The Pilgrim

The Quarterly Bulletin of the Christian Society for the Study of Hinduism

Editor: Rev. A.J. Appasamy, M. A, (Harvard) Ph.D. (Oxon.)

MANORAMA, PALAMCOTTAH

The Christian Society for the Study of Hinduism

Patrons: The Metropolitan of India, Calcutta Bishop BRENTON T. BADLEY, Delhi.

President: Bishop CLEMENT D. ROCKEY, Lucknow.

Vice-Presidents: The BISHOP of LUCKNOW, Allahabad Dr. A.J. APPASAMY, M.A., Ph.D., Palamcottah. Rev. O.L. DAVIS, M.A., Jabalpur. Rev. G.H.C. ANGUS, M.A., Serampore College.

Secretary: Mrs. W. STANLEY GOULD, Ewing Christian College, Allahabad

Treasurer: Dr. C.H. HAZLETT, Holland Hall, Allahabad

Convener, Benares Institute: Rev. R.C. DAS, M.A., Benares United City Mission, Ramkatora, Benares Cantonment.

Committee: Rev. H.C. BALASUNDARAM, Allahabad Rev. M.P. DAVID, D.D., Raipur Prof. V.E. DUTT, M.A., Serampore Mr. PAUL DAS, B.A., Banaras

Editorial Board:

Bishop Clement D. Rockey, Lucknow Mrs. W.S. Gould, Ewing Christian College, Allahabad Rev. G.H.C. Angus, Principal, Serampore College Rev. R.C. Das, Benares United City Mission Dr. A.J. Appasamy, Palamcottah (Editor)

The objects of the Christian Society for the Study of Hinduism are,

1. To create and maintain adequate interest in the study of Hinduism by Christians
2. To carry on the study in a sympathetic, constructive and critical way for the purpose of effective evangelism and
3. To achieve the above objects in co-operation with Church and Mission bodies.

The activities of the Society are,

1. To conduct in Benares (and if possible in a South Indian centre) an Institute of Hinduism stressing its popular aspects
2. Publish The Pilgrim, a quarterly bulletin, bearing on Hinduism, its relation To Christianity and work among Hindus and
3. To encourage the organisation of a permanent School of Hinduism.

The minimum annual subscription is Rs. 2/-. Membership fees and gifts may be sent to the treasurer, Dr. C.H. Hazlett, Holland Hall, Allahabad. (It is not permissible to send currency notes in a letter unless the letter is insured).

Every member will receive The Pilgrim free.

India’s Road to Christ

BY THE EDITOR

The fundamental truths of the Christian religion are the same in all ages and for all countries, but they are understood and practised by different people in different ways. A saint, a poet, a scientist, a timber merchant and a fruit-dealer come into a garden with a large variety of well-grown trees bearing abundant flower and fruit. The trees are the same and yet these men look at them from entirely different points of view. The saint passes on from their beauty to meditate on the Creator who brought them into being. The poet is deeply moved by their loveliness and expresses his feelings in words rich with image and melody. The scientist considers the different families to which the trees belong and observes the various stages of their growth. The timber merchant thinks of how the wood, when cut down and seasoned, will be useful for doors and windows. The fruit-dealer is interested in the fruits which the trees bear and of the possibility of making them available for human use. It is very interesting to note that while the trees are the same the way people think of them is very different. This is a poor illustration of how the Christian Gospel, essentially one in the whole world and for all time, is apt to be viewed in various ways in different lands.

Diversity of Racial Gifts

The natural aptitudes of men are different. It is quite likely that the people of India with their special heritage will see the Christian Gospel in their own characteristic way. I may illustrate this with Sadhu Sunder Singh in whom the innate spiritual capacities of India blossomed and bore fruit under the influence of Christ. He had many, outstanding qualities. The spirit of peace dwelt in him there was always an atmosphere of calm and quiet about him; no furrows; so to speak, were seen in his soul; he was not troubled by worries or anxieties. Along with this spirit of peace there was a desire for communion with Christ in solitude, for example, in the snow clad regions of the Himalayas. The urge for getting away frequently from the haunts of men was quite strong in him. He had the spirit of detachment. Money meant nothing to him; he was not attracted either by the adventure of making it or by the joy of spending it. When during the last years of his life devotional books brought him money in large sums he did not use it for himself but put it in a bank and provided in his will that it should be used entirely for charitable purposes. Many poor boys are now receiving scholarships and deriving benefit from the selflessness of the Sadhu. He had an intense desire to suffer like his Master, Jesus Christ whom he loved dearly. Even as a boy of sixteen he gave up his family and worldly prospects when he became a Christian. A few months after his baptism he took the Sanyasi’s robe and endured the numerous hardships which the mendicant life involved. When he grew older he went into countries like Tibet and Nepal where the preaching of the Gospel was forbidden and boldly proclaimed the name of his Lord at the constant risk of imprisonment and even martyrdom. On several occasions he was actually thrown into prison and persecuted. But this made him even more eager to enter into lands which were closed to the Gospel. He had a mystical mind; he saw visions of Christ and experienced ecstasies. Communion with Christ filled him with wonderful joy; he described himself as living in heaven on earth. He always believed that religion was a matter of the heart rather than of the head He despised learning and argument but felt sure that spiritual insight was the direct gift of God. These were some of the qualities of mind and soul which were seen in Sadhu Sunder Singh.

We may compare and contrast with him another well known figure in the Christian Church, Dr. John R., Mott, who represents in many, ways the extreme opposite of this spirit and experience. Dr. John R. Mott led a life of great activity. He constantly travelled through all the countries of the world, and spoke to huge audiences. Every hour of his day was carefully mapped out and packed with various engagements. In his younger days he had as many as five or six secretaries, whom he daily kept busy with his world-wide correspondence. While he faithfully observed the Morning Watch and often wrote and preached about it, the greater part of his day was spent among large gatherings of people. He had a keen sense of the value of money as an aid to spiritual work; he made large plans, raised vast sums and spent them lavishly. He was not interested in money for his personal use but for the sake of the work in which he was engaged. He kept in close touch with many rich people and knew how best to touch their pockets. He had a thorough knowledge of men; he selected his leaders with great ability and entrusted them with reasonable tasks. The shrewdness with which he chose his men and set on foot his enterprises would have made him a millionaire if he had cared to enter business, but he devoted his marked practical ability to the spread of the Kingdom of God on this earth. There was nothing of the ascetic in him; he lived a normal human life; he wore the clothes of an ordinary gentleman and drew a monthly salary; he had a family and a house. I had once occasion to see him in his home and was much impressed by its simplicity; the table at which we sat down to a meal was unusually plain, in its appointments. He was not a mystic; he believed in exercising his reason fully; he kept his feelings well under control.

I am not now saying that the qualities shown by Sadhu Sunder Singh are necessarily better or higher than those seen in Dr. John R. Mott or vice versa. All I am saying is that the qualities displayed by Sadhu Sunder Singh are more likely to flourish on Indian soil than in any other country and that the qualities of Dr. John R. Mott are more likely to be seen in America than anywhere else. This does not mean that there are not people in the West who have the spirit of peace, exhibit a wonderful degree of detachment, are eager to suffer for their Lord or have mystical experiences. We need only to turn to the many mystics like St. Theresa, St. John of the Cross and others to see men and women richly endowed with these traits of character. Nor does this mean that in India the qualities shown by Dr. John R. Mott are quite absent. Sankara, the great philosopher, had a genius for organisation. In the eighth century, when travelling was most difficult, he covered the whole of India with his preaching tours and planted Mutts in the four corners of the country to carry on his teaching. I heard recently of a Hindu Sanyasi who devoted thirty years of his life to raising money and renovating the temple at Tiruchendore which is in the extreme south of India. What I mean, however, is that, broadly speaking, these two types may be regarded as characteristic of India and of America.

It is natural that when Sadhu Sunder Singh reads the Gospels the things in them which appeal to him will be different from those which interest Dr. John R. Mott. What helps Sadhu Sunder Singh may not impress Dr. John R. Mott. And what strikes Dr. John R. Mott may be of no use to Sadhu Sunder Singh. In other words, India’s road to Christ will be different from America’s road to Christ. We cannot expect the same understanding of the Christian Gospel from these two different types. Once a friend said, ‘Two and two make four, whether in the East or in the West. We may illustrate this in England by using apples and in India we may use perhaps mangoes. But the fundamental proposition is the same. In the same way the Christian Gospel is the same whether in the East or in the West’. This is not as simple as an elementary mathematical proposition, it is rich and varied in its nature and, therefore, calls forth different responses from different people.

We need to recognise that these differences among the natural characteristics of people are inevitable. The climates of different parts of the world vary a great deal. Men who live in cold climates develop into active and vigorous people whereas those living in warm climates grow to be dreamy and emotional. The histories of different nations are very different. Some have lived under subjection for centuries and others have been free and independent. Different types of character are developed because of this variety in the history of different nations. We need also to recognise that the differences in the innate qualities of people are valuable. They make the world such an interesting place to live in, as all travellers know; even those who do not travel enjoy in diverse ways the infinite variety in men’s natures. When people with such markedly different gifts follow. Christ there will be a wealth: of Christian: experience. “Christ is full of infinite riches; these can only be brought out by a vast multitude of men, some understanding this phase and others that.”

Steps on India’s Road to Christ

1. A Life rooted in Christ. As we live, we shall know. Knowledge of the deeper things of life is only possible to a man who lives humbly and earnestly, following to the best of his ability the light of Christ which shines within. Even children have many rudimentary beliefs which are quite strong. Illiterate or little educated Christians have often a clear grasp of fundamental spiritual truths. All of us, whether young or old, whether illiterate or highly educated, have definite beliefs about God and about our duty to Him. It is essential that we should live in complete obedience to our highest and noblest convictions, which are the voice of the Christ within. As we live, obeying truly and sincerely this voice, we shall come to understand more and more clearly the meaning: of life and the destiny of man. Theology is born out of experience; it is not woven from books or sermons; it is our understanding of God as we abide in Him and conform to His will, thinking the thoughts which please Him and doing the deeds which He commands. In a sense, Theology is very much greater than what anyone man experiences. The verities of the Christian religion are true whether I have found them true or not. God is love even if in my personal experience I have not realised it, He does not cease to be love. This shows the infinite riches of His Being. God is true, just, good and beautiful whether I myself have grasped these facts or not. One man’s experience of God can never give an adequate idea of His goodness and love. Not even the religious experience of the whole human race can give a perfect notion of the goodness and truth of God’s being. He is far beyond the limits of our entire knowledge and experience. While recognising all this, we must be prepared to say that it is as we live the Christian life that we shall understand more and more clearly something of the goodness and truth and beauty of God as He is revealed in Jesus Christ. It is in this sense that Theology arises from experience. Obedience to the will of God is the first and essential step in all Christian thinking. No one can attempt to understand or explain Christian Theology unless He first lives close to Christ, following day after day the guidance which He gives from within the depths of the soul. Theology thus issues from life.

