Why Hindus Must Relearn the Art of Knowing Themselves — and Their Enemies (A Wake-Up Call for Hindu Civilization)
In Swayambodha and Shatrubodha: Hindu View of Self and the World, scholar-thinker Pankaj Saxena presents a profound civilizational analysis of Hindu selfhood and its adversaries. Moving beyond politics and polemics, the book explores how true decolonization must begin within — through swayambodha (knowledge of the Self) and shatrubodha (awareness of hostile forces). This review examines Saxena’s call for intellectual sovereignty and spiritual clarity in reclaiming the Hindu worldview.
A Groundbreaking Work for Our Times
Pankaj Saxena’s book is a courageous intellectual intervention. At a time when Hindu society faces an intense civilizational battle — both external and internal — this work invites us to rediscover the foundations of Hindu thought.
The book explores two concepts: swayambodha (the knowledge of the Self) and shatrubodha (the knowledge of the enemy). These are not merely abstract categories but twin pillars of survival and renewal for a civilization that once defined human spirituality and now struggles under layers of colonial, Marxist, and modernist distortions.
Through meticulous analysis and philosophical depth, Saxena argues that understanding the Hindu view of the Self and the world is not an academic luxury but a civilizational necessity.
Renewing the Hindu Lens
The author begins by questioning the intellectual frameworks through which most Indians — including so-called Hindu thinkers — view reality today. He points out that the categories of modern discourse, be it liberal, leftist, or even nationalist, are often borrowed from Western thought. These imported lenses distort the Hindu experience of being, resulting in confusion and loss of self-confidence.
Saxena calls for a return to the Hindu gaze — one rooted in the Vedic and Dharmic vision where the world (jagat) and Self (atman) are not opposites but part of an integrated whole. Unlike the Abrahamic dualism of God versus the world or of man versus nature, Hindu thought sees divinity as immanent in all existence.
The author’s central insight is that true decolonization must begin in consciousness, not in politics or economics. The Hindu must first re-know himself as Swayam-Buddha, self-aware and self-rooted.
Swayambodha: The Knowledge of the Self
The first section of the book delves deeply into swayambodha, tracing its philosophical and experiential dimensions through the Upanishads, the Gita, and the lives of seers. For Saxena, swayambodha is not a doctrine but a lived realization — the awakening to one’s inherent divinity.
He contrasts this inner realization with the Western obsession with external conquest and material progress. Modernity, he argues, replaced self-knowledge with self-alienation. Even educated Hindus began to measure themselves by Western standards of success and rationality.
Saxena reminds readers that Hindu civilization achieved unparalleled creativity and resilience because its people were grounded in swayambodha — the awareness that all actions, knowledge, and institutions ultimately flow from an inner spiritual source. When this source is forgotten, society becomes vulnerable to ideological colonization.
The book explains how this loss of swayambodha began with British rule, intensified under Nehruvian secularism, and now continues through Westernized academia and pop-culture globalism. The result is a Hindu who worships in temples yet thinks in Marxist or liberal categories — a colonized mind in sacred attire.
Shatrubodha: Knowing the Enemy
If swayambodha is self-knowledge, shatrubodha is the awareness of forces that threaten one’s being. Saxena uses this concept to challenge the cultivated naïveté within Hindu society — the reluctance to name, study, and understand adversarial worldviews.
He does not use the term “enemy” in a crude or sectarian sense but in a civilizational one. Shatrubodha means clarity about those ideas, institutions, and ideologies that negate dharma — whether they come dressed as missionary compassion, socialist equality, or liberal humanism.
Hindu civilization, he argues, declined because it failed to develop a robust tradition of shatrubodha. While its saints and philosophers perfected self-knowledge, its kings and intellectuals often underestimated the destructive zeal of Abrahamic and materialist ideologies. The inability to comprehend the other’s absolutism led to centuries of defeat, fragmentation, and loss of confidence.
Saxena draws sharp contrasts between the Dharmic and Abrahamic worldviews. For the Hindu, truth is plural, contextual, and experiential; for the Abrahamic mind, it is singular, historical, and exclusive. One seeks liberation through inner transformation; the other seeks domination through external conversion. Recognizing this difference is essential for Hindu survival and revival.
The Crisis of the Modern Hindu Mind
One of the book’s most striking insights is its dissection of the modern Hindu psyche. Saxena shows how colonial education and Nehruvian politics systematically uprooted Hindus from their intellectual heritage. Today’s Hindu elite may quote scriptures, but their reasoning and values are derived from Enlightenment rationalism, Marxism, or post-modern relativism.
This split between faith and thought has produced what the author calls a “hollow Hindu modernity.” The Hindu continues to perform rituals but lacks the confidence to interpret them intellectually. The result is imitation of Western science, Chinese pragmatism, or Abrahamic moralism — without the creative fire that once animated our civilization.
Saxena’s critique is unsparing yet compassionate. He does not romanticize the past but insists that a civilization that forgets its metaphysical roots cannot sustain even material success. India’s technological and economic rise, he warns, will remain fragile unless guided by a renewed spiritual and cultural vision.
