uphold and sustain the universe, Mother Nature, and human life, which constitute the basic philosophical premises of Vedas and Upanishads. Dharma is yuga-specific and is to be observed in accordance with yugadharma under the guidance of a Kalanthara Guru ordained for the same.Footnote 12 That is why there is the concept of Yuga purusha, under whose guidance dharma is to be practiced in each yuga. The socio-economic, political, and cultural lives of Indian people were conditioned by this spiritualistic world view.

Human lives in all its manifestations are premised on certain principles in every habitat. Since these principles are considered essential to uphold a righteous life in harmony with the cosmic design, it is called dharma.Footnote 13 These eternal principles have ever been considered the highest revelations on human life and its inalienable nexus between the spiritual order of the world and Mother Nature. Such eternal ideals and their crystallizations and articulations have ever been present in all cultures and religious traditions of the world.

The Semitic religions had drawn up the ethical and moral world view of the West. However, unlike India, the modern social, economic, political, and rational thought systems in the West have laid down the foundation of Western cultural universe and socio-economic and political fabric.Footnote 14 Rise of scientific temperament, rationality, and search for truth through the brilliant application of human intelligence and critical reflections have put limitations on the influence of religion in the West. In the Western context, therefore, dharma is to be understood as the ethical-moral and natural philosophies found in the treatises of social, economic, and political thinkers right from Greco-Roman time. Pursuit of justice, truth, and righteous life in the West was characterized by striving towards the accomplishment of ideals of democracy, secularism, socialism, humanism, freedom, equality, and all.

While examining the marginalized cultures across the world, African societies present an example of rich cultural varieties and customs. Prior to the advent of foreign cultural intervention, one finds in the religious beliefs and practices of the people of Africa a set of principles that visualize a righteous life as in every traditional culture.Footnote 15 Consequent upon the cultural and economic encroachment by traders, colonialism, Islam, and Christian missionaries into the African society, African people lost their cultural homogeneity and religious solidarity. They lost their indigenous world view and culture to a considerable extent and the hegemony of dominant religions and cultures sidelined and eclipsed the indigenous African culture and their visualization of dharma.

While viewed in this context, we find that human efforts across the world to achieve a righteous life marked by material and spiritual well-being have always been ideal rather than practical. Wisdom accumulated over centuries on the sacrifice of visionaries to initiate and guide humans to a virtuous life bring in the realization that the value-free way of life and materialistic world view and the resultant greed, animosity, violence, and wars have been rising by defeating their efforts.

Wisdom Tradition of India

India was the cradle of spirituality and human civilization. The distinctiveness of the Wisdom tradition of India has been its universalistic world view and its spiritual and philosophical depth to accommodate and harmonize other religious, spiritual, and cultural streams.Footnote 16 It was not an exclusivist, but inclusivist philosophy which offered a way of life in harmony with cosmic design. This inclusivity makes the Guru tradition of India relevant and promising in the present global context of rising human suffering.

Dharma as praxis was the sustaining and guiding principle of the social and political life of ancient India as exemplified by Vedas, Upanishads, Thirukkural,Footnote 17 and Dharma Sastras.Footnote 18 Stories, legends, and narratives in ancient writings undergird the idea that dharma as ought principle has been working as the regulatory principle of social life, polity, and economic system in ancient India. When dharma ceases to be functional as a guiding principle of social, political, and economic life of people, social division, disintegration, discord, and stagnation ensue.Footnote 19 Accordingly, dharma as an instrument of material progress and spiritual elevation also comes to an end. Want of philosophical reflection and critical attitude that engineered the Hindu society owing to its political, religious, and cultural factors made the Indian society hierarchical in character and confused real conceptions of dharma. When we examine dharma as a regulatory principle of Indian social life, polity, and economic life over the past millenniums, we find that at the existential level, social inequalities and superstitious practices contrary to the true spirit of yugadharma had tainted dharma as praxis in all realms of Indian life. Therefore, any genuine discourse on dharma should focus on how we as a people, society, and nation have deviated from dharma as praxis leading to the decline in all walks of life.

Dharma as praxis lost much of its dynamism with the gradual eclipse of Atmajnana or rishi tradition and the subsequent advent of the belief systems and practices contrary to yugadharma.Footnote 20 Accordingly, dharma was interpreted and reinterpreted in such a way that it was weaned away from its original sense of holding social life, family life, and individual life in harmony with the eternal laws of nature or the cosmic will and design. The underlying point is that this concept has not only a religious and moral standing, but it has an ethical and legal significance in the cultural sensitivity of this country. This dichotomy of dharma as ideal and praxis has done considerable damage to India’s social development. It is in this context of rising social divide and disharmony, the relevance of a paradigm shift in the discourse on the theory and practice of dharma assumes importance.