2. A fresh study of the Bible: Christ is the fountainhead of all our Theology. Our first task in India is to explore the Mind of Christ. The average Christian is inclined to believe that the whole Bible is of the same value throughout, whether it is Genesis or Chronicles or the Gospels or the book of Revelation. The excellent work done by the historical and literary critics of the Bible who assign different values to the different parts of the Bible has not yet reached the mass of our Christian people in India. Even in our Theological Colleges we tend to lose sight of the real perspective. In a Theological College six men may be engaged in teaching the New Testament, the Old Testament, Christian Doctrine, Church History, Philosophy of Religion and Pastoralia. Each teacher claims that his subject is a vital part of Christian Theology. The Church historian or the systematic theologian will not readily agree to take a subordinate place. If the time: which is allowed to each subject is considered, the Gospels are not given very much more attention than the Old Testament or Church History, I am not denying the importance of the many subjects which are taught in a Theological College today. As Christians who live in the twentieth century we need certainly to consider the permanent gains which are clear in the previous ages of Christian thought and life. In our anxiety to know what other people have thought and felt about the Christian religion in the past we must not, however, omit to pay sufficient attention to the core of the Christian religion. We must study again and again the Gospels and there find the Mind of Our Lord which ought to be the norm for all our Christian thinking: This is not to say that the Old Testament or Church History or Christian Doctrine has no value; what I mean is that they are of secondary importance. The Gospels, setting forth the life and teaching of our Lord, are of supreme value for the Christian thinker. In them, we find life and truth. We must go back continually to Christ; He is the source from which rivers of life flow. All other studies, ordinarily included under Christian; Theology, do not and cannot possess the same value for us.

3. A knowledge of Hindu Religion and Philosophy. I have spoken of the way in which the special gifts of people colour their understanding of the Gospel. These gifts are found most clearly embodied in literature. When we read the religious books of India we see what the real gifts of the people are; in ordinary life we do not see them so well. The men and women with whom we come in contact every day have no doubt some gifts, but very often these are not of a fine quality or have not been developed to the fullest extent. The religious literature of India contains the noblest thoughts of the people through all the centuries and reveals their natural gifts; it has also done much in past ages to bring out and educate their innate spiritual talents. The Christian theologian in India would do well to make himself quite familiar with the trends of thought and experience in this land. Mr. Chakkarai once said, ‘We want to teach in our Theological Colleges in India only two subjects - the Bible and, the devotional literature of India’. Like all Mr. Chakkarai’s sayings this is meant to startle people and there is gross exaggeration here, but it does point to the need for a careful study of the culture of India. It may be thought that it is not necessary to dwell on this point at great length. My knowledge, however, of the reading which missionaries and Christian workers carry on points to a serious defect in this matter. I had once occasion to look into the various books which a Christian Evangelist was studying. He had about twenty books on hand for immediate use. They were written by well-known Christian thinkers and writers in Europe and America and dealt with a large range of subjects - the impact of Science on Religion, the spread of secularism, the social meaning of the Gospel, the challenge of Communism and other such subjects. But there was not a single book on the Religion or Philosophy of India. This Christian Evangelist had an alert mind; he had a remarkably broad out look; he wanted to face the many problems with which Christians in different lands were dealing; he made an effort to become familiar with the most up-to-date thinking in the Christian Church. But that he was working in India and that he should keep in close touch with contemporary thoughts and events in this country seems to have escaped his attention. At least that was the impression produced on me by the books which he had with him. I may say, without exaggeration that most missionaries and Christians workers in India make no special effort to study Hinduism. In their younger days they may have taken courses on Hinduism as a part of their theological work and read some of the standard books on the subject. But as they grow older they cease to take a vital interest in the throbbing spiritual life of India. If they are studiously minded (and some few are) they read the latest theological books published in the West but make no real attempt to become familiar with the problems of the Indian thinker. India’s spiritual heritage is like a vast ocean. There is a great deal to learn and much expenditure of time and energy is needed. It is curious how many, of our Christian workers, whether are India is to be genuine, to make that contact understanding of the difficulties with which the Hindu seeker after truth keeps grappling. We must start from where he is and find out his real trouble. Our exposition of the Christian Gospel must be in answer to his deepest needs. If our contribution to religious thought in India is to be abiding we must identify ourselves with the thinkers of India and understand what their genuine quest is. The conclusions to which we come may often be quite different from those at which they arrive, but at least we start from the same point and travel with them part of the way.

4. An Indian Interpretation of Christ. With our life deeply rooted in Christ, we must be prepared to do some independent thinking. In the Theological Colleges in India at present the text-books which are used are those which have been written in Europe or in America. The teachers study the standard books on the subject in English and hand out the substance in their own words to the students. There is no creative or original thinking. Judged by the nature of the teaching which is given in many of our Theological Colleges they might just as well be in London or in New York. We are in contact with a rich and bewildering variety of beliefs in India. The literature of the land is enormous and has a great deal that is of value, while there is also much of rubbish in it. Some of the people with whom we move are subtle and alert, often with their own peculiar doubts and perplexities. And yet we fail to do our Christian thinking in intimate contact with the important thoughts and events in the midst of which we live.

It is often said that an Indian interpretation of Christianity means the use of Hindu terms in our theological books. I shall not deal here with this criticism at any length for the simple reason that theological books in Sanskrit and in the vernaculars cannot be written without such terms. A quite new vocabulary cannot be coined; even if it is possible to do this, it will not convey much meaning. All real thinking in India, when it is expressed in the vernaculars of the country, would use the terms already current here.

What is meant by an Indian interpretation of Christianity is something far more reaching than, the use of Indian terms. During the hot weather of 1943 Bishop Sandegren of the Swedish Lutheran Church gave an address in the Kodaikanal Union Church on ‘Can God Suffer?’¹ Bishop Sandegren is a learned Christian theologian and an excellent Tamil scholar. He realised that he was speaking in India and began by considering the Hindu conception of Satchitananda. In this way he established a point of contact with the religious thought of India. He said that this name, for God had a measure of truth in it but that it should be interpreted in the light of Christ’s teaching and life. When thus interpreted it would be necessary to believe that while God is Satchitananda, He is far more; He is the God who loves and suffers.

What Bishop Sandegren said on that occasion has given me much food for thought. Many problems have arisen in my mind. What does the Hindu mean by saying that God is Sat (existence)? Is there any measure of truth in this doctrine? Does Jesus teach that God is Sat? If so in what sense? In this respect did the teaching of Jesus spring from the Old Testament? Is it necessary to recognise Sat as the first attribute of God? Is the Hindu right or wrong in giving Sat the place of primacy in his thought about God? Are there any evil consequences in the Hindu conception of God as Sat? What does the Indian thinker mean when he speaks of God as Chit (knowledge)? Is God Chit in the teaching of Jesus? In what sense is He Chit? Does Jesus here confirm the teaching of the Old Testament or does He reject it and go beyond it? The idea that God is the God of Ananda (joy) is very common in India, both in its religious literature and in the actual experience of the people. What is meant by saying that God is Ananda? Is there any value in this doctrine? Does Jesus think of God as the God of joy? In what sense does he consider God as the God of joy? His life and teaching drew much nourishment from the Old Testament; is the idea of the joy of God set forth in the Old Testament? If so, in what sense? Has the idea of God as joy been held by Christian thinkers in the past? Is it being held today? We know that the devotee experiences great joy in serving and worshipping God; does this necessarily point to Ananda as an attribute of God? Is it wise to emphasise the Ananda aspect of God? What are the many dangers connected with this doctrine as it has been held in India? If the Satchitananda character of God is emphasised by the Indian Church will this be a help or hindrance to the thought and experience to the Church universal? Can this emphasis be regarded as a possible contribution which the Indian Church can make to the fullness of the Gospel? Are these attributes of God - Sat, Chit and Ananda - the only or even the most important attributes of God? It will be found that the holiness and the love of God dominate the thinking of Jesus and do not at all come out in the Satchitananda idea of God. This love again goes to the farthest limit in suffering and sacrifice and Calvary is the heart of the Gospel. What is the relation of the idea of God of joy to the idea of a Suffering God? Is it possible to believe in a God who is Ananda and yet suffers?

By an Indian Theology I mean a Theology which faces frankly and courageously and fully problems of this nature. I may say here that I am at present engaged in writing a book in which I attempt to deal with such problems. These are only a few of the numerous subjects which Indian Theology would have to take up. There are a great many other subjects of this character which demand the attention of the Christian thinker in India. It may be that Indian Theology may not have any startling conclusions to offer, but certainly it will lay new emphases, use fresh and striking illustrations and call forth stimulating answers to the many problems which the thinker in India has raised, perhaps even more clearly and vividly than religious men in other lands.

The Difficulties in the Way

1. It is often said that Hinduism is not the only religion of India and that an Indian interpretation of Christianity cannot mean only a Hindu interpretation. There are millions of Christian converts from Islam; there are also converts to Christianity from the other religions of India such as Buddhism, Zoroastrianism and Jainism. An Indian interpretation of Christianity must help all these people. I am not one of those who think that it is possible to have an Indian Theology which will help at once all people in India, whether they are from the Hindu or the Muslim or the Parsee background. The religions of India differ on many vital points. They have their own specific problems: and their characteristic ideals. It would not be possible to have a comprehensive Indian Theology which will meet such a wide diversity of needs. Are we justified in looking forward to only one school of Indian Theology in a land where such a variety of thought and belief prevails? We speak, for the sake of convenience, of Anglican Theology and refer to that exposition of the Christian Gospel which may be regarded as characteristic of the Church of England. And yet within the bosom of this well-organised and closely-knits Church several schools of Theology flourish. The Anglo-Catholics emphasise the value of tradition and ritual and point out the social and economic implications of the Christian religion, The Evangelicals are concerned with the personal salvation of the individual believer. The Modern Churchmen are busy restating Christian truth in, the light of Science. The Fundamentalists believe in the literal inspiration of the Bible and will have nothing to do with the results of modern criticism. As Christian Theology develops in India we may expect many schools of thought to appear. Some of them will, face the problems connected with Hinduism, others with Islam and yet other with Zoroastrianism Jainism. There may be further differences caused by different points of view connected with Science or the application of Christianity to political and economic problems. In a land where such diverse traditions and ideals prevail differences in theological doctrine are sure to emerge. We cannot expect one uniform system of Theology which will meet all the needs and satisfy all the aspirations of India.

