• Here are simple ideas that the West can learn from India for e.g. divinity in every being, adapt to culture where you live instead of trying to impose yours, mind control and being content. Swamiji believes there is enrichment in every interaction just as India has benefitted from the West.

There are many things that the West can learn from India, many things that would enrich us culturally, intellectually, spiritually—in the realms of music, art, mathematics, medicine, linguistics, design, architecture, and the list could go on. But there are certain areas where India has contributions to make which are essential to the future well-being of the West.

Before entering into the subject, I should clarify that I am not referring to mindless copying by one culture of another, nor am I speaking of imposing the values or practices of one culture on another. Swami Vivekananda emphasised that each culture’s integrity must be respected; it has a life of its own, an ideal of its own that it is trying to express. One should not interfere with that life, that inner impulse of self-expression, because when the ideal of a culture is strong, the culture is strong; when the ideal is weak, the culture is sick; and when the ideal dies, the culture dies—a phenomenon that has occurred repeatedly throughout history.

Thus, he was against the imposing of one culture on another. He went so far as to say that, hypothetically speaking, if one could prove that a particular culture were completely corrupt, even then one should not interfere with it from outside, because through folly also one can come to wisdom.

Thus, we are not speaking here of imposing Indian cultural norms on the West. What we are discussing is the enriching of Western culture with certain ideas from India.

To make the distinction clearer, let me give two historical examples.

First, Western imperial cultures tried to Westernise their colonies—notably the indigenous cultures of the Americas and the native cultures of Africa. The native peoples of the Americas and Africa are still suffering from that cultural imposition. In the realm of religion, Christian missionaries imposed European culture along with Christianity, and Islamic missionaries imposed Arabic culture alongside Islam. Contrast this with Buddhism, which adapted itself to the culture of each country it entered, rather than attempting to turn everyone into an Indian.

The second example is positive: the great ‘golden eras’ we see flowering in different cultures throughout history most often occurred when one culture was enriched by coming into contact with another. Our own European Renaissance happened when, through the Crusades, European countries came into contact with Islamic cultures and, through these cultures, rediscovered Classical Greek and Roman thought which had been lost to them.2

In the first example, we have the destructive effect of imposing one culture on another. In the second, we have the enriching effect of learning from other cultures. What is the essential difference?

The essential difference is this: in the first example, one culture is replaced by a foreign culture, which ultimately destroys the original culture. In the other, one culture assimilates the richness of another culture into itself. The original culture isn’t replaced; rather, it is enriched by assimilation.

When we eat, we don’t replace our body with the food we take in. Rather, the food is consumed, digested, and assimilated into the existing body to enrich it, nourish it, and strengthen it. And that is what Swami Vivekananda advised (see 1.24). Western music can be enriched by Indian music, not replaced by it; Western art can be enriched by Indian art, not replaced. Enrichment provides new perspectives, new techniques, and new possibilities to the existing system.

So again, today we wish to speak neither about imitation nor about replacement, but of enrichment through deep assimilation.

Now, then, what can the Western world learn from India that will be of the greatest benefit?

The West, and indeed the modern world, is in crisis. The international and national economic systems are fragile, with frequent predictions of their impending collapse. Political systems are more fragile than they have been since World War II; some are frozen and unable to legislate, others legislating in ways that are shocking, and most are oblivious to the real needs of their people. Religious institutions are perhaps beyond fragile, being unable to provide moral and spiritual guidance because people have largely lost faith in them. Judicial and criminal justice systems are fragile. The climate, whose equilibrium is so important to life itself, is in danger, while the air, water, and earth—the whole environment—are polluted.

Perhaps this fragile state of things can continue for many years, but mere continuation is not a positive sign of life: it is simply surviving. It is also possible that systems will begin to break beyond repair. I would like to suggest that all of these areas of degeneration are signs that the paradigm that has sustained modern civilization is itself broken.