Several Gurus and acharyas took birth in India to restore dharma by eliminating superstitious beliefs and practices based on religion and the resultant social segregation which is otherwise not the culture of this tradition exalted by Vedas and Upanishads. However, it has been a tragedy to find that these seers could not fulfil their mission and restore equilibrium by eliminating the basic deviations and distortions that caused social disintegration and made human life vitiated.Footnote 21 Moreover, many of them confused the real meaning of dharma as constituting the distinctive duties of the four varna and the four ashramas so that the term Varnashrama dharma has been misconstrued and looked upon as the Sanatana dharma. What they have lost sight was dharma as reflective morality.

Spiritual discourse on Dharma: Santhigiri model

Spiritual renaissance by restoring dharma in conformity with yuga and reaffirmation of the eternal relevance of Santana dharma has been the vision and mission of the founder Guru of Santhigiri Ashram, Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru. The revelatory teaching of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru has brought in a new exposition and understanding on the existing notion of dharma and its practice. The Guru reminded that all physical and metaphysical phenomena function on the basis of specific and precise principles and laws of nature. Any breakdown due to error, deviation, distortion, or intervention in the laws that operate behind natural phenomena will cause disharmony in nature and inevitably affect human life leading to natural calamity, clash, and sufferings.

The Guru draws our attention to existing religious faiths, practices, modes of worship, and ways of life across the world and calls for revisiting and reviewing them in the light of the original underlying spiritual philosophy of Sanatana dharma and yugadharma.

The Guru’s long-drawn search and tapas for unraveling the basic causations of lingering human miseries, unsustainable material progress, and spiritually fallen state of humanity found fruition on the occasion of Guru’s spiritual fulfillment in 1973. The Guru proclaimed to the world that Manu dharma, otherwise called Santana Dharma, was the fountain of spiritual knowledge of humanity. It was due to an error that occurred in a spiritual vision to a great rishi in the Manu lineage that dharma was eclipsed and Manu dharma and Manu’s memory vanished from human memory. The revelation that human miseries and peacelessness linger despite the advent and sacrifice of innumerable great spiritual visionaries in different parts of the world is due to an error in spiritual vision to a Kalanthara Guru in the third Chaturyuga of the seventh ManvantaraFootnote 22 is a hitherto unknown truth and new knowledge to the world.Footnote 23 The Guru revealed to humanity the fact that “over the past several millenniums, the spiritual and material life of humans was not in conformity with dharma of the concerned yugas. The non-observation of yugadharma and thereby non-observation of the cosmic will and cosmic design and the resultant way of life disharmonious with the eternal laws of Mother Nature have contributed to the decadence of religions and human life. This is an important revelation to humanity.”Footnote 24

Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru has stated that Guru Traditions have played a supreme role in the evolution and development of the core spiritual wisdom and philosophy of Sanatana dharma. It was adi guru Manu who revealed to humanity dharma, the cosmic will and design behind the spiritual order of the world, Mother Nature, and human life. The Manvantara time calculusFootnote 25 and the doctrine of yugadharma enshrined in the revealed treatise of Manu dharma thus brought to human understanding the spiritual design of the cyclical movement of time conceived in Kalpa, Manwantara, and Yuga.Footnote 26 The Manvantara time calculus and the doctrine of yugadharma provided the benchmark and criterion for spiritual pursuit of humanity. According to yugadharma, religious faith, worship system, and practices should be in conformity with the dharma of yuga. Otherwise, it would lead to deviation and distortion in religious faiths and practices leading to social disintegration, cultural decay, and misfortunes. Thus, yugadharma is fundamental to human spiritual pursuits.Footnote 27 Stories of incarnations, karmic relations of previous births spreading over to yugas, narratives and discourses on dharma highlighted in epics, puranas, etc. all bring into light the relevance and importance of yugadharma in the spiritual and material pursuit of human life.

When we examine the teachings of Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru, it is found that most of the concepts found in Guru’s teachings had already been there in existence. But the Guru expounded them in accordance with the dharma of the present yuga. Thus, Guru’s exposition on fundamental concepts in spirituality and religion such as Manu dharma, yugadharma, Jnana marga, spiritual stages, astral powers, worship systems, demonic worship, Pitru Suddhi, or Gurupooja marks a shift from the existing paradigm.