2. It is often pointed out that a great many of our Christians in India have no knowledge whatever of the heritage of their country. The problems which trouble Hindu devotees leave them cold; they are not interested in the many speculations which the Hindu mind spins; the task of relating the Christian Gospel to the indigenous thought of the country has no attraction for them. They are quite content with the Christian doctrine on which they have been brought up and have no wish whatever to experiment with Indian forms of thought. This is because Indian Christians have become denationalised. We have no knowledge of the culture of our country and are aliens in our own land. We must certainly see to it that this criticism is no longer true of us. Our witness to Christ will be far more effective if our links with the heritage of India are close. Our loyalty to Christ must not waver in any direction. He demands from us complete loyalty and full surrender. But He has come to fulfil and not to destroy. Whatever is noble, true and pure in the life of India must be dedicated to Him. If most of our Christian people do not know anything about the heritage of India, it is time we teach them. When I was talking along these lines a missionary friend said ‘This is not our job’. Is it our job to teach our Christian youth Physics, Chemistry, Mathematics and Geography? Why do we spend such large sums of money and run schools and colleges all over the country? Why do we set apart some of our ablest men to work in educational institutions in which the greater part of their time and energy are consumed in teaching secular subjects? It is because we want an educated Church. An illiterate Church cannot possibly undertake the stupendous task ahead of us. If it is worthwhile spending time and money to teach Science and Geography, certainly it is worthwhile making our Christian youth familiar with the heritage of India and awakening their interest in the solid achievements of our ancestors. The best books in the literature of the country must be taught. The names of the great men of India - Buddha, Ashoka, Akbar and Sivaji - must become familiar to every Indian Christian. The natural beauties of the country must be made widely known. A knowledge of the treasure of art and music must be brought within the reach of our Christians in India. It would be foolish to bring up the Christian community in India as an alien community without any share in the highest and noblest achievements of the land. The task will need infinite patience, clear judgement and wise discrimination and will call for a great deal of energy. But it certainly must be undertaken and carried out in the most effective possible way whatever may be the amount of money involved or the many and bewildering difficulties encountered.

3. A friend said, ‘The growth of Indian Theology cannot be stimulated in an artificial way. No theologian sets out to write a great book on Theology. He lives the Christian life and explains what he understands by the religion which he follows; if he is a genius the book which he writes becomes a classical work, and perhaps he founds a school of Theology. Other people who are interested in his point of view take up his ideas, develop them further, apply them in new ways and to some extent remedy the defects in his thinking.’ Some of the great books of Theology may have been written in this way. Others have been produced as a result of deliberate effort. In India, for instance, Ramanuja felt the need for a great theological work to refute Sankara’s exposition of the Advaita. Sankara was a genius. His exposition of the Advaita in the eighth century attained great importance in the religious world of India, His keen mind, his spiritual insight, his knowledge of the Upanishads, his familiarity with Sanskrit Grammar, his command of the Sanskrit language - all these gave his work a place of great importance. Ramanuja who lived in the twelfth century could not accept the Advaita point of view. He was a Bhakta and believed in serving a personal God. But he realised that this doctrine of the worship of a personal God had no authoritative exposition. And he set himself to produce a theological work which will give the doctrine of Bhakti a standing in the intellectual world. After years of study and writing, he produced Sri Bashya, an exposition of the doctrine of Bhakti which has taken its place among the classical religious books of India. Theology is the intellectual exposition of the deepest experiences of religion; many subtle points are raised; often baffling perplexities are solved; all this can only be done by deliberate and profound effort.

4. A Conference was convened in 1942 in Poona to consider the ways and means by which the growth of an Indian Theology could be stimulated. Men travelled long distances to attend the Conference and thereby showed a real concern in this matter. One remark which was often made at that Conference was that the pace of Indian Theology should not be forced. Nothing should be written or published now on Indian Theology. The time was not yet ripe: thinkers were not yet available; the people were not yet ready. The Syrian Church in India is very ancient. For about four centuries the Roman Catholics have been at work in India. For over one hundred and fifty years the Protestant missionaries have been establishing Churches in this country. Leaving aside the ancient Syrian Church and even the Roman Catholic missions, are not one hundred and fifty years a long enough period for seeds of Indian Theology to germinate? It is time we make a beginning. The Indian Church has produced no theologian so far. But it is certainly our task to awaken in the minds of our people an earnest desire to think out for themselves the meaning of the Christian religion against the spiritual background of India. For over twenty-five years a group of keen and thoughtful Christians have been at work in Madras thinking and studying and have produced such books as Rethinking Christianity in India and Ashramas Past and Present. We may or may not agree with their conclusions, but it is futile to say that no thinking has been done along these lines. In the Roman Catholic Church The Light of the East has been published for over twenty years and has been steadily moulding the thoughts of a few people. I came across a Jesuit Father in Bombay who had been deeply influenced by the prolonged and earnest thinking which lay behind the Light of the East. There may be many others of this type. It is surely necessary to wake up and to encourage our most thoughtful men in the Indian Church to understand for themselves the inner meaning of the Christian Gospel. We need not absorb wholesale the great theological works which are written in the West, excellent though they may be. We should certainly study them with the greatest possible care, but we must think for ourselves and let our national gifts play in the growth of a Theology suited to the spiritual genius of India with all its fine and noble capacities.

Tukaram the Seventeenth Century Marathi Poet

BY REV. J.F. EDWARDS, EDITOR, Dayanodaya

The importance of Tukaram (A. D. 1608-1649) to the 23 million of Marathi-speaking people of Western India may be measured by two facts. Not only is Tukaram of Dehu, a few miles out of Poona, the poet of the masses of the people. An equally important fact is that the Prarthana Samaj of Bombay, Poona and other centres, makes Tukaram’s poems a large part of the hymn-book of the Theistic Church which believes in One Living God. For those who are not acquainted with Tukaram’s devotional poetry, let us illustrate his rich quality by giving Dr. Macnicol’s English translation of one of the Prarthana Samaj’s favourite hymns. Of course, they sing it in Marathi, but here it is in Dr. Macnicol’s beautiful English: -

Holding my hand thou leadest me,
  My comrade everywhere,
As I go on and lean on thee,
  My burden thou dost bear.

If, I go, in my distress
  I frantic words should say,
Thou settest right my foolishness
  And takest my shame away.

Thus, thou to me new hope dost send,
  A new world bringest in;
Now know I every man a friend
  And all I meet my kin.

So like a happy child I play
  In thy dear world, O God,
And everywhere - I, Tuka, say
  Thy bliss is spread abroad.

Tukaram’s Call to Become a Poet

Tukaram’s life and work as a poet began in a dream in which Namder appeared to Tukaram. ‘Rise up, Tuka,’ said a voice to him, ‘and listen to me. Behold Nama, my worshipper, who vowed he would write me a hundred crores of abhangs. Before he finished his task he passed away. Now you finish it for him.’ When Tukaram awoke he felt mightily rejoiced, and set to work at once, making himself books of rough paper, and learning the Balbhodh letters. Nine hundred verses he wrote, and they were heard with delight. Then he began to compose abhangs and fast they flowed: ‘As when the rain pours down, unnumbered shoots of grass spring up, even so verses poured forth’ from Tukaram.

A small band of followers now began to write down his poems, which task was entrusted to Santaji Jaganade the oilman. Some of these poems are!now: published from Santaji’s manuscripts by Mr. V.L. Bhawe in his Tukaramace Assal (original) Gatha, 1920-1. There was also a Brahman member of the band named Gangaji Mavala; day and night they went to the temple to sing and worship. At that time Tukaram dreamed that he met a saint while going to bathe. Laying his hand on Tukaram’s head the saint imparted to him the mantra: ‘Ram-Krishna Hari’, adding that his own name was Babaji and his predecessors Raghar Chaitanya and Keshav Chaitanya. Tukaram then begged that he would go home with him and sanctify his house; he would give him food, and he should cook it himself, ‘Give me then,’ said the saint in the dream, ‘a quarter seer of ghee and I will come with you.’ Thus, far went Tukaram’s dream, and he awoke.

The Poet’s Environment in the 17th Century

But poets are not made by dreams only. Other influences go to make a poet, and one factor is supplied, by the time in which he lives. In all lands and ages the poet has owed much to his environment, for he is so susceptible to its influences. In this matter Tukaram was no exception. Investigation concerning the times of Tukaram shows that in every stage of society, high and low, poets were highly honoured and received the popular homage. Moreover, the Peshwas all encouraged learning and education. Mr. Vinayak Laxman Bhawe points out that in the case of every Maratha author of importance either he or his descendants received a gift from the Peshwas to encourage him in his literary work. In a book of Historical Sketches Ancient Deccan Mr. K.V. Subramanya Iyer has pointed out the interesting fact that in the ancient Deccan ‘the poet was better favoured than even the king’s nearest relations, and there was nothing to compare with the poet’s status, honour and esteem.’ This fact helps us to understand Tukaram’s popularity both in his own day and now.

But the influences of Tukaram’s environment were not always inspiring. For in many respects the age in which Tukaram lived was one of decay, as contemporary evidence makes all too clear. One of the most reliable accounts of the degeneracy of the Hindu religion when Tukaram appeared on the scene is that given by the poet Eknath who may have died the year after Tukaram was born, that is, in 1609. As an unpublished thesis by a Poona scholar, which we were privileged to see, states: - ‘Eknath reflects indirectly on the character of the Hindus of his time, and tells us that the majority of them were never loyal to their religion in the true spirit of the term and were given solely to carnal pleasures, physical comforts and livelihood, utterly forgetting the rites and duties prescribed by their scriptures. He laments over the fact that there did not exist any true priest or preacher who could advocate the cause of religion and place it again on its high pedestal by expounding its true principles in the proper light. … There was on one side the bigoted fanaticism of militant Muhammadanism and on the other the soul-less and unprogressive dogmatism of the Brahmans in particular and of Hindus in general. The sword of Damocles in the form of Muhammadan supremacy ever hung over the Hindu head. Times were stormy and tempestuous.’

Yet despite The darkness of the sky when Tukaram appeared on the scene it remains true that history provided him with some enriching inspiration. For it is very clear that Tukaram was deeply indebted to his poetic predecessors, That Tukaram’s poems are to be regarded as ‘original effusions’ does not mean that he owed no debt to the bhakti poets who had preceded him. On the contrary, he himself states plainly in more than one place that ‘some words of the Saints he had committed to memory with reverence and with faith.’ On this important subject Mr. L.R. Pangarkar has an exhaustive and informing chapter in which he shows, on the basis of clear quotations from Tukaram’s own poems and of the confirmatory testimony of Mahipati in his Bhakta Lilamrita (chapter 30), that Tukaram had given special attention to Dnyaneshwar, Namdev, Eknath and Kabir. About the last mentioned, who had preceded the poet-saint of Dehu by more than a century and a quarter. Tukaram may have come to know on his: visit to Benares. It is suggested that the Bhagavadgita and Bhagavad Purana, the scriptures of the Bhagavata Religion of Maharashtra, had been the objects of Tukaram’s special study. The belief is also held that Tukaram had become sufficiently acquainted with Sanskrit to study Sanskrit works, some even affirming that soon after he had renounced the world, Tukaram spent a few months at the important centre of Paithan on the Godavery river where from a devout Shastri, he learned much sacred lore.

This much at least is certain, that, compared with his predecessors, Tukaram’s religious ideas are both more mature and more advanced, that there is much greater variety of subjects, of expression and of imagery and that Tukaram himself admits his indebtedness to those predecessors. ‘Indian writers have always exhibited a marvellous power of working up into new shapes again and again the same material of metaphor and phrase, and we shall see that Tukaram was no exception.’

