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Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
❚Special Issue❚ Understanding God in the Asian Context
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Catholic Theology and Thought, Vol. 77, Summer 2016
http://dx.doi.org/10.21731/ctat.2016.77.17
ISSN(print) 1225-4924; ISSN(online) 1225-2564
Understanding God from the Indian Context
*
in the 20th and 21st Centuries
1
Prof. Fr. Vincent Kundukulam
〔Pontifical Institute Alwaye, India〕
Introduction
Part 1. The Ancient Hindu Understanding of God
Part 2. The Modern Hindu Concepts of God
Part 3. God-Concepts Emerging from Indian-Christian Encounters
Part 4. God-Concepts in Recent Religious Movements
Introduction
There is a Marathi bhajan devotional song by Tukdoji Maharaj which
says: Dev Bajarcha Bhaji Pala Nahin Ho meaning ‘God is not a vegetable
in the market’. To be frank with you, from the very moment I began to
reflect on this topic, I feel guilty of treating God like an object. However,
there is no other alternative as the thinking process inevitably leads to
objectification. We cannot talk about God without analogy, and the ima*1This research paper is commissioned, supported, and originally published by the Foundation of Theology and Thought, 2016.
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ges and concepts we use, shrink truth into our limited categories.
God is the term seekers generally use to name the ultimate power
behind the universe, though they may, in their usage, substitute this word
with others which are convenient to their language and culture. Some
define God ontologically and some others existentially. The former follows a speculative method whereas the latter follows a mystical approach.
Our knowledge of God will vary according to the perspective we adopt to
seek Him. God-concepts in India are extremely diverse; the way of naming the Mystery is pluralistic given the polyvalence of the cultural and
religious contexts.
India is the cradle of several traditional world religions, including
Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism. India has also become the
home for Judaism, Christianity, Islam and Zoroastrianism. All of these religious traditions have unique God-concepts which would take books to
describe. Given that Hinduism is the basic mould of the religions in India
and my paper represents Hinduism among the Asian religions, we will
stick to images of God that have evolved in the Hindu-Christian milieu.
Similarly, the sacred texts of Hinduism are spread over a period of more
than thirty-five centuries, and to make a thorough study of their Godconcepts is beyond our scope. Hence, we will limit our search into the
twentieth and twenty-first centuries.
‘Study for the sake of study’ is no longer considered as a creative way
of doing research. Every discourse has to be teleological in order to be
productive. Given that the Catholic University of Korea undertakes this
seminar in order to facilitate interaction between Christianity and the
Asian religions, a creative dialogue may take place among us at a time
when the religious extremists threaten global peace. We will see how Indian Christian theologians recompose their way of understanding God in
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
the light of their encounter with Hindu religion. To be precise, the goal of
this paper is to expose how the concept of God has evolved in Hinduism
within the last two centuries; and also how both Hindus and Christians,
through mutual dialogue and enrichment, might revise their notions of
God.
However, we have to begin our reflections with the traditional understandings of God in the Hindu religion because, the modern and contemporary interpretations of God both in Hinduism and in Indian Christianity
are rooted in the texts beginning from the period of Vedas. The methodology of the paper will be descriptive as well as hermeneutical depending
on the nature of the emerging themes.
Part 1. The Ancient Hindu Understanding of God
The ancient religions of India are profoundly shaped by the belief
systems of the Indus Valley civilizations which emerged in the middle of
the third millennium BC. The Indus people seem to have no systematic
belief in gods. There is, however, evidence of fertility cults and phallus
worship; indeed, pre-figurations of Siva-lingam can be traced to this
period. Moving forward, contemporary Hindu religion largely took its
shape around 1500 BCE with the arrival of the Aryans and the subsequent
development of the four Vedas: Samhitas, Brãhmanas, Aranyakas and
Upanisads. This prodigious body of literature, originally oral in character,
seems to have evolved into its present form in the period 1400 to 400
BCE.
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1. The Henotheism of the Samhitas
In the early Vedic period (1500-1100 BCE), there was an endless
proliferation of myths giving birth to no less than 330 million gods and
goddesses. But soon, this polytheistic understanding of God gave way to a
mode of henotheism: namely, pre-eminence is attributed to one god without denying other gods. There are 1,028 hymns in the Rigveda and their
prime focus is to praise the gods and the cosmic order they protect. Out of
the many, two particular deities ― Agni and Soma ― captured special
attention. Agni is the god of sacrificial fire who receives the offering to
the gods and conveys them heavenward through smoke. Soma is the divinized plant of immortality whose juices are ritually extracted in the soma
sacrifice. These two gods functioned as mediators between gods and
humans. There were other deities as well, including the cosmic sovereign
gods, Varuna and Mitra, the warrior God, Indra, and the Asvins. Considerable attention was also given to three solar deities: Surya (the sun), Savitr
(divine influence or the vivifying power of the sun), and Usas (goddess of
the dawn). Other significant deities were Yama, god of the dead and Vayu,
god of wind and breath.1
2. The Prajãpati of the Brãhmanas
The development of priestly schools among the Aryans and the
consequent emphasis on sacrificial religion paved the way for the development of the corpus of Vedic texts known as the Brãhmanas. The positing of sacred power within the mantras and in the rituals made priests
1
Alf Hiltebeitel, Hinduism, in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade (ed.), vol. 6,
Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1987, pp. 336-338.
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
more powerful than the gods. This systematization of priestly power
regarding sacrifice in all its aspects and processes reached its zenith in the
belief of Prajãpati. This self-re-enforcing notion asserts an immortal self
(Atman) contacted through ritual action undertaken on behalf of the devotee, and by which the devotee becomes identified with the immortal
essence of Prajãpati.2
The Brãhmanas made Prajãpati a cosmic principle identified with
Brahman. In general, Prajãpati is conferred with the same tasks as the
primal human in Rig-Veda. The primal human creates the world through
the sacrifice of self, whereas the Prajãpati does not require this kind of
self-sacrifice. Both the primal one and Prajãpati are detached from, and
have no influence over creation. Yet, both of them are understood as the
first principle of the universe. Due to these similarities, Prajãpati in the
Satapatha Brãhmana is considered to be the continuation of the idea of
Purusha, the Primal Human in the Rig-Veda.3
3. The Atman-Brahman of the Early Upanisads
Due to the speculations of the priests on the irreducible essence of the
cosmos, the sacrifice and the individual experience of the ultimate principle, there slowly emerged another important set of Vedic texts known as
the Upanisads. Put another way, if the Brãhmanas saw God as the One
who likes sacrifice, Upanisads gave prominence to rational and experiential knowledge of God.
Etymologically speaking, Upanisad means the sitting down of a disciple near to a spiritual master or a guru (upa = near; ni = down and sad =
2
Alf Hiltebeitel, Hinduism, pp. 339-340.
Antony Mookenthottam, Towards a Theology in the Indian Context, ATC, Bangalore, 1980,
pp. 39-40.
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sit). The Upanisads reassessed Brãhmanic ritualism and reinterpreted it in
terms of salvation. The objective of life was seen as liberation from the
cycle of samsãra, the bondage of flowing together with the effects of
karma, actions. The Upanisads, though they did not reject ritual action,
subordinated the rituals to the pursuit of the moksa ideal. They gave emphasis to vidyã (knowledge) and the overcoming of avidyã (ignorance).
Here, knowledge means not the awareness of the rituals but the experiential knowledge of the self, as one with the ultimate reality. In the early
Upanisads, this experience is articulated as the oneness of atman-brahman, which the disciple has to attain with the help of a guru.4
Brahman is the uncreated, eternal, infinite, transcendent and all embracing principle which is the ultimate cause, foundation, source and goal
of all existence. All beings emanate from Brahman which is in all things
and is the Self of all living things. Brahman is the creator, preserver, transformer and re-absorber of everything. Though Brahman is being itself
without attributes (Nirguna), Brahman may be also conceived of as a personal High God having divine attributes or Saguna. Belief in Brahman
both as the Nirguna and Saguna has been nourishing the spiritual life of
Hindus for over 30 centuries.5 Belief in this personal God is often expressed in a triadic way: Brahman as the creator, Vishnu as the preserver
and Shiva as the destroyer and re-creator. We will see them in detail later.
The seers of the early Upanishads have described the nature of ãtmanbrahman. In the Brhadãranyaka Upanishad King Ajãtasatru compares
Brahman to a spider from whom all beings precede and to whom all
things return (BU 4.4.18). Here Brahman is the changeless, transcendent
essence and power which upholds the universe and, as such, the limitless
4
Alf Hiltebeitel, Hinduism, p. 341.
The Editors, Hinduism, in The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 8, Helen Hemingway
Publisher, Chicago, 1980, p. 889.
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dimension of reality as the ground of Being. In the Chãndogya Upanishad
8.3.3 and in the Taittirtya Upanishad 2. 1-5 ãtman is presented as the
innermost, changeless essence of humans and the universe and, likewise,
is the deepest innermost dimension of reality ― the depth of being. In
other words, Brahman is understood as the ground of Being, the extensive
dimension of reality, and that ãtman is the depth of Being, the innermost
dimension of reality.6
The identification of Ãtman-Brahman as the ultimate reality which is
devoid of any duality raises the following question: How could the empirical world of multiplicity emanate from the Absolute One? The later
Upanishads took up this question and gave an answer through the triple
principles of Purusha, Prakrti and Maya. Purusha is the passive, static
Being and Prakrti is the active becoming. Purusha is a cosmic principle
on the same level as Ãtman and Brahman (Mundaka Upanishad 2.1.10).
