Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism

by Rajiv Malhotra

Indian mathematical concepts of infinitesimal, infinity and infinite series were quarantined in Europe for more than a century as they were seen as heretical and threatening to the finite and controllable cosmos of the Bible.

The whole concept of secularism itself arose from and applies primarily to societies in which religions are history-centric, politically established, expansionist, and in tension with science. This is a profoundly Western solution to a profoundly Western problem. Dharmic traditions do not have these issues since they are not history-centric and do not engage in proselytizing, nor are they threatened by scientific discoveries. Thus, secularism does not go to the root of the problem and merely offers Western ideas in a new garb.

Every American politician (right up to and including Barack Obama) must proclaim that he or she is a good Christian in order to get votes. American secular liberalism has yet to achieve genuine pluralism on the ground.

Dharma itself is much more general than any sampradaya or organized religion, though it may underlie them. Among other things, it does not require membership or a particular creedal affirmation in the Christian sense; nor does it threaten freedom of thought, scientific inquiry, or the beliefs and traditions of those who do not share its understanding.