‘Rajiv Malhotra’s insistence on preserving difference with mutual respect – not with mere tolerance” – is even more pertinent today because the notion of a single universalism is being propounded. There can be no single universalism, even if it assimilates or, in the author’s words, “digests”, elements from other civilizations’ – Kapila Vatsyayan In Being Different: An Indian Challenge to Western Universalism, thinker and philosopher Rajiv Malhotra addresses the challenge of a direct and honest engagement  on differences, by reversing the gaze, repositioning India from being the observed to the observer and looking at the West from the dharmic point of view. In doing so, he challenges many hitherto unexamined beliefs that both sides hold about themselves and each other. He highlights that while unique historical revelations are the basis for Western religions, dharma emphasizes self-realization in the body here and now. He also points out the integral unity that underpins dharma’s metaphysics and contrasts this with Western thought and history as a synthetic unity. Erudite and engaging, Being Different critiques fashionable reductive translations and analyses the West’s anxiety over difference and fixation for order which contrast the creative role of chaos in dharma. It concludes with a rebuttal of Western claims of universalism, while recommending a multi-civilizational worldview. “

Admin

Share
Published by
Admin

Recent Posts

Let’s Talk Legacy

Yaksha: What is the greatest wonder?Yudhisthir: Every man knows that death is the ultimate truth…

6 months ago

The Freedom Manifesto

What is your purpose, your Dharma, your innate tendency? Your only path to freedom is…

6 months ago

Pure Vegetarian

The key to making the best vegetarian Tamil food is cooking it at home. Prema…

7 months ago

Dalit Kitchens of Marathwada

'This is the food my parents ate and their parents ate ... It is an…

7 months ago

Spiritual Anatomy

From the internationally bestselling author of The Heartfulness Way comes a journey to the center…

7 months ago

Spiritual Anatomy

From the internationally bestselling author of The Heartfulness Way comes a journey to the center…

7 months ago