Download forms and uses of the commentary in the indian world

FORMS AND USES OF THE COMMENTARY IN THE INDIAN WORLD
Christian Commentaries of Hindu Texts
Prof. Dr. Anand Nayak
University of Fribourg, Switzerland
Pondicherry, Conference, 23 February 2005
Although Christianity came to India at a very early stage, its spread in the South, can be
historically attested only from about 4th century A.D. The early Christians in India, converted
to an Oriental (that is Antiochian) form of Christianity, belonged mostly to the higher castes
and did not develop a missionary expansion in India. It remained therefore, for several
centuries, until the discovery of Calicut by Vasco da Gama in 1498, enclosed within the
boundaries of Kerala.1 Their relationship with the surrounding religions, particularly with the
Hindu population, can be noticed only at a very late period that is, during the colonial period
beginning from the 16th century. We read about this discovery in the reports which European
missionaries sent back to the headquarters of their respective societies in Europe.2 These
reports were often negative and full of prejudices over Hindu works, which the missionaries
of that time had evidently not taken pains to read and study. But their attitude somewhat
changed when the European indologists discovered the Indian languages and began to
translate oriental texts and make them available to the intellectual European world. If the
academic world of that time showed a general fascination to the ancient Indian thought; the
attitude of the Christian Churches towards the Hindu texts did not really change until a very
late period, that is, the beginning of the 20th century and as late as the Second Vatican
Council which was held from 1962-65.
The Christian commentary of Hindu texts starts in fact only from this late period. I must
frankly admit that up till now there has not been a full fledged Christian commentary on a
Hindu text, for example, a Christian reading of the Bhagavad-giitaa. But there have been
growing efforts to prepare the grounds for such commentaries (methodology, linguistics and
hermeneutical enquiries) and actual commentaries over passages of several vedic, upanishadic
and other sacred Hindu texts.
Since a few decades a clear new approach seems to have been adopted by the Christian
theologians in India. Trained in Sanskrit and working in the Indian languages, more and more
scholars have attempted to write critical appreciations of Hindu texts and re-write Christian
1
The Christians termed themselves as Christians of Saint Thomas, the Apostle who appeared to have brought the
message to Kerala. Their .oriental liturgy in Syriac and the Church organisation, and particularly the presence of
Nestorians, a Christian schismatic movement which has disappeared elsewhere but which continues still in
Kerala, points out to the fact that Christianity was present there from the beginning of the Christian era. Cf.
Mundadan A. M., History of St. Thomas Christianity in India to the Present Day – History of Christianity in
India. Publ. for Church History Association of India. Vol. 1, From the beginning up to the middle of the
sixteenth century (up to 1542). Bangalore, Theological Publications in India, 1984; Brown L.W., Indian
Christians of St. Thomas. Cambridge, 1956; M. Arattukulam, The Latin Catholics of Kerala : communalism
versus christian charity / Historical backgrounds by E.P. Antony ; with a foreword by M.G.S. Narayanan
,Kottayam. Pellissery Publications, 1993; Alfred Stirnemann (hrsg.), Konzilien und Kircheneinheit : zweite
Wiener Altorientalenkonsultation 1973. Pro Oriente Bd. 20, Tyrolia-Verl., 1998; Stewart J., Nestorian
Missionary Enterprise – the Story of a Church on Fire. Madras, Christian Literature Society, 1928.
2
Cf. Halbfass Wilhelm, India and Europe. An Essay in Understanding, Suny, Albany, 1988. Chapter 3 The
Missionary Approach to Indian Thought (pages 36-53) is a good introduction to the subject.
2
thought in Hindu categories. 3 We can roughly distinguish three approaches, which
correspond to three stages, in this development: 1. Hindus comment on Christian texts (19th
century) 2. Christians write commentaries on Christian texts through Hindu categories of
thought and terms (19th -20th century) and 3. Christians attempt at commenting Hindu texts
(second half of 20th century).