Prakrti is a feminine principle which entices Purusha and, as the result of
their union produces the empirical world of multiplicity, birth and death
(Svetãsvatara Upanishad 4.5; Kãthaka Upanishad 3.10-11). The empirical world, seen as deriving from Purusha and Prakrti which are identical
with the principle of Ãtman-Brahman, is also absolute. Naturally there
emerges the question, how the becoming world can become an Absolute?
The answer is that the empirical world is not real; it is Maya. It is real
only in so far as the magical production exists and is pervaded by things
which are parts of Him.7
6
7
Antony Mookenthottam, Towards a Theology in the Indian Context, pp. 46-48.
Ibid., pp. 59-60.
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4. The Theism of the Later Upanisads
The impact of theistic devotional formulations among the Aryans is
documented in the later period of the Upanisads. This trend is more
obvious in the two yogic Upanisads: namely, the Svetasvatara Upanisads
and the Katha Upanisads. The names of god which became very popular
at this stage are Shiva, Vishnu, Durga and Kali. Among these, Vishnu and
Shiva are understood as identical to Brahman and the devotees consider
them as Trimurti (literally, three forms) which personify the cosmic functions of creation, maintenance, and destruction
Vishnu: Vishnu is known as the preserver in distinction to Brahma the
creator and Shiva the destroyer. He is the god of the ocean and the luminous sky, a solar and cosmic deity. He is more peaceful than Shiva and his
representations are less awe-inspiring and transcendent and more anthropocentric. Because of these specialities, Vishnu inspires loving adoration
amongst his many devotees. Vishnu’s vehicle is the sun-bird Garuda who
is generally represented in dark blue colour bearing in his four hands the
symbols of a conch, a discus, a mace a lotus. Vishnu is believed to have
reincarnated into the world of men and animals, assuming diverse forms
in order to save the world from various demons. Among these incarnations, ten avatars have become very popular: the Fish, the Tortoise, the
Boar, the Man-Lion, the Dwarf, the Warrior, Rama, Balarama, Buddha
and Kalki. Krishna is sometimes listed as the 9th avatar but more often he
is identified with Vishnu himself. Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity and
good fortune is often associated with Vishnu.8
8
Joseph W. Elder, Hinduism, in Collier’s Encyclopedia, vol. 12, William D. Halsey &
Bernard Johnston (eds.), Macmillan Educational Company, New York, 1990, p. 130.
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
Shiva: In the Hindu Triad, Shiva is known as the god of destruction
and recreation. The Sanskrit language has 1008 names to designate Shiva.
He is the great god of the Himalaya Mountains, inaccessible, transcendent,
absorbed in sublime contemplation and enthroned on mount Kailas. Hindus
believe that the Ganges came down from the heavens because Shiva bore
on the matted locks of his head the forceful impact of her falling torrents.
Shiva can be terrifying and gracious; he dances either as Nataraja in the
sheer joy of creation or as the god of destruction in the mad frenzy of a
tandava (divine dance). He sees the past, the present and the future by
means of his three eyes. To save the earth he drank poison and his throat
became dark-blue. Shiva’s phallus, the symbol of the creative power is
widely venerated. Shiva is often accompanied by his wife Parvati and his
bull Nandi, which serves as his mount.9
The Goddesses Durga and Kali: The thousands of images of Goddesses found in the ruins of the Indus Valley civilization indicate that
female divinities were venerated in the Northwest of India since ancient
times. But male gods became dominant since the arrival of the Aryans and
it was only in the later period of the Upanisads that space in the Hindu
pantheon was again found for goddesses; primarily as the consorts of
Aryan gods manifesting their power. The prominent Shiva-shakti is worshipped in many forms. As Parvati, Uma and Annapurna she is beautiful.
But she is a terrible goddess under the name of Durga and Kali. Durga is
the combined energies of the male deities. She is represented as having
ten-arm, mounted on a lion, and engaged in a deadly fight against demons.
Each arm wields a weapon specific to one of the powerful male deities.
9
P. Fallon, The Gods of Hinduism, in Religious Hinduism, Jesuit Scholars (eds.), St. Paul’s
Publications, 1964, pp. 84-85.
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Kali, the dark and four-armed goddess, wearing garlands of skulls, is another aspect of Mahasakti. Her uncontrolled character, in its most terrifying and destructive form, is represented by the personification of Durga.
Durga is often worshipped with animal sacrifice as Mata or Divine Mother.
She receives blood offerings.10
5. Krishna, the Absolute of the Bhagavad-Gita
The tendency in the later Upanishads towards making absolute a
personal God finds its culmination in the Bhagavad-Gita. The BhagavadGita emerged from the great Sanskrit epic, the Mahabharata. In its writings, the God, Krishna, appearing as a charioteer for the warrior Arjuna
who answers questions and resolves doubts by revealing the way of devotion. Krishna persuades Arjuna to overcome his reluctance to fight in the
battle for Dharma (Just Law). Krishna guides Arjuna progressively to the
knowledge of the different aspects of Brahman as realised in Krishna. The
God of the Gita is the creator, sustainer and destroyer of the universe
(Gita 10.20), the source of all (Gita 10.8), and all things exist in and through
him (10.39). Krishna presents himself as the object of all religious knowledge, the highest Purusha and supreme self (Paramatman), beyond the
perishable and the imperishable, yet pervading and supporting all worlds
(Gita 10.1-13; 8.22).11
The specificity of the Gita as regards the image of God would be that
God is not a passionless Absolute but the lover of a people’s souls. God is
one who loves humans. Krishna assumes all that Brahman stood for in the
10
David Kinsley, The Hindu Goddess, in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade (ed.),
vol. 6, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1987, p. 52.
11
Alf Hiltebeitel, Hinduism, in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade (ed.), vol. 6, p.
351.
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
Upanishads and even transcends Brahman. Krishna is ‘what IS and what
is not and surpasses both’ (Gita 11.37). A close scrutiny of the texts shows
us that, in the Gita Brahman occupies a lower status than Krishna: He is
the womb of the universe, “I am the base supporting Brahman ― immortal which knows no change ― the eternal law of righteousness and absolute beatitude” (Gita 14.27).12
Observations: At the end of this first part, it is quite appropriate to
make certain passing remarks: a) A Christian researcher of Hinduism may
be at first bewildered by the seeming polytheism in Hinduism. But closer
contact with Hindu religious literature as well as with the Hindu religious
practices, soon reveals a deep and elevated idea of a God who underlies
the multiple darsanas (schools of philosophy based on the Vedas) and
bhakti (devotional) traditions of Hinduism. As Hindus advanced in the
path of rationalizing their faith, polytheism gave way to henotheism and
later to monotheism. Today Hindu devotees keep both monotheistic and
polytheistic trends according to their needs and aptitudes.
b) The trajectory of Hinduism and Christianity has some similarity
with regard to the evolution of the concept of God. Like Hinduism, Christianity also had a polytheistic background in the Old Testament. The patriarchs in Genesis seem to have believed in tribal gods like Elohim, El
Elyon, El Roi and El Shaddai. It was Moses who introduced Yahweh as
the God of Israelites. Even then, some of the leaders of the Israelites
thought that each nation had its own god. Monotheism slowly gained an
upper hand and Hebrew reformers ensured that the unity of God was
strictly observed by the people. The emphasis on the majesty of God left
little room for the immanence of God. It was then that the concept of the
12
Antony Mookenthottam, Towards a Theology in the Indian Context, pp. 111-112.
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Spirit of God emerged to underline the divine nearness to the world and
within humans. The understanding of the immanent nature of God was
deepened with the emergence of the Christian mystery of the Incarnation.
Part 2. The Modern Hindu Concepts of God
The first part helps us not only to grasp the variety of God-concepts
that emerged in Hinduism in the course of its evolution but also to acquire
a certain background knowledge that is necessary to evaluate the new
images of God developing today. During the last two millenniums a
number of schools of thoughts including, Sankara’s Advaita Vedanta, and
several sectarian movements such as Vaisnavism, reinterpreted the concept of God putting emphasis on one or another part of the Sacred Texts.
We have not, however, taken them into discussion here because our central focus is on the ways of understanding God which are current in modern India and being discussed by Hindu and Christian theologians.
Because of colonization, Western thought spread fast among the Hindu
intelligentsia. The values generated by the French Revolution, the modern
philosophers and the secular ideologies influenced the attitude of Indians
towards God. The list of the modern Hindu philosophers who worked on
the concept of God is long and also extensive: including such notable
people as Swami Vivekananda (1863-1902), Sri Narayana Guru (18561928), Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948),
Aurobindo Ghose (1892-1950) Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan (1888-1967). In
what follows, I will concentrate on Sri Narayana Guru and Mahatma
Gandhi because these two men have had such a dramatic influence on
Indian society.
