Hinduism and New Age

Abstract

One of the latest transformations of Hinduism concerns the appropriation of Western New Age influences, which in the 1990s and 2000s gave rise to a burgeoning spiritual field dominated by urban middle-class Hindus. This chapter discusses its growth and fuzzy contours and analyses its rapid growth. Drawing on psychology-inspired social theory, the chapter argues that the rapid societal changes brought about by the liberalization of India’s economy created a demand for self-development techniques that facilitated adjustment to these changes, some of which were spiritualized in the guru movements that began to mushroom. Cultivating a New Age emphasis on human oneness in a country as hierarchical and multi-religious as India makes Indian New Age stand out in at least two respects. First, by the friction between oneness, class-stratified organization, and religious philanthropy, here conceptualized as ‘patrimonial oneness’. And, secondly, by its self-conscious effort to bridge religious boundaries, though religious cosmopolitanism was difficult to accomplish in practice.