Gandhiji’s described himself as a sanātani Hindu. His main concern was reconstruction of society for which political freedom was just a prerequisite. “But he was,” says a professor of history, “a universalist Hindu and not a Hindu universalist like Swami Vivekananda.” If one was Christian-Tolstoyan, the other was, through and through, Vedantic-Indian. The mistake of the modern mind lies in equating religion with dharma which is more an inner law of living than a ritualistic observation of stipulations. Here again we are reminded of what the Mahabharata says in despair: “I raise my hands and call out to men, but no one listens to me. Artha and Kama can be realised through Dharma. Why should we not act in accord with Dharma for the realisation of all that we desire?” The Gita itself speaks of the decline of the dharma and the coming of the Avatar from age to age. There is a long tradition of social sciences in India.

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