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
6. ‘Delivering God’ by Sri Narayana Guru (1856-1928)13
Sri Narayana Guru, born into an Ezhava family (caste of untouchables)
in Kerala, was a social reformer who rejected the caste system and
worked for the equality and freedom of all Hindus. He denounced the
superstitions (sati, child marriage, untouchability, etc.) which dominated
Hindu society and stressed the need of establishing temples and educational institutions for the uplifting of the downtrodden. Guru’s vision of
God is Vedantic in the sense that he considers Atman as the Ultimate
Reality. In Atmopadesa sathakam, his teaching begins and ends with
reference to Atman. He affirms that Atman alone is real and only the
knowledge about him is real. Atman is worthy of homage and worship. Sri
Guru’s use of the term, Atman, it is inclusive of Brahman because the
concepts of Atman and Brahman are interchangeable in the Advaita. For
example, Guru explicitly uses the Brahman in the Brahmavidyapanchakam,
no.1:
Intelligence Supreme even that I am
That verily Thou Art
That Brahman is the self here
The distinctiveness of Guru’s concept of God lies in his refusal to remain content simply with repeating what the sacred texts teach about the
Primeval Being. Instead, he adds a distinctive theistic perception which is
relevant to the believers of his time. The word Daivam (taken from the
Malayalam language) which he uses to denote God is typical of his
13
George Karakunnel, Advaita and Liberation, Asian Trading Cooperation, Bangalore, 2004,
pp. 89-93; 111-112.
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intention to formulate a vision which responds to the sufferings of people.
In Kerala’s pluralistic socio-religious context, the term Daivam is commonly used by Hindus, Muslims and Christians in moments of distress
and in seeking the protection of God. He was aware of the need of images
and attributes of God and so he promoted temple-worship.
Sri Narayana Guru was a socially committed person and thus his
concept of God is not simply armchair theology. To him, the realization of
God becomes complete only when one fully commits to improving society.
One who experiences the oneness of all will be naturally tend to help
others. In other words, according to Guru the ultimate liberation is connected to earthly liberation. Guru himself was a liberated soul. He mixed
with people of all castes, and shared their joys and sorrows. He conducted strikes to keep temples open to all, irrespective of caste. His efforts
were to create a new society in which the dignity and equality of every
human being would prevail. His ashrams were centers of universal solidarity. In a society which upheld discrimination as a matter of religious
orthodoxy, he combined the worship of the ultimate with the deliverance
of oppressed classes. This radicalism may be the reason why many call his
philosophy of God, “Practical Advaita”.
7. The ‘Truth-God’ of Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi
(1869-1948)14
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, known as Mahatma Gandhi, was the
leader of the Indian independence movement. He sought and, in large part,
achieved freedom for Indians from the British through non-violent
14
P. T. Raju, The Philosophical Traditions of India, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, Delhi,
1992, pp. 222-224.
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methods. Indians call him Gandhiji and the Father of the Nation. M.K.
Gandhi defined his philosophy of God in one word ― satyagraha ―
which means adherence to truth (satya = truth, agraha = attachment). In
other words, his is a philosophy of truth in action. Satyagraha is often
mistakenly identified with non-violent resistance. In fact, struggling
peacefully is only a means of remaining truthful.
M.K. Gandhi did not arrive at his definition of God through epistemological arguments. He looks at God from an anthropological perspective. Humanity, to be worth of its name, has to be faithful to Truth. Loyalty to truth implies two elements: absolute sincerity to ones’ own idea of
Truth and putting that idea into practice. One’s idea of truth may be false
but, as Gandhi says, if one purifies the mind through prayer and fasting,
she or he can discover truth within oneself. To Gandhi, Truth and God are
identical: Truth is God and God is Truth. It is safe to believe in God as
Truth, says Gandhi, because one can never deny truth even though one
may refuse to believe in God. This Truth is not perceptual but is found in
the inner spirit. Humanity is essentially spirit and its false appearance is
due to ignorance.
Since God is Truth, Truth is also the law of life. The essential nature of
God is love and hence the love of God leads us to the love of truth. The
opposite of love is hatred. Therefore, those who love God have to avoid
violence in all circumstances. We, in being loyal to one’s own truth,
cannot destroy anothers; because one’s own vision of truth may be wrong.
However, the possibility of being erroneous should not prevent us from
holding on to what is considered Truth. If the opposite view is proved
right, then it is enough that one’s opinion is withdrawn. Conflicts are
inevitable in the path of seeking God but they must not, in any way, lead
to the destruction of other.
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Gandhi believed that in the fight between Truth and falsity, Truth will
finally win. If one stands by Truth the ultimate Being will support us.
Only God knows for certain what is true and what is false. Since humans
are finite beings they cannot be certain of the knowledge of Truth. In this
situation, Gandhi invites everybody to follow the law of love which is
also God, leaving the destruction of evil to God alone.
Observation: The God-concepts developed by these two social reformers indicate that the image of God will change according to the cultural
matrix through which we look at Him. In ancient times, the seekers who
were immersed in reflecting on God were mainly priests, philosophers,
and mystics. Consequently, the images they developed of God reflected
cultic, academic, and spiritual aspects. But, as social activists living in the
post-Enlightenment and post-French Revolution era, Sri Narayana Guru
and Mahatma Gandhi reflected on God in order to solve issues of slavery
and inequality. As a result, their God-concepts represented the longing for
the establishment of a society based on modern values: justice, freedom,
and equality. Thus, God’s image becomes a catalyst or transformative
agent in the quest for a more just and equitable world.
Part 3. God-Concepts Emerging from Indian-Christian
Encounters
Similar to the practices of the Italian priest Robert de Nobili, S.J.
(1577-1656), India, in the twentieth century, has witnessed the arrival of a
few Western monks who, unlike the foreign missionaries of previous
centuries, have not engage in direct preaching of the gospel; rather they
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
have tried to blend the Western and Eastern spiritual traditions into their
way of living. They were convinced that the then existing Christianity
belonged mainly to a euro-centric world and that a new structure was
indeed a need for the Church to be authentic and universal. Among these
seekers included the French monks, Jules Monchanin and Henri Le Saux,
the British priest, Bede Griffiths, the British nun, Sara Grant and the
Belgium priest, François Mahieu. They started what we call today “Christian ashrams” in India. Their initiatives stirred up indigenous theologians
to recompose the Christian faith in terms of Indian consciousness.
Rammohun Roy, Keshub Chunder Sen, Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, Sr.
Vandana, Raimundo Panikkar and Michael Amaladoss are just some names
to be placed on record in this regard.
The Indian context is defined not only by diversities of religion and
culture but also by the egregious fact of poverty. We cannot speak of India
without ignoring the evil of some 400 million of her people living in utter
destitution. Therefore, in the post-independent India, certain theologians
engaged in reinterpreting the image of Christ from the perspective of
social justice. Soares-Prabhu, Samuel Rayan, Sebastian Kappen and Felix
Wilfred are among the list of those who have explored the liberative
potential in both the Hindu and Christian traditions. Their work has brought
hope to thousands of people. We now turn to look at a few authors whose
work is representative of this recent trend.
8. The “Non-multiple Advaitic Trinity” of Jules Monchanin
(1895-1957)
Jules Monchanin, known as Swami Paramarubyananda, was a French
Catholic priest who chose to live as a monk in India. He was an ardent
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proponent of Hindu-Christian interfaith dialogue and the co-founder
of the Saccidananda Ashram (Shantivanam) in the village of Tannirpalli,
Tamil Nadu. He believed that God is absolute and the mutual gift among
the three constitutive Persons of the Trinity and their absolute projections
constitute God’s absolute unity. By studying the teachings of the Hindu
Scriptures and experiencing the works of God in them, Monchanin was
convinced that the Blessed Trinity, would quench India’s thirst for the
Absolute, the One without a second.
Monchanin traces the aspiration of Indians for the Absolute as follows.
He began with the double polytheism of Dravidian and Aryan origin,
passes through henotheism, reaches to the idea of impersonal Absolute
and then posits the search for a personal God with whom the perfect union
of life is possible. The jñãna mãrga (Hindu approach to salvation) without
denying the value of religious duties seeks the Absolute beyond name and
reaches towards the notion of Nirguna Brahman. The Bhakti tradition
insists on the need of a personal god, a god who remains with men and
women. But in Hinduism there continues to be a tension between the personal god (Saguna) and the impersonal god (Nirguna). Even the concept
of Saccidananda (an epithet and description for the subjective experience
of the ultimate, unchanging reality) cannot overcome this problem because Being, Knowledge and Bliss are not distinct attributes of the Reality,
but the Reality itself.15
Monchanin was among the foremost theologians investigating the
mutual interiorization of the three divine Persons. He was interested in explaining the metaphysical relationship between the “One” and the “many”.
In his view, Being itself is a “Being-together” (Samsat), a “Being in Rela-
15
J. Mattam, Land of the Trinity: Modern Christian Approaches to Hinduism, TPI, Bangalore,
1975, pp. 157-158.