All the institutions of society are built on ideas, usually ideas that are only half-conscious or less than half-conscious, ideas that are taken for granted as true.

We have the criminal justice system that we have because we perceive criminality and justice according to the stories we have told ourselves, sometimes for ages; stories about good and evil, stories about the nature of human beings, stories about crime and punishment, and what justice is. We have the economic system that we have because of the stories we have told ourselves for generations about value, about work, about what contributes to happiness, about need, about the fulfilment of desire, and so on. We have the political systems that we have because of the stories we have told ourselves about what constitutes good governance, who the good leader is, where leaders in society get their mandate to lead, what rights do the common people have, what rights do property owners and the wealthy have, and so on.

All of our institutions are built, our civilization itself is built, on the stories we have told ourselves over generations. The stories do change, but usually they evolve slowly. However, we see times in history when the stories told are no longer sufficient, and we face collapse, like the end of the Assyrians and Sumerians, the end of the grand Egyptian civilization which lasted for 3,000 years, the end of classical Greece, the collapse of the Roman Empire, the Holy Roman Empire, Byzantium, and the end of the Spanish, British, and French Empires.

What does India have to offer that will renew the ideals of our modern civilization? That is the most important question. Music, art, medicine, and other such contributions are wonderful, but what the West needs now is, I think, something much deeper. This is a very complex subject, and I will only touch on a few highlights; but those will be enough to indicate the direction that I suggest is needed.

Central to all civilizational stories is the view of man and woman, the view of human existence. All stories are tied to our understanding of who we are. And this is central to what India can give us, indeed must give us, if we are to survive. The inherent divinity of every human being is the greatest idea ever conceived in India, and it is the desperate need of the Western world right now.

Think of the change in human society if this idea were to spread widely, were to become a part of our thinking, and were then to enter into our nervous system, becoming the driving force in our behaviour.

As Swami Vivekananda said, this idea was discovered and taught thousands of years ago in India, but even there it never became the foundation of society—it was thought that the idea that everyone is divine would lead to harmful results in society; the social order would break down. 

But as Swami Vivekananda asked, has the world really benefited from keeping this idea a secret? Are we so well off by keeping this idea only among those who renounce the world and live in forests? The Swami said that if this is the truth, it must come out of the forest retreats and enter the marketplace of the world; it must become our guiding light.

If that were to happen, if this idea were to spread, could we look upon others with hatred? Could we think only of our own welfare while the rest of the world starves? Could racism and gender discrimination exist if we really believed that everyone is a manifestation of divinity, that everyone is pure and divine? What about evil? Yes, out of ignorance, people do all sorts of terrible things. But is that because they are, by nature, evil, or because of ignorance of who they really are, and who others really are? If people are evil by nature, there’s no hope for them. If it is ignorance, that can be removed by knowledge, by awakening to the truth.

And the beauty of this idea is that it is not theology, it is not theory; it is based on experience. The highest experience of this is admittedly difficult to attain—possible, but difficult. However, we can all come to see and feel the truth of it from our present standpoint, and that, in itself, transforms us and the world in our experience.

We say in the modern world that we believe in democracy. Admittedly, that means different things to different people, but all over the world there is this new expectation that people should have a say in how they are governed, that the leaders of society must have a mandate from the people they govern. Furthermore, everyone wants and expects to be treated with respect. Most of us claim to believe in equality. Even those countries that still have a king or queen have reduced their royalty to figureheads, and even as figureheads they are losing authority every day.

What is the basis of democracy? The equal value of every individual. But where is this equality?

There is only difference, only distinction. Some are stronger, some weaker; some are more intelligent, some less intelligent; some are more talented, others less talented. Where is equality? We don’t know, and yet we feel that it is true. Yes, say the Indian sages, everyone is the same Atman, the same spiritual Self, in equal measure: beyond the body and the mind, we shine as the same divine being—man and woman, educated and uneducated, the strong and the weak, the saint and the sinner alike. It is there and can be discovered by all because it is a fact, not a theory or dogma. That is the foundation of our intuition that all must be equal in value, even though there is apparently nothing equal about people in society. Yet we believe it. Yes, we were right to believe it, but it is the doctrine of the divinity of all that explains it and reveals the true foundation of our highest ideals.

