How I Became a Hindu

by Sita Ram Goel

An intellectual biography of Sita Ram Goel, an eminent writer and historian. It is not sufficient to be a Hindu by birth. One must be a convinced and conscious Hindu to be able survive when Hindu society is under attack from several Quarters.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Autobiography, India, Spirituality, Biography, Indian Literature

106 pages, Paperback

Published January 1, 1998

About the author

Sita Ram Goel (16 October 1921 – 3 December 2003) was an Indian religious and political activist, writer and publisher in the late twentieth century. He had Marxist leanings during the 1940s, but later became an outspoken anti-communist and also wrote extensively on the damage to Indian culture and heritage wrought by expansionist Islam and missionary activities of Christianity. In his later career he emerged as a commentator on Indian politics, and adhered to Hindu nationalism.

Reviews

[Ashish Iyer · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is a journey of intellectual Sita Ram Goel. He take us across India through the independence struggle and competing of ideologies in our country. This book deal with how he struggle religion, gandhism, communism and the Nehru government. This book also mentioned how ideology works and what he as a member went through. He closely works with different ideologies. And at one time how one Christian missionary tried to convert him during his sickness. He was there during Calcutta riots, thanks to his fluent in urdu and western dress he was saved.

He had influence of his friend Ram Swarup. His friend guide him through his life. Goel became more and more interested in Hinduism: "Sanatana Dharma called upon its votary to explore his own self in the first instance and see for himself the truths expounded in sacred scriptures. Prophets and churches and scriptures could be aids but never the substitutes for self exploration, self purification, and self transcendence."

He therefore finally became a Hindu:
"I had come back at last, come back to my spiritual home from which I had wandered away in self forgetfulness. But this coming back was no atavistic act. On the contrary, it was a reawakening to my ancestral heritage which was waiting all along for me to lay my claim on its largesses. It was also the heritage of all mankind as proved by the seers, sages and mystics of many a time and clime. It spoke in different languages to different people. To me it spoke in the language of Hindu spirituality and Hindu culture at their highest. I could not resist its call. I became a Hindu".

[Sankara · Rating 4 out of 5]

This short book is an "intellectual autobiography" of Sita Ram Goel, historian and social thinker. He describes his journey from Arya Samaj to Gandhi to Communism to finally his "spiritual home". Through this journey he has picked up good and valuable things from all the ideological schools that he stayed, and ruthlessly rejected things that he found harmful - He admires much of Gandhi's principles, but condemns his Muslim appeasement totally; He abhors Stalinism and exposes it, but still retains some elements of Marxist quest for intellectual debates and to some extent, even uses the Marxist tools for analyzing and writing history. The final postscript "Nightmare of Nehruvism" is also quite readable. You can read the whole book online also, in the website voiceofdharma.com.

[Ajay · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is Sita Ram Goel's journey of how he became a Hindu. Everyone should read his books. All of his books are educating and enlightening.

[Ishani · Rating 4 out of 5]

With full respect and recognition to the intention of the author and fact bound contents of this book, the journey in itself through the first half is a bit cumbersome.

The content of this book is mainly in 2 parts. First is the journey of the author riding on all western as well as communist philosophies. This part would be a bit 'over the head' for common people to understand properly. There are many core communist and western philosophical terms which normal readers might have never heard of and so the contents do not make such sense except that you have to carry on to get to the point. The author could have very well been a little more descriptive here instead of being crisp to carry forward his meaning to readers.

The second part however, is quiet interesting. Mostly because terminologies don't find much place here except the ones we already know of. But, the journey back to home ethics & values is not described as vividly and as much in detail as is done in the first part. This could have been elaborated more.

All in all, I do agree with the content and the perspective put forward. But the book would have made much more sense than what it did to me, if only both the chapters would have gelled together better in terms of understanding.

FINALLY, the 'Star' of this book is the postscript where some harsh facts, unimaginable & 'never heard of before' instances have been mentioned. If someone has already read/aware of the emergency period in India or the scripts of M.O. Mathai or read the KGB chronicles, they can easily identify & connect the dots of each and every point made in this section. Also, this book doesn't lean to any particular political party. It is, by far, one of those works which are completely written on personal merit and logic.

I am looking forward to reading other books of the author!