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
tionship”. The infinite activity of the Trinity does not on any account
display itself but, rather, concentrates itself in the density of the eternal
present. Parousia can be identified with a state of concentration which includes the creatures and the cosmos in a movement ― of God to God, of
God to the world and of the world to God.16
According to Monchanin India’s oscillation between the personal and
impersonal God manifests a hidden longing for a less anthropomorphic
notion of God. The antinomy of the One and the many can be solved by
the belief in the Trinity. The three persons of the Trinity conform to the
need of humans for a personal God and the mysterious unity in the Trinity
answers their search for an impersonal God. The Trinitarian God is absolutely simple and absolutely One. At the same time it is not a closed unity
but a unity which is open towards communion. The unity of the Trinity is
not destroyed by the otherness of the three persons but constitutes it. The
unity in the Trinity is not one of absorption nor of exclusion but a nonmultiple advaita (nondualism). The mystery of Trinity is essentially love,
the gift of self to self and reciprocal inhabitation. The unity is constituted
through giving mutually. There is an origin, the Father; a middle, the
Word and an end, the Spirit. These three coincide in the co-eternity of the
persons in the sense that none of them is anterior or posterior and each
one is in the unity of the divine essence.17
9. “Trinitarian Saccidananda” by Henri Le Saux
(Abhishktananda, 1910-1973)
In 1948, Dom Henri Le Saux, a French Benedictine monk, arrived in
16
Jacques Gadille, Jules Monchanin His Life and Thought: A Brief Survey, in Saccidanandaya
Namah: A Commemorative Volume, Shantivanam, 2002, p. 62.
17
J. Mattam, Land of the Trinity: Modern Christian Approaches to Hinduism, pp. 162-163.
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India. In his early years he lived with Fr. J. Monchanin in the ashram at
Shantivanam. In his later years he became a hermit and lived in the
district of Uttarkashi in the Himalayas. He tried to live in fidelity to both
the Hindu experience of Saccidananda and the Christian experience of the
Holy Trinity. In the light of research he realized that the Advaita experience (the reality underlying everything is one and same) is not foreign to
Christianity and can even lead Christians to a Trinitarian experience of
Saccidananda.
The Christian jnani (devotee) who penetrates to the heart of Saccidananda
experiences the co-naturality with God and attains the following knowledge. The Being, Sat, opens itself at its very source to give birth eternally
to the Son and in him to countless creatures. The Son, Cit or Selfawareness, comes to be only when the Father gives Himself to Son. The
Ananda, the ultimate felicity is the perfect fulfilment of love. There
cannot be any solitary bliss. There is no joy, there is no being and there is
no communication except in giving and receiving. This awareness is not
merely a matter of knowledge, but the lived truth of the jnani. While
abiding in the heart of Saccidananda, the Christian jnani is not being
swallowed up like a drop of water in the ocean. The jnani is aware of the
self as receiving from the Father in the Son and from the Son in the Spirit.
A true jnani gives to all and thereby returns to Father in the Spirit.18
A Christian comes to the mystical experience not in the same way a
Hindu does; it is essentially an act of faith. The Spirit present in the soul
will ceaselessly cry out saying that ‘it is not enough to have the feel of
neti, neti (negation)’ as a Hindu seer has. Instead, there resounds in the
depth of the spirit a triple Aham (mantra of the heart) and from within that
18
Abhishiktananda, Saccidananda: A Christian Approach to Advaitic Experience, Delhi, 1SPCK,
1990, pp. 176-177.
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
very mystery the soul hears the call to participate in this consciousness.
Similarly, there is a difference between Hindus and Christians as regards
the nature of mystical experience. When the Hindu jnani has a direct
realization of Being which dominates the whole consciousness. The jnani
transcends the awareness of the particular and moves freely and serenely
among contingent things. knowing that what is seen is not real. Though
images and ideas pass through the jnani’s consciousness their influence
have already been broken. They do not disturb. The jnani is relieved of
every bond, all doubts and all desires. This state, in other words, is like a
dream, but the dreamer remains clear-headed.
The Christian experience of Saccidananda, however, is of a different
order ― a mystery of faith. Like the jnani, the Christian’s realization
also transcends the conceptual realm. Since Christians grow in mysticism
through faith, their awareness will always have still a hint of mystery.
Faith does not know how to permit the mystic to have the unquestionable
immediacy of the realization of the self in its fullness. Even though faith
is located in the intellect, it surpasses it, hence the mystic is unable to gain
a full comprehension of the whole mystery. The believer can do nothing
except surrender to the movement of the Spirit within, which is beyond
his understanding. There is a void within which makes the mystic open to
listening to the voice of the Eternal Word. Christian mystics hear the
Spirit whispering in their hearts the Word of Abba Father.
Christians who have achieved a high state of mysticism have to
continue to live Christ’s teachings in ordinary life. They have to be in
koinonia with their fellow humans and to be refreshed with the Eucharistic sign of agape. Sometimes, Christians will have to express heroic
obedience to the Gospels, even though martyrdom. The truth and validity
of the Christian mystical experience cannot be really proved except by the
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fruits of the Spirit. The testimony of the awakening in the depth of the
soul of a Christian remains a secret between the person and God. Because
of these differences, it is never possible to set side by side the experience
of the Hindu seer having the intuition of Brahman and the experience of a
Christian soul rediscovering self in the bosom of the Father with the risen
Christ.19
10. The “Trinitarian Brahman” of
Brahmabandhab Upadhyay (1861-1907)20
Brahmabandhab Upadhyay is an outstanding figure of the 20th century
Hindu-Christian encounter. It is difficult to categorize him as he was
known to be a great religious reformer, a self-confessed Hindu-Catholic, a
political revivalist, and a social commentator. His richest contribution to
the concept of God is the mystery of the Trinity interpreted through Indian
categories. In a very systematic and logical way, he presents the Triune
God as an answer to India’s spiritual aspirations.
The infinite nature necessitates that God be self-sufficient and selfsatisfied. God must not be in need of entering into relationship with another in order to satisfy the demands of the divine nature. If it were so,
God would be a wanting being and a wanting being cannot be infinite. But
God is also love. Love necessarily implies relationship for we cannot
conceive of love without communicativeness. Can we say that God seeks
an object outside to appease this craving for love? To say that will make
him a limited, conditioned and insufficient being. If an external object in
the communication of love is not needed, then God has to be content with
19
Ibid., pp. 193-201
J. Lipner & G. Gispert-Sauch, The Writings of Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, UTC, Bangalore, 1991, pp. 109-111; 125-127; 141-142.
20
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
loving the divine self. But how can there be any communication without
having some distinction between the communicating agent and the communicated end? A good number of philosophers seeking an answer to this
enigma have made God an impersonal and unknowable Supreme Being.
Upadhyay tells us that it is folly to resolve this issue by reason. The
economy of divine life can only be known if God enlightens a person’s
intellect to apprehend. He asserts that God has revealed his mind and the
custodian of this revelation is the Catholic Church. The Church declares
that Christ came into this world to give us a foretaste of the inner life of
God. According to Jesus’ revelation, God is eternally relating with Himself in whom there is distinction without division in the divine essence.
This relating is the mystery of the Holy Trinity. India has long desired to
know this Mystery and the Blessed Trinity is the answer to her aspiration.
Using the Indian category of Parabrahman (the “highest Brahman”, that
which is beyond all descriptions and conceptualisations), Upadhyay wrote
a special canticle of adoration in Sanskrit to explain the Trinitarian Mystery. Its English reads as follows:
I adore:
The Sat (Being) Cit (Intelligence) and Ananda (Bliss):
The highest goal, which is despised by worldlings, which is desired by
yogis (devotees).
The Supreme, ancient higher than the highest, full, indivisible, transcendent and immanent.
One having triple interior relationship, holy, unrelated, self-conscious,
hard to realise.
The Father, Begetter, the highest Lord, Unbegotten, the rootless principle of the tree of existence.
The cause of the universe, one who creates intelligently, the preserver
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of the world.
The incarnate, infinite Logos or Word, supremely great.
The image of the Father, one whose form is intelligence, the giver of the
highest freedom.
One who proceeds from the union of Sat and Cit, the blessed Spirit
(breath), intense bliss.
The sanctifier, one whose movements are swift, one who speaks of the
Word, the life-giver.
The God adored in the above canticle is the Supreme Being, whose
eternal act finds adequate resonance within the Godhead. God is not obliged to come in contact with finite beings for the sustenance and satisfaction of the divine nature. God’s knowledge is fully satisfied by the cognition of the Logos and finds its fullest satisfaction in the boundless complacency which rests in the divine Image and breaths forth the Spirit of bliss.
In brief, the canticle sings of the Father-God (Parabrahman), the LogosGod (Sabda-Brahman) and the Spirit-God (Svasita-Brahman), One in
Three, Three in One.
Upadhyay’s translation of the Blessed Trinity in Hindu categories created confusion among his contemporaries and they asked whether he was
identifying the mystery of Trinity with the concept of the Hindu Triad.
Answering them, Upadhyay categorically refuted saying that Hindu Triad
is not the same as the Christian Trinity. The Hindu Triad expresses the
phenomenal aspect of the Divinity and exists in time only. When the universe ceases to be, Brahma the creator, Vishnu the preserver, and Shiva
the destroyer, lose their existence. But Trinity is not phenomenal.
According to Christian faith, for God, to be is to be relating constantly in
a triune way. In the concept of the Trinity there is always a need for the
Supreme Being to beget the infinite Self in thought, and breathe love
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
which is the Spirit. So, there are three necessary terms in the Godhead,
distinct in relation but one in essence. The Infinite is eternally and not
phenomenally triune.
