Spiritual Culture and Sustainable Development in Rural India

Abstract

Abstract Spirituality is the essence of Indian culture in general and rural India in particular. India’s culture is mainly recognised as spiritual culture. Most of the elements of Indian culture are intangible by nature and has a spiritual dimension. In the 21st century, in the age of globalisation where western culture that is materialistic by nature is dominating, rural India is still carrying the rich tradition of spiritual culture that is close to the nature and goes in the line with sustainability of environment. This paper seeks to investigate how spiritual culture can show the way to sustainable development and also solve the problems emersed from environmental degradation. The paper is based on the review of related literatures, interviews with different stakeholders and personal observation of Indian rural life. It is revealed that many spiritual activities practices in India is close to the nature and promote sustainable development. However, the process of globalisation that emphasize materialism is getting prevalence in urban India. Rural India is still very much living with sustainability and spiritual culture. So, there is need to encourage spiritual culture that can be proved much beneficial for sustainable development. Key Words: Spiritual, rural, development, sustainability.