Hindu commentaries of Christian thought
In the colonial period, in which an atmosphere of deep-seated and mutual ignorance and
suspicion reigned between Christians and Hindus, some few enlightened individuals
nevertheless took pains to appreciate the religious traditions of the other. These pioneers were
mostly the Hindu intellectuals or mystics, who in the wake and spread of English education in
India and through it a certain disdain towards Hinduism, began to re-think and re-write their
religion in English, and defend it against the assaults of the Western missionaries and colonial
authorities. This period, termed as the Hindu Reformation, had given rise to some
commentaries, interpretation of Christianity in religious Hindu categories of thought, thereby
showing that there was no discrepancy or incompatibility between the two religions. 4
Raja Rammohan Roy (1772-1833) was the pioneer in this field. He was followed by his
disciple Keshab Chandra Sen (1838-1884). Their Brahmosamaj ideology, scholarly and
mystic, underlined the moral uprightness of Jesus proclaiming him as a model for the Indian
dharma and for the Indian Church. Another great stalwart of that time was Pratap Chander
Mozoomdar (1840-1905). His words ”When we speak about the oriental Christ, we speak in
fact of the incarnation of a boundless love and grace; and when we speak about the
Occidental Christ, we speak in fact of the incarnation of theology, of formalism, of moral and
physical force”5 expresses in fact the fundamental difference between the Greco-roman
approach and its later scholastic formalism through which Christianity was then interpreted
and presented and the Hindu religious approach at the roots of religious experience. Another
illustrious Brahmo-Samaj thinker Keshab Chandra Sen (1838-1884) grappled with the
Christian mystery of Trinity :
Here the Supreme Brahma of the Veda and the Vedanta dwells hid in himself. Here sleeps
mighty Jehova, with might yet unmanifested … But anon the scene changes. Lo! A voice is
heard … Yes it was the Word that created the universe. They call it Logos … What was the
creation but the wisdom of God going out of its secret chambers and taking a visible shape,
His potential energy asserting itself in unending activities?
6
He attempts to reformulate the Christian dogma of the Holy Trinity in the terminology
of Chaandogya Upani.sad adopting the categories of sat – cit- aananda:
The Trinity of Christian Theology corresponds strikingly with the Sachidananda of
Hinduism. You have three conditions, three manifestations of Divinity. Yet there is one
God, one Substance and three phenomena. Not three Gods but one God. Whether alone, or
manifest in the Son, or quickening humanity as the Holy Spirit, it is the same God, the same
identical Deity, whose unity continues indivisible amid multiplicity of manifestations …
Who can deny that there is an essential and undivided unity in the so-called Trinity? Were I
3
Cf. Robin Boyd, An Introduction to Indian Christian Theology, Madras, The Christian Literature Society, 1975
(revised edition)
4
Cf. M.M.Thomas, The Acknowledged Christ of the Indian Renaissance, SCM Press, London, 1969;
R.H.S.Boyd, An introduction to Indian Christian Theology, Madras, Christian Literature Society, revised edition,
1975.
5
P.C.Mozoomdar, The oriental Christ, Boston, 1883, p. 46.
6
Sen K.C., Keshab Chander Sen’s Lectures in India, Cassel, London 1909, Lectures II, Lecture on That
Marvellous Mystery – The Trinity (1882), p.10.
3
to contemplate the mystery of that marvel of Christianity, the Trinity, in solitary
communion, I would point my finger thus-, Above, Below, Within; The Father, above, The
Son below, The Holy Ghost within.
7
Several other Indian thinkers chisel out a fine hindu-christian terminology but unfortunately
often in polemical context. Nilakantha Shastri Goreh8 (1825-95) and his disciple Pandita
Ramabai Sarasvati9 (1858-1922), both eminent Hindu scholars converted to Christianity have
indirectly contributed to the later thinkers a rich vocabulary and a ground work in the
preliminary comparative efforts.
Sri Ramakrishna (1836-1886) is a typical example of a tendency in Hinduism to comment on
Christian texts on a mystical experiential level. He was a spiritual personality of that time who
had profoundly influenced many a thinker when he taught: “All religions are pathways to
God, but a pathway is not God”.10 He expresses his experience:
I have practised all religions – Hinduism, Islam, Christianity, and I have also followed the
paths of the different Hindu sects… I have found that it is the same God towards whom all
are directing their steps, though along different paths…. The tank has several ghats. At one
Hindus draw water in pitchers, and call it jala,; at another Mussalmans draw water in
leathern bottles and call it pani; at a third Christians do the same thing and call it water.11
With Ramakrishna’s famous disciple Swami Narendranath Vivekananda (1863-1902) the
Western religious intelligentsia became aware of the Hindu religious thinkers and their works.
He interpreted Jesus as jiivanmukta. His thought that advaita could serve as an essential key to
the exegesis and interpretation of Christian texts, an assumption that was strictly adopted by
his disciple Sri Parananda in his two biblical commentaries12. A clear illustration of his
method is:
Matthew 6:12 (‘Forgive us our debts’) we find the following ‘expansion’:
And let that communion be so complete as to efface all differentiating sense of ‘I’ and
‘Thou’, or obligations left undone by me. Mayest Thou, O Lord, graciously annul the
relation of debtor and creditor, and make me one with Thee.13
Mahatma Gandhi belongs to this category of thinkers too. His thought profoundly influenced
by certain forms of Christianity, he interpreted in fact Hinduism through Christian ideas and
categories of thought.14 However, he could accept the fundamental Christian assumption that
Jesus was the Son of God in its literal sense. So, the whole commentary of Christianity that
he brings out in his different works is a reduction of Christian message to a sublime human
and ethical level. Jesus is for him the ideal satyaagrahii, a great spiritual master of the world:
7
Ibid. p.17
Known as Nehemiah Goreh after his conversion to Christianity. His most famous work is: A Rational
Refutation of the Hindu Philosophical Systems, Calcutta 1862.
