DHARMA KARYA by Prof. Bharat M. Mody: A Civilisational Manifesto
Prof. Bharat M. Mody’s DHARMA KARYA: An Ideological Book is not merely a treatise on philosophy or religion; it is a provocative civilisational manifesto that situates Sanatan Dharma as the only sustainable foundation for both Bharat and the world. The book’s central thesis is bold and unambiguous: Sanatan Dharma, as the last surviving civilisation, stands in stark contrast to the closed, coercive, and faith-driven structures of Christianity and Islam. By grounding itself in reason, individualism, and cultural inclusivity, Sanatan Dharma, according to Mody, offers the most viable model for establishing a benevolent, just, and sustainable political order.
The author frames his arguments by contrasting the philosophical, moral, and political consequences of Sanatan Dharma with those of Christianity and Islam. The result is a polemical work, often controversial in its rhetoric, but deeply serious in its civilisational intent. At its core, the book seeks to re-establish Sanatan Dharma as the natural ideological basis for governance, education, morality, and culture in Bharat, while warning against the destructive potential of imported religious and political models.
Sanatan Dharma versus Religion: Foundational Distinctions
The book begins by making a crucial distinction between Sanatan Dharma and religion. For Mody, Sanatan Dharma is not a religion in the conventional sense; it is a way of life, a civilisation, and an eternal philosophy. He characterises it as scientific, artistic, non-binding, and ideologically driven. Its very resilience—having endured a thousand years of invasions, colonial subjugation, and trauma—demonstrates its adaptability and strength as a civilisational framework.
By contrast, religions such as Christianity and Islam are defined narrowly, as closed systems built on faith, submission, and the authority of one book and one God. Such systems, in Mody’s view, are inherently restrictive, intolerant of diversity, and dependent on coercion to maintain their authority. Their reliance on exclusivist narratives—whether Christ’s sacrifice or the Quranic injunctions of obedience—marks them, he claims, as unsustainable for fostering a plural, benevolent global order.
This fundamental distinction serves as the ideological foundation for the book: Sanatan Dharma is a philosophy of freedom and sustainability, while Christianity and Islam are religions of control and submission.
Morality and the Philosophy of Individualism
A second central strand of the book concerns morality. Mody establishes a dichotomy between individualism, as articulated in Sanatan Dharma, and altruism, as propagated by Christianity and Islam.
In Sanatan Dharma, morality derives from Purusharth—the pursuit of fourfold goals: Dharma (righteousness), Artha (wealth), Kama (desire), and Moksha (liberation). This structure places the individual at the centre of ethical life. The individual is not required to sacrifice himself for others; instead, he must pursue his own Dharma, which in turn contributes to the collective good. This is what Mody terms the virtue of selfishness—not in the sense of crude greed, but in the recognition that a society of responsible, self-realising individuals is more sustainable than one built on enforced altruism.
Christianity and Islam, by contrast, are described as altruistic systems that valorise sacrifice and demand that individuals subordinate their own interests for the sake of others. Mody critiques this as a “Robin Hood morality,” in which the productive are compelled to support the non-productive, thereby punishing creativity and rewarding dependency. Christ’s sacrifice, for instance, is interpreted as the institutionalisation of this ethic of self-abnegation, which he considers antithetical to sustainable societal growth.
In this moral universe, therefore, Sanatan Dharma encourages heroism, productivity, and responsibility, while Christianity and Islam promote submission, dependency, and mediocrity.
Reason versus Obedience: The Role of Knowledge
The book’s philosophical sharpness is most apparent in its discussion of reason and knowledge. Mody highlights that Sanatan Dharma encourages reason, inquiry, and freedom of choice. Individuals are not coerced into belief but are free to pursue knowledge and enlightenment through Karma and self-study. The diversity of practices, sects, and philosophies within Sanatan Dharma testifies to this fundamental openness.
By contrast, Christianity and Islam are portrayed as traditions that openly denigrate knowledge. Mody draws attention to the Biblical story of the Original Sin—where eating the apple of knowledge is punished—as symbolic of a worldview that equates curiosity with disobedience. Similarly, in Islam, the authority of clerics and the rigidity of scripture are presented as barriers to independent reasoning. The consequence, according to him, is a populace conditioned into obedience, discouraged from critical thought, and vulnerable to authoritarian control.
This distinction is crucial to the book’s thesis: a sustainable civilisation must be rooted in reason and intellectual freedom, not blind obedience.