Unsolved Problems of Tukaram Study

One of the most serious difficulties confronting the student of Tukaram arises from the existence of several different collections of his poems, each of which has a system of numbering of its own. The edition which has been widely accepted as the best, the Indu Prakash edition of 1869, subsidised by the Bombay Government at a cost, it is said, of no less than Rs. 24,000 has for many years been out of print. With other editions adopting different texts and numbering of the poems, these being arranged variously by different editors on their own principles, we have a perfect illustration of ‘the disorganised state of the literary world of India.’ Truly a heavy task, and a worthy one, awaits the Bharata Itihas Sanshodhaka Mandala of Poona. Until a really scientific attempt has been made to settle the true authentic text of Tukaram’s abhangs many fundamental problems affecting his biography must remain unsolved and any correct estimate of him is impossible.

At present there are no less than a dozen different editions of his poems, each adopting its own text and order of poems. Two of the latest editions differ so widely that one gives nine thousand abhangs as coming from Tukaram and the other less than fourteen hundred. We would venture to make an earnest appeal to the scholars of Maharashtra to address themselves to this task of preparing an authoritative edition of Tukaram’s writings. Not until this is done can the chronological order of the poems be fixed, and thereby many questions affecting the autobiography of Tukaram be settled. This means also that the all important problem is left unsolved as to whether Tukaram enjoyed a steady religious development to the end of his life or whether he suffered any kind of religious decline; whether, for instance he moved nearer to or further away from idolatry. Such critical investigation would be a real contribution to the cause of truth for Tukaram’s poems have come to be called in common parlance ‘The Sixth Veda,’ and his songs are sung in every house of Maharashtra and by every peasant while at work in his fields.

And there are two other difficulties for the student of Tukaram’s poetry. The first is the paucity of records in Indian History and biography. One of the greatest authorities has said: - ‘The question of sources in regard to the life histories of most of the great men of India is always a vexing one. Indians as a race seem, broadly speaking, to be negligent of their historical records and perhaps constitutionally averse to any deliberate composition of chronicles for posterity. Thus, it has come about in India that her greatest men have often the shortest biographies. The result is that in the absence of any authenticated and well attested account, posterity unconsciously comes to create a tradition not always reliable, based for the most part on mere rumour and hearsay evidence and sometimes even on the active imagination of admirers. All these factors make the task of a modern historian or biographer peculiarly difficult, and he has very often to rest satisfied with a meagre set of trustworthy facts, in preference to the credulous and often fantastical pageant of incidents and miracles.’ The other difficulty in our study of Tukaram’s poetry is what, the late Dr. R.G. Bhandarkar referred to more than once, the too frequent absence of the critical spirit, to point out which he said was ‘disagreeable’ to him ‘but an allegiance which I owe to truth.’ Or as an unpublished essay by him expresses it: ‘Fervent admiration; a blind faith in the letter of the original sources, and a hold on tradition appear to have clouded the critical faculty.’

A Patron Saint of India’s Theistic Church

Anyone who desires confirmation of the place held by. Tukaram among theistic thinkers need only read the late Dr. Sir R.G. Bhandarkar’s Marathi Religious Writings and Lectures, and two English books containing the late Justice Ranade’s Religious Lectures, and the late Sir Narayana Chandavarkar’s Speeches and Writings. One of the most interesting books published on Tukaram in recent years was the beautiful Marathi book published in 1927 with a full discussion of Tukaram’s abhangs consisting of 376 pages and containing 350 of Tukaram’s lyrics with the meaning given in Marathi prose and a discussion of the important points arising. The late Prof. W.B. Patwardhan was one of a small band of Marathi scholars who constituted what was known as ‘The Tukaram Society’. In its meetings, which were held between 1901 and 1916, Prof. Patwardhan took copious notes of the discussions and of the conclusions reached and some of these have been gradually published in the Subodh Patrika. The Tukaram Society was entirely of a voluntary character and consisted of men like the late Dr. Sir R.G. Bhandarkar, the late Rao Babadur Kashinatbpant B. Marathe, the late Prof. W.B. Patwardhan himself and several others who used to meet and discuss the meanings of Tukaram’s lyrics. It was none other than Dr. R G. Bhandarkar, who asked Prof. Patwardhan to take notes of the Tukaram Society’s discussions whereas many as 1800 lyrics were carefully considered. It has come as something of a disappointment to find that even in this 1927 publication there is no scientific investigation regarding Tukaram’s lyrics, so that we are still without the reliable guide as to the chronological aspects of Tukaram’s poems for which all students of his biography and autobiography have long been waiting.

In the interpretation of Tukaram’s poetry, all Tukaram students need to explore the exact meaning of the ambiguous terminology he employs. Concerning, much of his poetry there is no ambiguity of any kind. As for instance, what could be clearer or more beautiful than Tukaram’s own threefold moving picture of the servant of God (Vishnudas) ‘Within his soul there dwells that spirit of pity, pardon, peace, which keeps pain far away.’ ‘Where pity, pardon, peace abide, there God dwells; thither He runs and makes His home, for the spirit is the place of His abiding, and where these graces have free play He tarries.’ ‘When I attain the bliss of him who sees God in all mankind, then shall my heart be turned from lust and other sorrows, and in their place pity, pardon, peace will have free play.’ ‘If ears drink no nectar of God’s glory, what use are they?’ At the same time we always need to bear in mind that some of these great terms had possibly not the same meaning then as now. Therefore, some of the unrestrained panegyrics of uncritical admirers of Tukaram have to be received with caution, since there are two fundamentally different schools of interpretation of Tukaram’s religious terminology. Of these two schools Dr. Macnicol’s fine book, Psalms of the Maratha Saints represents the more devotional school; while the two great Marathi scholars Vishnupant N. Jog and Laxmanrao R. Pangarkar represent the pantheistic (or advaitist) school.

One reason why there are so many different editions of the Tukaram’e poems lies in his popularity. A poet whose verse is quoted by millions of peasants as a final authority and who supplies some of India’s greatest reformers with religious nourishment must be regarded as having couched his message in a popular style. And such is the case with the poet-saint of Dehu. The late Christian poet, Narayan Vaman Tilak, no mean judge either of poetic power or of popular taste, observes in an unpublished essay: ‘Tukaram is still the most popular Marathi poet of the day even in the twentieth century.’ This shows how Tukaram’s literary characteristics appealed to the people of Maharashtra and still appeal to them. Shridhar, a poet born a generation after Tukaram’s death, remarked: ‘I fully sympathise with the common people who do not understand the Sanskrit language; they are like thirsty persons standing by the side of a deep well without either a rope or a vessel, knowing that the well has no steps to go into it, and that their hands can never reach the surface of water in it.’ So Shridhar provided this rope and this vessel, as Tukaram had done more than half a century before him. Tukaram is still unequalled among all the Marathi poets, said N.V. Tilak. ‘The flow and force of Tukaram’s music is simply wonderful, his diction is easy, his illustrations are homely and exact; he had glimpses of the past, but he mainly dealt with the present and the future. He was an investigator and a painter of human nature, and he did his work so well that none among the Marathi poets merits comparison with him.’ That was Narayan Vaman Tilak’s authoritative verdict.

From Tukaram’s own poems, assisted by the pages of Mahipati, we have no difficulty in drawing a portrait of his character which is almost as full as we could wish and is probably quite trustworthy. His own account of himself in his autobiographical poems is frank and simple and clearly inspired by nothing else than a desire to be useful. There is no trace of egoism about it and no affectation of any kind. His religion was nearly his all in all. This is illustrated by what the late Narayan Vaman Tilak sets forth: ‘Tukaram walked with his god, talked with him, took him to task, settled quarrels with him, consulted him, shared his lot with him None other and nothing else was so dear and so near to him as his Vitboba. This attitude of his mind has made his devotional flights so real that while reading his poetry one finds one’s self as it were in the midst of a new life, not merely of thoughts. Excepting a few abhangs, all his poetry had for its theme his own experiences in his relation to the world and to his god. Thus, Tukaram himself is the hero of most of his poems, and his presence goes with a reader of them, and makes them exceedingly charming. One cannot get half of Tukaram’s meaning unless one has first read and studied his life thoroughly well, and unless one has learned to sympathise with him in his wisdom and folly alike.’ The foregoing the present writer discovered in an unpublished manuscript which our friend N.V. Tilak handed to us not long before he passed away.

The Influence of Tukaram

If we are to understand the true origin and force of the Maratha movement in Indian history and its significance for the India of today we must study the Marathi literature and specially the literature of that Bhakti movement in Maharashtra in which Tukaram was such a prominent figure. This literature has been greatly underrated by Western scholars but of late years it has been coming to its own. Prof. Patwardhan in his Wilson Philological Lectures has shown that ‘Marathi literature, even before it came into contact with the literature of the West, had reached a state of development and growth, both quantitatively and qualitatively, that the people of Maharashtra may well be proud of.’ Much the same has been said by Mr. L.J. Sedgwick, I.C.S. a census superintendent of thirty years ago: ‘Western Scholars may hardly be aware that there exists in, Marathi a bhakti literature, which in age, in volume, and in quality can equal if not surpass, the Hindi. Indeed, I would go further, and say that viewed from any standpoint of criticism the poems of Mahipati, and the abhangs of Namdev, Eknath, Tukaram and Ramdas must be placed among the finest of the poetic productions of the world.’

The unique service rendered by Tukaram and by the other saints and prophets of. Maharashtra was long ago pointed out by the late Justice M.G. Ranade who showed that as a result of their work ‘there came into existence the beginnings of a national feeling which represented nothing less than spiritual emancipation of the national mind.’ This was dealt with also by Prof. Patwardhan who stated: ‘For five successive centuries Maharashtra was the abode of that noblest and truest of all democracies, the democracy of the Bhakti school. The whole of the Marathi Literature of those centuries is a literature of Spiritual Democracy - it breathes the breath of equality, of fraternity and of spiritual liberty. The Bhakti school democratised literature, so that all those that would, could and did bear their share in the building up of the grand edifice. There were Brahmans, Sudras, Shimpis or tailors, Kumbhars or potters, Nhavis or barbers, even Mahars or low castes, that felt the call of the Divine Muse, and contributed their own little part. The democratisation of literature had one inevitable result. It nationalised it … The literature was no longer of the Brahmans or Sudras or Mahars. It was Marathi Literature and every one whatever his caste or creed, trade or profession, learned to love it and labour for it. … The Bhakti school poets thus not only made the literature but also made the people a nation’ And of that Bhakti school Tukaram was the most popular figure.

