PrintFriendlyWhen Bharat, our ancient yet ever-rejuvenating nation, has set for itself a decisive deadline March 2026 to eliminate the grave threat posed by a radical and foreign-origin ideology, namely Maoism, it signals not just a strategic mission but a civilisational moment. Maoism, as an extreme manifestation of the far-left spectrum, has long worked to deepen societal fault-lines, foster disintegration within our national fabric, and unleash a wave of mass violence and terror that has left countless scars on our collective consciousness.
As we move towards uprooting this violent ideology that has caused decades of disruption, bloodshed, and confusion across the world, it becomes all the more necessary and timelier to return to, reflect upon, and reassert the foundational civilisational compass that can guide us into a more harmonious and holistic future. It is time to revisit and reaffirm the profound vision of Integral Humanism, as articulated by the founding father of our Bhartiya Janta Party, Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya.
“धर्मार्थकाममोक्षम्” this ancient and eternal Sanskrit maxim encapsulates the four fundamental pursuits of life: Dharma (righteous duty), Artha (prosperity and economic well-being), Kama (desires and emotional fulfillment), and Moksha (liberation of the soul). These are not isolated ambitions but deeply interwoven goals that define the purpose and rhythm of human life. In these sacred words, we discover a world-view where harmony is not a luxury but a necessity; where balance is not imposed but emerges organically from within. Our ancestors, steeped in a culture of spiritual inquiry and social duty, held this fourfold path as the roadmap for a life in tune with both the cosmic order and the inner order of the self.
Drawing from this timeless wellspring of Indian wisdom, Deendayal Upadhyaya developed a framework that was not only philosophical but also deeply practical. He observed that the very world around us like the gentle turning of seasons, the balance between light and darkness, the interdependence of all living things reveals a profound and observable truth. The universe itself, in its most primal form, reflects integration and coordination rather than chaos and contradiction. This natural harmony, for which Upadhyaya argued, must also be reflected in the social, political, and economic structures that guide human society. It is from this reflection and from this alignment with the fundamental rhythms of nature that the idea of Integral Humanism arises.
Integral Humanism is not merely a political theory or an economic model it is a Civilisational Dharma, a way of seeing and living that embraces the complete human being. It views the individual not just as an economic agent or a political subject but as a living, breathing unity of body, mind, intellect, and soul. It seeks to align all four aspects in a symphonic balance, recognizing that no true development is possible when any one part is overemphasised or neglected. Integral Humanism urges us to build a model of progress where individual dignity is upheld, not at the cost of societal harmony, but in consonance with it. It challenges the artificial division between the material and the spiritual, and instead promotes a vision of life that is rooted, regenerative, and deeply humane.
Integral Humanism today is a profound Bharatiya response to the many ideological crises facing humanity. The vision that Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya gifted us is not just relevant but it is urgently necessary in our time. His call to place the complete human being at the center of our developmental journey is a call to rediscover not only who we are, but what kind of society we wish to build.
Unlike ideologies that separate the individual from the community, or those that pit the spiritual against the material, Integral Humanism speaks to the wholeness of existence. Rooted firmly in the soil of our cultural and philosophical traditions, this model does not rely on borrowed paradigms or abstract utopias. It is Bharatiya in essence, universal in application, and timeless in relevance.
Humanism of West
Now let us contrast this holistic vision with the dominant strain of Western Humanism that emerged in post-Enlightenment Europe. While Western humanism rightly emphasised individual autonomy, rational inquiry, and a secular, this-worldly orientation, it often did so by cutting the individual off from deeper social and spiritual moorings. Over time, its obsessive focus on personal freedom and material progress began to erode the sense of community, duty, and higher purpose. While this model has undeniably produced powerful institutions and fostered scientific advancements, it has also generated a society where fragmentation, isolation, and moral confusion have become chronic ailments.
In today’s globalised world, one can often witness the breakdown of community bonds, rising crime, social alienation, mental health crises, and identity politics that divide rather than unite. This is not accidental. It is the natural outcome of a worldview that treats the individual as a sovereign island, divorced from any sense of inherited responsibility or spiritual duty. In such a paradigm, humanism becomes an abstract celebration of rights without a corresponding recognition of responsibilities. And where responsibilities are ignored, chaos inevitably follows.
Moreover, radical ideologies have taken this Western emphasis on humanism and twisted it into a dangerous instrument of class warfare, division, and violence. These ideologies reduce human beings to mere cogs in a political revolution, stripping them of their uniqueness, their culture, and their inner light. Where Integral Humanism sees the soul, Left sees a statistic. Where we see society as a family (kutumbakam), they see society as a battlefield of oppressors and oppressed. This perverse reductionism has led to untold suffering civil wars, genocides, and a deep distrust between citizens and states. The obsession with revolution over reconciliation, and with violence over dialogue, has torn nations apart and stifled human potential.