9
Born in a Chirpavan Brahmin family in Pune she was an illustrious woman activist of her times and later
rewarded by the British Raj with kaiser –I-.hind. She brings out her scholarship in her Bible translation in
marathi: Pavitra Shastra. Junaa va navaa karaar, Pune, 1924.
10
Quoted by Jean Herbert, L’enseignement de Ramakrishna, Paris, Albin Michel, 1972, p. 324.
11
Cultural heritage of India, Belur Math, Calcutta, Vol. II, 1953, p. 518.
12
Sri Parananda, The Gospel of Jesus according to St. Matthew, London, 1898; An Eastern Exposition of St.
John, London, 1902.
13
Sri Parananda, Gospel of Jesus according to St.Matthew.
14
Cf. Nayak A., Meister der Spiritualität: Mahatma Gandhi, Freiburg, Herderverlag, 2002, Herder Spektrum Nr.
5105.
8
4
Jesus then to me is a great world-teacher among others. He was to the devotees of his
generation no doubt ‘the only begotten son of God’. Their belief need not be mine. He
affects my life no less because I regard him as one among the many begotten sons of God.
The adjective ‘begotten’ has, for me, a deeper and possibly a grander meaning than its
literal meaning. For me it implies spiritual birth. In his own times he was the nearest to
God. 15
This type of Hindu commentaries on Christian texts, which has been always sporadic and
often limited to passages from Christian sources, has nevertheless contributed immensely to
develop a befitting vocabulary and has spurred the Christian writers to interpret their won
texts in the Hindu categories of thought. It has also contributed to a more fundamental task of
hermeneutic in the Hindu-Christian fields, a field for which Christianity on the whole and
thinkers in the West were not ready in those times but who are more and more open now.
Commentaries of Christian Texts in Hindu categories
The second category consists mainly of western theologians who came in close contact with
Hindu texts and interpreted their own Christian traditions and texts in the light of Hindu
thought. There were also Indian intellectuals among them who had been converted to
Christianity in their life times or those who had belonged to a Christian family following the
Christian tradition since several centuries. Their intention thereby was not at the very outset,
to interpret Hindu texts or to appreciate them. They had the missionary purpose of
propagating Christian thought in a language and thought intelligible to their community and
those around them. However, we can sense thereby, indirectly, a certain methodology and
approach towards commentary of Hinduism and Hindu texts.
The first among them was the English Jesuit Thomas Stephens (1550-1619) who arrived in
Goa in 1579 and settled in Salsette in Maharashtra. Discovering the Hindu puranas he was
impressed by the hold they had over the Hindu masses. He composed thereby the Christa –
purana in the popular Marathi, which had a close resemblance to Konkani. Taking up the
puranic categories of thought he tried to express some of the Old and New Testament
narrations in the puranic style. He inspired in fact two other Italian Jesuit scholars, Roberto de
Nobili (1577 – 1656) and Joseph Constantius Beschi (1680-1747). They merit a special
mention here today because both of them lived and worked in this coastal region of
Tamilnadu and they probably knew this very place of Pondicherry16. De Nobili, known to the
Tamils as Tattua Podagar Swami (The Teacher of Truth), upon reaching Goa in 1605 settled
down on the Pearl Fishery Coast. Discovering the importance of Brahmins and their
intellectual capacities, he seriously began to study Sanskrit and Tamil to the extent of taking
part in debates with them in Sanskrit. He delved deep into Hinduism as can be noticed in his
way of life which was adapted in detail to that of a learned Brahmin. He put aside his clerical
dress and took on the white dress of a Brahmin, his head shaven except for the kudumi, the
lock of hair on the top of the head, which is regarded as a sign of learning. He understood
Hinduism as a system of Dharma and brought out numerous Sanskrit and Tamil works to
describe Christianity as Dharma.17 We observe particularly in his five volumes of
Gnanopadesam and Punarjanma-akshepam, his profound knowledge of Hindu methodologies
and the patterns of arguments used in the nyaaya and siddhaanta which he applies to some
15
The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi LXII, p. 333-334.
The conference style is maintained here.
17
Soosai Arockiasamy, Dharma, Hindu and Christian according to Roberto de Nobili, Ed. Pontificia Universita
Gregoriana, Roma 1986 ; Xavier Rajamanickam, The Newly discovered « Informatio » of Robert de Nobili, in
Archivum historicum Societatis Iesu, Periodicum semestre, Romae, XXXIX, 78, pp. 221-267.
