Edited by Chatgpt
Whenever I read any comparison between religions, particularly between Hinduism and Christianity, I thank God that I am not trapped between the two. Of course, as a Hindu, I also acquired religious identity (thanks to Orientalists, Indologists, British rule, and the present Indian Constitution). So, I cannot disown my identity as a Hindu, even with this so-called religious identity. Thankfully, our Constitution never defines this identity with any religious affiliation but based on personal law. I am not a Constitutional expert and have never read it, so I cannot further elaborate on it. However, the scholarly and humble perspective of Flood is worth noting for the use of this word ‘religion’ for Hinduism:
“While some scholars have argued against using the category religion in the Indian context, on the grounds of its ‘local’ origin in the history of the West, I take it to be a meaningful category that demarcates a set of ideas, practices, and hopes and find that the English word is no more problematic than is culture or even society. But we do need to acknowledge these difficulties and that our claims as scholars are always provisional and subject to correction, and our categories must often be used without consensual definition.” (italics original)— Gavin Flood, Introduction to the Series, General Editor of The Oxford History of Hinduism series, p. xvix in Patrick Olivelle and Donald R. Davis, Jr. Eds. Hindu Law: A New History of Dharmasastra, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2018 [In the book, no page number is given for this Introduction. But as it comes next to xviii, I assigned the page as xvix. –db]
Anyway, from the beginning, I resisted every attempt by others to make me a ‘Christian’ in the sense of belonging to the Christian religion. At the same time, I never try to make my bhakti (faith) a private entity separated from the invisible mandali (body) of the Lord. Thankfully, there are so many bhaktas everywhere in the world who, while remaining members of the body of the Lord, remain outside the denominational Christian churches.
So when I read Max Muller’s comparison between Hinduism and Christianity, as usual, I was initially irritated. But after closing the reading, as I spent a few minutes in reflection and prayer, then, as inspiration came, I wrote this song [BT Song 944] within a few minutes as my prayer.
“He perceives religions as being in various stages of development, with Hinduism at the lowest end of the evolutionary ladder and Christianity at the top. Stated differently, he regards Christianity as the repository of universal truth; Hinduism contains some truth but Christianity alone possesses the universal truth in fuller measure.” — Sharada Sugirtharajah, Imagining Hinduism: A Postcolonial Perspective, Special Indian Edition, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, (2003) 2017, p. 64
The concept of a shishya approaching a guru with dharba grass to learn from his the secret knowledge is part of our tradition. So when I found my guru in the Lord, similarly, I approached him to learn from him. But unlike an Indian shishya, who needs to give the guru dakshnina at the end of his learning, I need not give anything to him as an honorarium.
As a digression, a bhakta has to keep a balance between his local or natural (birth) identity, including religious one. At the same time, she cannot deny the fact that she is part of a universal phenomenon that could be defined by any term such as ‘body of the Lord’, ‘Universal Mandali’, ‘invisible mandali’, etc. However, she cannot allow one to cannibalize the other and can uphold one as her destiny or identity in the Lord without paying a cost for that. If exclusive localizing is wrong, then ultimate universalizing cannot be right, like Nationalism versus Internationalism.
Revised 3-6-2024 Gurukulam.
Edited by Chatgpt
Whenever I read any comparison between religions, particularly between Hinduism and Christianity, I thank God that I am not trapped between the two. Of course, as a Hindu, I also acquired religious identity (thanks to Orientalists, Indologists, British rule, and the present Indian Constitution). So, I cannot disown my identity as a Hindu, even with this so-called religious identity. Thankfully, our Constitution never defines this identity with any religious affiliation but based on personal law. I am not a Constitutional expert and have never read it, so I cannot further elaborate on it. However, the scholarly and humble perspective of Flood is worth noting for the use of this word ‘religion’ for Hinduism:
“While some scholars have argued against using the category religion in the Indian context, on the grounds of its ‘local’ origin in the history of the West, I take it to be a meaningful category that demarcates a set of ideas, practices, and hopes and find that the English word is no more problematic than is culture or even society. But we do need to acknowledge these difficulties and that our claims as scholars are always provisional and subject to correction, and our categories must often be used without consensual definition.” (italics original)— Gavin Flood, Introduction to the Series, General Editor of The Oxford History of Hinduism series, p. xvix in Patrick Olivelle and Donald R. Davis, Jr. Eds. Hindu Law: A New History of Dharmasastra, New Delhi, Oxford University Press, 2018 [In the book, no page number is given for this Introduction. But as it comes next to xviii, I assigned the page as xvix. –db]
Anyway, from the beginning, I resisted every attempt by others to make me a ‘Christian’ in the sense of belonging to the Christian religion. At the same time, I never try to make my bhakti (faith) a private entity separated from the invisible mandali (body) of the Lord. Thankfully, there are so many bhaktas everywhere in the world who, while remaining members of the body of the Lord, remain outside the denominational Christian churches.
So when I read Max Muller’s comparison between Hinduism and Christianity, as usual, I was initially irritated. But after closing the reading, as I spent a few minutes in reflection and prayer, then, as inspiration came, I wrote this song [BT Song 944] within a few minutes as my prayer.
“He perceives religions as being in various stages of development, with Hinduism at the lowest end of the evolutionary ladder and Christianity at the top. Stated differently, he regards Christianity as the repository of universal truth; Hinduism contains some truth but Christianity alone possesses the universal truth in fuller measure.” — Sharada Sugirtharajah, Imagining Hinduism: A Postcolonial Perspective, Special Indian Edition, Delhi, Motilal Banarsidass Publishers, (2003) 2017, p. 64
The concept of a shishya approaching a guru with dharba grass to learn from his the secret knowledge is part of our tradition. So when I found my guru in the Lord, similarly, I approached him to learn from him. But unlike an Indian shishya, who needs to give the guru dakshnina at the end of his learning, I need not give anything to him as an honorarium.
As a digression, a bhakta has to keep a balance between his local or natural (birth) identity, including religious one. At the same time, she cannot deny the fact that she is part of a universal phenomenon that could be defined by any term such as ‘body of the Lord’, ‘Universal Mandali’, ‘invisible mandali’, etc. However, she cannot allow one to cannibalize the other and can uphold one as her destiny or identity in the Lord without paying a cost for that. If exclusive localizing is wrong, then ultimate universalizing cannot be right, like Nationalism versus Internationalism.
Revised 3-6-2024 Gurukulam.
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