The concept of governmentality has a textual and philosophical basis as well as being concerned with what might be called the practices of government. This article discusses and develops the governmentality argument with respect to the guru-led movements. It outlines the basics of Michel Foucault’s concept of governmentality, its analytical frame, the fact that governmentality moves beyond only the practices of the state and its nuances in a neoliberal frame of reference, drawing on Zygmunt Bauman and others. It then discusses (...) the governmentality of guru-led movements through: (1) the political acts and powers of the gurus; (2) the supplementary and complementary efforts to aid the state by the guru-led movements; (3) instances of resistance and taking on the state, and (4) the flipside of governmentality, which manifests as hegemony, Hindutva politics and Hindu nationalism. Through the governmentality argument, aspects of the surveillance, discipline, control, interactivity and competition of the guru-led movements emerge. What is discussed is a post-disciplinary model of governance which devolves power downwards from crumbling state institutions to new agencies of control, in this case, the gurus and their institutions. This devolution, however, is not without its tensions and the article also argues that guru governmentality betrays traces of hybridity and non-linearity. (shrink)

I have reviewed briefly persons who have influenced me during my years as a student of medicine and to date. I have been blessed in my teachers and owe everything I am to them. The chief lessons they taught me were integrity, sincerity, the need to keep learning and practice ethically keeping the welfare of the patient in mind all the time. Above all, they taught me to observe the Golden Rule**.

In this paper I have examined the Saibaba phenomenon which originated in India and now has a global influence. Through fieldwork, I build on the life and works of three faith teachers (gurus) who have contributed to the Sai movement to forward my thesis that sociality and hence tangible social service is an important means to gain legitimacy, social standing and as a response to late modernity. I begin by giving an overview of the Sai phenomena and its peculiarities in (...) terms of syncretism, bricolage and aspects of global proliferation. I then discuss how sociality is a strategy for this genre of faith movement and its implications. Finally I propose that sociality has become a metaphor of Sai sacrality. (shrink)

This article is based on field work with the Vivekananda Kendra in Kanyakumari, India. The Vivekananda Kendra is a Hindu spiritual organization founded in 1972, based on principles promoted by Swami Vivekananda. The organization’s members translate Vivekananda’s Vedanta and Yoga ideals into national reconstruction. The efforts of Eknath Ranade as the key transmitter of Vivekananda’s ideals, the way he effectively wove austerity, renunciation, and service to realize them, and the Kendra’s strategy of social service and its effects are discussed. In (...) particular, the Kendra’s social service is analyzed on the basis of its social consciousness, its views on social issues and gender, its Hindu nationalist stance, and its relationship with the establishment and the global political economy. This critical discourse highlights the Kendra’s emphasis on Vedantic socialism as opposed to traditional socialism. The lenses by which the Kendra views society are gendered and ethnonationalist. It deals with matters of justice, equity, and state relations from a benevolent patriarchal vantage point. (shrink)

Treatment of diseases of the brain by drugs or surgery necessitates an understanding of its structure and functions. The philosophical neurosurgeon soon encounters difficulties when localising the abstract concepts of mind and soul within the tangible 1300-gram organ containing 100 billion neurones. Hippocrates had focused attention on the brain as the seat of the mind. The tabula rasa postulated by Aristotle cannot be localised to a particular part of the brain with the confidence that we can localise spoken speech to (...) Broca's area or the movement of limbs to the contralateral motor cortex. Galen's localisation of imagination, reasoning, judgement and memory in the cerebral ventricles collapsed once it was evident that the functional units-neurones-lay in the parenchyma of the brain. Experiences gained from accidental injuries (Phineas Gage) or temporal lobe resection (William Beecher Scoville); studies on how we see and hear and more recent data from functional magnetic resonance studies have made us aware of the extensive network of neurones in the cerebral hemispheres that subserve the functions of the mind. The soul or atman, credited with the ability to enliven the body, was located by ancient anatomists and philosophers in the lungs or heart, in the pineal gland (Descartes), and generally in the brain. When the deeper parts of the brain came within the reach of neurosurgeons, the brainstem proved exceptionally delicate and vulnerable. The concept of brain death after irreversible damage to it has made all of us aware of 'the cocktail of brain soup and spark' in the brainstem so necessary for life. If there be a soul in each of us, surely, it is enshrined here. (shrink)

Medical practice is based on teaching, learning and examples set by seniors. Past and present practices are briefly analysed. Current trends do not justify optimism. The poor patient is likely to be sidelined as doctors reach out to the rich and powerful in this country and those bringing in American dollars from abroad. While corrective steps are possible, it is unlikely that they will be implemented.

Can strikes by resident doctors training to become consultants in Indian public-sector teaching hospitals be ethical? These hospitals were established for the medical care of the very poor in a country where health insurance and a national health service are nonexistent. In such a situation, the paralysis of tertiary healthcare centers by striking doctors runs contrary to the raison d'être of the profession. It also violates the first dictum of medicine: Primum,nonnocere. And although there is some discussion in the Western (...) literature on strikes by doctors, authorities in India are silent on the subject. (shrink)