Everywhere you look in India, progress occurs. Rapid industrialisation occurs in rural areas, infrastructure and road developments stand flanked by scaffolding and heavy machinery, while tech and e-commerce startups pay the leases of new-money landlords in cities who are transitioning from scooters and motorcycles to sleek sedans and hatchbacks. Metros and train lines send millions of city and suburb dwellers daily to jobs in offices of major companies such as Tata, Infosys and Hyundai.
But it’s not just those on the mortal plane that share in the riches of economic and industrial development. Even in Dev Bhoomi, change is underway. Gurus, temples and religious charities have adapted as much as any other entity or business to the needs of a tech-centred world, creating scenes and phenomenon that might seem baffling in the West.
In the Sri Manakula Vinayagar Temple of Pondicherry, previously the home of Lakshmi the elephant, the dues expected for visitors to the central and most holy chamber can be paid via mobile UPI. What once may have been paid in rupees, or before that in goods or services, is now done seamlessly and securely via an instantaneous online transfer, through the scan of a QT code. Ganesha, a patron of fortune, doesn’t seem to mind an inch, as the light of a phone screen illuminates his incensed inner sanctum.
In Coimbatore, Sadhguru’s ashram in the Ishi Yoga Foundation offers courses on yoga, silent retreats and ‘inner engineering’. But more curiously, it also offers advice on utilizing ayuvedic practices for the benefit of brand development. Here, spirituality is as applicable to commercial development as inner rectification, and Saddhguru has approached this crossover with a vigor that has made him an immensely powerful religious figure and self-help tycoon. Each week, bus-loads of spiritual tourists arrive on the daily, seeking wealth and guidance both commercial and spiritual.
In New Zealand, every major town has a soup kitchen, usually run by the Salvation Army or local NGOs. Similar acts of charity are far from unusual in India, but the Akshaya Patra charity, associated with the Hare Krishna religious group, have turned this up to an immense scale. With group industrial kitchens located throughout India which can produce over 60,000 chibati in an hour, Akshaya Patra has been contracted by the government to assist in reducing malnutrition and providing food to millions of school children across the country. Their effective utilization of modern chain production has earned them many accolades, and cemented them as a key part of the Indian governments attempt to fight the issues of malnutrition.
India is often viewed by the West as a land of the past, a place of previous grandeur with age-old religions that is struggling to assert itself at the global table in a modern, secular world. But in the everyday industrialisation of its religious aspects, India does what it always has—subverts expectations and drives innovation. While the gods and gurus of the subcontinent bask in the benefits of industrialisation, it is important that the West remember that religion is by no means an anachronism. As with any aspect of a culture, it changes in tandem with the physical, political and commercial elements of development. It is here, in the age old temples and silent ashrams, that we see the power of India’s modern approach to spiritual leadership and industrialisation.