One of my friends in high school, Sam, was a Hindu. Because, at that time, I was still thinking like a fundamentalist, and so I was not interested in learning from and exploring the positives found in other faith traditions, my few talks with him concerning Hinduism was not as productive as it should have been. What I remember most about them is that I was contentious, criticizing the way I believed all Hinduism was polytheistic. Now, I know that was a rather basic misunderstanding of Hinduism (because it does not reflect the diversity of thought within Hinduism concerning the nature of their gods).
Things changed, at first slowly, and then drastically, when I was at Indiana University. For my Religious Studies degree, I was required to take at least one class exploring a non-Western religious tradition. At the time, my impression of Buddhism was worse than Hinduism, and I was not even considering Chinese religions, so I decided to take a class on Hinduism. It was at a time when I was dealing with personal issues, and, like when I was studying Sufism, I often skipped classes. Thankfully, I did read (sometimes not carefully) the assigned texts, and from time to time, showed up class. It was enough to give me a better sense of Hinduism, its legends, and many of its key texts and traditions, including the Vedas, the Upanishads, the Gita, Bhakti movements (especially those surrounding Krishnah), and Vedanta (especially Advaita, as we read Shankara’s Crest Jewel of Discrimination). The professor also had us read a book he wrote describing his time in India, Journey Through The Twelve Forests: An Encounter With Krishnah, as well as the novel Samskara; through them, I was introduced to Hinduism as a living religion and not just the way it would appear by someone who only read religious scriptures and debates coming from the Hindu traditions.
After I became Catholic (during my junior year in college), I began to properly appreciate the way God had been, and continues to work, with all the peoples of the world. This was thanks to the way I embraced and adapted the the patristic notion of the “preparation for the Gospel.” This led me to reconsider Hinduism (and other non-Christian, non-Abrahamic traditions). I was further encouraged to do so thanks to my reading from the works of the Inklings. With their concerns for and promotion of the value of myth, even from non-Christian sources, and what I also learned through my study of the Alexandrian school of thought, I was able to look at the legends and spiritual traditions of the Hindus and see within them the sparks of inspiration and truth that Vatican II declared could be found in non-Christian religions. To be sure, while I took the concept of myth seriously, and started to reconsider my stand on Hinduism, it was only when my friend (and sponsor to Catholicism) started to take an interest in Hinduism, and the talks we had as a result, that had me look deeper into Hinduism and learn of the complexities of its various schools of thought and religious practices. I
My friend and I talked about the connections we saw between Hinduism and Christianity, or Hinduism and Platonism; the more we did so, the more I was encouraged to read more texts coming from the Vedas, from the Upanishads, and from the Vedanta tradition. I saw the diversity found within Vedanta itself, coming to learn that the advaita (or non-dual) version of Shankara (which was more monistic) was not they only school of thought coming fro Vedanta; there are many others, among which is the “dualism” of dvaita coming from Madhva, and the “in-between” stand of Ramanuja (that is, a position which is often seen as being one between that of advaita and dvaita). Bede Griffiths, Raimon Panikkar, and later, comparative theologians like Francis X. Clooney, S.J., as well as the works of missionaries like de Nobili, gave me more insight into what Christians like myself could learn from the Hindu tradition (and then use for theological reflections). I found that the Upanishads gave me better insights into the nature of contemplation, mysticism, and the ways mystical experiences can and should be spoken about. And of course, I learned about the diverse ways Hinduism engaged the notion of the gods; while some were simple polytheists, others were monotheists, henotheists, pantheists, or the like; those who were not polytheists interpreted the other gods in Hindu legends as either being manifestations of the one God, or beings which could be seen as existing within the same category of angels in the Christian tradition (something which I could easily accept since Augustine, and Christian Platonism in general, did a similar thing when talking about the gods in the Platonic tradition).
At the Catholic University of America, the first class I took on comparative theology with Dr. Hintersteiner had a section dealing with Christianity and Hinduism. It reinforced many of the things I had studied up to that point, but it did so by providing me more Christian texts and reflections that allowed me to develop even further my own thoughts concerning the relationship between Christianity and Hinduism. And, while there, I took time to study Sanskrit, mostly to work with Indian Buddhism, but it certainly led me to engage more coming from the Hindu tradition, especially the works of Sri Madhva. While I knew about him before then, I became extremely interested in the way dvaita (“dualistic) Vedanta responded to advaita Vedanta. I was surprised, when I did so, that I found even more connections with Christian monotheism, as the interest in dvaita was in preserving the distinction between “God” and creation while explaining how and why humanity can experience a form of unity with God. Dvaita Vedanta is something rarely discussed in the West; indeed, I remember confusing and surprising Dr. Hintersteiner by talking about it with him.
My engagement with Hinduism went in a new direction when I taught the “Ways of Peace in World Religions,” at the Catholic University of American. This led me to do an in-depth study and engagement with the thought of Gandhi. Later, I was asked, a few days before the semester began, to teach an “Introduction to Hinduism” class because the professor assigned to it, Dr. Hintersteiner, had taken a position at another university and only told the administration he had done so right before the beginning of the semester. I had to teach it without having time to prepare for it or giving me a chance to choose my own books for the class. That caused some problems, as the books often were not the ones I would have chosen for undergraduates, and I had to supply copies of religious texts to help my students get a better sense of what is in them. Nonetheless, as with all teaching, I found my thought and understanding refined even more by the end of the semester.
My best engagements with Hinduism, therefore, came as a result of my becoming Catholic, and not just by becoming Catholic, but by learning how Catholicism could and did find many ways to learn from the insights and values found in non-Christian faith traditions. I eventually saw it was vital to explore the insights I could gain from studying and exploring one of the oldest (and so longest lasting) religious traditions in the world. I was able to see how Hinduism is not just one thing, but many things, and the kind of faith Hindus have depended in part on the time and place they live. I was able to see the development in Hinduism as a way to see how religion can positively develop, and in doing so, reinforced my understanding of how development can and has taken placed in the Christian tradition.
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N.B.: While I read comments to moderate them, I rarely respond to them. If I don’t respond to your comment directly, don’t assume I am unthankful for it. I appreciate it. But I want readers to feel free to ask questions, and hopefully, dialogue with each other. I have shared what I wanted to say, though some responses will get a brief reply by me, or, if I find it interesting and something I can engage fully, as the foundation for another post. I have had many posts inspired or improved upon thanks to my readers.
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