Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – The World is One Family

Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam – The World is One Family

Vasudhaiva kutumbakam – Vasudeva kutumbakam – sometimes spelled  is a phrase from the Hindu text the Maha Upanishad that is typically translated as “the world is one family.” It is so valued that it is engraved in the entry to India’s parliament building.

The term comes from the ancient Sanskrit vasudeva, which means the Eternal Reality, and kutumbaka, meaning “family.” In the alternate spelling, vasudha means the Earth. The overall meaning of the expression is the same – that all of the world, universe or reality is one.
Yogapedia explains Vasudeva Kutumbakam

In context, the verse vasudeva kutumbakam describes the yogi who has reached the highest level on his spiritual journey and no longer has attachments to material things.

Although the Maha Upanishad is the original source of the adage, it has influenced Hindu literature and philosophy since. The Bhagavata Purana describes vasudeva kutumbakam as the “loftiest Vedantic thought.” It affirms the worth of all life – human, animal and plants – and the value of their interconnectedness on Earth and in the universe, just as the goal of yoga is unity.

1. Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam (Sanskrit: वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम. from “vasudha”, the earth; “iva”, is ; and “kutumbakam”, family) is a Sanskrit phrase that means that the whole world is one single family.So here the Vedic sages are saying that the entire world is truly just one family. The world is like a small, tightly knit, nuclear family.

2. The words वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम् (vasudhaiva kuTumbakam) come from the mantra VI-72 in Maha Upanishad which belongs to sAmaveda tradition. The mantra reads:
अयं बन्धुरयंनेति गणना लघुचेतसाम्
उदारचरितानां तु वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम् ॥
Meaning: The distinction “This person is mine, and this one is not” is made only by the narrow-minded (i.e. the ignorant who are in duality). For those of noble conduct (i.e. who know the Supreme Truth) the whole world is one family (one Unit).
(The meaning of words like ‘family’ etc. should be understood in the context of what the Upanishad is talking about. It is describing the quality of a man who understood the Truth, transcending the multiplicity of the world).
The Upanishad mantra is not a geo-politico-socio-cultural statement. It is a matter of fact.

3. Hitopadesha, 1.3.71:
‘ayam nijah paroveti ganana laghuchetasam
udaracharitanam tu vasudhaiva kutumbhakam’ |
’This is my own and that a stranger’ – is the calculation of the narrow-minded
For the magnanimous-hearts however, the entire earth is but a family’

4. Tamil Poem written 2500 years ago :
Tamil Poet Kanian Poongundranar on the concept similar to ‘Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam’ (Song 192, Purananuru, Sangam literature)
‘யாதும் ஊரே; யாவரும் கேளிர்;
“Yathum Oore Yavarum Kelir”
‘Every place is my home town; Everyone my kith and kin