Historical Trajectories: Survival versus Collapse
Mody bolsters his argument by placing civilisations in historical perspective. Sanatan Dharma, he insists, is the last surviving civilisation precisely because it is philosophical rather than religious. Unlike the Greek, Roman, Mayan, or Communist systems, which collapsed under the weight of power struggles, ideological rigidity, or material excess, Sanatan Dharma endures because it is elastic, inclusive, and deeply embedded in cultural life.
Christianity and Islam, however, are critiqued as having expanded primarily through violence, coercion, and conversion. From the Crusades and the Inquisitions to Islamic Jihads and conquests, their histories, he argues, reveal a pattern of forceful imposition rather than organic growth. While Sanatan Dharma upholds Ahimsa (non-violence), reserving the use of force only in retaliation (as in the Ramayan and Mahabharat), Christianity and Islam are described as initiators of aggression, responsible for centuries of conflict.
This historical reading reinforces the claim that only Sanatan Dharma can provide a stable foundation for the future.
Political Consequences: Towards a Dharma-Based Republic
Perhaps the most radical implication of the book lies in its political prescriptions. For Mody, governance must be grounded in philosophy, not expedience. He calls for a system that removes imported frameworks of socialism and secularism and instead aligns directly with the principles of Sanatan Dharma.
The vision is of a Capitalistic Political Republic, one where laws are objective, governance is philosophical, and the relationship between state and citizen is based on mutual trust rather than manipulation. This vision is often encapsulated in his invocation of Ram Rajya—a political order that is just, prosperous, and rooted in Dharma.
At the same time, Mody critiques the appeasement politics of modern India, where constitutional principles of secularism and socialism are, in his words, “raped” and bent to accommodate vote banks. He argues that only by reclaiming Sanatan Dharma as the philosophical foundation can Bharat establish a free, safe, and productive republic.
God, Plurality, and Cultural Sustainability
Mody’s discussion of God further distinguishes Sanatan Dharma from other systems. In Sanatan Dharma, God is omnipresent and expressed through myriad forms, including the earth, water, wind, sky, and countless deities. This plurality reflects a worldview that is inclusive, artistic, and celebratory of life in all its forms. It sustains cultural diversity and fosters resilience.
By contrast, the monotheistic traditions of Christianity and Islam are described as narrow, often rooted in fear of divine wrath, and oriented towards an afterlife rather than the flourishing of life on earth. This orientation, he contends, promotes hatred of earthly existence and distracts from the cultivation of a sustainable world here and now.
Thus, the pluralistic and celebratory ethos of Sanatan Dharma is presented as inherently more compatible with sustainability than the exclusivism of monotheism.
Controversies and Critiques
It must be noted that Mody’s arguments are not without controversy. His sharp critique of Christianity and Islam, his rejection of altruism, and his advocacy for a Dharma-based political order raise profound ethical and political questions. Many will find his rhetoric exclusionary and his proposals for governance uncompromising.
Yet, one cannot deny that the book has succeeded in raising crucial debates: What should be the philosophical foundation of Bharat’s governance? How should education and morality be restructured for sustainability? What role should civilisational identity play in shaping the future? In forcing readers to confront these questions, DHARMA KARYA asserts its relevance, even if its answers are contested.
Conclusion
DHARMA KARYA is, at its core, a work of ideological reassertion. Prof. Bharat M. Mody makes an uncompromising case for Sanatan Dharma as the only philosophy capable of sustaining a benevolent world order. By contrasting it with Christianity and Islam, he highlights the unique strengths of Sanatan Dharma: its foundation in reason, its respect for individualism, its pluralistic conception of divinity, and its resilience as a civilisation.
The book is provocative, polarising, and unapologetically polemical. Yet, it is also severe in its civilisational intent. For readers interested in the intersection of philosophy, politics, and cultural identity, DHARMA KARYA offers not only a critique of the present but also a manifesto for the future. Its insistence that Bharat must reclaim Sanatan Dharma as the guiding principle of its governance and culture is both a challenge and a call to action.
In the broader landscape of Bharat-centric literature, DHARMA KARYA stands out as a bold civilisational document, uncompromising in its vision and unafraid of controversy. Whether one agrees with its conclusions or not, the book compels reflection on the most profound questions of identity, morality, and sustainability in the modern world.
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Review by Amit for The Last Critic