11. The “Christ of the Subalterns” by Sebastian Kappen
(1924-1993)
Sebastian Kappen, originally from Kerala-India, was one of the creative theologians who lived in the post-Conciliar era. Situating himself on
the borderlines of the Christian and secular worlds, he initiated a creative
dialogue between Christian and secular thinking. His involvement in the
activities of ‘people’s movements’ and close contact with artists, ecologists, social activists, journalists and theologians made his reflections both
original and liberating.
What pushed Kappen to review God’s image was the rapid changes in
science, technology, education, economy, and politics which happened on
the Indian sub-continent. A shift from socialist principles to capitalist policies created wide disparities between people vis-à-vis income and opportunity. Today, the top 30 percent of the Indian population live in affluence,
another 40 percent lead a mediocre life and the remaining 30 percent live
in utter poverty. The proliferation of slums, marginalization of tribals and
Dalits, destruction of traditional mini-scale industries, and ecological ravages add to the suffering of the poor in India.
After examining the social system and the conflicting forces at work in
India, Kappen reflected on how to create a counter culture that would empower the marginalized and give dignity to all. He wanted to review the
God-concepts as part of using theology to resolve people-issues. At present, the institutionalized religions portray God as a supreme personal be-
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ing. But the concern of theology must be, he says, how God intervenes in
the history of men and women of this day to save them. Given the realities
of India, theology can only be liberative and our God images have to
support the deliverance of people from oppression.21 In search of God’s
images which can transform Indian society on the basis of love, justice,
and truth he finds Jesus’ solidarity with the subalterns22 as the appropriate
model.
According to Kappen, Jesus subverted the different aspects of Jewish
culture in terms of God’s reign, which He came to inaugurate on earth.23
At the time of Jesus, Jews projected wealth as a concrete sign of God’s
favour and subsequently the rich felt very close to God. In fact, this is a
distorted interpretation of the Torah given by priests with vested interests.
Jesus rectified this distortion by declaring that the blessings of God
belong primarily to the poor, and he reinstated the image of God as the
one who stands by the exploited. Jesus also renounced the master-slave
relationship as was practised by the Jews. Jesus rejected the division of
society into the great and the least and repudiated the very standard of assessing greatness. According to Kappen, the dictum that ‘whoever wants
to be great among you must be your servant and whoever wants to be first
among you must be the slave of all’ is a renunciation of the exercise of
power. Jesus inaugurated a society in which all are slaves to one another,
21
Sebastian Kappen, Jesus and Culture, vol. 1, ISPCK, 2002, pp. 115-116.
In philosophy, the term subaltern comes from Antonio Gramsci, the Italian Marxist, who
used it to address the non-capitalist, non-bourgeoisie subordinate classes, the proletariat, the
peasants, the oppressed masses, etc. that are non-hegemonic in nature. Taking inspiration from
Gramsci, the concept of subaltern has been popularized in India by the Subaltern Study
Projects which were initiated in 1980s by Ranajit Guha and others. Guha used this term to
mean the people who were in a subordinated position against the dominant agents. Cf. G.
Patrick, Religion and Subaltern Agency, Department of Christian Studies, University of Madras, 2003, pp. 5-6.
23
Sebastian Kappen, Jesus and Culture, pp. 12-20.
22
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
none is master over others.
Another sphere challenged by Jesus’ deconstructive intervention n was
the division based on the mode of labour, namely intellectual and manual.
Those who were occupied with the Law and its interpretation devalued
those who had to do physical work. The knowledge of God that the poor
gained through the practice of justice and love was disregarded by the
Scribes. Jesus, for his part, rejected the wisdom of the wise and reaffirmed
the common person’s way of knowing God through love. Jesus’ redefinetion of God had an impact on gender relations as well. As is the case with
all patriarchal societies, Judaism set a high value on men, and relegated
women to an inferior position. The women were considered a source of
moral danger and hence were pushed down to inferior places in the public
spaces. The Galilean not only preached but also practised equality between genders. He freely associated with women, cultivated their friendship and helped them in as many ways as possible.
Perhaps, the most important binary that Jesus dismantled was that of
pure and impure. Jews established a hierarchy of the pure and the impure
based on profession. Those who worked in the religious space or handled
religious objects were considered sacred and others less sacred. This
notion was amoral in the eyes of Jesus because the concept of purity and
impurity was here conceived of as an objective quality inhering in things
and actions irrespective of the free decisions of the individuals. Jesus
opposed this peripheral understanding and placed purity at the core of
human life, namely the heart where the human activities of feeling, knowing, willing, loving, etc. take place.
Kappen criticized Indian Christianity for having moved in the opposite
direction to Christ’s option for the subaltern. In many realms and regions,
the Church in India identified with the culture of the ruling class instead
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of standing in solidarity with the oppressed. Her life often reflects the
values of the bourgeois and high castes. Kappen emphasized the subaltern
image of Jesus so that Church in India, like Jesus, might become a subvertsive and creative force in contemporary Indian society. The Church
has to initiate a critique of the given cultures and repudiate all ideas and
practices which oppress the weak and the marginalized.
12. The ‘Kenotic Father’ by Raimundo Panikkar
(1918-2010)24
Raimundo Pannikar, born to a Spanish Roman Catholic mother and
a Hindu Indian father from Kerala, has earned triple doctorates ― one in
philosophy, another in chemistry and a third one in theology. As a Jesuit
Priest he was widely recognized as a renowned scholar in comparative
religion. Panikkar’s translation of God-concepts in Indian terms can be
traced to his hermeneutical reflections on the mystery of the Trinity, especially, the concept of the Father. To him, the Trinity is the junction where
the authentic spiritual dimensions of all religions meet. Only through a
deepening of Trinitarian understanding will the mutual fecundation of the
different spiritual paths take place without doing violence to the basic
intuitions of each.
In the Christian tradition, God the Absolute is identified as the ‘Father
of our Lord Jesus Christ’ because Jesus taught us to call God our Father.
Yet, Panikkar says, the name Father may not be the proper name of God.
This is a name given to us by Jesus to designate the Absolute. Actually
speaking, the Absolute cannot be comprehended by any name. All reli-
24
Raimundo Panikkar, The Trinity and the Religious Experience of Man, Orbis Books, New
York, 1973, pp. 41-50.
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
gions recognize that the Absolute is unnamable. The names allotted to the
Absolute are only human designations and hence they are relative.
After affirming the indefinable character of the Absolute, Panikkar
vigilantly argues that the nature of the Absolute Father consists in the total
kenosis of his Being. In begetting the Son, the Father gave up everything,
even, the possibility of being expressed in a name. One goes to the Father
only through the Son. To go directly to the Father is impossible. If one
tries to do so one would find that this so-called way to the Father is a nonway, a non-thought and non-being. Panikkar thus following an apophatic
approach ― an attempt to see God even as He transcends all images and
concepts. Panikkar asserts that the Father, the Absolute, who is kenotic at
its very source is similar to the Buddhist experience of designating God as
nirvana and sunyata (emptiness). It is because of this fact that a few spiritual traditions qualify God as Silence. God is total Silence and the absolute is the silence of being. The Word who completely expresses and
consumes Him is the Son. The Father has no being; the Son is his being.
The source of being is not being. One can be united with the Son or one
may be in the Spirit but one can never be in the Father because the Father
is not. One can never reach the Father because there is no end to attain.
Yet all things tend to the Father as their ultimate goal.
Panikkar legitimates this apophatic way of understanding the Absolute
God with the words of Jesus himself. Jesus said, ‘he who has seen me has
seen the Father’. Whoever sees Christ sees the Father because the Son is
the Father made visible. St. Irenaeus said: ‘The Son is the visibility of the
invisible’. There is nothing else to see of the Father except the result of his
paternity, namely, the Son. But to see the Son is to see him as Son of the
Father. To be precise one does not see the Son outside the Father nor the
Father outside the Son. Thus, there are no two visions ― one for the Son
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and another for the Father ― but only one seeing: ‘One who sees me
sees the Father’. God the Absolute is truly infinite. The moment one takes
a stand on Him, objectivises Him and easily becomes vulnerable to the
manipulation of God and faith. God is like the invisible bedrock, the
gentle inspirer, the unnoticed force which sustains draws and pushes us.
God is transcendent.
Observations: a) It is surprising to note that those Christian theologians, both foreign and indigenous, who engaged in scientific and intellecttual research on the Hindu tradition, identified the Trinity as a possible
meeting point for mutual dialogue. Subsequently each author tries, in their
own way, to present creatively the dogmas of the Trinity as a way of integrating into them the positive traits of Eastern perceptions of God. For example, any objective critic cannot but appreciate how splendidly Panikkar
has combined the Christian concept of Kenosis and the Buddhist notion of
Nirvana in not only explaining the incomprehensive and silent image of
God the Father, but also legitimating this integration with ample references from the Bible and Patristics.
b) It is worth mentioning that none of the authors is in a rush to arrive
at a consensus with the Hindu dogmas and they do not compromise any
element of Christian faith. Paradigms such as the Non-multiple Advaitic
Trinity, Trinitarian Saccidananda, and the Trinitarian Brahman take great
care not to identify the Hindu Triad with the Blessed Trinity. For example,
Henri Le Saux explains very clearly the difference between Christianity
and Hinduism as regards the nature of mystical experience, the methods
used to acquire this experience and the consequent results.
c) However, the proposals of Christian theologians are teleological in
character. They extol the merit of the Christian faith. For instance,
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
Monchanin puts emphasis on the excellence of both the unity and otherness of the Persons in the Trinitarian God as an antidote to overcome India’s religious antinomy of the One and Many and her oscillation between the personal and impersonal God. Due to this missionary concern,
the nature of their theological deliberations often becomes apologetic
rather than confessional. For instance, Brahmabandhab Upadhyay’s style
is dogmatic, rationalistic, and scholastic while he asserts the supremacy of
the mystery of Trinity. He puts forward arguments from philosophy and
Scriptures to establish the superiority of the Trinitarian God and brings in
counter arguments to unveil the limitations of the concept of the ‘Impersonal Brahman’ in Hinduism.
d) Whenever theologians seriously take the social context of people,
the images of God which they formulate obtain a prophetic thrust. For
instance, Kappen begins his reflections from grass-root level experiences
within society. Peoples’ sufferings and the struggles led by social movements provide the basic substratum for his theologizing. The anthropological methods, secular philosophical perspectives and sociological tools
which are employed in the theologizing process make altogether for a
different reading of Scriptures. Consequently, the image of God which
evolved through such procedures becomes transformative and liberative.
