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72: Śramaņa, Vol 61, No. 3 July-September 10
between all parts of the world. If there is any single phenomenon which is characteristic of our times, it is the mingling of peoples, races, cultures. Never before has such a meeting taken place in the history of our world.
The idea of 'global village' or a 'metropolitan tribe' is very much present in people's minds. But in fact, the whole of scientific and technological advancement is being used for the furtherance of one particular view of the universe. The term 'globalization' appears to be synonymous with the unipolarity of the world. Dr. S. Radhakrishnan saw this danger in the middle of 20th century itself. He observed, "We are witnessing today of dangerous portents. Some of the advanced nations of the West whose names are synonymous with progress are embarking with cynical deliberation on a course which conflicts with the high injunctions of the religions they profess. They are striving to super-impose a culture and a way of life where all the cultural diversity of the world may vanish. This does not bode well for the future of mankind".
The prevailing philosophy of unabated consumerism, the disintegration of traditional values, and the rampant growth of materialism poses a common challenge to all religions of the world. What is needed is a restoration of the place of spiritual values in human life.
All this necessitates meaningful inter-religious dialogue and a deeper understanding of the contemporary challenges which all the religions of the world are facing today.
In fact, such a dialogue between Western and non-Western religions and philosophies started in the early 19th century A.D. It may be just a coincidence, but this took place when the process of de-Christianization reached its peak in Europe. In the 1880s the Sanskrit language was introduced to Europe in a learned way by Sir William Jones. Jones, a young scholar and judge of the Calcutta High Court, had translated Kálidāsa's play 'Abhijiñāna Sākuntalam', as well as wrote a brilliant paper showing the