16
5
extent in his writings for Christians. There is an effort there to comment and teach Christian
doctrines in the traditional hindu methods. Beschi, known in Tamil literature as
Veeramamunnivar, arrived in India in 1710. Although he first tried to revive the work and
approach of de Nobili, his contribution was more directly to the Tamil literature. He is known
for his first Latin translation of Tirukkural of Thiruvalluvar and for other literary works in
Tamil expounding Christian faith in the literary forms of the Tamil culture.
The Catholic Church and the Latin Christianity at that time were highly dependent on the
scholastic form of thought, which was legalistic and authority oriented. Everything which
failed to correspond to this frame of thought was quickly suppressed. So the approaches of de
Nobili came to an end too. It was taken up three centuries later by a Brahmin scholar
converted to Christianity, Brahmabandhb Upadhyaya (1861-1907). With him a HinduChristian commentary of both Hinduism and Christianity slowly began to emerge. He took up
the Upanishadic ideal of the Absolute as sat-cit-ananda and the Thomistic scholastic ideal of
God as actus purus. If the nirguna brahman is the pure reality and knowledge (sat) of the
Father, the saguna brahman as the Logos (cit) is manifested in the Incarnation of the Son.
This manifestation results in the ananda, the Holy Spirit. The main problem he had to face
was to explain how God, who is ‘unrelated’ (nirguna), have a Son? He sees the answer in
brahman as cit, thought or consciousness, God as ‘unrelated without’ but ‘related within’.
God, is self-knowledge and in that manner the origin of the Cit-Logos, who is also eternal.
The Trinitarian life of God as self-cognition of God:
The differentiation of the Divine Self as subject and object can be served by no other
medium than the Undivided, Infinite Substance which is Pure Knowledge…. It is
knowledge and nothing but knowledge which can distinguish the Knowing Self of God
from His Known Self. Jesus Christ has told us that there is a response of knowledge in
the Godhead. God knows His own Self begotten in Thought and is known in return by
that Begotten Self… God reproduces in knowledge a corresponding, acknowledging SelfImage, and from this colloquy of Reason proceeds His Spirit of Love which sweetens the
Divine Bosom with boundless delight. 18
He then takes up the fundamental Hindu concept of maayaa and tries to show its relevance to
the interpretation of Christian idea of contingency. If God is sat then the creation is asat,
contingent as it is in comparison to God. He takes recourse to the scholastic thinker Thomas
Aquinas. He writes:
Māyā is what St. Thomas calls ‘creatio passiva’ – Passive Creation. It is a quality of all
that is not Brahman, and is defined by the Angelic Doctor as ‘the habitude of having
“being” from another and resulting from the operation’ of God…. The Vedāntists affirm
all that is not Brahman to be Māyā, in the sense of illusion, and they are right, because
creatures, in themselves, apart from Brahman, are indeed darkness, falsity and
nothingness (tenebrae, falsitas et nihil) as St. Thomas teaches. 19
Maayaa in the Hindu thought is more than mere illusion. It is illusion when the subject does
not grasp the Real Object but only the pointer to the Real Object. Maayaa in reality is the
power shakti of Brahman in which he sees the Christian idea of the Spirit (ru’ah) as the power
of God. He writes:
Christ’s Claim to Attention, in The Twentieth Century, May 1901, pp. 116 -117.
Animananda B., The Blade: Life and Work of Brahmabandhab Upadyaya., Calcutta, Roy and Son, 1947, p.
84.
18
19
6
Māyā … is the fecund Divine Power (Sakti) which gives birth to multiplicity… It is
eternal but its operation is not essential to the being of God. By it, non-being (asat) is
made being (sat). By it, that which is nothingness by itself is filled with the richness of
being. By it darkness is illumined with the flow of existence. It is Māyā indeed. 20
To introduce Brahmabandhab’s teaching on the Person of Christ we can once more do no
better than to quote one of his fine Sanskrit hymns – the Hymn of the Incarnation:21
The transcendent Image of Brahman,
Blossomed and mirrored in the full-to-overflowing
Eternal Intelligence –
Victory to God, the God-Man.
Child of pure Virgin,
Guide of the Universe, infinite in Being
Yet beauteous with relations,
Victory to God, the God-Man.
Ornament of the Assembly
Of saints and sages, Destroyer of fear, Chastiser
Of the Spirit of Evil, Victory to God, the God-Man.
Dispeller of weakness
Of soul and body, pouring out life for others,
Whose deeds are holy,
Victory to God, the God-Man.
Priest and Offerer
Of his own soul in agony, whose Life is Sacrifice,
Destroyer of sin’s poison, Victory to God, the God-Man.