In the context of lingering human predicament, the Guru’s revelation regarding the first error and non-observation of Yugadharma for the last 25 Chaturyugas and its ramification in the ensuing spiritual and material life of humans is relevant and significant. The revelatory teachings and restoration of yugadharma by Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru have marked a revolutionary shift from the existing religious systems and paves the way to a transition in the spiritual, religious, and cultural life of the people and nation. In course of time, it will lead to spiritual and cultural renaissance of India leading to national unity and integration, which will bring back to India the Gurusthanam of the world.

Marginalized Cultures and Global Solidarity

The civilizational history of humanity shows that certain human habitats across the world had been relegated to the background in its forward stride. Hegemony of dominant cultures has marginalized and denied appropriate space for the rise and development of certain cultures. This is significant, as noted earlier, in the colonial and postcolonial context of modern history because the ability to construct the account of the past, it was claimed, was unique to the Europeans. The European historians and social theorists asserted that people of Asia, Africa, and Latin America (ASAFLA) had “culture” but not history. This view was challenged by many powerful thinkers and movements during anti-colonial struggle all over Asia, Africa, and Latin America. The postcolonial writings in ASAFLA as well as in the West documented much more evidence of significant aspects of civilization—in arts, literature, sculpture, knowledge systems, science, and technology. The postcolonial writings were more in the nature of a counter and therefore shared much of the methodology of the European colonial thought process. Many more forms of authentic perspectives on history, culture, and civilization had always existed in all parts of the world. Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru’s teachings belong to that genre of a view regarding the evolution of civilization.

It is in this context that the paradigm shift brought about by the revelatory teaching of the Guru on the notion of dharma and its existing practice have initiated a new thinking and awareness among truth-seekers, philosophers, and social thinkers. Going beyond the dualism/non-dualism discourse, the Guru’s teachings seek to synthesize the elements of truth in every culture and religion. By restoring dharma of the ongoing age and thereby the Santana dharma tradition, the Guru’s teachings offer a platform for people across the world beyond religion, caste, creed, gender, and race to get together and strive together for attaining a righteous life and achieving a new humane world order. The way of life and spiritual practices initiated by Santhigiri provide hope and promise to a novel collectivity of people transcending national and cultural boundaries. It is this possibility that makes Santhigiri movement relevant in associating not only with the marginalized cultures and people across the world but this is applicable to the Western civilization as well.

The unabated human predicament in the wake of modern world development and Western hegemony in almost all realms of socio-economic and cultural life of people living in the developing countries provides an opportunity to revisit the historical trajectory of modern Western civilization and rediscover the irreparable damage it has done to local and indigenous cultures in varied human habitats across the world. It will facilitate the forging of a gradual and new alliance in ushering in a new humane world order. The emergence of powerful indigenous socio-cultural and political movements in almost all developing countries has sought to resist the alien cultural and economic encroachments. Though the decolonization process has brought in political independence, the West could succeed in shaping strata in their own image in the erstwhile colonies. The global alliance of these strata along with the mainstream Western academics has been sidelining, neglecting, and obstructing the emergence of the indigenous cultures in the rest of the world. It is this persisting hegemony that hinders the spontaneous surfacing of marginalized cultures and their socio-economic development.

Conclusion

The brief analysis of the historical trajectory of the rise and fall of human civilizations necessitates a rereading and rewriting of the cultural history of human societies which inevitably points to gradual cessation of Western hegemony, on the one hand, and the restoration of India’s lost Atmajnana marga and wisdom tradition grounding on the fundamental premises of the revelatory spirituality of the founder Guru of Santhigiri which has the sagacity and strength to address and accommodate varied cultural diversities, on the other. This new spirituality has opened up a global environment for fresh initiatives to achieve solidarity of varied cultures across the world.

In this context, our initiative to familiarize the Santhigiri movement in the backdrop of Indian spirituality and culture with other cultures and movements in other parts of the world and forge a common platform, grounding on the universalistic, dynamic and living guidance of Santhigiri, assumes importance and relevance. The unfathomable depth and comprehensiveness of the teaching of the founder Guru of Santhigiri Ashram, Navajyothisree Karunakara Guru in conformity with India’s wisdom tradition has thus brought in a new opportunity for human approximation, integration, and sustainability while ensuring organic and natural diversity.