MODERN INDIAN MOVEMENTS: RELIGIOUS AND COUNTER-RELIGIOUS, SINGAPORE 1984

Abstract

This study is directed primarily at the incidence of re¬ ligiosity within the framework of a modernist secular nationstate of Singapore. Very often, these two phenomenon have been considered to be mutually exclusive but this is not necessarily so. Far from disappearing, forms and modes of religious expression may persist, but much altered, in societies that are otherwise modern and secular. The study, accordingly, also examines the process of change in reli¬ gious thought and practice as manifested in a cluster of Indian-derived movements in Singapore. The main such movement studied, the Radha Soami Satsang, is a charismatic movement that does not classify itself as a religious group. Its teachings are esoteric, individualistic, and explicitly opposed to organised religion. Members of the group come mainly from the Sindhi and Punjabi communities, with some members from South Indian, Chinese and Malay sec¬ tors of the Singapore population. The group advocates a rational, practical and scientific approach to life. This movement is similar in several respects to the other Indian movements discussed. Belief in karma and re¬ incarnation, claims to universal appeal, life-course mana¬ gement of a rational nature, presence of a guru, and a middle-class body of adherents unify the eight movements examined. But the diversity encountered in this range of movements is also given some attention.