Tender, beloved,
Soother of the human heart, Ointment of the eyes,
Vanquisher of fierce death, Victory to God, the God-Man.
The Upanishads, more than other Hindu texts, take the central place in his commentaries and
set the fundamental pattern for his vocabulary. Commenting on the Kosha text of the
Taittiriiya- upani.sad he writes:
According to the Vedanta human nature is composed of five sheaths or
divisions (kosha) …22 These five sheaths are presided over by a personality
(ahampratyayi) which knows itself. This self-knowing individual (jivachaitanya) is but a reflected spark of the Supreme Reason (kutasthachaitanya) Who abides in every man as the prime source of life and light.
The time-incarnate Divinity is also composed of five sheaths; but it is
presided over by the Person of Logos Himself and not by any created
personality (aham). The five sheaths and the individual agent, enlivened and
20
Animananda, p. 83
The Twenthieth Century, 1901, pp. 7-8, where the poem appears in Sanskrit with Brahmabandhab’s own
English translation. The version here given is that printed in C. F. Andrews, The Renaissance in India (1912),
Appendix VIII.
22
These sheaths (kosa) are: (1) physical (anamaya); (2) vital (pranamaya); (3) mental (manomaya); (4)
intellectual (vijnamaya); (5) spiritual (anandamaya).
21
7
illumined by Divine Reason…make up man. But in the Logos-God and not
through the medium of any individuality.23
Brahmabandhab’s commentary was not restricted to the texts. It had direct influence on the
Christian and Hindu institutions which interpreted the tests in their own restrictive sens. This
is where he comes out with bold new interpretations, like for example, the interpretation of
Hindu dharma in the field of conversion. He notes that a distinction needs to be made between
samaj-dharma and sadhana-dharma:
Our dharma has two branches: samaj dharma and sadhan dharma. … We are Hindus. Our
Hinduism is preserved by the strength of samaj dharma. While the sadhan dharma is of the
individual, its object is sadhan and muktee (Salvation). It is a hidden thing and one to be
meditated upon. It has no connection whatever with society. It is a matter known to the
guru and shisha only. A Hindu, so far as sadhan goes, can belong to any religion. 24
This of course brought conflict with the Catholic Church which was not prepared to accept
and live by such a commentary on its teachings.
In the Protestant Churches experiments in Hindu-Christian commentaries multiplied more
freely and with greater imagination than in the Catholic Church for reasons I have adduced
above, specially for the fact that there was no official magisterium to control interpretations as
in the Catholic Church. In the long list of eminent thinkers who boldly went ahead in this line
of interpretation I shall mention only a few: Swami Sundar Singh25 (1889-1929) who took up
the way of life of a Sadhu. He went about meeting people and sharing his spiritual thoughts
and experiences with them. His was a commentary more through his adopted life style than
through a scholarly structural approach. Bishop A.J. Appasamy26 (1891-1975) interpreted
Christianity as the Bhakti Marga in which the Logos was to be the antaryamin forming the
Body of Brahman in the analogy of Ramanuja. Commenting on John 10,30, ‘I and my Father
are one’ he writes:
Commenting on John 10:30, ‘I and my Father are one’, he writes:
It may be quite true that on the surface this verse is like the texts in Upanishads which set
forth Advaita. But we must remember that Jesus always thought of God and Jesus is a
personal relation between Father and Son. Jesus also says, ‘The Father is greater than I’.
This shows that He regards Himself as wholly dependent upon the Father; He is not
identical with God…27
Another eminent theologian who constantly thought in Hindu categories was M.M.Thomas28
(1916-1996), whose religious thought was highly social and development oriented. He
pleaded for a commentary of Christianity as Karma-marga.
The list of contributors in this category is numerous: Pandipeddi Chenchaiah (1886-1959)
who propagated the need of testing in the crucible of Hindu thought the Christian traditions
23
The twentieth Century, Calcutta, 1901, p.7.
Animananda p.200.
25
Cf. Andrews C.F., Sadhu Sundar Singh: A Personal memoir, London, 1934; Riddle T.E.The Vision and the
Call : a Life of Sadhu Sundar Singh, Kharar, 1964.
26
Cf. Appasamy A.J., Christianity as Bhakti Marga : a Study of the Johannine Doctrine of Love, Madras, CLS,
1928; What is Moksha? A Study of Johannine Doctrine of Life, Madras, CLS, 1931; Sundar Sigh: A Biography,
London, 1958; My Theological Quest, Bangalore, CISRS, 1964.
27
Appasamy A.J., The Gospel of India’s Heritage, Madras, SPCK, 1942, p. 35-36.
28
Thomas M.M., The Christian Response to the Asian Revolution, London, 1966; The Acknowledged Christ of
the Indian Renaissance, London, 1969.
