Thoughts on Indian Culture

Indian culture is known for its spiritualism. It is this facet of Indian culture which has helped it survive for ages. Indeed, Indian society is spiritually inclined and seeks salvation as the ultimate goal of life. This has lead to the misunderstanding that indulgence and materialism is despicable; Indian culture bans materialism. A deeper look at Indian philosophy reveals that it is not just a culture of renunciation but equally of indulgence rather a fine balance of both.

The Indian way of life declares four essentials for a compete and meaningful life- Dharma, Artha, Kam and Moksha. Dharma is not just religion but duties, duty towards parents, spouse, children; summarized as family. The second ring of such duties would be towards community, then society, thereafter country and finally world. All this was collected and presented in the form of religious dictum, made mandatory to ensure compliance for smooth working of personal life and progression of society.

Artha meant money, the earning of material belongings that we all call today “bucks”. The next was Kam, meaning sex. Indian culture is the only one to institutionalize sex and accommodate it in the structure of life. Most religions have looked towards it only as in evil but in India it has been seen as an instrument, rather one of the components of life. These two components are clearly depicting materialism. These are indications of indulgence and the fact that they have been recognized and allowed in Indian culture.

Moksha is the ultimate spiritual goal, the endeavor of every soul to get rid of the wriggle of life and death. Indian culture thus insists on achieving this fine balance of materialism and spiritualism.

However, a glance on past shows that Indian culture is understood to be only one of spiritualism and thus all indulgences and material pursuits have been declared to be bad. The interpreters and blind followers have said so thereby resulting in stagnation and eventual deterioration of Indian culture. Indian culture is remembered only for its spiritual advancements and its material achievements have been undermined. This has become a reason for buffoons to sit idle and justify economic disintegration and pervasiveness of abject poverty. Although, Indian culture teaches how to make the best of the worst situation but does not insist on perpetuating worst situation. All these have lead to superstition and branding of Indian culture as archaic and old. No doubt, it has certain fallacious which every culture has. Claiming perfection would be stupidity.

There are certain evil feature which come over time or features that become redundant over time, that does not make the entire culture fickle, it is the weed which is to be removed with time, those attacking the cultivation itself are fools and those who claim insistence on orthodoxy are preposterous.