About the author
Rajiv Malhotra had a distinguished corporate career in the U.S. before transitioning to entrepreneurship. He successfully established and ran several IT companies in over 20 countries.

In the early 1990s, Malhotra decided to exit all for-profit ventures and devote himself fully to research and advocacy. He founded the Infinity Foundation, a non-profit organization based in Princeton, USA, through which he conducts in-depth research into history, social sciences, and mind sciences, often using an Indian civilizational lens. His foundation is dedicated to creating knowledge, fostering dialogue, and promoting global understanding through books, videos, and public engagements.

Malhotra’s acclaimed works, such as Being Different, Breaking India, and Snakes in the Ganga, challenge Western interpretations of Indian traditions and emphasize the importance of preserving India’s unique civilizational identity. He is particularly known for critiquing the assimilation and misrepresentation of Indian culture by Western frameworks. Today, his contributions span academic research, public discourse, and collaborations with like-minded organizations worldwide.

TLT: Your book deeply explores the domain of consciousness, blending mysticism and science. How do you see consciousness studies influencing the broader understanding of human existence and its integration into fields like neuroscience and spirituality?

Rajiv Malhotra: Consciousness studies have been a focus of mine for two decades. Apart from the present book The Battle for Consciousness Theory, in earlier books, I highlighted how AI and allied technologies will impact how we understand consciousness. Newer research and advances in neuroscience are pushing the boundaries of materialism and we need to understand deeply the issues at stake and articulate the Dharmic position to this.

TLT: A recurring theme in your works is the critique of “Western Universalism.” How do you propose that Indian traditions reclaim their narrative and assert their uniqueness against the homogenizing forces of globalization?

Rajiv Malhotra: An important counter to forces of globalization is to not only understand how Western universalism works but also put forth our own Swadeshi response. Sanskrit non-translatable, the concept of Poison Pills, the Hindu Good News – there are many methods I have written on countering this.

TLT: Your concept of the “U-Turn Theory” highlights how Indian traditions are often appropriated and rebranded. What steps can institutions and scholars take to preserve the authenticity of Indian knowledge systems while engaging globally?

Rajiv Malhotra: There are five major steps that I outline as a part of the U-Turn theory, which usually takes place: immersion into the source culture, appropriation of useful elements, erasure of traces to source, repackage as receiver’s original idea, and lastly the export back to the source tradition. Understanding this pattern is crucial to first identifying the concepts and material that have fallen victim to this process. Once this is done, one can establish the trace and spotlight the source tradition in the correct context.

TLT: In your book AI and the Future of Power, you discuss “Five Battlegrounds” impacted by AI. Could you share your perspective on how AI is reshaping human consciousness and the ethical challenges it poses to civilizations like India?​

Rajiv Malhotra: In my book AI and the Future of Power, I devote two battlegrounds to understanding the consequences of this important issue. The battle for the agency of the individual, the hacking of nature’s learning systems, and the challenge to spiritualism are hugely important to discuss and debate, especially in India, which has its rich repository of theories on consciousness and at the same time, immense challenges due to the impact of AI on other socio-economic aspects. I address not only the practical issues but more interestingly the metaphysical issues raised – such as the possibility of artificial consciousness as distinct from artificial intelligence.

TLT: Your comparison of Integral Unity and Synthetic Unity is compelling. Could you provide contemporary examples where these paradigms manifest, and discuss their implications for societal and environmental harmony?​

Rajiv Malhotra: Integral unity means that ultimately only the whole exists; the parts that make up the whole are only a relative existence; yet this relative existence is important as that is our present state of consciousness. The metaphor used to illustrate this unity is of a smile about a face: A smile cannot exist separately from the face; it is dependent and contingent on the face. However, the face has an independent existence, whether it smiles or not. Yet, we cannot dismiss the existence of the smile. The relationship of every entity to the cosmic whole is similar: the dependency is unidirectional. The cosmos is the form of Bhagwan. You cannot dismiss Bhagwan’s smile (the world) even though its existence is relative and not absolute. Synthetic unity is different: It starts with parts that pre-exist separately from one another. For example, the parts of an automobile exist separately until they are assembled into a single vehicle. Similarly, in classical physics, the cosmos is viewed as an assemblage of separate elementary particles. The Western scientific tradition has been reductionist rather than integral.

TLT: In The Battle for Consciousness Theory, you address the distortion of Sri Aurobindo’s ideas. How can the global community of Aurobindonians effectively counter such misrepresentations and uphold his teachings?

Rajiv Malhotra: When I first began to expose Wilber’s appropriation of Sri Aurobindo’s ideas in the late 1990s, I found myself challenged by many Aurobindonians due to a variety of reasons – hesitation to rock the boat and potentially harm their careers, ignorance of the issue, aloofness and escapist attitudes towards the practical problems in the SA studies, and so on. It was due to the encouragement of Aurobindonian stalwarts such as K.D. Sethna, Kireet Joshi, and Devan Nair I continued my work. The first step to upholding Sri Aurobindo’s legacy is to once again spotlight his work and counter the distortions and appropriations it is subject to by the Wilburites in the public domain.

TLT: You emphasize the importance of creating an “Indian Grand Narrative.” What role can literature, education, and media play in fostering a cohesive and empowering narrative for India?​

Rajiv Malhotra: All nations and communities have their own identity-forming stories which helps them build their national and global identity. These stories, a combination of facts and myths form what is called the grand narrative of a people. India lacks such a grand narrative. Instead, many narratives have become implanted by foreign invaders and colonizers. Worst of all are the narratives championing various divisive fragments that serve to emotionally and conceptually break up India rather than build it. Indian Grand Narrative should comprise the stellar contributions the Indian people made across millennia to the global discourse in material and practical ways – such as in science and technology and the mind sciences. The media and the school curricula have a crucial role in spotlighting these contributions, while also highlighting the present challenges, to create an effective “Indian Grand Narrative” for the public.  

TLT: Transitioning from a successful career in technology to pioneering Indian studies is unique. What inspired this shift, and how has your technical background influenced your work in philosophy and cultural analysis?

Rajiv Malhotra: I was trained initially as a Physicist, and then as a Computer Scientist specializing in AI in the 1970s. After a successful corporate career in the US, I became an entrepreneur and founded and ran several IT companies in 20 countries. Since the early 1990s, as the founder of the non-profit Infinity Foundation (Princeton, USA), I have been researching on a full-time basis the Indian civilization and its engagement with technology from a historical, social sciences, and mind sciences perspective.

TLT: You’ve spoken about nurturing “intellectual kṣatriyas” to defend dharma. What advice do you have for young scholars seeking to engage deeply with Indic thought in a global context?

Rajiv Malhotra: The first advice would be to understand one’s own dharma, then get out of your comfort zone to immerse in the global Kurukshetra. This involves understanding the current dynamics of the Kurukshetra and how to use Purva paksha. We have many resources that we have put together over the years that can help, even as one identifies issues within one’s circle of influence to take on.

TLT: With several acclaimed books and initiatives, what projects or areas of research are you currently pursuing? Can readers expect new frameworks or concepts to emerge from your work?

Rajiv Malhotra: Infinity Foundation (IF) is presently at a special moment – it celebrates its 30^th anniversary soon. Over the next year, we have some highly important products scheduled for launch including books that will highlight IF’s contributions over the past decades in various domains. I hope to complete the development and propagation of my lifetime work, which is my School of Thought, consisting of a collection of unique frameworks and models.