24
8
and dogmatic teachings that have come down from the West. This is an approach that is
highly in vogue today among several intellectual Indian Christians. Vengal Chakkarai (18801958) who spoke of Jesus as Avatara; of the Church as a communion in the Spirit in the
Brahma-Atman context, and the Cross as the concrete sign of Bhakti. P.D. Devanadan (19011962) who is known for his pioneering work in Dialogue with Hinduism which led him to put
forth a theology built on Hindu terminology and world view.
Towards Christian Commentaries of Hindu Texts
We have noticed that in the second stage Christians in India have been producing
commentaries of Christian texts in Hindu categories of thought and vocabulary. This
development now has come to a point that more and more Christian authors venture on
commenting Hindu texts through an exegesis that is fundamentally Christian. It is a Christian
view and appreciation of Hindu spiritual literature.
The impulse to this approach came from the Second Vatican Council (1962-65) which
liberated the Church from its former narrow theological barriers and invited it to regard all
religions as pathways to God in their own right29. Christians, therefore, began to see the other
religious literature not as deviations from truth but as rivers flowing into one another to their
final common goal.30 The great change in this regard has come about from the fact that more
and more Christians have begun to study Sanskrit and read the Hindu texts in their originals.31
There has also been a substantial interest shown in the Hindu spiritual traditions, notably in
the monastic spirituality of the Ashrams32 and in the celebration of the Eucharist33 which has
adopted several Hindu elements. Hindu religious texts are read during the Eucharistic
celebrations and more so in the religious communities as subject of meditation and prayer.34
These tendencies observed in the Catholic Church are also present to a certain extent in other
Christian Churches too.
A clear attempt towards a Christian commentary of Hindu texts can be seen in two authors
who seem to be the pioneers in the field. The first among them is Swami Abhishiktananda35
(1910-1973), Dom Henri Lesaux, the French Benedictine monk who settled on the banks of
Cavery at Kulithalai, not far from Tiruchirapalli in the company of another illustrious French
theologian Abbé Jules Monchanin (1895-1957). These dressed as Hindu monks lived a life of
29
Among the teachings of Vatican II the test of Nostra aetate is often quoted : « The Catholic Church rejects
nothing which is true and holy in these religions [Isla, Hinduism and Buddhism]. She looks with sincere respect
upon those ways of conduct and of life, those rules and teachings which, though differing in many particulars
from what she holds and sets forth, nevertheless often reflect a ray of that Truth which enlightens all men.” (NA
2). Cf also the Constitution on the Church no. 16 which admits salvation for all men who sincerely seek God.
30
An interesting work which manifests this new spirit is Vandana Mataji (ed.), Shabda, Shakti, Sangam,
Rishikesh, jeevan Dhara Kutir, 1995.In this work the author brings together numerous contributions of Hindus
and Christians manifesting a mutual appreciation and religious persuit.
31
Cf. Amaldass Anand, Jesuits and Sanskrit Studies : In De Souza T.R. and Borges C.J. (eds.), Jesuits in India
Historical Perspective, Macau: Instituo Cultural, pp.209-234; also a detailed bibliography of “Church Sanskrit”
in Amaldass A. and Fox Young R., The Indian Christiad, Anand, Gujarat Sahitya Prakash, 1995, 367-378.
32
Cf O’Toole M., Christian Ashrams in India, Delhi, Satprakshan Sanchar Kendra, 1983.
33
An Order of the Mass for India, Bangalore, NBCLC, 2000.
34
Sister Vandana, Waters of Fire, New York, Amity House, 1988; Naama Japa. Prayer of the Name in the Hindu
and Christian traditions, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass, 1984..
35
1989 - Swami Abhisiktananda (Dom Henri Le Saux) (1910-1973): comme nous, indiens, l’avons vu - Un
témoignage in Nouvelle revue de science missionnaire (Neue Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft) 45-1989/1,
pp. 45-56. For his spiritual diary cf. La Montée au fond du coeur. Le journal intime du moine chrétien-sannyâsî
hindou, 1948-1973, Paris, O.E.I.L., 1986
9
complete sannyaasa, contemplating the mystery of the Holy Trinity in the Upanishadic terms
of Sat-cit-ananda. Abbé Monchanin was unfortunately taken away by premature death before
he could fulfil all the wonderful hopes he had cherished for the development of the Christian
message in and through the Hindu experience. But Abhishiktananda followed in his footsteps.
From Kulithali he would sojourn more and more frequently in the heights of Uttarakasi in the
Himalayas in the company of Hindu sannaysis and sadhus. The several books that he wrote
from his little kutiya on the banks of the rapid Ganges are Christian meditations of mystic
realities which are common to Hindu and Christian world. Abhishiktananda adopts the
method of the Upanishads to dig deep into Christian realities and seeks the deeper meaning of
the Christian experience in the depths of the Upanishads. I this way, his works36 can be
considered as a first attempt to comment the Upanishads, a Christian view of the Vedaanta.
