Culture and psychology - Essay Example

During the darkest period of Indian history, great thinkers, saints, and prophets never failed to urge the people to perform their social duties, face misfortune calmly, cultivate patience, and keep faith in the ultimate triumph of righteousness and truth. India, as it seems today, has not always been a land of poverty. There was a time when India was spiritually great; she was also materially prosperous and culturally creative. It was her fabulous wealth that invited foreign invaders, from Alexander to the English.

The foundation of the edifice of the new India must rest on her past attainments; but she must keep her windows open for fresh air from outside to prevent inner stagnation. If India abandons her traditional spiritual heritage and takes exclusively to politics, science, and technology to build her future, she will be courting disaster: this is not a new suggestion, the lesson it has learned from its past. As far as the spiritual culture is concerned, the spiritual truths of Hinduism must be reformulated with the help of science, technology, and a modern philosophy to suit the conditions of new age.

Indian thinkers have always recognized two “dharmas”, or ways of life. One of these is characterized by activity and the other by renunciation. This two-fold dharma is the cause of the stability of the world order and also the means by which men attain prosperity and the highest good. By means of activity one enjoys material happiness here and hereafter, and renunciation leads to the highest good. The Hinduism suggests that a man must feel an equally irresistible urge for liberation of the spirit from all forms of attachment.

Both the desire for worldly happiness and the desire for the highest good are legitimate desires, and they are always present. The means to their fulfillment are the warp and the woof of the fabric of Indian thought. Both are accepted as valid in the Vedas,