[Ishaan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book shows the journey of a great intellectual Sitaram Goel in his own words. If you are interested in how the ideological movements function and what the active members go through while they are in the making, this is a good resource.
Another interesting aspect of reading the book was that the authors journey was not a typical association with a mass movement, but he had had the opportunity to be closely involved with a diverse set of people and groups with different ideologies. The way he settles down to the Hindu thought towards the end is worth mentioning.

[Archana · Rating 5 out of 5]

An honest and touching narration. Like the simplicity of its narrative.

[Madhurya Yadunath · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sita Ram Goel is an absolute genius. Even though this is a small book, it provides ample content and context. The postscript is power packed. Book covering the journey of Sita Ram Goelji’s journey from a communist intellectual to a true unapologetic Hindu makes for an amazing read. Highly recommend and a must read.

[Karuna · Rating 5 out of 5]

I believe the books by Sita Ram Goel are as relevant today as they were at the time of publication. He is direct, harsh and brutally honest. The chapter on the "Nightmare of Nehruism" is a must read to understand how and why the country spent its foundational years in a total disconnect from it's Hindu roots.

[Santaraksita · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent autobiography by one of the only independent scholars in India. I had been wondering why there are no independent scholars in independent India, unlike Europe, who speak only the truth/their view of it irrespective of the government in rule. Why do all existing scholars praise Gandhi-Nehru, spread state sponsored propoganda and denounce the other stalwarts such as Savarkar, Subash Bose, Chandrasekhar Azad, etc? Was it because Indians were not interested in writing or was it because Indians were not interested in intellectual activity? This is very surprising since ancient India has produced a vast amount of literature, mostly by independent scholars not sponsored by kings.

This book answers why. The plight of independent scholars is highlighted in this autobiography. Shri Sita Ram Goel was a well educated person with many degrees. However, because he spoke against the government ideology, he had to face a lot of music. He couldn't get a job, had difficulty in publishing his articles in even the RSS sponsored magazine "Organizer", couldn't openly publish his books, was hounded by Marxist goons, landed on the road most of the time, without a penny. He was also almost arrested before emergency and had to hide away despite not being a politician.

Another example of such scholars is Arun Shourie, who wrote articles in the Indian Express challenging the government view on the Babri Masjid and other matters. He was fired from his job, and replaced by a pro-government Marxist. This remains the case today, as one hardly gets to read any critical or independent articles in the Indian Express which seems to be filled with anti government rhetoric and left propaganda.

One arrives at the conclusion that it was very difficult to take an anti government stand and to survive in the Nehruvian rule, which misused state machinery in every possible way. A nation in which one cannot express himself freely can hardly be called a democracy.

[Simple · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story of "How I became a story " is one which is relatable to most of the college going students. Where few good books written in fine and classy English attracts the young minds towards communism. Where our thinking becomes everything we bad we see is brought down by the capitalists.
MR. GOEL journey to communism started with a book of harold laski on communism and his journey ended (rather brought to an end ) again by a book of Victor kravchenko's I choose freedom . This Is from where he starts understanding what sanatan dharma in reality is . The journey is practically relatable and the role of his mentor and frnd ram swarup very well elucidated. As everything that has happened in this book could be concluded by a ram swarup statement to sita ram goel.
" You are too intelligent not to become a communist. But you are also too intelligent to remain one for long".
The last chapter on nehru which was added forth the 3rd edition was not needed.

[Hemang Chawla · Rating 5 out of 5]

An interesting read that introduces you to the thought process and journey of the hindu intellectual Sita ram goel. For a modern Indian youngster who has had his share of romance with the leftist worldview this book is very relatable.

Goel talks of his journey from despising sanatanism to enchantment with gandhism, to communism, and coming back to his dharmic roots.

Written in an engaging manner, this book is a short read. It makes you ask deeper questions about the purpose of human life and society while comparing the communist and hindu thought as the paths.

In the post script that dissects nehruism Goel also chides the RSS for its lack of generation of scholarship.

A must read book on realising why being a hindu today, as was in the time this book was written, a necessary conscious choice.