His approach is centred on the concept of guhaa, the cave of the heart. It is there that man
encounters God, it is there that man encounters himself through the experience of the
ineffable –anirvacaniiya. Abhishiktananda comments on Maha Narayana-upani.sad 227-228:
Finally Eucharist is the greatest sign of the “big move” beyond all signs. In fact, in the Christian
point of view Eucharist is this sacrifice or unique yajña which Chrsit –the Satpuru.sa – Man par
excellence, the aramean barnasha or the Son of Man offered in its fullness in time to accomplish
once and for all (epaphax) all sacrifices and offerings made in all times under different signs. In
this offering of Aadipuru.sa (primordial Man, perfect Man) totally accomplished , he raises in his
own name and in the name of all those who believe in him, above the veil of his body (cf.
Hebrews 10,19-20) and attains the bosom of the Father, that guhaa, at once interior, in the centre
and above all (Col. 3,1 ff.).
This glorious mystery hidden in the depths of the heart,
Above the firmament,
Immortality,
which neither the ritual act nor the gift of all that one has can attain
but where only those who have renounced everything
can enter (Ma.Na. Up. 227-228)
This perfect sacrifice of Christ Satpuru.sa, the perfect gift of oneself above all signs, total oblation
(Rig-Veda 10, 90) of his shariiram, made to God and to men, is it not the very mystery of a
perfect renunciate, of a perfect yati? 37
Or again commenting on the B.rhad-aara.nyaka-upani.sad Abhishiktananda states:
Up to now the soul had adored God under different forms handed down by tradition and
materialised through idols and temples, also under the forms of Nature, of Sun, source of light
and life, of Space, almost immaterial –aakaasha, praa.na- both the breath which is air and the
vital breath. It realises now that God, that divine Mystery, is in the first place and essentially
He – this tad-which resides in the depth of itself, of its Self, in the very source of its being,
meta-temporal, the Self of its self, anima animae mea, that very being which is at the depth of
each being of Creation, humans beings, animals, plants, sun and stars…Unique Reality and
underlying each of its manifestations.
Now this Self, verily, is a world of all created things (Br.aaran.up. 1, 4, 16)
Lo, verily, it is the Soul (Aatman) that should be seen, that should be hearkened to, that
should be thought on, that should be pondered on, O Maitreyii
36
Particularly the following come close to a commentary : Le Saux Henri (Swami Abhishiktananda), Initiation à
la spiritualité des Upanishads : vers l'autre rive, Sisteron, Présence, 1979 ; Sagesse hindoue, mystique chrétienne:
du Védanta à la Trinité, Paris, Centurion, 1965.
37
Le Saux H., Initiation à la spiritualité des Upanishads, p.224.
10
Lo, verily with the seeing of, with the hearkening to, with the thinking of, and with the
understanding of the Soul, this world-all is known. (Br.aaran.up. 2,4,5)
It is then that the soul meets God and it “realises” Him – in a state so ineffable and
indescribable as this God that it meets, rather in Whom – so say the vedaanta doctors – it
recognises its transcendental non-duality: tat tvam asi “you are that”.38
Speaking of the mystery of the Holy Trinity he comments on OM, the symbol of the
Maa.n.duukya and other upani.sads:
OM introduces man into the mystery of the Holy Spirit, the Unspoken and Unbegotten
Person, who will reveal to the elect the mystery of the Son, and whispers in the sanctuary of
the heart the eternal ABBA. ABBA then is the last word uttered by the creature, for it leads
directly to the unfathomable mystery of the Father. Abba is the mystery of the Son, OM the
mystery of the Spirit.39
Abhishiktananda’s further comments on themes like puru.sa, deva, praa.na, vaayu, aakaasha,
upaasana, prajña, vijñaana, Brahman, aatma, yama and so forth where he brings the Christian
comment to the upanishadic teachings.40
The second person I wish to cite here is Raimon Panikkar. Born in 1918 of a Spanish Catalan
Catholic mother and a Hindu father from Kerala, Panikkar has produced an enormous
literature whose essential quality is that of commentary of the Hindu-Christian world. After
having lectured in several outstanding centres of learning he lives today a retired life in an
Ashram in the Pyrenees. He has not stopped publishing. His books outnumber 40, have been
translated into several languages, and there is no clear count of the articles which have been
submitted and published in scientific journals. His first commentary The Unknown Christ of
Hinduism in 1967 brought in a world wide discussion not only in Christian circles but also in
other religions, particularly in Hinduism. Panikkar’s fundamental thesis and approach is what
he calls the Cosmotheandric Reality. He says that in all religions, as well as in atheism; men
and women cherish a reality which has three fundamental aspects at the same time: cosmic,
human and divine – cosmotheandric. That is the base and the crown of life and history in
which religions are born and develop. In Christianity people call this Reality Christ, but
Hindus name it differently: Isvara, Shiva or Visnu. What is important here is not the name but
the content of that name which links cosmic, human and divine splendidly into one. He points
out that Christianity has over duly stressed the historic aspect of Christ to the detriment of
overlooking the cosmic and divine aspects of Christ.
