Makes the case that Sanatana Dharma is Bharat's civilisational foundation — not a religion but a universal responsibility.
Sanatana Dharma carries no creed to subscribe to, no deity to convert toward, no outgroup to define itself against. Dr. Ankit Shah and Arun Ganesh argue this is precisely why it has endured — and why conflating it with the imported concept of religion misreads both the tradition and Bharat's civilisational identity.
The book traces the philosophical foundations: the Vedic understanding of Dharma as responsibility rather than doctrine, the pluralism that allowed Buddhist, Jain, Sikh, and Sanatana traditions to spread across the world without conquest or proselytisation, and the vision of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam — the world as one family — as Bharat's operating principle across millennia. The authors situate India's contemporary aspiration toward Atmanirbhar Bharat within this ancient but living framework, arguing that a self-reliant Bharat and an Adhyatmika Bharat are the same project, not competing ones.
-:ABOUT THE BOOK:- This book is a call to remember who we are. Let us not read it merely with our minds, but receive it with our hearts, and walk with it as fellow seekers. -Shri Nitin Gadkari, Minister, Road Transport and Highways This book conveys the spiritual basis and magnanimity of Atmanirbhar Bharat. -Shri Harivansh, Deputy Chairman, Rajya Sabha Viksit Bharat and Sanātana Bharat are completely intertwined. -Shri Suresh Prabhu, Former Union Minister An exciting and compulsory read. -Padma Shri Dr. D R Kaarthikeyan, Former Director, CBI It is an incontrovertible truth that our immortal Rishis laid the foundation of 'Bharat Varsha' and its Sanātana Vedica Dharma. Sanātana is eternal, and Dharma is responsibility. Bharat's continuum rests on its universal consciousness and identity, cosmic intelligence and vision, and limitless responsibility. This is also the reason Sanātana Dharma is for Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam as Bharat's larger vision has always been 'World is One Family'. Sanātana also means there is nothing to convert to-no ideology, no philosophy, no God. 'Religion' has been an imported idea, not Bharat's; 'Dharma' must not be conflated with 'religion'. Bharat's pluralism has enabled each tradition within the Bhartiya dharmic family-Buddha, Jain, Sikhi, and Sanātana Dharma-to spread its wings to the farthest corners of the world, without having to conquer and proselytize since there is no otherization. Despite Bharat's colonization for a long period of time, and well-sustained campaigns (both within and without) to unseat Sanātana Dharma from its lofty perch, Sanātana Bharat must stay its course. An Ādhyātmika Bharat means an Atmanirbhar Bharat in all its variegated manifestations. Bhagavad-gītā's teachings are forever: Fight the battle for dharma, fight for righteousness-युध्यस्व!