[Shiv Simha · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was recomended by Ashish and boy! It is a blessing! This extremely honest and critical experience of Sita Ram Goel born a Hindhu but went to other paths is one eye opener!
He clearly explains how communism is not appealing as well as his stint in a Christian missionary (that reveals dark practices such as a villager sharing how he was forced to eat beef for successful conversion much to the horror of his Hindhu wife leading to disaster).
The author then adds the dark sides of Pandit Nehru that again is a revelation!
He finally finds his peace in Hindhuism again thanks to his experiences, extensive reading and meditation. This journey has been conveyed crisply with no drama and is a must read for us in these turbulent times of conversions by giving food and treats!

[Arun · Rating 5 out of 5]

Its the journey of a seeker who discovered the essence of awakening human consciousness. It his experience of going through all paradigms before coming in terms with the right method of self realization.

[Sat Tomer · Rating 5 out of 5]

The best book I have read. It helped me in understanding meditation and philosophy of Gita.

[Jayram Joshi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Short but power packed. Gives us some insight into what made Sita Ram Goel ..

[Mithilesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is a complete introduction, about the author Mr. Sita Ram Goel, whose transformation from being a Commie to Hindutva, and led us to explore by many astonishing facts and hidden truth about the so-called communist policies and idealogy, everyone should read this, as to understand about RSS, Nehru's idealogy...

[Rohit Walavalkar · Rating 3 out of 5]

A decent book which covers the journey of an intellectual on the right side of the political spectrum from Arya Samaj to Gandhism to Communism and back to Sanathan fold.
Also got a few references to books from other intellectuals like Aurobindo and others.

[Tarun Rattan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Sita Ram Goel was a towering personality of India's right wing movement and this book is his intellectual autobiography. This covers his personal journey from being a Gandhian at the start, his later metamorphosis into a Communist at young age and then finally his imbibing the ideals of Santana Dharama and becoming a staunch Hindu. In the book he succinctly puts his commitments first to Sanatana Dharama next to Hindu society and then to Bharatavarsha i.e. India- in that order.

The book catalogues the Indian politics of last century and in it one can see the makings of what would later become a right wing movement under Hindu nationalistic BJP party currently in power. The author covers the rise of Arya Samaj, a Hindu revivalistic movement at the start of last century and how it affected him, later his hero worship of Gandhi and then his novice fascination with Communism. Finally he writes about his encounter with Ram Swarup, another right wing intellectual who helped him find his anchor in Sanatana Dharama. From Ramp Swarup he learned that Dharma is not a matter of moral norms, do’s and don’ts enforced by an act of will but rather a multi-dimensional movement of man’s inner law of being, his psychic evolution. his spiritual growth, and his spontaneous building of an outer life for himself and the community in which he lived.

Sita Ram Goel was a well read man and a scholar par excellence. He learned Sanskrit and read most of Vedic literature along with an extensive rendition of Western Philosophy, Christian and Islamic texts. He would mince no word in saying the truth. He in fact laid bare the folly of Nehruism which he termed so eloquently as the “combined embodiment of all the imperialist ideologies - Islam, Christianity, White Man’s Burden, and Communism - that have flooded this country (India) in the wake of foreign invasions”. To him for India to live, Nehruism must die. He challenged Nehruism when its stranglehold on India was almost complete and nobody would dare say anything against the great leader. But Sita Ram Goel could see how Nehruism was killing the soul of India when nobody around him could fathom that. He fought it tooth and nail, suffered personal humiliation, professional setbacks but never wavered in his stand against the depraved ideology. To him Hindu society has been the vehicle of Sanatana Dharama in subcontinent (pitra bhumi) and deserves all the honour and devotion from its sons and daughters (karama bhumi), only then Bharatavarsha becomes a holy land (punya bhumi).

He lays down his philosophy of the regeneration of Indian society under four clearly articulated premises. His first premise is that Sanatana Dharama is not only a religion but also a whole civilisation which has flourished in India since old ages but is now struggling to come into its own again after a prolonged encounter with several sorts of predatory imperialistic ideologies like Islamic and British colonialism in pre independence and Communism in the post independence era. His second premise is that Hindu is not a community but constitute a nation. Muslims and Christians in India are our own people but who have been alienated by Islamic and Christian imperialism from their ancestral society and culture. Third premise is that Bharatavarsha has been and remains the Hindu homeland par excellence. Hindus have never laid claim to any land outside the naturally well defined borders of Indian subcontinent so they should never concede that Afganistan, Pakistan and Bangladesh have ceased to be integral part of Hindu homeland, which is the idea of Akand Bharata in vogue today within India’s right wing movement. Fourth premise is that history of Bharatavarsha is the history of Hindu society and culture. Hindus created a unique civilisation which dominated the world for millenniums, later they threw back or absorbed a series of early invaders like Huns or Greeks and in current era fought the onslaughts of Islamic, Christian and British imperialism for several centuries and survived.

