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The western civilisation through a combination of breakthrough in science and technology and revolution in social, political and economic organisations has achieved a quantum leap in human development.  Today we have resources for meeting total needs (though not wants) of all human beings. Unfortunately, Immanuel Kant’s regret, “Out of the crooked timber of humanity, no straight thing was ever made,” illustrates the power of the evil perspective.  But Kant was not alone. In his recent book entitled Human Kind: A Hopeful History, Rutger Bregman notes how the western tradition has been obsessed with the idea of evil in mankind.  In more recent times, Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. argued that sin is buried so deep in the human soul that sweet words are insufficient to get people to give up their unjust power. Bregman, after a thorough review of scientific evidence, evolutionary history, and everyday life examples, concludes that the western view of human nature is problematic. In fact, he finds that most people, deep down, are pretty decent.”

For someone like me, growing up in the Indian tradition of innate goodness of mankind, Bregman’s discovery is no news. In fact, it seems strange that Bregman made no reference in his book to the alternative view of humanity prevailing in the Indic and Sinic civilisations of Asia. Be that as it may, the fact remains that today conflict is the key theme of life. Conflict is all pervasive: conflict between man and nature, between man and woman, between labour and capital, between nation and nation. That is why despite all the contributions of the western civilisation, mankind is now facing an existentialist crisis. The disaster may come from global climate change or economic warfare or nuclear holocaust. Humanity must make course correction in civilizational terms to avoid the risks of these catastrophes. This is where India comes in. 

Indian civilisation has taken a different view of basic human nature. As Swami Vivekananda thundered in the West, “It is a sin to call man a sinner. Divinities on earth sinners? Man is God, he is Narayana.” The basic nature of human beings is divine; shivo aham. In the words of Swami Vivekananda, “Each soul is potentially divine. The goal is to manifest this Divinity within by controlling nature, external and internal. Do this either by work, or worship, or philosophy-by one, or more or all of these and be free.”  Contrast this with Kant’s view of humanity as crooked timber. However, at the current stage of evolution, basic human identity is still struggling to manifest itself. It is still covered with many sinful tendencies. The task before us is to overcome our evil instincts and let the divinity shine through.

This view of the evolutionary feature of humanity was best articulated in recent times by Sri Aurobindo. Drawing upon the Indian Vedantic tradition of essentially divine nature of human beings, Aurobindo developed the theory of spiritual evolution according to which evolution is not just about survival but essentially about evolution of consciousness. That is what gives a meaning and purpose to life. Purpose of life is manifestation and development of divinity inherent in mankind. And what matters is not development of consciousness in one individual (as a solitary saint may do) but in all beings. This leads to the philosophy of development of all.

India with this noble legacy has a responsibility to articulate this view of humanity and help humanity to make a quantum jump towards a more enlightened civilisation. However, India’s message to the world will acquire credibility only when India achieves excellence in conventional fields as defined by the currently dominant western civilisation.

India needs to begin by creating an ideal nation that shows the power of its harmonist approach and creates an economy, society and polity that is prosperous, strong, inclusive, clean, honest and happy. To achieve these objectives, India has to build on western civilisation, use its scientific method, spirit of innovation and participatory social and economic systems. It can demonstrate that with proper design of development policy, the five goals mentioned above can be made mutually reinforcing and does not involve conflicts/tradeoffs with each other. With the position of being a model and powerful state, India can also help to create a new world order under a reformed UN system where every nation can develop according to its own light and there is no hegemonic power. That means a multi-polar world with multilateral institutions to help development of all and settle intergroup disputes. If India can achieve these two objectives in this century, India will have done its service to humanity and the century will be truly India’s.

There is a part of western civilisation (in particular America) as represented by Quakers which believes that the Kingdom of God is within human beings. At present, this part operates at the fringes of American society. Similarly, the Sufi tradition in Islam highlights the inner divinity of humankind but is on the sidelines of modern Islam. These different religious strands can come together to prepare a harmonious manifesto for a better world order.