Dharma is still followed in India, at least to a greater extent than in the West, in spite of diverse attempts to draw Indians away from a dharmic lifestyle. – Maria Wirth
I was born into a democracy in Germany and heard from childhood that democracy is of course the best form of government. “Of the people, by the people, for the people”—what more could we want! Luckily, the media informed us whenever “democracy is in danger” and when we needed to “save democracy” or bring the gift of democracy to other countries like Iraq, Syra, Libya….
Then, a few weeks ago, the founder of Vitasta Publishing asked me to be on a panel for the book release of “Democracy with Dharma” by Salvatore Babones. For the first time, I reflected on democracy a little deeper, and came to unexpected conclusions.
Salvatore Babones argued that Indian democracy is looked down upon by international observers as greatly flawed, but in fact India is matching the parameters of a democracy rather well. He complimented India that she is the good democracy in the club of democratic countries, unlike Russia or China, and he gave the concept of dharma a role in it.
My first conclusion was that for any society, dharma is far more important than democracy. If the society and its leaders follow dharma, it’s a good society. If they don’t follow dharma, it’s bad. Fortunately, dharma is still followed in India, at least to a greater extent than in the West, in spite of diverse attempts to draw Indians away from a dharmic lifestyle.
One such attempt can be seen in the concept of democracy itself: Democracy basically means constant confrontation rather than cooperation. We are told that a “healthy democracy” needs a strong opposition. Yet a strong opposition means that almost half of the voters did not vote for the ruling party and are unhappy with the government. They feel that they have “lost”.
What makes it worse is that opposition leaders now need to keep their voters unhappy with the government and make some of those who voted for the government, also unhappy, so that they have a chance to win the next election. So instead of unifying the nation, a “healthy democracy” is the blueprint for dividing it.
Further, money plays a huge role. Elections are expensive. Much of this money comes from big donors. These donors expect favours. Usually, they want more back than what they had “invested”. Even an honest leader would feel pressure to “return the kindness”. This can shift decisions away from the public good toward private interests. And what about dishonest, adharmic leaders?
In most democracies, leaders are rarely moral figures. They are surrounded by lobbyists, secrets, and temptations. This makes them vulnerable. The Jeffrey Epstein files exposed how politicians—and not only politicians—can be blackmailed or bought, and make democracy basically a joke.
Also, a huge amount of energy and money is wasted on persuading the electorate that the government policies are good or bad respectively and to give the government another term or to change it. Certain groups, based on religion, language, region, or class, are promised sops because of the number of votes they carry. Policies are shaped not by what is best for the country, but by what wins the next election. Naturally, the temptation is there to throw numerically small groups under the bus, as losing their support won’t matter. This leads to heartburn in society. Injustice is never a good idea.
Another problem is that many citizens are simply not interested in politics. Many don’t vote at all—in democracies like the USA or India, every third person of the electorate—and others who do vote, are swayed by friends or relatives.
On top of that, media houses shape opinions by choosing what to highlight and what to hide. Yet are they free to choose or are the media owners giving the direction? So, in practice, the “voice of the people” is heavily engineered. And one should ask for whose benefit?
Democracy also often prevents leaders from taking tough, but in the long run good steps, like cutting subsidies or removing reservations, because they fear losing the next election. And even if a leader dares to take tough measures, his decisions get stuck in courts, protests, and committees. In times of crisis, this delay can be costly.
I noticed another strange but significant point. Before WWI most countries had monarchies. The brutal assassination of the Czar and his family during the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia was the start of abolishing monarchies worldwide in favour of democratic republics. The German emperor was forced to abdicate in 1918. Now, in 2026, according to Google only some seven true monarchies exist, like Saudi Arabia, Oman, or Brunei.
How is it possible that in a short span of time, the whole world divested their kings of their power and got rid of their century old, time-proven system of governance? Some countries kept the king or queen as figure heads; others deposed them outright. Naturally, this must have been orchestrated by those at the very top of the power structure in the world—possibly with the help of the two world wars?
So, the question is: was democracy pushed on the nations of the world because it is easier to corrupt and blackmail newly elected, inexperienced leaders, than it is to corrupt and blackmail established royalty? And because democracy also works to divide the citizenry and make them fight each other and not look up towards those at the very top who try to control all of humanity?
Are the divisions between right and left, castes, ethnicities and religions deliberately heightened with fake news and riots by the deep state, by paying activists? Did not the CIA support—or create—ISIS and Al-Qaida?
It is hard to believe but powerful men at the top of the pyramid also conduct abhorrent rituals, the worst of them involving torturing and murdering children to please demonic powers.
It’s a dark world. According to the Puranas, it is the rule of Kali Purush, where dharma is tottering on only one leg. But there seems to be a positive change coming. Never before had so much of those dark machinations come to light. Never before had common people access to what those so-called elites are really up to. The Epstein files play a big role in this.[*] We should be interested in what is coming out and take it seriously. Especially Indians should not make again the mistake from the past centuries, in believing nice-sounding words from foreign invaders when the intentions behind those words were malicious and their methods satanic.
India is still a relatively bright spot in the world precisely because of dharma. Wikileaks had disclosed that PM Modi is not only not corrupt but is also perceived as incorruptible. Yet, this doesn’t guarantee that all powerful persons who have influence on government policies follow dharma and cannot be corrupted or blackmailed. Attempts are surely on to compromise influential persons.
The Mahabharata gives excellent advice on how a country should be ruled, when Bhishma explains Rajdharma to Yuddhisthira. Ram Rajya scores high over modern, secular democracies: a dharmic, independent ruler who has trustworthy, intelligent advisors and puts the security and welfare of his people above his own welfare. Bhishma gives one more important advice: the Raja needs to worships the Gods, great powers whose benevolence is needed.
In contrast, secular democracies have explicitly no place for the Divine. Science is meant to replace religion. We, the common people, should focus only on the material realm and forget our divine roots. Yuval Noah Harari, the famous Israeli historian and regular participant at the WEF, wants us to consider belief in God as ridiculous.
Yet our overlords—the global financial cabal—seem to take the invisible realm very seriously and take the help of demonic powers to gain immeasurable riches and power. There are several whistle-blowers who have spoken up, especially against the trafficking of children for sexual abuse, for their blood and for sacrifice. Several of those whistle blowers died under mysterious circumstances soon after speaking up. Some are fortunately still alive, like the Dutchman Ronald Bernard.
Bernard got into top financial asset management because he had no problem to put his conscience in a deep freeze. His main goal was to make as much money as he could. He attended Satanic rituals “for fun” and was amused by the naked women present. But the breaking point came when he was invited for a sort of upgrade. He was promised unimaginable riches if he joined in sacrificing children. This was the breaking point for him. – Maria Wirth Blog, 8 February 2026
* Of the six million Epstein files with the Trump government, only three million have been released to the public. Trump’s AG Pam Bondi says the remaining three million files will NOT be released to the public. However, some of their content has slipped by the redactors of the last file dump, with a witness alleging that child sacrifice and cannibalism did take place on Epstein’s island retreat. – Ed.
› Maria Wirth is a German author and journalist who lives in Uttarakhand.
Filed under: india, USA, UK, world | Tagged: dharma, democracy, secularism, rajdharma, epstein files |
BHARATA BHARATI 