Sita Ram Goel was the torch bearer of India’s right wing movement and suffered personal and professional onslaughts from so called secularists and Nehruvians but his faith remained unwaivered till the end. He created his own publishing house Voice of India and helped spread the cause of India’s right wing movement by promoting writers like Arun Shourie, Konrad Elst, Ram Swarup and many others. This intellectual autobiography from Sita Ram Goel is a must read for any Indian as it provides an insight into the follies of Gandhian, Nehruvian and Communist ideologies that battered the rise of India for almost a century, how the combined effect of these misplaced ideologies led to rise of Islamic aggressive self righteousness and rampant Christian missionary activities across India. Also how it led to to the rise of nationalism and right wing movement in India culminated in the rise of BJP and Prime Minister Modi in power today.

[Satwik Agrawal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sita Ram Goel is often quoted by proponents of the neo-Hindutva movement. The movement that is very unclear and ambiguous about 'The Muslim Question' and thinks the RSS is moderate. It's not hard to see why.

Nearly all the fundamental questions raised by the neo-Hindutva/Indic movement can trace their roots back to Sita Ram. Any one on the Right would agree that these are valid questions. But Sita Ram Goel gives a very radical answer. One that any responsible person would find unreasonable and impossible.


He thinks I*lam has to be destroyed, and he says it in no uncertain terms. Quoting I*lamic texts to demolish something a large number attach a major, and in many cases the only part of their identity to is only expected of an honest person with naturally extremist proclivities. Throwing the baby out with the bathwater and all practicalities is a hallmark of all extremist movements. Not that they don't have their uses, it's just that they are steadily becoming the mainstream and are veering off into very weird places.

Sita Ram seems like a very easily influenced person. Ever passionate about his beliefs and neatly dismissive of his opponents.

Interesting tidbits about Nehru and how he was a cowardly, princely brat. Would recommend.

[Bhawna Sharma · Rating 5 out of 5]

It was wonderful reading through Sita Ram Goel's life journey. He shared how he was a communist and then became a sanatani. He also shared information about Ram Swarup's influence on him.

How easy was it to become a communist?The material was easily accessible and foreign returns were just a copy of Britishers. Reading Marx, Lenin, Stalin were the norm. A country which was under foreign rule for such a long time and had seen the tortures of the invaders was producing a generation disconnected from its roots. Was it considered cool then? People even closed their eyes to visible history. There were authors and poets and people who were making their contributions, but what could they do in front of a government who was a shadow of the Britishers? Every time I read about Nehru's deeds during his term, I wonder how the people near him who were equally influential did not do anything. He actually threw tantrums and hit people in public. How was he considered a freedom fighter when he was a foreigner from head to toe, from behavior to thinking?

I was disappointed with the fact that the RSS and BJP have not changed, they have not learned their lesson till now. They will be called communal and fascists and will be given hatred and demeaning names. It does not matter how much they want to gain Muslim/Christian/Leftists/pseudo-seculars trust.

What has changed till now? Nothing. Hindus are still unaware, communists are still misguiding history and demeaning Hindus in their own land. But it definitely shows that there were people who were trying to make Hindus aware then and now also.

[Prashanth Mysore · Rating 4 out of 5]

It is an intellectual autobiography of Sita Ram Goel - how he drifted away to get attracted to Communism and how he finally got reawakened to be a Hindu again with the help of his mentor Ram Swarup. After he became a reawakened Hindu, he has spent his energy to reawaken those Hindus, who are Hindus just by birth.

I can correlate with this drifting away from Hinduism during my college days and after. Sita Ram Goel rightly identifies the major factor being the education of Hindus by British - which continued post-independence.

Sita Ram Goel convinces that awakened Hindu is the need of the hour to survive the attacks on Hindu dharma or Sanatana Dharma, not just because being born as Hindu, but Sanatana Dharma is the only one which has the capacity to satisfy the thirst and hunger of soul's quest for Absolute Truth. As Sita Ram Goel says, Sanatana Dharma (Hinduism) is also the heritage of all mankind.

