Dharm Bhawuk - Spirituality and Indian Psychology: Lessons from the Bhagavad-Gita

Shidler College of Business, University of Hawaii at Manoa, 2404 Maile Way, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822, USA

Dharm P. S. Bhawuk

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The world we live in today has changed in many ways that calls for a better understanding of each other, which calls for focusing on research on indigenous psychologies, for without knowing the psychology of people in their indigenous contexts, we cannot quite understand their worldview and why they do what they do. The 50 most populous countries in the world include only nine countries that share the European culture and include USA with a population of 307 million, Russia (140 million), Germany (82 million), France (64 million), United Kingdom (61 million), Italy (58 million), Spain (40 million), Poland (38.5 million), and Canada (33.5 million). Together these countries have a population of about 825 million, which constitute about 12 percent of the world population, less than that of China (about 1.3 billion, about 20 percent of world population) or India (about 1.2 billion, about 17 percent of world population) alone, and less than the combined population of Indonesia (240 million), Brazil (199 million), Pakistan (175 million), Bangladesh (156 million), and Nigeria (149 million), which are on the list of top ten most populous countries in the world (about 13.5 percent of world population)., 1994a). Briefly, there are three reasons to pursue indigenous psychological research.

First, the globe is shrinking through communication and travel. With the advent of Internet, communication across the globe has increased exponentially. In 1998, there were less than one hundred million users of Internet globally, whereas by June 30, 2010 there were more than 1.96 billion people using the Internet (28.7 percent of the world population) of which 825 million users were in Asia (21.5 percent of the population), 475 million in Europe (58.4 percent of the population), 266 million in North America (77.4 percent of the population), 204 million in Latin America (34.5 percent of the population), 110 million in Africa (10.9 percent of the population), 63 million in the Middle East (29.8 percent of the population), and 21 million in Australia and Oceania (61.3 percent of the population). he realized that shutting down the Internet and telecommunication system was not possible. A handful of people were able to share information with the rest of the world about what was happening in Nepal using a few available Internet facilities in the embassies and cultural centers. This contributed significantly to the kings failure to usurp power.

Though the Internet is perhaps the single most important factor that has shrunk the globe, international travel was what started this process. For example, according to the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), tourism has steadily grown over the decades 25 million in 1950, 277 million in 1980, 438 million in 1990, and 684 million in 2000. About 922 million people traveled worldwide in 2008 (51 percent for leisure, recreation, and holidays; 27 percent for visiting friends and relatives, health, and religion; 15 percent for business and professional; and 7 percent for unspecified reasons), which was an increase of 2 percent or 18 million over 2007. In 2008, international tourism generated US$944 billion in revenue, which is about 30 percent of global service export and 6 percent of all exports, giving tourism the fourth place in global business volume after fuels, chemicals, and automotive parts. In 2010, 935 million people traveled worldwide, which was an increase of 6.7 percent or 58 million over 2009. The Asia and Pacific region saw 203.8 million visitors (21.8 percent), and has seen a sustained 6 percent growth per year in tourism since 2000, though countries like India, China, Japan, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Malaysia have seen 1020 percent growth rate in some recent years. Europe is still the largest tourist destination with 471.5 million people (50.4 percent) visiting this region, though the annual growth rate since 2000 has been only 3.2 percent. Africa and the Middle East attracted 48.7 and 60.0 million visitors, respectively, in 2010. The developing countries as a whole have seen a significant rise in tourist arrival and their share of the global tourism industry was 47.3 percent in 2010 compared to only 31 percent in 1990 (WTO, 2011). It is clear that people travel beyond Europe to many destinations all over the world, making travel industry a truly global business, which is marked by the UNWTO sponsored celebration of World Tourism Day on September 27 since 1980.