In his The Unknown Christ of Hinduism he comments a vast number of texts from the
Upanishads, Bhagadgiitaa and Brahma-suutra. The work devotes a large portion to the
commentary of Brahmasuutra 1, 1, 2 whose content is that of Taittiriiya-up. III, 1:
Yato vaa imaani bhuutaani jaayante
Yena jaataani jiivanti
Yat prayantyabhisa.mvishanti
Tad vijijñaasava
That from which truly all beings are born,
by which when born they live
38
Ibid. p.44
Abhisiktananda, Prayer, Delhi, 1968, p. 63.
40
Particularly in the two above quoted books : Initiation à la spiritualité des Upanishads et Montée au fond du
Coeur.
39
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And into which they all return: that seek to understand
Panikkar brings this verse in parallel to John 1,3: panta di autou egeneto – Everything has
been made through him. After analysing this suutra extensively through different angles,
Panikkar comes to the Christological commentary:
That from which all things proceed and to which all things return and by which all things
are (sustained in their being) is God, but we detect two moments in it: the ‘first? Is the
invisible origin whence the source springs forth; the ‘second’ is primo et per se not a
silent Godhead, an inaccessible Brahman, not even God the father, Source of all Divinity,
but in a very true sense Iishvara, God the Son, the Logos, the Christ……..
This Beginning and End of all things has two natures, though they are not in the same
mode or on the same level. It has two faces, two aspects as it were. One face is turned
towards the Divinity as is its full expression and bearer. The other face is turned towards
the external, the World, as is the firstborn, the sustainer, the giver of the World’s being.
Yet it is not two, but one – one principle, one person.
His The Vedic Experience Mantramañjarii An anthology of the Vedas for Modern man and
Contemporary Celebration is an explicit commentary on a large number of Vedic verses as
well as Upanishads. As in the Vedas, the themes are numerous: the Word (vaac), Elements
(mahaabuutaani), the Lord (Iisha), Emerging Life (jiivana), the First Blessings of the Lord
(savasti) and so forth, where we are introduced to a myriad of beings as in an immense cosmic
sacrifice. One might ask here if it is a Christian commentary. Panikkar, a Catholic priest, does
not make use here of a Catholic theological jargon, but uses terms and categories
understandable and approachable to all contemporary men and women of all religions and
cultures. I think he is true to his cosmotheandric principle where the world, God and man are
brought together, a principle which Panikkar has elsewhere explained as truly and
fundamentally christic. And in that sense we could take this as the first Christian commentary
of Hindu texts in a large catholic (universal) sense of the term.
Panikkar’s theory has produced a vast extent of literature in modern Christianity and the trend
is still active. More and more, young theologians in India and elsewhere are forging ahead in
newer ways and are carrying on the lines of Panikkar. A book that appeared two decades ago
is a fine example. 10 Indian Christian authors published a book entitled: India's Search for
Reality and the Relevance of the Gospel of John (Delhi: 1976) is an effort towards an Indian
interpretation of Saint John’s Gospel. Indian scholars try to apply there the dhvani category of
the Indian ala.mkaarashaastra to get at the deeper meaning of Saint John’s symbolism. The
publisher of this book, the renowned biblical scholar George Soares-Prabhu (1929-1995)
quotes in his introduction the Anglican Bishop Brook Foss Wescott (1825-1901) – one of the
founders of the Biblical critique and himself author of a commentary on St John’s Gospel,
said that the first significant commentary on St John’s Gospel, would come one day from
India, because of the mystical character of the Indian people. I think that now the time has
come for such a commentary.
Several younger Christian theologians are venturing on commentaries of Hindu scriptures in
the wide context of interreligious dialogue. If at the moment this venture remains within the
bounds of Christian communities, an active Hindu participation is indispensable and should
come shortly to a substantial reciprocal understanding and evaluation. Subhash Anand’s work
on Puru.sa, Anand Amaladass’s work on dhvani go in this direction. The author of this article
is working on a Christian commentary of the Bhagavadgiitaa and is working on a project to
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associate Christian scholars in Hinduism for a joint venture of Christian commentaries of
Hindu religious texts.
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COMMENTARY IN THE INDIAN WORLD.doc