[Dr.J.G. · Rating 4 out of 5]

................................................................................................
................................................................................................
How I Became a Hindu
(Reprinted with a Postscript),
by Sita Ram Goel.
................................................................................................
................................................................................................


How I Became a Hindu (Reprinted with a Postscript)
by Sita Ram Goel


Chapter one startles with some revelations, particularly the unexpected disgusting behaviour of one Arya Samaj elder, something not expected from anyone brought up in Indian culture; and it would be disgusting regardless of place, except the appropriate place. Until reading this, one had never heard of anything negative about anything, anyone related to Arya Samaj! And that alone shows just how much tolerance of Hindu society's suffering in silence, for centuries, over millennium and half, has been.

The book nevertheless catches attention, and from then on, grips one, thus account of an inner journey threading through the external life that included intellectual growth and groupings of a soul, while he went through school, college, and intellectual movements of the time, especially political ones.

Sita Ram Goel was more fortunate, and truer, in escaping the traps of much of the typical dead-end movements he encountered, whether new or old, that many of his contemporaries or others were not fortunate enough to either escape or grow out of, or even be aware of the reality they were trapped in.
As one reads through, the personalities of the author and his mentors come through, chiefly those of his professor and his later friend, and one finds oneself wishing repeatedly that one's own growing years in Delhi were blessed with direct influence of these benefic personalities.

One realises with a start when halfway through the book that he's finished it at end of the previous chapter, that one is beginning what he calls postscript. But it's very vital, and in its blunt telling of truth, matches Ayn Rand in her works (- except, of course, she was necessarily incomplete, insisting as she did on seeing only and strictly one side of it all). It's hard to think of any other source, any other person setting forth truth quite so openly, publicly, in a political climate set by a Gandhian congress that wiped out or pushed under rug, or even abused, all other previous and contemporary great Indians, including freedom fighters; and that only got worse with the post independence era of almost seven decades of almost complete rule by congress, almost always ruled by one family, which was more often deserving of being set aside for better alternatives (which were obvious but set aside by Gandhi to begin with) than not.

As one reads the postscript, details of persona of the first PM that emerge are shocking, but not unbelievable, partly because the author has established his his sincere honesty and his impartial judgement as one has read so far, but also because he's mentioning things that are merely the extreme that wasn't publicised, not because it's not in character or because it was about events in private that can't be corroborated. Quite to the contrary, he's writing about very public behaviour of the leader. And what's more, it fits very well with the characters and behaviour of some of his less creditable descendents.

All this would be unbelievable, shocking, and heartbreaking, were it not for slow emergence of some details exposing fraud perpetrated by the party that governed India for most of seven decades after independence; but now, it's only the final fragmentation of false idols that congress had put up as demigods. One only wonders why the author saw Gandhi differently. Perhaps he didn't get to know details about his image that early post independence as we do now.

As one finishes, one is acutely aware of just how corrupt the so called intellectual scene in India has been, corrupted by lies imposed under colonial rulers of well over a millennium and half imposing their so called creeds while fraudulently badmouthing indigenous culture, knowledge and other treasures of India, including attempted destruction of every possible temple of India (successful in thousands of cases), and subsequently denial of not only the existence of the temples they bragged destroying, but of every bit of Indian history except those associated with invaders.

All this is a mirror image of the Aryan invasion theory lie propagated by West for convenience of pretending that rape and loot of India was perpetrated not only by them but by the very people whom they had looted and massacred. And places like JNU are the latest success stories of this murder of a living culture by salami tactics as per Macaulay policy of destruction of spirit of India.
................................................................................................
................................................................................................

................................................................................................
................................................................................................


................................................................................................
................................................................................................

[Ritu · Rating 5 out of 5]

Strangely authentic and intriguing. Written with so much of eloquence. Awestruck by the trajectory that this scholar's life followed to find an ideology and a spiritual home. Should be read as widely as possible.

Can't believe how our ignorance can keep us away from such a gem of a writer and his books. :|

[Girish · Rating 5 out of 5]

Was on my reading list for so long.

Written in the 1900s to 1950s.

But this will remain relevant in all times and is needed more than ever when Hinduism is facing the worst ideological onslaught on global level by the anti Hindu forces.