And yet, despite the democratising influence of Tukaram’s Bhakti poetry, honesty compels me to say that my more than twenty years study of Tukaram and his poetry has driven me to the conclusion that on the most searching problem of Indian Nationalism today, that of India’s untouchables, Tukaram’s message as at present edited is muffled and ambiguous. In so far as all castes, high and low, are welcome come in Tukaram’s favourite temple of Vitboba at Pandharpur, there is the unity that gives strength to a nation. But one of the gravest problems before India as a nation at this very hour is that of nearly sixty million so-called ‘untouchables,’ about whose ancestors Tukaram appears not to have concerned himself. Three hundred years before Tukaram’s own day, Chokamela, a Mahar poet and earnest devotee of Vithoba, had been kept outside Vitboba’s temple, and throughout the whole of Tukaram’s life Chokamela’s followers were compelled to worship at the shrine of Chokamela, on the other side of the street, as are all his Mahar descendants today. The exclusion of the untouchable from Tukaram’s favourite temple at Pandbarpur still persists three hundred years after Tukaram. For six hundred years past, up to the present hour, Chokamela’s Mahar followers have not been allowed to enter Vithoba’s temple in Pandharpur. Indeed, the Temple Entry Bill of the Bombay Congress Government in 1939 had no more severe critics than the temple priests at Pandbarpur who published a resolution which appeared in the Kesari condemning the Bill, but the Bombay Government passed it. There was thus solid reason for that deep convulsion of feeling which is so widespread among the Mahars and the Mangs all over Western India today against their denationalisation. Surely nothing but real brotherhood, such as Jesus Christ inspires, can ensure India’s national unity among high caste and low caste and out-caste alike and so build up in India a true and enduring nationhood. Similarly, with the whole question of custom and conservatism in India. Dr. Sir R.G. Bhandarkar in the 1902 Provincial Social Conference at Sholapur said that ‘the great Shastra or spiritual adviser the Indian people obeyed was custom.’ Or as the novel by Edward Thompson, A Farewell to India, puts it: ‘I’ve gathered the impression that neither King George nor the Mahatma is ruler in India, but that the Past is King.’ Dr. Sir R.G. Bhandarkar suggested that the only, efficacious remedy was ‘the reform of religion.’ The only enduring reform, says Jesus, is that which reforms the individual.

The Isha Upanishad

BY Mr. P. CHENCHIAH, B.A., M.L.

Modern Hinduism or Neo-Hinduism, as it is often called, owes its origin to the operations of alien cultures and religions on the religious mind of India. Whether it takes the shape of reform or a new cult, the invigorating and stimulating effects of challenges from outside are discernible Hinduism is not so irresponsive as it appears to be on the surface. Western civilisation, modern science. Islam and Christianity bear upon Hinduism with all the influence of suggestion and challenge, and it has to react to them if it desires to survive at all. Neo-Hinduism is the reaction of living Hinduism to the new environment. While response to change of environment becomes essential it is equally necessary to keep the continuity with the past. Neo-Hinduism is still Hinduism and has to keep the thread of continuity unbroken. This it does by seeking in the rich past elements congenial to itself. Neo-Hinduism is the faith whereby modern Hindus live, and they offer it to their brethren as the gospel for the time. To do this effectively they have to build a bridge to the past. The Christian will do well to study these pathways of the new to the old for they give him a clue to the approach to the Hindu mind. He has to commend an alien faith to the Hindu. His chief difficulty lies in his inability to present Christ in such a way as to kindle memory and strike imagination. So long as he does not present Jesus in line with the past, so long he fails to arrest the attention of the Hindu; the success of the new Hinduism in appealing to racial memory is the clue which he ought to develop. Neo-Hinduism speaks in the native spiritual tongue. In the idiom of inherited spiritual vocabulary it strikes chords that stir up sleeping memories. This is exactly what we have got to do. Hence, the value of the ancient literature which new Hinduism draws to itself.

The reformers of the nineteenth and twentieth century all go back to the Vedas as the link between old and new. Arya Samaj would take us to Rig-Vedic times but Brahmo Samaj and others bid us go to the Upanishads.

In the Upanishads we have that exaltation of the spirit that is truly spiritual, that fearless research and enquiry that is essentially scientific, that breadth of vision and depth of insight that is really catholic. India needs a spiritual catholic faith untrammelled by the protean forms of visual worship, and unhampered by the dead hand of the past in obscurantism that shuns the light of science and reason. The Upanishads offer from the past something that fulfils these requisites.

Of the Upanishads Isha has recently drawn the attention of political workers as well as religious founders, for in Politics we are in search of inspiration as much as in religion. Mahatma Gandhi, during his tour in Travancore after the opening of the temples to the Harijans, preached invariably from Isha taking the first verse as his text. He said, if he wanted to define Hinduism, he would offer the first verse of Isha as an adequate definition. Tagore, who more than any other kept the spiritual fires burning in this land, quoted largely from Isha, presenting its balanced and synthetic outlook as the right attitude of mind for modern India. Sri Aurobindo, the founder of a school of thought which has elicited the widest response among the educated, began his teaching with a translation and exposition of Isha. Isha, in a sense, is the foundation-stone of his Integral Yoga. The fact that Isha has attracted the attention of three great national leaders of India who are its spiritual leaders as well ought to be sufficient to commend it to the study of Christians.

The Upanishads are revolutionary teachings originally delivered in the secrecy of forests to those who rebelled against the current religion of the Vedas. The word Upanishad means under the tree. The name is derived from the fact that the teachings of the Upanishads were delivered by Rishis to Vanaprasthas as secret, esoteric and new experience with which the official priesthood that presided over the sacrifices were not in sympathy. In all probability the teachings emanated from Kshatriyas and soon spread to Brahmins. Readers who desire to know more of this revolution may refer to “Ashramas - Past and Present” published by the Indian Christian Book Club.

The Upanishad literature is characterised by some common features. In literary form they are aphoristic thoughts though not to the extent of Sutras. They are rather of the nature of notes which formed the basis for the development of lectures. They require considerable exposition to bring out their full meaning.

All the Upanishads adopt a common methodology, namely, meditation, contemplation, psychological investigation. These methods are directed towards certain common problems - the nature of ultimate Reality, its relation to the world, the process by which Reality can be attained. With regard to ultimate Reality there are three schools - that which denies ultimate Reality (Sankya) that which affirms it to be impersonal or super-personal (Advaita), that which holds that the ultimate Reality is a personality (Yoga). As to the world, some hold it is fully real, some relatively real, others totally unreal. On this basis, one school of thought teaches that God is not in creation and others that He is reflected in or is identical with creation. As to Yoga, while all employ Dhyana, one school regards Jnana of supreme excellence, while others cling to Karma. Bhakti is not yet, though its germinal beginning is not wanting. All agree that, we should realise Reality - whatever that realisation is - Moksa or Nirvana,

There are in extent more than two hundred Upanishads but those that are parts of the four Vedas originally are few. The traditional numbers of approved Upanishads and Puranas are ten and eighteen. The Upanishads are divided into chapters or branches (Vallis) - which vary in length. The authoritative Upanishads are those which are commented upon by the Acharyas - Sankara, Ramanuja, Madhwa and Vallabha.

Isha is perhaps the earliest and most ancient of the Upanishads. There are two reasons for this view. Most of the Upanishads occur in the Aranyaka section of the Brahmanas and the Brahmanas are later in origin than the mantras. Isha occurs in the mantra portion of the white Yajurveda and is in fact the fourteenth chapter of that Veda. The traditional enumeration of Upanishads begins with Isha (Isha ken katha prasna and so on). If Isha is the earliest it has also the distinction of being the shortest containing as it does only eighteen verses. Some scholars believe that the eighteen chapters of the Gita are an expansion of the eighteen verses of Isha, even as the eighteen paras of the Bharatam are an expansion of the eighteen chapters of the Gita. The Gita contains certain verses taken from Katha. But the spirit animating the Gita and the ideas of detachment and action are derived from Isha Upanishads are named in different ways - some from the place of their origin like Brihadaranyaka (the great forest); some from the totem of the Vedic sakha (branch) to which they belong - Taittiriyo (sparrow) and Mandukya (frog); some from Rishis like Svetasvatara Upanishad. Isha as well as Kena get their titles from the first words of the first sloka of the Upanishads.

Most Upanishads begin with a verse called Shanti, because it ends with Om Shanti! Shanti! Shanti! These Shanti verses are not part of the Upanishads but are stanzas written on the fly-leaf of the Upanishads as it were, containing some beautiful prayers. Prayers are found also in the body and towards the close of Upanishads. The well known prayer ‘Lead me from the unreal to the real, from darkness to light, from death to immortality’ occurs in the body of Brihadaranyaka. The Shanti verse of Isha and Brihadaranyaka is the same. It is not so much a prayer as an illuminating statement. It runs thus, That is full (Purnam adaha). This is full (Purnam dam). The full comes out of the full (purnat putnam uthachyata). Taking the full from the full, the full remained (Parnasya purnamadaya, purnameva avasishyate). Om Shanti! Shanti! Shanti!

The exposition of the profound insight this verse contains and requires separate treatment. If only we had kept to the clue, philosophy would have escaped some of its anguishing travails. For the present, I shall satisfy myself with the remark that this vision of fullness, this insistence on grasping the full, the refusal to permit the breaking the globe of truth into two hemispheres and building a philosophy on each fragment of truth is the striking and distinguishing note of this Upanishad as compared with later and more elaborate systems of thought. We see truth in a living complex of this and that, God and world, subject and object, stability and motion, consciousness and matter, and we have no right to break the living complex and erect elaborate skyscrapers on the narrow foundation of broken segments. To call us back to the whole, to the totality, of truth and save us from floundering in the morasses of opposition of real and unreal, of light and darkness, of Vidya and Avidya, Satya and Maya, as later so styled philosophies that have obtained vogue have done, is the message and appeal of this Upanishad. Those, who have no sectarian loyalties to serve in religion and philosophy and are bent on getting at the truth, the whole truth, return to Isha with hope and enthusiasm as Sri Aurobindo has done. This Eastern ancient wholism (not to be confused with the one associated with Smuts of South Africa) invests Isha with peculiar value in these days.

I shall now deal with the contents of Isha under the following heads:

1. God
2. The world
3. The relation of God to The universe
4. The true way of Salvation
5. ethics
6. Adieu.

1. God. The Upanishad starts with God - Isha. The root of the word Isha means Ruler. Isha is therefore the ruler of all creatures. Isha with its variation Iswara occurs in several combinations - Jagadisa (Lord of the universe), Ganesa (Lord of spirits), Sarveswara (all Lord), Maheswara (Great Lord), Ramesa (Lord of Rama). Iswarya (plenitude) is derived from Isha. Ishatwam is one of the astasiddhis of Yoga. Those who are acquainted with the development of Hinduism can easily understand the significance of calling God Iswara. It points to an era of thought and a stage of evolution. For some reason or other none of the Vedic gods evolved themselves into the monotheistic God - one God without a second. Indra on account of his popularity and Varuna by reason of his morality were qualified to rise to the status of God. But the Upanishadic revolution turned away men not only from Vedic ritual but also from Vedic gods Siva and Vishnu were yet minor deities in the fringe of the throng. It was at the end of the Upanishadic period that we find Rudra described as supreme God under the name of Siva. Siva and Vishnu come to their own in the temple age and become associated with idolatry and Bhakti. For a very short interval, during Darsana period, they were worshipped in spirit - in the Upanishadic Upasana - not in the agama way. In the atmosphere of the Upanishads worship was without association with temple and images and was by meditation and contemplation During that period, the dominant current of thought was non-theistic. God as the ultimate Reality was either denied or regarded as impersonal. Atman and Brahman were of this nature. The minor current considered, the ultimate Reality as personal. The Upanishadic theism was monotheism - pure and simple comparable to Jewish and Islamic. Hence, its importance. In the Upanishads Brahma and Brahman exist - one masculine and the other neuter. Since Brahma was the debatable ground of the theist and non-theist he survived in theism only as a pale figure - lacking the vitality and influence of Brahman. Iswara is the personal God, one and only one who came into his own in Upanishads. Iswara is therefore the monotheistic God of the Upanishad period - at a time when worship in the spirit was the only form recognised. It was Iswara who gave place to Siva in the puranic period. Hence, Siva is Maheswara. The darsanas are classified into those which recognise personal God and those which do not (Nir Iswara). So the first word tells us that this Upanishad advocates a monotheistic form of religion having for its worship an all-powerful God - not a God among gods - not a supreme God - but one and only one God to be worshipped in Dhyana. In this respect worship in the Upanishadic age was superior even to current Christian worship which after all is a form of temple worship. Isha is therefore described in moral terms and all bodily attributes are negatived. He is Subha (bright), Suddha (pure), Apapaviddha (unpierced by sin - holy), Kavih (all-wise), Manishi (ruler of the mind-omniscient), Paribhu(above all things), Swayambu (uncreated-self-existent). It is clear from these attributes that the author regards the Divine Reality as a personality. Some other negative attributes are of historic importance. God is described as Akayah (without body), Avransh (without wounds), Asnavah (without sinews), Note the departure the author deliberately makes from Vedic conceptions. Indra is described as having a body whose masculine beauty is the praise of poets. Indra not only, inspired people to battle but unlike Jehovah led them on the battlefield receiving wounds. The worshippers like our military men were proud of the sinuous and scarred body of their hero-god. In clear contrast with these Vedic gods, Isha is described as without body, scars and sinews. Other attributes will be referred to after studying the rest of the verse.

