Western View and Indic View

There are differences between Western View and Indic View. We need to study and understand them as we embark on Indic revival.

Cover Photo by Monstera from Pexels

If you walk south from the North, you will eventually get to the South
If you walk west from the East, you will never get to the West.
-anonymous

To us, as Indians, the western world appears chaotic. Should we side with the western world, the Christian world, the Jewish world, the Islamic world, former colonisers, former colonies, etc.? Can we support the US, Australia, New Zealand etc. and still debate about their treatment of indigenous people?

We cannot answer these questions without understanding our position in relation to the west. We do not analyse these issues through the western lens.

Western Lens

The western lens has evolved and entrenched itself in the academic curriculum, norms, customs and etiquette related to business, trade, and international relations. It is even entrenched in the language of the global dialogue. This system overlaps with the Indic system and hence it is familiar to a degree but alien in others aspects. Therefore, some of the concepts of the western world resonate deeply with us, like democracy, duty, rationality etc., while others appear deeply chaotic. Therefore, the Indian view, as separate from the Indic view, is not consistent with the Western view. A part of our dissonance with the issues and challenges in the West arise from our Indic view of things.

The Indic View is different.

Indic culture, in its truest essence, is an overarching superstructure to help humans achieve their potential. To this end, it uses rationality as its premise. But it is mature enough to understand that faith, too, is an instrument to expand and promote human achievement. The Sanatan Dharma, therefore, assigns many paths to human achievement. The pinnacle of this achievement is moksha. To this goal, per the Sanatan Dharma, lead many paths spread across a spectrum, but not limited by it, starting from extreme rationality to pure faith.

To such Indic culture, faith is not anathema but one of the many paths. To those professing their own faith to be supreme, though, Indic culture is disruptive. Not only does it reject the supremacy of their faith, but any faith. It is something they cannot comprehend. To add to it, Sanatan Dharma provides alternatives to go against that faith, it embraces rationality and faith at the same time.

To those who have overcome a supremacist faith with a version of a rational system, the Sanatan Dharma presents an alternate rational system. Against a rights-based system, Sanatan Dharma advocates a duty-based system. This often puts them in a difficult position. To them, retreating from their position is a concession to the non-rational side. Those vested in the western system then attack the faith aspects of Sanatan Dharma rather than the rational aspects.

They also cannot attack the rational aspects as the enlightenment era actually copies many of these Indic rational elements and has cast them as western rationality. The Sanatan system can debate with the western system based on logic. It would have been emphatic if the entire system of knowledge, logic and argumentation was not lost in the Islamic, British and Communist campaigns on the system. This is one reason we must restore and rebuild the knowledge base that has been lost for centuries.

Then there is a segment of rationalists who discover the Indic system. They arrive to the Sanatan fold by questioning, applying logic, and seeking answers that faith cannot provide. They study to understand the Indic system and become fond of it. They realise the proclamation of Sanatan Dharma (eternal duty) is not supremacy but universality, that the overarching superstructure is not imposed but observed, not invented but discovered. And in this, we have people of many races – from west and east.

The Indic lens develops subconsciously as we grow and assimilate the culture. However, first, we need to acknowledge that the Indic lens, as it is, has been tainted by centuries of cultural raids, Islamic, Christian and communist. This lens needs cleaning.

Reconcile and learn

We must observe and analyse Americans debating immigration reforms where the arguments may feel similar to intra-state migration issues in India. We should analyse how Canada is dissecting the trucker’s strike issue. We should examine the debate about “mandating vaccines” v personal freedom. And so should we look at many issues faced by the West, drugs, abortion, election tampering, terror threats, LGBTQ issues, racism etc.

We must thereafter compare and contrast our strategy in addressing these issues. Here we will appreciate that our strategies in dealing with these issues are informed partly by western views and partly by Indic views.

So also we must search through Indic literature, Indic debates, and Indic philosophy and apply it to issues in the context of evolving a pure Indic view. There are salutary attempts in this sphere, but they apply the logic of bygone millennia to today’s world. That, unfortunately, is not a solution. It is like saying if Chanakya were alive today, he would not use a laptop.

In Sum

We must understand the Western system and draw distinctions with the Indic system. We cannot start with the Western system and arrive at the Indic system. Neither can we, I suspect, start with the Indic system and arrive at the Western system. We must observe and understand both systems scientifically and arrive at a true appreciation of Sanatan Dharma. This, I believe, remains the first step in Indic Revival.

---