[Ajay Singh Shekhawat · Rating 5 out of 5]

Unbeatable piece ce of Writing.

[Amit Bagaria · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book was shocking as well as an eye-opener in many ways. I learnt so much about Nehru, the RSS, and India's communism movement, that I didn't know earlier.

However, Sita Ram ji's hatred for almost all non-Hindus was a bit much.

[Ketan Pandhi · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting insights into the pre and post independence Communist movement, how they failed and how they suppressed voices and linger on in academia and liberal arts

[Preetam Chatterjee · Rating 5 out of 5]

Goel begins his story in the cultural fog of colonial and postcolonial India, where he’s shaped by Western education and what he sees as an alien intellectual framework imposed upon Indian minds. Like many of his generation, he grows up consuming English literature, rationalism, and Marxism — the “modern” creeds of the 20th-century elite.

He’s drawn, at first, to leftist ideology, to the promise of universal justice and equality. His early self is marked by an almost missionary zeal for reform, a belief that India must modernise by shedding the “superstitions” of its past. The irony — and the crux of the book — is that Goel’s eventual spiritual awakening happens through this alienation. He doesn’t reject the West from ignorance of it; he rejects it after absorbing it entirely.

In many ways, How I Became a Hindu is a rebellion against deracination. Goel’s “conversion” is actually a reversion — a return to cultural and civilisational roots that he claims had been buried under colonial and Marxist narratives. There’s something almost Nietzschean about his intellectual journey: he looks into the abyss of Western ideology and realises that its universalism, its so-called rationality, often masks a deep cultural arrogance. What he experiences as “becoming Hindu” is thus not a religious act alone but a philosophical and cultural reawakening — a reclamation of civilisational self-respect.

But the book isn’t gentle. Goel’s tone throughout is confrontational, unapologetic, and deeply polemical. He has no patience for what he calls the “pseudo-secularists” of his time — intellectuals who, in his view, internalised Western disdain for India’s native traditions. He dismantles the idea that Hinduism is a set of rituals or beliefs; for him, it’s a way of seeing — a vast, pluralistic, cosmological system that encompasses everything from Vedanta to Tantra, from metaphysics to ethics. And here lies one of the central tensions of the book: his vision of Hinduism is expansive and spiritual, yet his critique of its detractors is sharp, almost militant in tone.

Reading Goel after Sanjeev Sanyal, one notices a curious parallel. Where Sanyal writes about India’s geography, commerce, and maritime imagination as markers of civilisational continuity, Goel is tracing the same continuity in the realm of spirit and thought. Sanyal’s tone is pragmatic and historical; Goel’s is fiery and existential. Yet both are engaged in the same project — rescuing India from what they perceive as centuries of intellectual colonisation. Goel’s battlefield, though, is not the Indian Ocean or ancient trade routes; it’s the mind. His war is epistemological — a struggle over how Indians think about themselves.

There’s a particularly compelling section where Goel recounts his disillusionment with Marxism. He writes with almost painful honesty about how he was drawn to its idealism — the promise of liberation and equality — only to find in it the same dogmatism and intolerance he had despised in religious orthodoxy. His critique of Marxism is not superficial; he engages it on its philosophical core, arguing that it reduces human life to material determinism and leaves no space for transcendence. That, for Goel, is the fatal flaw: without the dimension of the sacred, without dharma as the moral compass, a civilisation drifts into moral and cultural decay.

If Marxism is Goel’s first disillusionment, his rediscovery of Hinduism is his second birth. He writes about reading the Upanishads and the Gita as if rediscovering himself — the quiet joy of finding words that articulate what he had always intuitively known. It’s not a sentimental homecoming; it’s a philosophical one. He approaches the Gita not as scripture but as a manual of self-knowledge, as a guide to action without attachment. In that, Goel mirrors the spirit of thinkers like Aurobindo and Swami Vivekananda, both of whom saw Hinduism as a dynamic, universal philosophy rather than a dogma.

Yet, what makes How I Became a Hindu so contentious — and so riveting — is Goel’s foray into politics. He argues that the Indian state, born under Nehru’s secular socialism, systematically denied the civilisational ethos of the majority. His critique is as much about intellectual colonisation as about governance. He sees secularism in India not as neutrality but as anti-Hindu bias — a deliberate attempt to marginalise the majority culture under the guise of modernity. To modern liberal readers, this can sound like the rhetoric of identity politics; to Goel, it’s simply reclaiming balance. He writes with the conviction of someone who feels that history has been written to erase him.

