Psychological Effect on Vasudhaiva Kutumbkum of Materialism: Reading with Arthur Miller’s Plays, All My Sons and Death of a Salesman

Abstract

Ayam bandhurayam neti ganana laghuchetanam udaracharitanam tu vasudhaiva kutumbkum, the concept originates in the Vedic scripture Maha Upanishad. (Ch. 6, Verse 72) This proverb means “The thought that one person is related to me and another is not is that of the narrow-minded. For the broadminded, however, the whole world is one family. (Hitopadesha: 1.3.71)”¹ is narrow minded thinking but when we think that the whole world is our family is our broad minded thinking. Vasudhaiva Kutumbkum means the whole world is one family. We all are the relatives and family members but unfortunately, we are far from this type of broad thinking in this materialistic world. Every person is crazy about name and fame and mainly for his appearance. For which he is forgetting his real duty towards nature, relations with this whole world. This paper focuses on psychological effect on Vasudhaiva Kutumbkum of materialism where everyone is totally depended on materials. “Materialism is a way of thinking that gives too much importance to material possessions rather than to spiritual or intellectual things.”² In Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman and All My Sons, we find the human psyche which is altered in this materialistic world with which the meaning of Vasudhaiva Kutumbkum is also altered.