Part 4. God-Concepts in
Recent Religious Movements
Modern culture is largely antithetical to religious beliefs as they are
considered mere human inventions. Reason replaced religion and all the
social institutions including the state, politics, education, and law became
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autonomous in relation to religion. But, the Second World War, the failure
of science to solve the basic issues of human life, economic crises, new
diseases, the ecological problems, and much else makes the claims of
many modern thinkers incredulous and people are once again feeling the
need to depend on God and religion for meaningful living. But contemporary people, prizing their autonomy, do not like to go back to structured religions. Today they prefer to follow the religious beliefs of their
own choice. Naturally, all over the world, and India is no exception, countless religious movements are emerging outside the boundaries of institutionalized religions. What follows is an analysis of the God-concepts of
four vibrant religious movements, which are representative of different
regions of India.
13. Brahma Kumaris (1930)
Dada Lekhraj, born in 1876 near Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, lived as
a successful business man. At the age of retirement, he felt the need to
dedicate his life to reflection and solitude. Then he had a series of visions,
which led him to start the Brahma Kumaris organization. According to
Brahma Kumaris, God lives not everywhere but somewhere. We are accustomed to know things through the five senses. However, in the case of
knowing God, since He is up there, humans can reach up to Him through
their thoughts, which are powerful and transcend the material realm. If
properly channeled, these thoughts can travel beyond the clouds and reach
up to the dimension of the golden red light. There the soul can be immersed in the warmth of the light of God and have the experience of
having come back home, from where the journey began.
Brahma Kumaris consider God as a soul like those of human beings.
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
But He is, unlike humans, the Supreme Soul. God never takes a body of
His own and is beyond the effects of actions. He is not subject to the
dualities of birth and death, pleasure and pain, success and failure. Being
outside the cycle of duality, He retains the absolute knowledge of the
drama of the universe in all its dimensions. He is truth and therefore can
be perceived by the eye of truth. The human soul can experience him as
He or She, depending on the nature of the relationship an individual
entertains. However, humans can only achieve fulfilment of relationships
in union with the God-Soul.
Though God cannot be named with particular words, in Brahma
Kumaris’ view, the possible word for him would be Shiva, the benevolent
One. Shiva is altruistic and serves people with love, peace, and happiness.
He explains the natural principles which govern life and teaches the
method of performing right actions for the right reasons. As the seed of
the human family tree, He nourishes human souls and makes them instruments in the creation of His garden. God, who respects human freedom,
does not intervene miraculously to force people to conform to His will.
He recognizes the individual identity and inherent goodness of human
souls. God’s love is to strengthen the soul’s will to become free from vices
such as greed, anger, lust, ego, and attachment. God’s power will help the
human soul to recognize its potential and reach perfection. Individuals can
change the world by leading a life of witness.25
25
Abraham Christdhas, Contemporary Religious Movements, Theological Book Trust, Bangalore, 2005, pp. 191-192.
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14. International Society for Krishna Consciousness
(ISKCON) (1966)
A.C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prahupada was born in Calcutta, Bengal,
on 1 September 1896. In 1933 he was formally initiated as a disciple to
the guru Srila Bhakti Siddhanta Sarasvati Maharaj and in 1965, at the age
of 70 he went to USA and there in 1966 he founded ISKCON. ISKCON’s
theology comes from the Bengali Gaudiya-Vaisnaya tradition of Hinduism which dates back to the 11th or 12th century. This movement uses the
holy name or mantra as the method to enable anyone to become conscious
of Krishna, the supreme God. They believe that by chanting the mantra
the devotee can realize a pure and natural state of mind and become
merged with the Krishna consciousness.
According to ISKCON, God is personal. Buddha is considered an
incarnation of Krishna and Sankaracharya is a great scholar sent by God.
Those who maintain an impersonal notion of God as an energy are murderers, says Swami Prahupada. In the beginning of creation there was
only one Supreme Personality called Narayana. There was no Brahma, no
Shiva, no fire, no moon, no stars, no sun but only Krishna who then
created everything. Jesus is considered to be Krishna’s son. Lord Krishna
is the real personality of Godhead and all other incarnations are plenary
expansions of the Lord Krishna.26
15. Matha Amritanandamayi (1953-)
Mata Amritanandamayi, one of India’s most revered female gurus, was
born on September 27, 1953 at Parayankadavu village in the district of
26
Ibid., pp. 167-170.
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Kollam, Kerala. In 1975, after a significant incident, her facial features
were identified with Lord Krishna to the amazement of devotees and since
then she manifests the attitude of the Divine Mother (Devi Bhava).
Mata is considered by many as a divine incarnation, the supreme Guru
who speaks directly from the state of Oneness with God. She teaches in a
simple, experiential, and motherly way. Even though she only speaks in
her vernacular language of Malayalam she attracts followers from diverse
racial and religious communities. Though women do not hug men in the
public life of India, during the darsana, Amma takes each person to her
embracing them and kissing their cheeks. She guides millions of people
through counselling, speeches, and bajans towards the realization of spiritual values. According to Mata, giving a helping hand to the poor and to
the downtrodden and satisfying the quest for spiritual happiness of fellow
men and women is our duty to God. The organisations and institutions
founded by her are engaged in constructing houses for the poor, running
hospitals and extending help to orphans and widows.
According to Amritanandamayi, God is simple and places no conditions on loving men and women. His love is constant, uninterrupted, and
unbreakable. There are no contrasts and opposites in God and if there are
any at all, they are in us. We must stop reasoning to realize that there is no
contradiction. In her view, sorrow is a real guru which, will take us to God.
To know God is to love Him. If we take refuge in God, He will meet both
our spiritual and material needs. Devotion to God will bring prosperity to
us, to our families, and to the society.27
27
Ibid., pp. 237-240.
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16. The Art of Living (1981)
Sri Sri Ravi Sankar, the founder of the United Nations NGO, the Art of
Living, was born on May 13, 1956 in a spiritual family at Papanasam,
Tamil Nadu. According to Sri Sri, service is an expression of joy and love
and we must ask ourselves as to how we can be useful to the whole humanity. This inspiration has connected people across all countries and
given birth to numerous charitable organizations that strengthen human
values. The members of the Art of Living Foundations are called to appreciate life beyond the materiality, the spiritual aspect of life, which is all
about emotions and finally consciousness.
God is referred to in three persons. In the third person, God is either
‘He or She’. In the second person God is ‘you’ and in the first person God
is ‘I’. Many derive happiness by addressing God in the third person and
look for him in heaven. In this way we will never enjoy the divine relationship. Some try to go to God through the masters who are in the
second person. The third marga is to realize that divine is within us and
we are within God. At this stage all our tension, worries, stresses, and
anxieties wither away. God is beyond all concepts and is a reality to be
experienced.28
Observations: a) Most of the contemporary religious movements revolve around values based on mysticism, exaltation of nature, social work,
and hybrid beliefs. They tend to grow distinct from the traditional institutionalized religions, giving shape to new forms of rituals and practices.
They are not bothered whether the teachings and practices of their personal religion are in accord with the orthodox truths formatted by the insti28
Ibid., pp. 175-177.
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
tutionalized religions. What values them is the benefit they derive from
religious practices. If those practices give them satisfaction, it does not
matter if they go against the dictates of a hierarchy.
b) The success of new religious movements consists in their pragmatic
attitude. They succeed in adapting the traditional religious practices to the
needs of people living in this technological world. For instance, the old
rigorous system of yoga is modified and reconstituted in such a way to
have become nearly a new form of religion for the IT world. The God of
Yoga is seen as a healing force for those in dire need of time and when
people are deeply troubled by mental tension. The rituals and values these
religions propose fulfil not merely the spiritual aspirations but also the
physical and psychic needs of the adepts. The freedom and spontaneity
these movements give make the elite and progressive generation feel at
home.29
c) Their God is not always personal but rather an energy reservoir.
This energy is within and behind the whole universe. The belief that sees
God in all and all as God need not be confused and equated with
pantheism ― all things are in reality a single deity. This universal energy
can be seen as a mystical way to express the living presence of God in the
individual’s experiences in life.