By prioritising isolated freedoms while neglecting the interconnectedness of life, Western and radical leftist ideologies often end up sowing discord rather than healing divisions. In contrast, Integral Humanism offers a sacred alternative one that honours the individual and the community, material well-being and spiritual growth, both freedom and responsibility.
We now find ourselves standing at a defining juncture in the trajectory of global thought a moment fraught with uncertainty, marked by social fragmentation, and shaped by the dizzying pace of change. In such times of flux, when established systems appear increasingly fragile and societies struggle to preserve coherence, the insights of Integral Humanism emerge not just as relevant, but as indispensable. We are being called not merely as citizens of Bharat, but as custodians of an ancient civilisational ethos to embrace a worldview that transcends the shallow binaries of modern ideology and reaffirms the wholeness of human existence.
Integral Humanism urges us to imagine a future where economic development is not seen as separate from spiritual upliftment, where social justice is not pitted against cultural integrity, and where the growth of the individual strengthens not severs the bonds of community. Picture a nation where the pursuit of prosperity does not lead to alienation, but to solidarity. Where tradition is not a relic, but a living force. Is it not time we consciously cultivate a vision that is rooted in our own philosophical soil one that fosters belonging, responsibility, and mutual care rather than self-centered excess?
It is in this spirit that we must revisit the luminous path shown to us by Pandit a path that calls upon us to reconstruct our social and political life around the principles of duty, coherence, compassion, and indigenous wisdom. His thought offers timeless alternative to the ideological imports that have plagued our nation and the world.
Mutation of Left Ideology
Under the visionary leadership of the Bharatiya Janata Party, our nation has now taken up the bold and historic task of permanently eradicating the Maoist threat by 2026. This menace, once confined to remote jungles and shadowy underground cells, has now undergone a sinister mutation and evolution. This modern Maoism will no longer be a brute force in hiding it is now fully becoming an urban insurrection of ideas, subtly working to dismantle faith, fracture society, and replace our cultural coherence with borrowed chaos.
This insidious rebranding is no accident. It is part of a larger trend wherein foreign ideological frameworks, particularly those propagated by certain Western think tanks and global media ecosystems actively undermine indigenous models of development and harmony. These entities no longer advocate genuine peace or understanding. Instead, they manufacture a narrative of constant grievance, portraying entire civilisations and communities as inherently oppressive and thereby justifying endless cycles of protest, agitation, and social unrest.
Wokeism
At the heart of this new ideological front is the rise of Wokeism, a designed movement that cloaks itself in the garb of empathy but is increasingly becoming a tool of intellectual colonisation. Under the pretext of inclusion and progress, it introduces ideas that fragment identity, vilify tradition, and sow mistrust within families, communities, and nations. Wokeism, far from being a force of enlightenment, now preys upon the emotional and intellectual vulnerability of our youth, particularly in educational institutions. Instead of cultivating curiosity and character, it fuels anger, victimhood, and alienation leaving in its wake a culture that is disconnected, disoriented, and devoid of rootedness.
This ideological drift, which seeks to sever individuals from their culture and families, is in direct contradiction to the timeless wisdom of Bharat, expressed so beautifully in the phrase “वसुधैवकुटुम्बकम्”(Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam) i.e. the world is one family. While radical ideologies aim to polarise and atomise, Integral Humanism reaffirms the sacred interconnectedness of all life. It calls for a civilisational return to a worldview where material ambition is not divorced from ethical duty, and where the soul of society is preserved through conscious living and compassionate governance.
India today holds a unique position in this global churn. With our vast reservoir of cultural depth, philosophical insight, and lived tradition, we are not merely a participant in world affairs we are potentially its moral compass. We must rise to this occasion not by mimicking the West, but by offering our model of civilisation grounded in human dignity, collective well-being, and spiritual integrity. In doing so, we don’t just defend ourselves against the threats of Maoism or wokeism but we pioneer a new vision that the world so desperately needs but has forgotten how to seek.
Marriage Institution and Social Capital
Consider the social architecture that has held India together across millennia. At the very foundation of this living civilisation lies the institution of marriage not merely a legal contract or a romantic bond, but a sacred union that acts as the nucleus of community, the basis of society. In our dharmic worldview, marriage is not a transaction; it is a cosmic partnership, designed to harmonise not just two individuals but two lineages, two families, and by extension, the community at large. It gives rise to naming of relationships, networks of responsibility, trust, and support the very fabric that sustains social stability and transmits culture and a sense of universal responsibility from generation to generation.
