The 2026 Global Spirituality Mahotsav (GSM) featured educator and scholar Sraddhalu Ranade, a long-time resident of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram, who spoke on spirituality and the need to move beyond a Western worldview to truly understand India.
Ranade said the roots of Indian civilisation lie in spirituality, one that strengthens life rather than negates it. Referring to Sri Aurobindo, he said spirituality has the potential to explore all dimensions of existence.
“Intellectual power leads to technical mastery. A typical scholar is brought up within a Western worldview. To appreciate India, we need to step out of that framework,” he said.
In conversation with Prof R.S. Sarraju, former pro vice-chancellor of the University of Hyderabad, Ranade observed that modern society is largely driven by desire, whereas it should be guided by the soul.
He emphasised that the body itself cannot be spiritualised unless it becomes conscious of the spirit. “The abandonment of the body and matter marks a gigantic shift. The body must become aware of the spirit,” he said.
Drawing a parallel with India’s Independence, Ranade said, “When India attained political freedom in 1947, we did not fully recover our economic, cultural or spiritual freedom.”
Ranade noted that as early as 1910, Sri Aurobindo had suggested that parliamentary democracy would pass through India, only for the country to eventually realise that it does not entirely suit its civilisational ethos. “India’s mind wants to choose its king first. Today, we are in a limbo. Relevance can come only through a deeper understanding of spirituality; by putting mind and soul into everything we do. That will be the foundation of India’s resurgence,” he said.
He described Auroville as the seed of both India’s and the world’s resurgence. “Those who resonate with Sri Aurobindo’s teachings will be pioneers of transformation; perhaps not within their own lifetimes. You may not see success immediately, but you will share in that success when you return to life again,” he said.
According to Ranade, the greatest challenge facing modern India is a continuing culture of compromise. “People hesitate to speak about the Mahabharat because it does not fit into Western frameworks. But we must always draw from our past,” he said.
Ranade was brought to the Sri Aurobindo Ashram as an infant and grew up under the care of the late M.P. Pandit, a poet and a close disciple of Sri Aurobindo and the Mother.
Ranade, over the years, is known for integrating scientific thought with spiritual insight in his lectures and writings, and for conducting extensive teacher-training programmes in India and abroad based on Sri Aurobindo’s vision of integral education.