17. General Conclusion
In conclusion, we will make two sorts of remarks: one in relation to
the God-concepts that are dealt with in this essay and another concerning
the order of orientations to be kept in the formation of God-concepts.
29
Vincent Kundukulam, The New Spiritual Movements: An Assessment Study, in Popular
Spiritual Movements: The truth and illusion, Vincent Kundukulam (ed.), S.H. League, Alwaye,
2013, p. 312.
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Understanding God in the Asian Context
God-Concepts
a) All through the history of India we find that there was a move amongst individuals and the groups of each epoch and each school of
thought to select one God as the Supreme Head. Thus, during the period
of henotheism, deities like Agni and Soma attained primacy; the people of
the Brahmanas made Prajãpati the Absolute; Upanishadic era worshipped Trimuti (Brahman, Vishnu and Shiva); the people of the Gita and
ISKCON held Krishna at the apex of the Pantheon and so on. They tended
to attribute to that personal God all the qualities of the Ultimate Reality
which other groups allotted to their Supreme deities.
b) One of the serious concerns of the religions is how to blend the finite world with the infinite God. This pre-occupation led seekers to believe in both Nirguna and Saguna Brahman, in the incessant incarnations
of the Ultimate in the world, and in the three Ultimate Principles known
as the Hindu Triad. It is interesting to see that the feminine dimension also
found a place in the Hindu Pantheon but they enjoyed only a subjugated
role ― they were mainly consorts of male gods manifesting their power.
c) The God-Concepts developed by the mystics and scholars of the last
two centuries are concurrently transcendental and immanent, personal and
impersonal, and mystical and prophetic. The images of God, like ‘NonMultiple Advaitic Trinity’, the ‘Trinitarian Saccidananda’, the ‘Trinitarian
Brahman’ and the ‘Kenotic Father’ respond to the needs of humanity to
have One Supreme Being as the source, cause, and protection of the
whole universe and of everything that happens in the world. At the same
time, the nature of that Ultimate Being is defined as to account for all
types of diversity in the world. Thus, people always made sure that the
reality of unity and multiplicity, which they identified as essential in life,
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
were depicted as constitutive elements of God.
d) God-concepts formed by the social activists like Sri Narayana Guru,
Mahatma Gandhi, and Sebastian Kappen indicate that people search for
God not only in intellectual answers to the fundamental questions of life
but also in the liberative potential of creating a society of justice, truth,
and love. It is also exciting that their God-concepts were not personifications of the secular values only. Sri Narayana Guru explained the commitment to the cause of justice and equality as essential aspects of God-realization. For Gandhiji, prayer, fasting, love of neighbor, non-violent actions, etc. were part of worshipping the Truth-God. For Kappen to stand
by the side of the exploited was part of imitating Christ the Subaltern.
e) Even though the new religious movements illustrate God primarily
as energy they do not totally ignore the personal dimension of God. As a
result, the worship of popular Gods like Shiva and Krishna are very much
present among the sects. These Gods conform to the needs of people to
converse with an Ultimate person and to epitomise in God the values they
cherish in life. The Gods of New Age are thus embodiments of postmodern values like freedom, peace, tolerance, harmony, solidarity and prosperity.
Guiding Principles
f) God-talk cannot be merely intellectual but experiential because the
dogmatic formulations cannot encompass the totality of divine mystery.
Only when the theoretical statements are put in experiential language can
theology enable the liberation of people from narrow, self-interests and
unite them with the wider and the higher interests of God. One who has an
authentic experience of God will not have any difficulty in accepting that
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Understanding God in the Asian Context
God may disclose to anybody, anywhere, and in any form. In fact, the
knowledge of God which the Christ imparted to us was also experiential.
He gave his own personal and direct experience as the Son with the Father.
Our discourses on God must transcend the ranges of the senses and the
mind in order to embrace this profound level of Christ’s self-awareness.
g) If God-concepts are to be deeply rooted in experience then they
have to be expressed in both apophatic and analogical language. The experience of God remains at the awareness level and cannot be fully expressed in human terms. Besides, each experience is relative ― conditioned by time and space. Therefore, it is prudent to follow the apophatic
style ― describing the Divine by negation ― in order to avoid the risk
of misinterpreting the Mystery. At the same time, an experience that is not
shared is in vain. And when we begin to communicate the divine experience we cannot but use the analogical style: namely, explaining through
similar and comparable expressions or symbols.
h) Our discourses on God must not be overtaken by the undue importance given to the immediacy of experience. The idea of God necessarily
implies some transcendence. If the articulations of God do not go beyond
the experience of finite individuals there would be then no sense in calling
that power, Absolute. Our expressions regarding God must encapsulate
the idea of the transcendence of the recognizable world of nature.30
i) The experience of the supreme being is ultimately a gift to be received by the seeker. As a plant does not accomplish its own growth but
grows only in communion with the sun and rain and whatever other
nourishing forces are necessary, so also our spiritual life and its growth is
determined by mystery. We may prepare the ground and water the seed
30
Roger L. Shinn, God, in The Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 12, Grolier Incorporated, USA,
1988, p. 838.
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
with such practices and disciplines as may be appropriate, but only God
gives the increase. The spiritual practices of the faithful will bear the fruit
of greater knowing and seeing only when we allow ourselves to be rooted
deep in the heart of the Mystery.31
j) To lead a contemplative life means to be always attentive to the
Mystery in the midst of the lives of all people and their sufferings and
miseries. We have to be at the service of the poor and the marginalized in
all simplicity and gratitude, becoming more and more conscious of His
presence in the midst of the problems and issues of people. The quest for
associating with the causes of justice and truth is a constitutive aspect of
living the God-concept.
“I believe that all of us, even those who are atheists, seek God or at the
very least not one of us would be unhappy if God appeared and told us
that the universe was actually His creation. Oh, we might put Him on trial
for making it so hard, and get angry at Him, too, but we would be very
happy that He is here. Well, He is” (David Adams Richards).
31
Swami Devanada, Concerning the Heritage of God-Experience, in Inter-religious Dialogue:
Voices From a New Frontier, M. Darrol Bryant & Frank Flin (eds.), Paragon House, New
York, 1989, p. 143.
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1SPCK, Delhi, 1990.
Christdhas, Abraham, Contemporary Religious Movements, Theological Book
Trust, Bangalore, 2005.
Jesuit, Scholars (eds.), Religious Hinduism, St. Paul’s Publications, Allahabad,
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Karakunnel, George, Advaita and Liberation, Asian Trading Cooperation, Bangalore, 2004.
Lipner, J. & Gispert-Sauch, G., The Writings of Brahmabandhab Upadhyay, UTC,
Bangalore, 1991.
Mattam, J., Land of the Trinity: Modern Christian Approaches to Hinduism, TPI,
Bangalore, 1975.
Mookenthottam, Antony, Towards a Theology in the Indian Context, ATC, Bangalore, 1980.
Panikkar, Raimundo, The Trinity and the Religious Experience of Man, Orbis
Books, New York, 1973.
Patrick, G., Religion and Subaltern Agency, Department of Christian Studies, University of Madras, 2003.
Raju, P. T., The Philosophical Traditions of India, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers,
Delhi, 1992.
Saccidananda, Ashram, Saccidanandaya Namah: A Commemorative Volume, Shantivanam, 2002.
Sebastian, Kappen, Jesus and Culture, vol. 1, ISPCK, Delhi, 2002.
Articles
Elder, Joseph W., Hinduism, in Collier’s Encyclopedia, vol. 12, William D. Halsey
& Bernard Johnston (eds.), Macmillan Educational Company, New York, 1990,
pp. 127-133.
Fallon, P., The Gods of Hinduism, in Religious Hinduism, Jesuit Scholars (eds.), St.
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
Paul’s Publications, 1964, pp. 82-94.
Gadille, Jacques, Jules Monchanin His Life and Thought: A Brief Survey, in
Saccidanandaya Namah: A Commemorative Volume, Shantivanam, 2002, pp.
59-63.
Hiltebeitel, Alf, Hinduism, in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea Eliade (ed.),
vol. 6, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1987, pp. 336-360.
Kinsley, David, The Hindu Goddess, in The Encyclopedia of Religion, Mircea
Eliade (ed.), vol. 6, Macmillan Publishing Company, New York, 1987, pp. 5253.
Kundukulam, Vincent, The New Spiritual Movements: An Assessment Study, in
Popular Spiritual Movements: The Truth and Farce, Kundukulam Vincent
(ed.), S.H. League, Alwaye, 2013, pp. 299-315.
Shinn, Roger L., God, in The Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 12, Grolier Incorporated, USA, 1988, pp. 835-838.
Swami, Devanada, Concerning the Heritage of God-Experience, in Inter-religious
Dialogue: Voices From a New Frontier, M. Darrol Bryant & Frank Flin (eds.),
Paragon House, New York, 1989, pp. 141-149.
The Editors, Hinduism, in The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, vol. 8, Helen
Hemingway Publisher, Chicago, 1980, pp. 888-908.
Received: 2 May 2016
Reviewed and Edited: 3 June 2016
Finalized for Publication: 11 June 2016
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Understanding God in the Asian Context
❚Abstract❚
□
Given the diversified religious and cultural contexts, the God-concepts
that have been emerged in India are extremely diverse. The Indus Valley
people (middle of the third millennium BC) seem to have had no systematic belief in God but there are evidences to think that Indians put trust in
millions of gods and goddesses after the arrival of Aryans (1500 BC).
