It has for long been a sore point for Indians who question modernity and its systems that we don’t have Indian scholars without western intellectual education who can critique western modernity from a purely Indian social-cultural-philosophical viewpoint. Here is such a critique, presented by Guruji Ravindra Sharma of Adilabad, a rare scholar who is a practising artisan and gifted kathakar (storyteller) and who has a deep understanding of traditional Indian social-economic systems and behaviour. We are grateful to Ashish Gupta for transcribing and collating Guruji’s talks, from which this essay has been derived.

Following is the Hindi to English translation done by me of the talk transcribed by Ashish Gupta.

What is modernity? If I have to put it in a nutshell, modernity is the complete opposite of Indian-ness. Whatever we did, in whichever way we did it, modernity does it completely the opposite way. Like, we would not wear stitched clothing, but today we have started to do so. Our people would not be bare-headed, but today we hardly wear anything on our heads. Earlier, no man would be without a moustache, but today, most seem to be clean-shaven. Everything has turned upside down.

Earlier, food grains were never sold, today they are being sold. Milk and dahi (yoghurt) would not be sold, they are being sold today. Earlier people would not eat outside of their homes, it was demeaning and therefore unacceptable. Even if one was forced by circumstances to eat outside, it was done hesitantly and surreptitiously. Today people take pride in going out to restaurants to eat. In modernity, everything is the opposite.

Our entire education was with the objective of overcoming the ‘I’ and ‘mine’. Dissolving these two was the main objective of study. Today, our entire schooling is for strengthening the ‘I’ and ‘mine’. Today every child says, “I want to become this”, “I want to do this”, “I like this”, or “this is mine”. Not only the child, but the parents are even louder with this madness, forever wanting to ‘make’ the child ‘something’, to ‘make’ his or her future. Earlier, all education was to help one be oneself and in that awareness, one would be relaxed and ordinary in one’s environment. Today, all our energies are aimed at becoming extra-ordinary, at becoming special, at seeking attention.

Earlier, our popular slogan used to be ‘uttam kheti, madhyam vyapaar, aur kare chakari, kukur nidaan’, i.e.: Agriculture and production work as the highest of livelihoods, trading work as medium livelihood, and being a servant of others as the lowest of livelihoods. Today, being a servant or employee and slaving for others has become the main occupation of people.

In our society, we have considered it a sin to take advantage of the misfortune or hardship of others. In the modern system, seeing other’s misfortune as one’s opportunity for profit is the basis of business and trade. Earlier in our society, whenever and wherever there was hardship, people would get together to provide relief, to provide solutions; no one took advantage of those in hardship, which is how we built dharmashalas at various places, we built voluntary kitchens and drinking water pyaoos. In the modern system, all these situations are seen as opportunities or gaps to be exploited to make money – in the form of hotels, restaurants, bottled water etc.

For us, business was for gain while today, business is for profit. When business is for gain, many types of gains are involved. Virtue can be gained, the goodwill of people can be gained, spiritual merit can be gained. In today’s business, it is the gain of money alone which is all-important. This is the difference between business for gain and business for profit (an alternate term could be greed, as the Hindi term used was लोभ). To live a detached life was the primary principle of Indian society. Today attachment and acquisition have become the key values of modern society. Our people used to speak of fulfilment; they would indulge in thinking in what ways can a person lead a fulfilling life. But today, all talk and action is for indulgence of desires, on self-gratification. This is the basic reason, which has led to the development of the advertising industry. From then to now, it is all opposite, everything.

Inner mindfulness, and behaviour arising out of that mindfulness, has been the way emphasised in India. In modernity, it is outward behaviour which is shaping the mind. Mindfulness-led behaviour is only possible when it is irrespective of the environment, when there is no expectation from the other. The Indian way has emphasised a natural fulfilment of duty without expecting anything in return. The modern man in contrast always speaks of transactional behaviour, his mind being used only to fashion and wear a certain kind of behaviour.

Earlier, people were involved within their own jati-based livelihoods. Nobody could take up or snatch another’s livelihood and nobody did. This way, everyone’s employment and through this their food security was ensured and protected. In modern society and modern systems, anybody can go anywhere and take up anybody else’s work. People today can sneak in and snatch anybody else’s livelihood and even try to kick the original person out – this comes under modernity’s definition of freedom. Even if your locality has a dhobi, any other person can start a dhobi business next to him. Similarly, one grocery shop can see another such shop set up right next to his. Anybody can add his auto-rickshaw to the streets which are already crowded with autos. Once a factory comes up and is doing well, any other ‘businessman’ can set up a factory doing similar activity right next to him, maybe even bigger, without any botheration or hindrance, even if his action partially or completely kills the livelihood of the people of the first factory.