This article relates the situation of Hinduism in India as it has come in contact with modernism and Islam. The result of these two influences on Hindu culture has had an inevitably threatening result on Hindu religion. Saran emphasizes the impossibility of the privatization of religion in the Hindu tradition as it has been implied by secular and outside social influences. In addition to modernism and Islam, Saran also discusses the implications of British colonial rule and Christianity as these also limited the sustainability of the Hindu tradition. He questions the compatibility of Hindu principles with the ideas of social reform introduced by western ideals and industries in part because this synthesis of society overturns the doctrine of karma that is central to Hindu belief.

Saran discusses the revolution that Gandhi caused within the schism of the ‘freedom-cum-nationalist movement’ in India; how Gandhi went about changing the foundation, goals and nature of the freedom movement and the effects this had both on the movement and on the spiritual revival within India. According to Saran, “Gandhi changed the nature of Indian politics by spiritualizing it.” Saran goes on to investigate the meaning and philosophy behind Gandhi’s life and works, contrasting this philosophy with the modern world which Gandhi attempted to combat.