Next week, Gabbard, now serving as the United States Director of National Intelligence, is set to visit India. The war veteran has had a long career in both politics and the military. It will be the first trip to our nation by a senior White House official under the Trump administration.

If you were to plot the trajectory of a typical US intelligence chief, it would likely involve military service, an Ivy League education, and a career spent moving through government agencies. What it would almost certainly not include is a personal and spiritual connection to India, is a practising Hindu or an oath of office taken on the Bhagavad Gita. But Tulsi Gabbard is not a typical intelligence chief.

A Different Kind of Intelligence Chief:

“My parents raised all five of us with an important value of karma yoga and always wanting to be of service through everything that we do,” she had said in a 2012 interview. Gabbard was first exposed to the Hindu faith in childhood but it was as a teenager that she truly embraced it. She immersed herself in the Bhagavad Gita, making it the foundation of how she saw the world. In 2013, when she took her oath of office in Congress, she didn’t swear on a Bible, as most politicians do. She swore on her own personal copy of the Bhagavad Gita.

To understand what makes Tulsi Gabbard’s India visit so unusual, we have to first understand Tulsi Gabbard herself. She is the first Hindu ever elected to the US Congress, the first person of Samoan heritage to serve at such a level, and the only US intelligence chief who openly describes herself as a “Karma Yogi” (a person who believes in selfless action as a spiritual duty).

“It is a chaotic time and no one can say with certainty what tomorrow looks like […] but we find certainty, strength, and peace in the practice of Bhakti Yoga and Karma Yoga taught to us by Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita,” Gabbad had said in her historic Commencement Address to the Class of 2020 during Hindu Students Council’s (HSC) virtual commencement.

The silver-haired leader's faith is central to her identity. She practices yoga regularly, follows a vegetarian diet, and actively integrates Hindu values into her leadership style. Her husband, Abraham Williams, is also Hindu, making theirs a rare political marriage rooted in Vedic tradition.

Meeting with Modi:

When Gabbard first met Modi in 2014, she presented him with a copy of the Bhagavad Gita, calling it the text that had guided her throughout her life. Modi is widely known to be a lifelong proponent of yoga and Hindu philosophy, so he immediately understood the significance of the gesture.

Earlier this year, during Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to Washington, Gabbard was the first US official to meet him at Blair House on February 12, just hours after he arrived in the US capital. That fact alone speaks volumes. There is no shortage of high-ranking US officials who meet with Indian leaders, but few have the kind of personal connection to India that this army veteran does. 

Gabbard has long embraced her connection to the Indian diaspora, releasing annual holiday videos celebrating Diwali and fostering a close relationship with Indian-Americans. With her brown skin, black hair and Sanskrit name Tulsi, she is often mistaken for an Indian-American. She is frequently described as a “Hindu-American,” a phrase that collapses spiritual belief and national origin into a single category. Hers is a unique position: an American politician whose faith aligns more closely with a foreign nation than with the majority culture of her own country.

Political and Military Career:

She has been a lieutenant colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve since 2021 and previously served as a U.S. Representative for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district from 2013 to 2021. She started her political journey early. At just 21 years old, she became Hawaii’s youngest state legislator.

With Gabbard now leading US intelligence operations, the stakes of her India connection are higher. This is, after all, is the birthplace of the philosophy that has guided her life, and it is also a country that plays an increasingly critical role in US geopolitical strategy. It is not often that the Director of National Intelligence is also a practitioner of Bhakti Yoga, someone who sees governance through the lens of duty, service, and karma. And yet, in Gabbard, that is exactly what India will encounter.

Gabbard’s military career began in 2003, when she joined the Hawaii Army National Guard. The following year, she was deployed to Iraq (2004-2005), serving in a medical unit and earning the Combat Medical Badge. In 2007, she completed officer training at the Alabama Military Academy, and in 2008, she was deployed to Kuwait as a Military Police officer. Even while serving in Congress, she continued her military service (becoming a major in 2015). In 2020, she transferred to the U.S. Army Reserve and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 2021.

It is rare to see a leader for whom India is not just a foreign policy concern, but a spiritual and intellectual home. As Tulsi Gabbard arrives in India, she does so not just as a high-ranking US official, but as someone who carries a piece of India with her.

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