Soon the polytheistic understanding gave way to henotheistic faith and
people worshiped the cosmic gods like Agni, Soma, Varuna, Mitra, Indra
and Asvins.
At the time of Brahmanas, when a significant priestly class developed
among the Aryans there emerged the belief in Prajapati, the immortal Self
who can be reached through the mantras, rituals and sacrifice. Later, during the period of early Upanishads, the speculation and contemplation of
the Ultimate led to envisage God as Brahman, both as Nirguna and Saguna.
At the later period of Upanishads, due to the theistic emphasis, the belief
in Trimuti (Brahman, Vishnu and Shiva) and goddesses got strengthened.
The search of the devotees for a personal God resulted, as we see it in
Gita, in the adoration of Krishna as equal to Brahma.
Coming to the 20th century, the social reformer Sri Narayana Guru,
partly influenced by the modern thought, equated the worship of Atman
with delivering the oppressed classes. In the similar vein, Mahatma
Gandhi defined God as Truth and the essence of manhood as adherence to
Truth. Since the essential nature of God is love a religious person has to
avoid hatred and all means of violence. Thus at the modern times, God
personified people’s longing for a society based on the values of freedom,
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
justice and equality.
At the end of the second millennium, a few missionaries, both Western
and indigenous, took initiative to translate the Christian dogmas in the
Hindu categories and this gave birth to new ways of speaking about God
among Christians. Jules Monchanin called God as the ‘Non-Multiple
Advaitic Trinity’, Henri Le Saux presented the concept of ‘Trinitarian
Saccidananda’, Brahmabandhab Upadhyay qualified the Ultimate as
‘Trinitarian Brahman’, and Raimundo Panikkar proposed the notion of
Kenotic Father. These authors did not totally invent new images of God.
They formulated new languages which, they think, can effectively respond to the aspiration of Indians to have a God who is simultaneously
personal and impersonal, transcendent and immanent, monistic and pluralistic and prophetical and mystical. However, theologians like Sebastian
Kappen, who were attentive to the miseries of the underdeveloped portrayed liberative image of God in the image of ‘Christ the Subaltern’.
In the contemporary era, Hindus seek in God the power to develop
their potentials, solve their problems and lead a harmonious life. They see
God both as a person and as energy. Brahma Kumaris identify God concurrently as the Supreme Soul and Shiva. The International Society for
Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) trains its disciples to get merged in the
Krishna Consciousness. Matha Amritanandamayi Movement promotes the
image of a simple and a loving God who gets manifested in the person of
Amma. The Art of Living Foundation visualizes God as the immanent
power within man capable of removing his anxieties. In brief, postmodern
Gods conform to the need of people to converse with the Ultimate and
cherish values like freedom, peace, tolerance harmony, solidarity, and
material progress.
▶ Key Words: God of Vedas and Gita, Gods of Modern Hinduism, Trinity and Hindu-Christian
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Dialogue, Liberative Images of God in India, Postmodern Hindu Gods, New
Religious Movements in India.
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
❚국문 초록❚
□
20세기와 21세기 인도 맥락에서의
하느님 이해
빈센트 쿤두쿨람 신부
〔인도 교황청립 알웨이대학교 교수〕
다양한 종교 및 문화적 맥락에서, 과거부터 지금까지 인도에 출
현했던 신의 개념은 상당히 다양하다. 인두스 계곡 사람들(기원전 3
천 년 중반)은 신에 대한 체계적인 믿음은 없었던 것으로 보인다. 그
러나 아리안족의 도착(기원전 1500년) 이후, 인도인들이 수백만의 신
들과 여신들을 신봉했던 것으로 생각하게 하는 증거들은 있다. 다신
적 이해는 곧 단일신 신앙에 자리를 내주었고, 사람들은 우주의 신
들을 믿게 되었는데, 예를 들면, 아그니(Agni), 소마(Soma), 바루나
(Varuna), 미트라(Mitra), 인드라(Indra), 아스빈스( Asvins) 등이다.
브라만교 시대에 아리안족들 중에서 주요 사제 계급이 나타났을
때, 프라자파티[Prajapati: 만물의 진화의 원천이 되는 창조력의 화신
(化身)인 베다의 창조신]가 출현했는데, 이는 불멸의 자아로 만트라
(mantra: 기도∙명상 때 외는 주문)와, 의식(儀式)과 희생제사로 도달
할 수 있었다. 후에 초기 우파니샤드 시기에는, 궁극적 존재에 대한
사색과 명상은 신을 브라만으로, 즉 니르구나(Nirguna)와 사구나(Saguna)
로 보도록 이끌었다. 우파니샤드의 후기 시기에는, 유신론적 강조점
으로 인해, 트리무티(Trimuti)와 여신들에 대한 신앙이 강화되었다.
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열심한 신자들이 개인적 신을 찾는 과정에서, 우리가 『기타』[Gita:
인도 2대 서사시의 하나인 『마하바라따』(Mahabharata)의 일부]에서
볼 수 있듯이, 브라마에 필적하는 크리슈나를 경배하는 결과를 가져
왔다.
20세기에 접어들면서, 사회적 개혁자 스리 나라야나 구루(Sri
Narayana Guru)는 현대적 사고의 부분적인 영향으로, 아트만의 숭배
를 억압된 계층을 구출하는 것과 동일시했다. 이와 유사한 맥락에서,
마하트마 간디는 신을 진리로 정의하고, 인간됨의 본질은 진리에 대
한 고수(固守)라고 정의했다. 신의 기본적 본질은 사랑이므로, 종교적
인 사람은 미움과 폭력의 모든 수단을 피해야 한다. 따라서 현대에
이르러, 자유, 정의, 평등의 가치에 기초한 사회에 대한 사람들의 갈
망이 신으로 의인화되었다.
2천년 말, 일부 선교사들(서양과 토착 선교사 모두)이 그리스도교
도그마를 힌두의 범주 체계로 풀이하였고, 이는 그리스도교인들 사
이에서 하느님에 대해 새롭게 이야기하는 방식을 낳았다. 쥴 몽샤냉
(Jules Monchanin: 프랑스 사제, 수사, 은둔자)은 하느님을 ‘비다원적
아드바이틱(Advaitic) 삼위일체’라고 불렀고, 앙리 르 쏘(Henri Le
Saux)는 ‘삼위일체적 의식/존재’(Trinitarian Saccidananda) 개념을 제
시했다. 브라마반답 우파드하이(Brahmabandhab Upadhyay: 인도의 신
비주의자, 신학자)는 궁극적 실재를 ‘삼위일체적 브라만’ (Trinitarian
Brahman)이라고 간주했고, 라이문도 파니카(Raimundo Panikkar)는
‘자기를 비우시는 성부’(Kenotic Father)의 개념을 제안했다. 이들 저
자들이 하느님의 이미지를 완전히 새롭게 만들어 낸 것은 아니고,
새로운 언어를 만들어 냈는데, 그들이 생각하기에 인도 사람들의 신
에 대한 열망에 효과적으로 부응할 수 있도록 하기 위함이었다. 인
도 사람들이 바라는 신은 인간적이면서 동시에 인간적이지 않은, 초
월적이면서 또한 내재적인, 유일신적이면서 다신적인, 그리고 예언적
이면서 신비적인 그런 신이다. 그러나 세바스티안 카펜(Sebastian
Vincent Kundukulam / Understanding God from the Indian […]
Kappen) 같은 신학자들은 하층민의 고통에 주의를 기울이고, 해방시
키는 하느님의 이미지를 ‘하층민적인 그리스도’의 이미지로 그려 냈
다.
현대에 와서, 힌두교도들은 그들의 잠재력을 개발시키고, 그들의
문제를 해결하고, 조화로운 삶을 영위할 수 있는 힘을 신에게서 찾
으려 한다. 그들은 신을 사람으로 그리고 에너지로 본다. 브라마 쿠
마리스(Brahma Kumaris)는 신을 지존의 영 그리고 시바[Shiva: 힌두
교의 3대 신격(神格)의 하나로 파괴를 상징함]와 동일시한다. 크리슈
나의식(意識)국제협회(International Society for Krishna Consciousness:
ISKCON)는 그 제자들을 크리슈나의 의식에 합치하도록 훈련시킨다.
마타 암리타난다마이 운동(Matha Amritanandamayi Movement)은 암마
(Amma: 인도 영어에서는 엄마의 뜻)의 인성에서 나타나는 단순하면
서도 사랑이 넘치는 신의 이미지를 지향한다. 삶의예술재단(The Art
of Living Foundation)은 자신의 두려움을 제거할 수 있는 사람 속에
내재된 힘으로 신을 형상화한다. 요약하자면, 현대 시대 이후의 신들
은 사람들의 필요에 순응하여, 궁극적 존재와 대화하고, 자유, 평화,
관용, 조화, 결속 그리고 물질적 진보와 같은 가치를 소중히 여긴다.
▶ 주제어: 베다(Vedas)와 기타(Gita)의 신, 현대 힌두교의 신들, 삼위일체와 힌두교-그리스
도교 간의 대화, 해방시키는 인도 신의 이미지, 현대 이후의 힌두교 신들, 인도의
새로운 종교 운동.
65