2. The world. Jagat (world) means that which moves. The description is almost Bergsonian. Other philosophies do not regard the creation as movement since they regard motion as a transitory attribute of matter. Substance is immobile in its nature though movement may be its accident. The author describes objects as individual movements in the grand movement of creation dropping altogether the notion of matter at rest. Motion is not a condition of matter but its constitution.

3. The relation of God to the universe. This is indicated by two words, Idam and Vasyam. Idam has a history of its own. The key-words of the Upanishads representing two diverging currents of thought as to the relation of God to universe are Neti - not this - and Idam - this. According to Neti theology which culminated in, Advaitam of Sankara God has, no relation to creation, is not in it in any sense. We can only describe him as not this, not this. In the Idam view every thing in creation is to some extent God - the current of thought reaching its climax in Avatara as God. According to one God is not nature. Man and even Avatara; according to the other God is progressively nature, Man and Avatara. Idam places Isha Upanishad in the later school. But it strikes a note of originality. Eschewing the notion of identity - so dear to the Indian philosopher - it sets out the idea of God inhabiting the moving universe as the spirit inhabits the body. God is not, progressively identified with matter and mind but described as indwelt in the universe. The relationship of God and universe as dweller and dwelling is the keynote of Ramanuja’s philosophy which has taken the idea from this Upanishad.

4. The true way of salvation. Isha in one respect stands alone among the Upanishads In the Upanishads we have a tendency to divide the universe into two irreconcilable categories and set to men in search of truth and salvation the duty of rejecting the one and accepting the other. Life, religious life, is made a choice between two irreconcilable. Thus, in Hindu philosophy we have the opposition of Sat and Asat (Maya), Bhava and Abhava (existent and non-existent), being and becoming, one and many, birth and non-birth, life and death, world and heaven. In Western philosophy these oppositions are accepted together with some more - reality and appearance, absolute and relative. In ethics light and darkness, good and evil, righteousness and sin, God and Satan are the pairs of opposites. Religion presents itself as an ‘either or’, ‘this or that’ problem. If you want Sat Bhava one non-birth, life, Heaven, reality, absolute God good, righteousness, - then renounce and denounce Asat, Abhava, becoming, many, birth, death, world, appearance, relative, Satan. The two cannot co-exist. There can be no loyalty to both. You have to pluck out the offending eye and cut off the sinning member. This analysis of life and this religious out-look is characteristic of dominant religious thought ancient and modern, East and West, pagan and Christian. But it should be remembered that these pairs are what we make out of life, not what we find in life. Life is totality, a complex in which all these elements exist as threads in one cloth. Like a tailor we scissor the cloth into two along certain lines and throw off one and retain the other. Now the Barthian theology is fundamentally of this type. In Isha which represents, according to Sri Aurobindo the highest attained wisdom of the Vedic intuition, this way of dealing with life is rejected. Isha completely rejects ‘either or’ philosophy and accepts both this and that philosophy. That opposing tendencies exist in life is not denied. Life is not all real or all good. But what is objected to is to the breaking of the circle of life into two segments and throwing away one; life is a complex of both and cannot be resolved into irreconcilable factors demanding a choice “between” them. You divide the whole into God and the world, then oppose them or pose them as alternatives and demand a choice. The opposing factors are in truth supplementary. The two halves of a circle or a sphere are opposed as well as supplementary. They meet from opposite directions and make a circle. Even in the ethical field where the contrasts are more apparent than in the metaphysical, good and evil inhere in one integral system. While you can choose between the good and evil you cannot separate good and evil in the system. The religious effort ought to be to transcend them both and attain a new life in which the opposites survive as complements. Good and evil, as Bosanquet puts it, arise out of the same emotions, instincts and passions of life and belong to the same substance. The other way of looking at life which is Isha’s takes man beyond good and evil, to a new life where both good and evil in their old form cease to be. Isha propounds the philosophy of the purna (full or whole).

The central and cardinal note of Isha is the protest against the philosophy of the partial and insistence on the value of the whole. Thus, it constitutes a standing rebuke to the modes of thinking that would build on a portion of reality. The purna gospel is propounded in three ways in the Upanishad.

1. God exists in the whole - in the one as well as in the many, in light as well as in darkness, in creation as well as beyond creation, in righteousness as well as in its opposite, sin. This is urged, it should be noted not as a justification of many, darkness, sin but in order to instil the idea that many could be converted into the one, darkness into light and sin into virtue. God should not be regarded as being here and not there but everywhere for, after all, His presence everywhere is the justification of everything being capable of redemption.

Verse 4. Unmoving one swifter than the mind itself, standing still it overtakes others that run.

Verse 5. It moves and moves not, it is far, it is near, it is inside all this, and it is outside all this. God is therefore described as one who goes abroad.

2. From this premise the author draws a conclusion and advocates a procedure which in the light of latter-day developments may be called revolutionary, the like of which is rarely seen in Hindu religious teachings. The writer condemns the right-hand and left-hand path as both ruinous and advocates the way of comprehension as the true means of enlightenment or salvation.

Verse 9. Those who follow the path of ignorance enter into gloomy darkness, into still greater darkness enter those who are devoted to knowledge.

Verse 12. Into blinding darkness enter they who attach themselves to the becoming and they that delight in being entered into still greater darkness.

The teachings of the sages of the past have been that those who follow knowledge and being reach a different goal and reap a different reward from those who follow ignorance and becoming. The author refutes the theory and holds that

1. He who knows both knowledge and nescience crosses death through nescience and attains immortality through knowledge.

2. He who knows the real and the unreal crosses death through the unreal and attains immortality through the real.

The standpoint adopted is unique and original to this Upanishad. Right and left, light and darkness, virtue and vice, real and the unreal, absolute and relative, if pursued by themselves mislead and end in futility. But take them both in the whole, each leads you to height after height of glory. You do not get salvation through the partial. In the whole each part leads to the whole and saves you. This is the author’s new teaching as against the wisdom of sages.

3. The author in describing God as standing and moving, as being inside and outside at the same time reverts to the idea in the Shanti verse. He indicates that many of our philosophical troubles arise because we apply physical categories to the spirit. In the physical you either stand or move but can’t do both. But mind can range far and wide without moving. In the physical one when it becomes many ceases to be one but in the mental one can become many without ceasing to be itself. If we take out something out of a thing, it diminishes if we add it increases. In the mental, after taking out, that form which you take out remains full. The writer of Isha is anti-Barthian and anti-materialist. That is one reason why I think the Indian cannot accept Barthian metaphysics. The ideal for man as the author advocates is to behold all things (Sarwam Bhutani) in the soul (Atma) and the soul in all things. When a man beholds all things and the soul as a unity, where is, he asks, delusion where, is grief? The emphasis is on seeing the soul in things (which other schools advocate) and all things in the soul (peculiar to Isha). This teaching reminds us of St. John’s “Christ in us” and “we in Christ”. Salvation is achieved only when this interpenetration of Jesus and us takes place. Jesus in us or we in Jesus are but partial realisations. He in us and we in him is the whole, the full, purna salvation.

5. Ethics of Isha. What commended this Upanishad to Mahatma Gandhi is the ethical emphasis in the opening verse. As God resides in all this, says the verse, therefore enjoy by renunciation, covet not the riches of anyone. Since all belongs to God, none to you exclusively, don’t be grasping; since everybody has a right to what is God’s, don’t covet. Man is also advised to desire long life of action. Then comes the word which many suppose is the source of the Gita doctrine - the deed adheres not (to ego); action in detachment does not produce Karma. Nirvana has no place in this Upanishad for it announces that those who kill the self (meaning ego) go to the sunless world.

6. Adieu. The Upanishad ends with three prayers - styled by Dr. Hume a dying man’s prayers. They are addressed to Vedic Gods - Pusan, Yama, Sun. The verse begins with Iswara and if these prayers were from the mouth of the author they would have been addressed to Iswara. In all probability like the ‘Shanti’ verse they are not part of the Upanishad but were tacked on from the current book of prayers. It is interesting to note that a book of prayers is not a feature of our times only. We give these prayers to show their high moral tone and elevation. We are all beggars in our prayers. Some pray for wealth, some for possessions and power. Few only for love and truth and illumination. These prayers put us to shame.

7. With a golden vessel the face of the real is covered That do thou, O Pusan, remove so that I may see the golden one.

Note that the treasure of truth is not guarded by demons and goblins but by a golden lid inviting as to open it - a beautiful idea.

2. O Sun, disperse thy rays and collect thy light; let me see thy most auspicious form (Rupam Kalyanathamam) for the same soul which is in thee am I.

3. Guide us, O Agni, by the road of bliss (Supatha) to liberation - keep us from sins that lead us astray.

Isha is a challenging Upanishad. The intuition is still bright; the lights and shades of intellect do not overshadow it. The author thinks with originality, has courage to differ from sages and speaks without fear. His teachings are a class apart. His idea that Vidya and Avidya if pursued separately lead to darkness and if pursued together each guides us to goal has no parallel in the Upanishads. His is the Gospel of purna - the whole truth - of the Lord, whole and entire, a gospel of the spirit akin to that political gospel of purna swaraj.

I believe the time has come for Christians to study the Upanishads. In so doing we may help and be helped. There is much in the Upanishads which a Christian might take for the good of his own devotional life. A study of the Upanishads from the non-sectarian standpoint in the light of the fuller revelation of Jesus may bring out the truth in them more satisfactorily. But such an understanding means painstaking and prayerful study of the Scriptures - our and theirs. I am sure our young men are willing to undergo the necessary discipline. I have tried, in as objective a manner as is Possible for me, to bring out the salient striking and original features of the text and teaching of Isha.