We believe that there must be some moral order to the world, but there are so many different ideas of morality, and the old foundations of morality seem to be questioned now. Is the idea that God gave tablets engraved with ten moral commandments to a man in the Sinai 3,000 years ago a universal foundation for morality? Certainly not. No modern educated person can accept such a story as universally true. Shall we accept the Bible’s teachings, or the Quran’s, or the Buddha’s teachings, or the Laws of Manu? All of them share some ideas and contradict each other in other areas. The claim that one or another of them is universal for all humanity is unacceptable. And yet we believe there must be a foundation of morality. Otherwise, there is no justice, there is no protection from criminality, and no order is possible in society.

Yes, there is a foundation, and it is this same divinity of all beings. What helps the manifestation of this divinity is moral; what obscures it is immoral. And that changes with our level of evolution along the path of realization. But the central principle is there, even if its application changes according to our stage of spiritual evolution.

And there is another dimension to this foundation of morality. What we consider the highest moral virtues are the spontaneous virtues manifested in the lives of those who have fully realized this truth. That is, moral virtues are practices for us, aspirations for us, because they are the spontaneous manifestations in human behaviour of one who has realized the divinity of all beings. Those who have realized this truth don’t have to try to be truthful or honest: that has become their very nature once they see divinity everywhere. They don’t have to practise compassion or kindness when they see everyone as divine; it is their spontaneous behaviour with regard to all. They don’t have to try to control violent tendencies because the foundation of selfishness has been destroyed when they see the oneness of all beings.

Think what a difference it would make to our criminal justice system if we at least had the conviction that all are divine. Yes, society has the right and the need to protect the innocent from those who would harm them. But once we take such people into custody, how do we treat them? Is our primary motivation to make them suffer? No, our primary motivation would be to offer them the chance and the tools to overcome their habitual ways of perceiving and acting borne out of profound spiritual ignorance. Not everyone would want to change, and such change cannot be imposed, but it is well known that many people do want to change, and many can. All they need is the opportunity and the tools.

This idea is the central medicine that the world needs now. And yes, it is needed in India as it is needed in the West, even though it is to India’s eternal glory that her sages discovered this great truth thousands of years ago, and every generation since has produced people who lived this truth. It just never became socially active for certain historical reasons. As mentioned earlier, it was traditionally believed that ordinary people in the world could not live by this truth: it would cause the disruption of society. If I am divine, why should I listen to anyone? Why should I obey anyone? Why should I do what I don’t want to do? And why can I not do whatever I want to do, no matter what the consequences are?

But as Swami Vivekananda said, has the world become any better by teaching people that they are weak, that they are sinners, that they are dependent? No. And if this is the truth, it must be taught to everyone, saint and sinner alike, and in time people will learn to live by it, because it is the truth even now in our ignorance.

From this, many other things follow that can be learned. I can’t spend time discussing each of them now, so let me just list some of them.

There is a central purpose to human life, indeed to all of life, and that is the realization of the ultimate Truth: the divinity of oneself and the equal divinity of the external world. All other purposes—personal, familial, social—still have their places, but they are secondary to this central purpose, as Vedic civilization has taught for thousands of years. If we know the central purpose of life, everything else in life falls into place, just as metal filings line up automatically in the presence of a magnet.

The relative purpose of life—that is, the purpose of life along the path as we move toward the realization of the ultimate Truth—is not to be happy. 

As the ancient Sankhya philosophy has said since the time of the Vedas, the purpose of life is experience, the understanding and wisdom that comes from experience. Through the wisdom accumulated through experience, we come to seek that which is enduring, that which is ultimately real, that which is ultimately satisfying.