Decolonization Through Inner Reclamation
Saxena’s approach to decolonization is distinctive. He does not reduce it to political slogans or identity assertion. For him, genuine freedom lies in reclaiming intellectual sovereignty — freeing the Hindu mind from Western categories of truth, reason, and morality.
He urges a re-examination of key concepts such as history, time, progress, and human nature from the Dharmic perspective. For instance, the Hindu idea of kaala (time) as cyclical contrasts sharply with the Abrahamic linear history of creation and apocalypse. Similarly, Dharma’s emphasis on harmony with cosmic order stands against the Western ideal of mastery over nature.
Such comparisons are not meant to reject modern knowledge but to re-situate it within a broader, sacred understanding of existence. Saxena invites readers to develop a Hindu social theory — one that integrates science, art, ethics, and politics within a spiritual cosmology.
Critique of Western Universalism
A major strength of the book is its fearless critique of Western universalism — the assumption that modern Western categories are neutral and universally valid. Saxena exposes how terms like “religion,” “secularism,” “freedom,” and “rationality” are historically Christian constructs that fail to capture the Hindu experience.
For example, Dharma is not a “religion” competing with others but a way of being that encompasses law, ethics, duty, and liberation. Similarly, Hindu pluralism is not a concession to tolerance but a natural outcome of its metaphysical insight that truth manifests in many forms.
By unmasking these distortions, Saxena challenges Hindus to stop playing on alien conceptual turf. He calls for creating a new intellectual vocabulary rooted in Sanskritic categories — Atman, Brahman, Dharma, Rta, Ishwara — rather than borrowed terms like “faith,” “spirituality,” or “religion.”
The Role of Intellectual Kshatriyas
The book repeatedly invokes the need for intellectual Kshatriyas — thinkers who combine clarity of vision with courage of expression. Saxena insists that swayambodha and shatrubodha must manifest not only in meditation halls but also in universities, media, and public life.
He cautions that spirituality without vigilance breeds vulnerability. Civilizations collapse not merely from military defeat but from loss of narrative sovereignty. The modern Hindu, he laments, often mistakes passivity for tolerance and confusion for openness. To reclaim Dharma’s rightful place, Hindus must articulate their worldview confidently, engage the global discourse on equal terms, and defend their sacred institutions from distortion.
The Civilizational Battlefield
Saxena’s analysis extends to contemporary politics and culture. He sees the ideological attacks on temples, festivals, and family structures as part of a broader civilizational war — one that seeks to erase Hindu continuity. Yet he does not advocate reactionary isolationism. Instead, he calls for a balanced response grounded in Dharma — firm yet compassionate, assertive yet non-hateful.
For him, shatrubodha is not hatred but lucid awareness — the wisdom to discern destructive forces without becoming like them. It is the disciplined alertness that arises from swayambodha. Only a self-knowing civilization can defend itself without losing its moral compass.
Style, Scholarship, and Relevance
Written in clear, forceful prose, Saxena’s work blends philosophical rigor with accessible language. The book avoids jargon, making complex ideas comprehensible to serious readers without academic training. Its tone is neither polemical nor apologetic but deeply reflective.
Saxena draws from a wide range of sources — the Vedas, Upanishads, and epics as well as contemporary thinkers like Sri Aurobindo, Ananda Coomaraswamy, and Ram Swarup. Yet the book remains distinctively his own, marked by intellectual honesty and a quiet intensity.
For young Hindus seeking clarity in an age of confusion, Swayambodha and Shatrubodha offers both diagnosis and direction. It reaffirms that the Hindu path is not a relic of the past but a living alternative to the materialist and nihilist currents dominating global thought.
A Call to Awaken
At its core, Saxena’s book is a call to awakening. It reminds Hindus that the battle for civilization is not fought merely in parliaments or streets but in consciousness — in how we see ourselves and interpret the world.
To regain balance, the Hindu must cultivate swayambodha — self-knowledge — and shatrubodha — awareness of forces that deny Dharma. One without the other is incomplete. Together, they form the inner and outer dimensions of civilizational renewal.
Swayambodha and Shatrubodha — the book — is a beacon for the coming generation of thinkers, activists, and seekers. It compels us to ask: can a people truly be free if their categories of thought remain colonized? Can a civilization survive if it forgets to know itself and its adversaries?
By framing these eternal questions in the language of our times, Pankaj Saxena has offered Hindu society a vital mirror and a map. His work is not merely a book — it is an invitation to introspection, courage, and renewal.
Every thoughtful reader — especially Hindus seeking to understand the civilizational challenges and spiritual depth of their own tradition — should read this remarkable book and share its timeless wisdom far and wide.
Pankaj Saxena should be congratulated for this bold, timely, and much-needed work. With deep insight and rare courage, he has illuminated truths that many hesitate to confront. His book is not just a scholarly contribution but a clarion call for Hindus to awaken, reflect, and reclaim their civilizational wisdom.