The Hindu Conception of Divine Indwelling

BY CANON E.C. DEWICK, M.A.

In most of the great religions of the world. God is to some extent conceived of as an Indwelling or Immanent God. In Christianity, a central place has always been given to the doctrine of the Indwelling Spirit of God in the heart of the believer; and a subordinate place has been allowed to the idea of a wider Divine Indwelling in the whole of Creation. Even in Islam, which, more than any other religion, stresses the Divine transcendence and ‘otherness’ we find the Quran representing God as saying of the first created man: -

“I have made him complete, and breathed into him of my inspiration.” (XV. 29, XXXVIII. 72; Muhammad Ali’s translation).

But among all the great World-Religions, Hinduism had been pre-eminently ‘The Religion of Divine Immanence’, giving to this concept a uniquely central and dominant, position.

We can see the beginning of this in the earliest Hindu Scriptures. The primitive polytheism and Nature - worship of the early Aryan settlers in India soon developed into a philosophy which pictured the One Reality as developing into the phenomenal world; so that the world (as it were) inherits and is pervaded by, the Divine Essence. Thus, in the famous Creation Hymn of the Rig-Veda (X. 129), we read: -

    Alone that One breathed, calmly self-supported;
    Other than it was none nor aught beside It;

    That which in void and emptiness lay hidden
    Alone by power of fervour (Tapas) was developed,

— Kaegi’s translation

Or again, in the Rig Vedic Hymn to Purusha (X. 90): -

    Whatever is, is Purusha;
    Both what has been, and what shall be;

    All creatures are a part of Him;
    Three-fourths of the Immortal, in the Heavens

— Griswold’s translation

Such language implies a close, organic connection between the world and the supreme Being. ‘God’ is the Golden Germ (Hiranyagarbha) or ‘World-Egg’, out of which all creation has come, and of whose nature all creation necessarily partakes.

Thus, on the very threshold of Hinduism, we can see how wide a gulf separates this philosophy from the theology of the Hebrews in the Old Testament, in which God is always pictured as sovereign, high above the world that has been formed by an act of His Will, and by His specific command: -

    The Lord sitteth above the water floods:
    The Lord remaineth a King forever.

— Psalm 29:9

    He spake the word; and they were made;
    He commanded; and they were created

— Psalm 148:5

It follows from this view that, while Creation does indeed reflect the majesty of God (Psalm 19), it is not an essential part of Him any more than an artist’s painting or sculpture is an integral part of the artist’s body. Whatever Divine qualities there may be in Creation have been ‘given’ to it by the decree of a God who is free to grant or to withhold.

    Whatsoever the Lord pleased, that did He in Heaven and earth

Similarly, in the Quran, we read: “God’s command, when He intends anything, is only to say: ‘Be!’ - and it is”. (XXXII. 82).

But in the Hindu tradition, as we have seen the predominant conception of the Divine is different from this, from the very beginning; and the difference becomes wider, as Hindu philosophy becomes further developed in the Upanishads In the Upanishads, the nature of the Supreme Reality is set forth as being so mysterious and sublime and beyond all human, speech that any attempts at a definition or description can only be met by the protest, ‘Neti! Neti!’ (Not so! Not so !).

At the same time, the Indefinable Supreme Being is All-Inclusive and nothing can be outside of it: -

    Brahma before, Brahma behind, to Right and Left;
    Stretched forth before, and behind,
    Brahma indeed is this whole world, this widest extent.

— Munda Upanishad II, Hume’s translation

Moreover, the All-Inclusive is also the All-Pervading: -

    The soul (Atman) pervades all things,
    As butter is contained in cream.

— Shvetashvatara Upanishad I. 16

    It is hidden in the world, even to the finger-nail-tips.
    As a razor is hidden in a razor case.

— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad 1 iv. 7

The process by which the Supreme Being has come to pervade the whole universe is described in the Upanishads by the figures of birth, procreation, or emanation: -

    In the beginning this World was Soul (Atma);
    He saw nothing else but Himself. He said 'I am!'
    He had no delight; He desired a second;
    He caused his self to fall into two pieces;
    Therefrom arose husband and wife; therefrom human beings were produced;
    She became a cow; then cattle were born;
    She became a she-goat, a ewe; therefrom were born goats and sheep;
    Thus, He created all, even down to the ants
    He knew: 'I indeed am the Creation;
    For I emitted it all from myself' -
    Thus, arose Creation

— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad I. iv. 4,5

This idea of emission or emanation, by a process which operates through laws of its own: and is not wholly under the conscious control of the Creator, is suggested also by other metaphors: -

    As a spider might come out with his thread,
    Or as sparks come forth from the fire;
    Even so from this Soul come forth all vital
    Energies, all worlds, all gods, all things

— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad I. i. 20

So the Divine Essence fills everything, like the wind or spirit: -

    It is the one Breath entering the world,
    And corresponding to every form

— Katha Upanishad V. 10

It is interesting to note that this symbol of ‘Breath’ or ‘Spirit’ is used of the Supreme Reality, not only by Hinduism, but also in the traditions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam; though not in all cases with the same significance.

Now, does this conception of the Supreme Being as an All-Inclusive and All-Pervading imply that the Divine is equally Immanent in all things, dead and living, bad and good? Here and there; in the Hindu Scriptures, this does seem to be suggested. The Soul that is indwelt by the Supreme is described as: -

    Apart from the Right (Dharma),
    And apart from the Un-right (A-Dharma).

— Katha Upanishad II, 14

Or again:

    Brahma causes him whom He wishes to lead up from
    the worlds to perform good actions,
    And him whom He wishes to lead downward
    to perform bad actions

— Kaushitaki Upanishad III. 8

And in the Gita, Krishna claims that he is in the hearts of evil spirits (Rudras and Rakshas), and of deceitful gamblers, as well as in the hearts of heroes and saints. (Gita, X. 23-36).

In such teaching there is obviously a grave danger of obscuring the great moral issues of life. Yet before we condemn Hinduism as though it were guilty of peculiar moral indifference in this respect, we should remember that even in the Old Testament, there are passages where the sense of the: All-inclusive Majesty of God leads to similar language:

    I form the light, and I create darkness;
    I make peace, and I create evil:
    I am the LORD, that doth all these things.

— Isaiah. 45:7

Moreover, the note of ‘moral neutrality’ in some passages of the Upanishads has to be balanced by others which lay down the moral conditions of salvation: -

    He who has not ceased from bad conduct,
    He who is not of peaceful mind,
    Cannot obtain Him (Atman) merely by, intelligence.

    Whowho has understanding,
    who is mindful and ever pure,
    Reaches the goal from which he is born no more.

— Katha Upanishad II. 24, III 8

Also, the Upanishads frequently teach that the Divine is not present in the same way, or in the same measure, in all the various strata of creation. In the Aitareya Aranyaka, for instance, we read that the Atman is present in trees as sap, in animals as consciousness, and in man as intelligence (Keith, Religion and Philosophy of the Veda, p 523). This idea of a ‘Graded Immanence’ is confirmed by the emphasis laid by the Upanishads upon the uniqueness of the Divine Indwelling in Man. This is implied by the famous saying: Tai Tvam Asi (“Thou, Man, art thyself That, the World-Soul”). We human beings are ‘in God’, and God is ‘in us’, as drops of water are in the ocean, and the ocean in them. This is repeatedly proclaimed as the very secret of salvation (Chandogya Upanishad VI. viii-xv.); and it is set forth not merely as one among the many aspects of Divine Immanence but as the supreme and cardinal Truth: -

    That the Eternal should be known as present in the self
    Truly, there is nothing to be known higher than that.

— Svetasvatara Upanishad I. 12

It is therefore not altogether correct to speak of the philosophy of the Upanishads as pantheistic, if by Pantheism we imply the merging of God in the world that has emanated from Him. On the contrary, God is definitely differentiated from His Creation in many passages: -

    He who, dwelling Allall things, is yet other than
    all things ... He is your Soul, the Immortal.

— Brihadaranyaka Upanishad III, vi. 15

    He abides all enveloping in the world; detached,
    yet upholding all; without all beings yet within them.

— Gita. XIII. 13-15

In such passages, the Supreme Being is clearly proclaimed as Transcendent, as well as Immanent.

At the same time, when we compare the Hindu conception of Divine Indwelling, as a whole, with the Christian conception as set forth in the Bible, we cannot but be struck by a difference of emphasis and of proportion, which becomes almost fundamental.

For in Hinduism, as we have seen, the central emphasis is on the Immanence of the Supreme Being: which is frequently spoken of as ‘It’ rather than ‘He’, and which pervades the universe by methods which are pictured in terms of physical processes. The limitations and qualifications of this universal indwelling are indeed recognised, from time to time; but these seem to be exceptional and subordinate, rather than central and essential.

Even in the later Reformers of Hinduism, Rabir, Nanak, Ram Mohan Roy; with their strong theistic and moral note, the main background of thought remains immanentist:

    Wherever, wherever one looks, there, there, He is the same
    He pervades the body, as well as the whole universe!

— Kabir, editor F.B. Keay

    He is one, and He is Many;
    Nanak says, He is always contained in all things.

— Religious Systems of the World

    We look up to One Being as the animating principle
    of the whole body of the universe.

— Ram Mohan Roy; quoted by N.C. Ganguly

And one of the greatest of modern Hindu Scientists, has testified that his scientific researches have confirmed his ancestral Hindu faith:

    They who see but One in all the changing manifoldness
    of this universe, unto them belongs eternal truth;
    unto none else; unto none else!

— Sir J.C. Bose; quoted by Lord Ronaldshay, in The Heart of Aryavarta

But when we turn from the Hindu to the Biblical tradition, we find ourselves in an entirely new atmosphere.

The picture of God as a Sovereign Person, ‘the High and Holy One that inhabiteth eternity’ is taken for granted alike in the Old and in the New Testaments. To the Christian, as to the Jew, God is ‘the Majesty on High’ (Hebrews 1:3); and the vision of Him seen by the Christian seer is august and awful, as well as intensely personal. (Revelation 1:12-19). The God of the Christian divides sharply between Right and Wrong, Light and Darkness (2 Corinthians 6:14. 1 John) and nothing unclean or false can come near Him, or enter into His City (Revelation 21:2)

It is true that the God of the New Testament is also an Indwelling God; but where He indwells, this is by a voluntary act of Divine condescension. For a man even to see God requires purity of heart (Matthew 5:8); and to receive Him as Indweller is possible only for hearts that are open to Him in childlike faith (John 14:23). Similarly, the Spirit dwells in the Church as in a body (1 Corinthians 12:27); but if the Church loses its zeal and faith, the Spirit of God no longer dwells in it, but leaves the dead carcass, or comes upon it as Destroyer (Revelation 2:6, 3:3) It is only where Love is found that God is found in full measure, as the Indwelling God: -

    God is love; and He that dwelleth in Love dwelleth in God.
    and God in him.