There’s nothing wrong with being happy. The problem is, happiness is not something we can try to achieve: the more we try to be happy, the emptier we feel. What we can practise is contentment. That is one of the great lessons of India, where even poor people seem to be more at peace and satisfied than many of the wealthy in the West.

Along with contentment comes a different sense of time. Everyone who goes to India, whether he or she responds favourably or dislikes it, feels a different sense of time pervading everything there. The West is preoccupied with time. Time weighs heavily on us. In India, time is experienced as a flow that happens by itself; we just have to flow with it, whereas in the West, time is a path we have to walk down, along which we are responsible for doing everything ourselves. Learning to flow with time and to participate in the events that time brings to us is far more satisfying than being oppressed by mechanical time.

Nowadays, India has become much more externalized and success-oriented than it was ever before, but we can learn from traditional India the value of meditation, reflection, and being centred. We are brought up with the idea that reality is outside of us, that value is outside, that truth is outside, that happiness is outside, and that fulfilment is outside, so we spend our lives externalized. But traditional India teaches that all value, all truth, all fulfilment, and all joy are right here, within me. I just have to learn to stop the mind and find what was within all along.

From mental control comes mental quiet, peace, and clarity; from that comes inner joy. From recognizing, even intellectually, the divinity of all things, comes respect for all beings and even material things. This is the root solution to the environmental and climate crisis. Yes, this is something that India also needs to re-learn: it has forgotten this long-held truth in the rush to industrialize and catch up with the modern world, but it has always been a part of Indian civilization, and it must become a part of ours as well.

These are some of the most important values we have to learn. Yes, there are others as well that follow from this, but these are enough to give an idea. Just as in India, contact with Western art and Western music has inspired Indian artists and musicians to experiment with new forms while retaining their Indian perspective and heritage, so too will contact with Indian art and Indian music enrich Western forms of expression. This will happen in other fields as well.

The miracles of modern medicine do not need to be discarded in order to adopt Ayurveda, but the insights of Ayurveda can greatly enrich modern Western medicine, which is no longer ‘Western’ but has become modern global medicine. Modern medicine can also be greatly enriched by the knowledge of Yoga, and the same applies to many other realms of knowledge and expression.

But central to all, and most vital to the West, is a new vision of man, of woman: the divinity of each being. That will bring respect for all. And it is respect in all fields that elicits the best from everything. Whatever we respect gives up its secrets to us. And nothing brings a more noble and healthy respect for all than the perception that everything is a manifestation of the infinite Spirit.

This article was first published in the September 2025 issue of Prabuddha Bharata, monthly journal of The Ramakrishna Order started by Swami Vivekananda in 1896. This article is courtesy and copyright Prabuddha Bharata. I have been reading the Prabuddha Bharata for years and found it enlightening. Cost is Rs 400/ for one year and Rs 1150/ for three years. To subscribe   https://advaitaashrama.org/pb-subscribe/

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Notes and References

1. See Complete Works of Swami Vivekananda (Kolkata: Advaita Ashrama, Mayavati Memorial Edition), 8.55.

2. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, much of classical Greek philosophy and science was lost to Western Europe. During the Islamic Golden Age (8th–13th c.), Muslim scholars preserved, translated (often via Syriac), and expanded upon key Greek texts, including the works of Aristotle, Plato, Galen, and Ptolemy. These were later transmitted to Europe—primarily through Muslim Spain and Sicily—via Latin translations, notably from centers such as the Toledo School of Translators. This corpus deeply influenced Scholastic thinkers like Thomas Aquinas and contributed to the intellectual foundations of the European Renaissance. See Richard E. Rubenstein, Aristotle’s Children: How Christians, Muslims, and Jews Rediscovered Ancient Wisdom and Illuminated the Middle Ages (Orlando: Harcourt, 2003), especially chapters 2–4.