By: Keyur Seta

The word ‘Globalization’ has received a great amount of importance in last couple of decades. It is a good sign that the world needs to be known as a one global community, especially with the development in technology. But in this period of two decades, there has also been an emergence of Indianization in the western world. In other words, the rest of the world is becoming more Indian in various ways of life.

It needs to be mentioned that it was Swami Vivekananda who was one of the first persons to have enlightened the west about the greatness of India.

If one tries to write down the ways in which the world is becoming Indianized, it will be a very long list. So I would like to focus on how the west is getting influenced by Indian spiritual concepts of simple living.

I have elaborated the topic through the following points:

• Food: It is everybody’s knowledge that a vegetarian will have a very difficult time in certain parts of the west. But things have been changing over the years. I have learned this from my friends and some news items that now, the westerners have started knowing the importance of vegetarian food for better physical and mental health. The ill-effects of junk food are greatly visible there. Therefore, the people over there have also gained the knowledge of having saatvik food for attaining peace of mind.
• Ayurveda: Why is India’s ancient Ayurveda spreading its clout in the west at a time when modern medical science is making some mind-blowing progress? This is because the people from the west are slowly understanding the difference between getting treated and getting healed. As the latter focuses on natural ingredients that help in rooting out the illness, people are getting attracted to Ayurveda and also Naturopathy.
• Yoga & Meditation: A monk, who happens to be my friend, has told me more than once, “In today’s stressful times, it is impossible to survive without spirituality, yoga and meditation.” With work pressure, addiction to gadgets, unhealthy food, too much of materialism and consumerism, the peace of mind has gone for a toss. So yoga or meditation seems to be the only answer. Slowly, this is been understood by the people of the west. This can also be seen from how hundreds of yoga and meditation videos featuring foreigners have cropped up in recent years on YouTube.
• Mythology: Elders have always told us that epics like Mahabharata and Ramayana are universal. This is proved right by the fact that more and more foreigners are getting fascinated by these epics. I have heard this from my friends abroad and from my Indian friends who have stayed there. One can also see a movie on Mahabharata made by foreigners with foreign actors. Of course, it is not possible for them, like many of us, to believe every act, action or subplot mentioned in them. But it is the overall message that is fascinating them and lighting their paths with knowledge for the betterment of life. Hence, I feel it is wrong to say that these epics are applicable only to Indians or Hindus.

It is indeed a proud feeling for me as an Indian to see the world getting more and more Indianized. But this doesn’t mean that we should look down upon at the rest of the world with a feeling of arrogance. The motto of Indianization, at least for me, is to generate the feeling of oneness and harmony in the world. After all, we all have the same flesh, blood and bones.

As Swami Vivekananda said, “There cannot be any progress without the whole world following in the wake, and it is becoming everyday clearer that the solution of any problem can never be attained on racial, or national, or narrow grounds.”

This post is an entry for Lufthansa and IndiBlogger contest “More Indian than you think.”

For more details, visit: http://bit.ly/MITYTIndiblogger

Lufthansa advertisement