— 1 John 4:16

If this is taken as our standard, then the Hindu conception of Divine Immanence cannot be wholly satisfying to the Christian. It contains many things that are true, and some things which may be of service in supplementing or correcting inadequate conceptions that are current in popular Christianity. But in its desire to achieve intellectual impressiveness and logical consistency, it has not been careful enough to safeguard the great moral cleavage between Right and Wrong; and so it fails to satisfy the challenge that comes to our conscience, demanding that the God whom we worship must be not only Pure Light, but also Righteousness and Love.

How They Found Christ

BY REBECCA J. PARKER Reviewed by SIGRID P. GOULD

From the pen of Rebecca J. Parker, author of Sadhu Sundar Singh: Called of God, comes another book for devotional reading It bears the title, “How they found Christ”, and consists of sixteen simple sketches portraying in each case a persistent search for the Eternal God. And for each the search culminates in the realisation that Christ is “the Way the Truth, and the Life”

The well known Pandita Ramabai, Chandra Leela, and Narayan Vaman Tilak are all here among the seekers. So also are others such as Dilawar Khan, the daring Afghan robber chief; Moses Walsalm, the extremely gifted artist and Malayalam songster; and Ganga Dhar Sarangi, the first Oriya convert who with wit and passion bore such fruitful testimony to Christ in his bazaar preaching.

The accounts of the sixteen devout non-Christians whose quest for eternal certainty is fulfilled in Christ are simply and briefly given with no literary embellishments. Though it is helpful to have, so many included within the pages of one book one does miss the more detailed record and touch with the intimate workings of their sensitive spirits. And yet even so it is good to have known them.

One closes this book with many thoughts. First and foremost is the realisation that it is good to have walked with these sturdy saints of old and to have seen life from their eyes. By contrast a certain flabbiness of the individual spirit stands revealed as a weakness of the religious faith of our times. And their divine discontent and at-homeness with Christ is not so much a living part of men today. Another thought reveals the amazing thread of continuity that runs through the experiences of these people. For almost all it can be said that they came from homes marked by a high degree of religious faith and culture. They were seekers, restless with a restlessness that was unquenchable except by the Living God. They were sinners, acutely sensitive of their sin. “The true nature of sin which the Hindu religion does not reveal, and the doctrine of Atonement he (Tilak) could not understand; but a gradual change had already begun in his heart. ‘I felt how little I could do to extricate myself from my sins. A sick man cannot cure himself, he requires a physician, and I require One who can take away my great sins’”² They found Christ at a cost and through Him a radiance, a sweetness, a bliss, and a permanent enthusiasm for God’s work. And with immediacy they gave in labour for their Lord.

These, then, having endured the most rigorous discipline known to the teachings of their first, strong faith believed that if they truly sought they would find, yet finding not in their own religion turned to a trusted friend or more often the Gospels and there, pursuing their quest, became astonished and over-powered at the touch of Christ. In some peculiar way each knew, as Tilak wrote, that he “could not be happy if he missed Him”.³ The simple and profound truth of the New Testament was irresistible. What Tilak said of the Gospel of Matthew is typical. “When I reached the Sermon on the Mount I could not tear myself away from those burning words of love and tenderness and truth. In these three chapters I found answers to the most abstruse problems of Hindu philosophy. It amazed me to see how here the most profound problems were completely solved. I went on eagerly reading to the last page that I might learn more of Christ.”⁴

One has but to read to see how fervently, how loyally, these profound souls gave their greatest gift unto His keeping, how steadfast they remained the helpmates of their country and its people; and found unto the end of their earthly pilgrimage a peace, a radiance, a power, and a loyalty that passed all understanding.

This book is published by the S.P.C.K. Madras

The Benares Institute of Hinduism

The fifth session of the Institute was held for three and a half weeks in the month of October 1943 on the premises of the United City Mission. There were six students and three Christian teachers besides several local Hindu scholars who gave lectures.

STUDENTS:- (1) The Rev. R.D. Samuel, B.A., L.Th. Evangelist - Church of Sweden Mission, Madura, S. India (2) Sriman Sudhindra Mohan Das, student of Theology Serampore College (3) Mr. Sudhangsu Kumar Ghosh, B.A., B.D., Evangelist - London Mission, Jiagung Bengal (4) Prof. S. Das M.A., B.T. United Christian Training College, Berhampore: Bengal (5) Prof. K.N. Ghosal, M.A.; B.Th. United Christian Training College, Berhampore, Bengal (6) The Rev. S. Biswas, Superintendent, Methodist (British) Church, Raniganj, E.I. Ry., Bengal.

These men represented various communions such as the Anglican, Baptist, Congregational, Swedish, and Methodist and different types of Christian work. For the first time in five years we have had a Hindu gentleman in Mr. Ghosal who thoroughly identified himself with us.

STAFF (A): - (1) Dr. Miss V. Paranjothi, M.A., Ph.D. Professor, Isabella Thobarn College. Lucknow - gave six very interesting lectures on “Saiva Siddhanta” (the S. Indian school of the Bhakti religion). For the first time we had a lady lecturer who impressed us with her deep knowledge and fine delivery. We hope that her interest in the Society’s work will continue to grow and that we may have the privilege of her help again. (2) Prof. Ashananda Nag of Calcutta (late of Visva Bharati Bolpur) - a rare Sanskrit scholar in the Christian community who can converse in a dead (?) language - spoke on the Vedas and the Bhagavad Gita as last year giving twelve very illuminating and informative lectures (3) R.C. Das, M.A. of the Benares United City Mission gave twenty lectures on different aspects of Sanatana Dharma (orthodox and popular Hinduism) such as Idolatry, Polytheism, Caste, Incarnations, Pilgrimage, Life of Sri Krishna, Sadhus and Sanyasis, Hindu Culture, Christian approach to Hinduism, Uniqueness of Christianity etc.

2. Non-Christian scholars: - (1) Dr. A. Altekar, M.A. LLB; D. Litt., author and professor of Ancient Indian History, Hindu University - spoke on “the position of Women in Hinduism”, (2) Swami Adi Devanandan - a monk of the Ramakrishna Sevashram - gave an interesting talk on “the religious and philosophical position of the Ram Krishna Mission” which was followed by useful discussion (3) A monk of the Mahabodhi Society - Sarnath Buddhist Mission - Bhikkhu H. Dhammananand gave a clear exposition of the “Doctrine of Nirvana” (4) Another Buddhist monk - Bhikkhu Jagadish Rashyap M.A. - Head of the department of Pali Language at the Hindu University - gave a very helpful talk on “the life and teachings of the Buddha”.

Our grateful thanks are due to these Hindu and Buddhist scholars who always co-operate with us whenever we need their services. A good deal of time was devoted to asking and answering questions and informal conversations (out of class) about the Hindu life and faith.

The Devotional Services were shared by the Rev. J.S. Moon M.A. of the United City Mission with the rest of us. Our meditations in the mornings centred round the search and attainment of St. Augustine and St. Paul’s approach to the Greeks of Athens. We had daily recreation in the afternoon and after-dinner games and amusements twice a week to keep our bodies and minds fit for hard mental work.

Under the auspices of the Benares Christian Union (reorganised missionary conference) our students and staff heard the Rev. J.S. Moon M.A. who gave an address on “the Church in a world at war”. The Benares Fellowship (an interreligious association) was ‘At home’ to us at the residence of Dr. Bhagwan Das - the celebrated scholar - when Mr. Nag in one of the largest meetings ever held gave an important talk on “Indian Nationalism and Christianity” which was greatly appreciated by all present.

We were also able to arrange two evangelistic services for educated Hindus in the C.M.S. Preaching Hall in the city when Mr. Nag gave two addresses on (1) “India asks, Who is Christ?” (2) “The Vedas as tutor unto Christ.”

Study excursions were undertaken to the river Ganges, the bathing places, the more important temples and monasteries Sanskrit and other educational centres, the institutions of modern Hindu movements, to Sarnath - the cradle of Buddhism - and to the Benares Hindu University which was founded twenty-five years ago with the object of conserving Hindu culture and faith and of appropriating Western Arts and Sciences. A Retreat was observed at the confluence of the Ganges and Varuna - a beautiful spot - where there exist some remnants of Ashrams of the ancient type. On the whole it was a useful session of study and thought and prayer. We felt that though the number was small owing chiefly to difficulties of travel and costly living it was worthwhile to have pursued the study as we did. It is hoped that the experience gathered may be a contribution to Christian leadership in thought and life and promotion of the Christian cause in India.

UNITED CITY MISSION, RAMKATORA, BENARES CANTONMENT, R.C. DAS (Convener).

Printed at the Hilal Press, Tirunelveli 1-1944

A Vedic Hymn

In May 1943 the Kodaikanal Choral Union rendered a Vedic hymn which was appreciated by many people in the audience. The music was written by Holst in 1911. We reproduce the hymn here as readers of The Pilgrim may be interested in it

    He is the Primal One,
    Begetter of the universe,
    Begotten in mystery,
    Lord of created things,
    Lord of heaven and earth,
    Who Is He?

    How shall we name Him when we offer sacrifice?
    He through Whom are the primeval waters which were before aught else
    From their depths arose fire, the source of life,
    He, Upholder of earth and sea, of snow clad heights,
    Encompassing the wide regions of air,
    Ruling the sky and realms of light;
    He Whose word is eternal,
    Giver of breath and light and power,
    Sole Ruler of the universe,
    Dwelling alone in His grandeur;
    To Whom the gods bow,
    Lord of death,
    Whose path is life immortal!
    Who is He?

    How shall we name Him when we offer sacrifice?
    Thou alone canst fathom Thy mystery;
    There is none beside Thee.

The Gospel and India’s Heritage

BY A.J. Appasamy, M.A. (Harvard), Ph.D.: (Oxon.)

The Rt. Rev. W.W. Cash, the Bishop of Worcester writes in the Church of England Newspaper:

Dr. Appasamy is an outstanding Christian scholar. An Indian by birth, his father was a convert from Hinduism. This book has been written at the request of the National Christian Council of India to explain the heritage of India in relation to the Christian Faith. The author deals almost exclusively with the Bhakti heritage and its significance for the Church. One of the purposes of the book is to help Christians in India particularly, to see the heritage of India and thereby make a definite contribution to the Church Universal. The author, therefore, studies afresh the life and teaching of our Lord, as they are recorded in the Gospels and explains them in relation to India’s spiritual heritage. He asks at the outset the question, “Who is Jesus?” and tells us how all Hindus, outcastes and others, ask the same question. The question is answered as the theme of the book unfolds “Only God manifest in human flesh”, we read, “could live as He lived, suffer such shame and pain on the Cross and rise again to a new and wonderful life”. It is where Dr. Appasamy draws upon St. John’s Gospel that his parallels with the Bhakti heritage are most striking. The doctrine of the Fatherhood of God is dealt with in relation to Hinduism and one striking difference is noted: “In Christianity the Father’s love for mankind goes to the uttermost extent of self-sacrifice and death upon the Cross. … The message of the Cross is lacking in Hinduism”. This is a great book and a notable contribution to Christian theology from the Indian standpoint. Its freshness of thought will prove stimulating to all who read it.

Copies of the English edition (Price Rs. 7/7) are available from:

THE CHRISTIAN LITERATURE SOCIETY, Post Box No. 501, Park Town, MADRAS