Editor at large at Fortune India, Hindol Sengupta has six books under his belt. His new one, titled The Modern Monk, about the life and work of Swami Vivekanand, has just launched. He spoke to Guardian 20 at the Jaipur Literature Festival 2017.
Q. Can you start by telling us about your seventh, and latest, book?
A. My new book is in a sense a planned trilogy on Hinduism which I am trying to write. The first was called, Being Hindu, which came out last year. This one is titled, The Modern Monk, which is about Swami Vivekanand. I have not tried to write one more biography of Swami Vivekanand, but instead I have tried to understand how his entire life’s work is relevant today. My argument is that he is so contemporary that we do need to care about it. This further leads us to the query, “How is he contemporary?” And the answer is this book.
Q. You have written extensively on public policy, entrepreneurship, political economy and the business of luxury. Which among these is your preferred subject?
A. If you had asked me this question five years ago, there would have been a different answer, but today I increasingly see what in the West they talk about mindfulness: where it came from. They are also talking about rajayoga (intense meditation) that Swami Vivekanand has talked about. That’s where it come from, and vipassana. I see these themes are deeply entwined in business, commerce, finance and much more. My focus right now is on a deeper understanding of ancient Indian knowledge.
Q. How do you choose your topics?
A. The kind of topics I am working on are totally based on my own journey. If you look at my past works like Recasting India: How Entrepreneurship is Revolutionizing the World’s Largest Democracy, it was to understand my own passage through liberalisation and then an inner journey took form in Being Hindu.