At times, his tone turns apocalyptic — he warns of civilisational decay if India continues to ignore its roots. Yet, there’s also a note of spiritual serenity in his realisation that Hinduism, by its very nature, cannot be destroyed. “It renews itself,” he writes, “because it is not a creed but the breath of a civilisation.” That line, perhaps unintentionally, captures both the strength and the paradox of his position: Hinduism, as Goel sees it, is vast enough to absorb everything — but his writing often feels defensive, as if that vastness still needs saving.

There’s also an interesting interplay between personal and political narrative here. Unlike many intellectual memoirs that separate the inner life from the outer world, Goel fuses them. His political stance emerges from his spiritual realisation. He cannot accept a worldview that divorces the sacred from the social, or the philosophical from the practical. His argument — that the Indian state should reflect the Indian soul — might sound theocratic to some, but he frames it as civilisational coherence, not religious supremacy.

Philosophically, How I Became a Hindu is situated in a lineage that includes Dayananda Saraswati, Aurobindo, and even Tilak — figures who saw Hinduism as the spiritual backbone of India’s freedom and identity. Goel pushes that idea into the modern ideological arena, where it collides with Marxism, secularism, and Western liberal thought. His prose can be sharp, even abrasive, but it’s undeniably lucid. He writes like a man who has found his truth and refuses to dilute it for politeness.

As a reader, one might oscillate between admiration and unease. His clarity of conviction is magnetic; his dismissiveness toward dissent can be grating. He wants India to reclaim its confidence, but his tone often assumes that only one interpretation of Hinduism — his — embodies that confidence. That’s the paradox of Goel’s “Hindu reawakening”: he argues for pluralism as essence, yet his rhetoric sometimes narrows it. Still, this tension is precisely what makes the book intellectually alive. It’s not a polished philosophy but a battle manifesto of ideas, full of urgency and raw honesty.

Compared to similar works — say, The Case for India by Will Durant or Hindu View of Life by Radhakrishnan — Goel’s writing is angrier, less metaphysical, and more grounded in lived conflict. Where Radhakrishnan sought synthesis, Goel seeks distinction.

He’s not trying to universalise Hinduism but to particularise it — to reclaim it as a distinct civilisational identity rather than a universal human philosophy. That makes the book less serene but more combustible, more politically alive. In an age when identity is the most contested frontier, Goel’s narrative reads almost prophetic, anticipating debates that now dominate Indian public life.

There’s a moment near the end where Goel reflects that “becoming a Hindu” was not about joining a faith but about freeing himself from mental colonisation. It’s a striking inversion of the usual conversion narrative — it’s not about belief but about belonging. In that sense, the book is a document of intellectual decolonisation. Whether one agrees with him or not, it’s impossible to ignore the passion and intensity with which he argues that India’s future must emerge from its own civilisational matrix, not borrowed blueprints.

By the final pages, Goel’s voice feels less like a man telling his story and more like a civilisational spirit speaking through him. The book vibrates with the energy of rediscovery — the thrill of finding that one’s cultural DNA still pulses beneath centuries of imposed silence. It’s both deeply personal and fiercely public.

Reading How I Became a Hindu today, in a time of polarised debates about identity, secularism, and heritage, feels uncanny. Goel anticipated much of what India would argue about in the decades to come. He remains controversial, yes, but also crucial — because he forces his readers to confront questions they might prefer to avoid: What does it mean to belong? To inherit? To believe?

Ultimately, Sita Ram Goel’s book isn’t an argument you read — it’s one you enter. And once you’re in, you realise that he’s not merely describing how he became a Hindu; he’s asking, almost challengingly, how you might rediscover what you already are.

[Subash · Rating 5 out of 5]

What an awesome writer. 5 star is a gross under-rating for him. Fabulous find after the great VS Naipaul who has been my best author so far. Though lacking the subtleness that Naipaul uses in conveying his point.

[Munish Handa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A short book on a long and winding journey of a seeker
Succinctly written, with content that keeps the reader glued, even though at times one wonders how much seeking did the author need ....
I started with this book and will now move to his other works