Yoga, veganism, karma, and so much more all come from India, whose culture has a far-reaching influence on modern society.
India’s cultural practices are ancient and contain much more than meets the eye. The rich tapestry of India’s history has inspired the world as a whole. Their society has influenced famous musicians, bettered the fitness and health of millions, and found its way into the spiritual and mental health practices of modern society. India is a special country that has made its mark in the history books and has weaved itself into the fabric of modern society.
India’s Influence on Modern Society
India stands out as a significant influence globally, with its impact resonating across various aspects of modern society. Here are some notable ways the world’s most populous nation has shaped the rest of the world.
Yoga and meditation
Yoga and meditation have ancient roots in Indian culture. Both practices are intertwined, stemming from the Hindu Vedas, and are focused on techniques aimed at increasing mental health and overall well-being. They date back to around 1500 BC, making them 3,000 years old. It’s a testament to their importance both to India and on a global scale.
Mahesh Yogi, an Indian guru, brought transcendental meditation to the West in the 1960s. Celebrities such as Jerry Seinfeld and the Beatles popularized the practice, and more than six million people practice it today. While there are many forms of meditation, such as mindfulness meditation and the style practiced by Zen Buddhists, transcendental meditation specifically originates from India.
Swami Vivekananda introduced yoga to the West in 1893 during his historic address at the Parliament of the World’s Religions in Chicago. He focused on the spiritual and philosophical teachings of Raja Yoga, emphasizing meditation, self-discipline, and the unity of all religions, making the ancient wisdom of yoga accessible to Western audiences.
Decades later, Swami Vishnudevananda further modernized yoga by systematizing it into five principles: Proper Exercise (Āsana), Proper Breathing (Prāṇāyāma), Proper Relaxation (Śavāsana), Proper Diet (Vegetarian), and Positive Thinking & Meditation (Vedānta & Dhyāna). These principles, which integrate physical, mental, and spiritual well-being, remain foundational in contemporary yoga practice worldwide.
Veganism inspired by Indian vegetarianism
The earliest records of vegetarianism as a concept and practice among a significant number of people come from ancient India, particularly among the Hindus and Jains, whose vegetarian diet was the result of a strict rule against harming animals. As India and Greece connected following Alexander the Great’s conquest of India (326BC), the diet began making its way westward.
However, in the West, the recorded history of vegetarian nutrition began in Greece in the 6th century BCE with followers of the Orphic mysteries.
Pythagoras, the Ancient Greek philosopher and mathematician born in the 6th century BC also avoided consumption of meat, as part of his philosophy promoting peace among all species. He founded a school where many adopted his teachings, including the principles of vegetarianism and reincarnation.
Thousands of years later, in 1944, British woodworker Donald Watson founded The Vegan Society to further the ideals of vegetarianism. Vegetarians eat dairy and eggs, but Watson wanted to create a diet where people would completely avoid animal products, hence the creation of veganism.
Karma
The term karma is quite loosely thrown around these days. Whenever something terrible happens to someone we consider a bad person, we think karma has gotten them. It is often described by saying, “You reap what you sow” or “What goes around comes back around.” However, karma is a complicated relationship between actions and consequences meant to work in tandem with the cycle of life and death.
Though rooted in early Hindu texts, the concept of karma became more fully developed in the Upanishads, which were composed around 800–400 BCE, following earlier references in the Rigveda, a collection of Hindu religious and philosophical hymns from around 1500 BCE.
The ancient dharmic practice is a universal law in Indian philosophy that asserts someone’s future is shaped by their thoughts, speech, and actions in the present. It incentivizes living in a moral and just way as karma not only dictates the outcome of your life, but also your state of reincarnation.
A person carries past karma into each life cycle and begins new karma. Negative consequences in a new life cycle may result from actions in a previous life. Karma ends when a person attains moksha, which is liberation from the cycle of rebirth and freedom from all worldly suffering and attachment. This marks the completion of their final life cycle.
The Beatles and more
India has been a source of inspiration for some of the lyrics and music of iconic bands like The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Doors, and others, with some of their works reflecting Indian spiritual practices, philosophy, and music. It mostly started with the Beatles. Hearing live Indian music at a restaurant to film a scene for their movie “Help!” inspired them to adapt some of the sounds and ideas to their lyrics.
“We were waiting to shoot the scene in the restaurant when the guy gets thrown in the soup and a few Indian musicians were playing in the background,” George Harrison said in an interview about how they ran into Indian music. “I remember picking up the sitar and trying to hold it and thinking, ‘This is a funny sound.’”
Their interest deepened with the guidance and lessons of Mahesh Yogi, who taught them transcendental meditation. The band went with the yogi to India to delve further into the culture, inspiring many after them to do the same and giving birth to the Hippie Trail. Motivated by the times and the changing moral landscape of the ’60s, bands like the Rolling Stones and The Doors followed the Beatles in incorporating Indian influences into their music.
The Hippie Trail, the Sadhus, and the 60s and 70s
Indian culture and spirituality heavily influenced the hippie movement of the 60s and 70s. Their use of marijuana, goals of pacifism, and abandonment of material things are all inspired by Indian culture. Artists of the time were inspired by Indian culture, and their fanbase wanted to further explore the ideology and traditions. There was a path called the Hippie Trail, where many American hippies traveled this way through India. They visited places such as Goa, Rishikesh, Varanasi, Dharamshala, McLeod Ganj, and Pushkar.
Indian spiritual practitioners known as sadhus, who use marijuana for religious purposes, played a significant role in influencing the hippie movement. Often traveling alone or in groups, sadhus could be found along the Hippie Trail, a route passing through places of Hindu spiritual significance. As hippies traversed this path, they frequently encountered the sadhus, whose way of life inspired them to abandon material possessions in pursuit of spiritual enlightenment.
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