But today, we are being tested by two simultaneous crises. The first is Global Warming a catastrophic environmental imbalance driven by exploitative consumption and the reckless pursuit of endless growth. The second is what can aptly be called Social Warming the slow erosion of human relationships, trust, and solidarity. We are witnessing a rise in conflicts, alienation, and emotional coldness from international wars and civil unrest to the loneliness and polarisation of daily life.
The sense of relationship and empathy that originates within the family and extends to the Earth and the cosmos instils in human beings a responsibility to protect both society and nature. This embodies the concept of Social Capital in Bharat, a healing approach for a wounded world.
An American scholar Robert Putnam offers an insightful framework to understand what we in Bharat have always lived by instinctively. In his seminal work “Bowling Alone”, he warns of the alarming erosion of social capital in American life the weakening of community ties, the loss of trust, and the disappearance of cooperative spirit. He speaks of two dimensions:
Bonding Social Capital-the intimate, trust-rich networks within families and close-knit communities.
Bridging Social Capital-the broader networks that connect people across diverse groups and ideas.
Putnam warns that when such capital is depleted, societies do not merely become inefficient, they become unwell. People grow suspicious of one another. Loneliness rises. Conflict festers. Governance falters. This is the silent epidemic spreading across many developed nations today one that GDP cannot measure, and technology cannot solve.
On one hand, America has taken Mr. Putnam’s warning seriously and is making efforts at various levels to strengthen its social capital. On the other hand, much of the rest of the world is experimenting with a new model of mutated extreme-left ideology known as Wokeism, which is basically designed to deplete Social Capital.
The Maata Vs. Maada debate:
Yet this social capital is under constant assault from media influences that trivialize our traditions to imported cultural content that seeks to make a mockery of our deepest values. In one recent instance, a popular Indian stand-up act mimicked a Western comedian’s joke, reducing the sacred words ‘Maata’ (mother) and ‘Pita’ (father) to biological labels, “Maada” and “Nar.” What was passed off as humour was in fact a calculated denigration of the very relationships that form the heart of Indian society. Such mockery, far from being harmless, functions as cultural sabotage is an attempt to hollow out respect, affection, and sanctity from the relationships that anchor our collective identity.
This is not an isolated act of irreverence but it reflects a wider cultural strategy imported from societies that have already lost their social fabric, and now seek to universalise that loss. It is our sacred duty to resist this erosion not by censorship or outrage alone but by consciously rebuilding, reasserting, and revitalising our own narratives, our own symbols, and our own way of life.
Let us be clear such mockery is not progressive. It is decivilising. It chips away at the invisible architecture that holds our society together. It is the weaponisation of humour against harmony. And it reflects a broader trend wherein respect is treated as regressive, and irreverence is marketed as intelligence.
At this important turning point in civilisational history, India stands distinct anchored by a unique form of social capital, carefully nurtured over thousands of years through enduring traditions, shared rituals, sacred texts, and time-tested wisdom. In a world where nations are struggling under the twin pressures of environmental degradation and social fragmentation, Bharat’s civilisational continuity enriched by Dharma, family, mutual responsibility, and reverence for life presents not just a model of strength, but a blueprint for global renewal.
In the West, we now see an advanced yet fragile civilisation grappling with the consequences of its own alienation a disconnection from nature, from one another, and from the inner self. As societies there unravel under the weight of unchecked consumerism, moral relativism, and identity-driven divisions, Integral Humanism stands as our counter-narrative: one that is both ancient and urgently relevant. It offers a worldview in which economic strength, spiritual depth, emotional maturity, and moral integrity are seen as interdependent pillars, not isolated pursuits.
As we draw these reflections to a close, we must remember that Integral Humanism is not just a concept it is a force of life. It is the nourishing rain for a world parched by division, a healing balm for communities torn apart by greed and ideological dogma. It is the continuity of Rishi wisdom, the daily rhythm of the Grihastha, the quiet strength of the mother, and the guiding light of the Guru. In a time when artificial intelligence is accelerating, what we need more urgently is authentic human intelligence, intelligence that is not measured by IQ alone, but also by EQ (emotional quotient) and MQ (moral quotient).
India’s path forward, then, is not merely about political sovereignty or economic leadership. It is about leading a spiritual and social renaissance that reaffirms what the world has forgotten: that man is not a machine, that relationships are not transactional, and that progress without purpose is emptiness in motion. Amidst the complex landscape of political ideologies, Ram Rajya, as envisioned in the Indian tradition, stands as the embodiment of Integral Humanism in governance. It is not a system driven by material power or the ruthless competition of the survival of the fittest. Rather, it upholds a Dharma-centered approach, where the welfare of the weakest is paramount, ensuring that governance serves as a moral force rather than a tool of domination.
Author
(The views expressed are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect the position of the organisation)