The Pilgrim

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

Editor: P. Chenchiah

To Our Readers

The issue of March was sent by V.P.P. We thank all those who have accepted the V.P.P. and paid it. The exact number of members will be known when V.P.P.’s that are returned are finally settled and the foreign subscriptions are paid in. Any way we start with a number about which we cannot be enthusiastic. When we remember our target is 500, we are not even halfway up. Unless each member secures another, the goal will be no nearer I have always regarded ‘Pilgrim’ as a co-operative effort. We need and appeal to the co-operation of our readers. If you think of a probable member, drop me a card I will send him a copy.

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Our Contributors

Fr. Fallon is a familiar figure in theological circles. He has taken M.A. degree in Sanskrit in the Calcutta University and has written a book of Bengali equivalents for Church terms. The article is the 2nd part of the paper read at the Indian Christian Theological Conference, Jabalpur. Mr. V.S. Narasimhachari who is specialising in the religion of Sri Madhwa contributes the article on Avatars according to Sri Madhwa. Our readers will remember his article on Madhwism in June number 1949. The theological game ‘Samapada Chaturanga’ continues. The Reviews, Surveys are by the Editor.

Editorials

1. The Passing Away of the Maharishi

All India - men of all religions and communities in India - are mourning the passing away of Ramana Maharishi. A great spiritual Beacon light - brighter than the Karttika Deepam of Tiruvannamalai has been to all seeming put out, and we are all poorer for it. Ramana Maharishi demonstrated by his life two great truths that need demonstrating in our day - One - that God exists and the other that union with Him is blissful. Many there be in every land that believe in God and aspire to commune with Him but few indeed in the world who live in His eternal presence day and night. The modern man is so much taken up by life and its attractions that he has well-nigh ceased to have living faith in God and God-life. The Maharishi is great because he is a Rishi in the twentieth century.

We hope and pray that the inevitable will not happen. Jesus said “ye build the sepulchres of the prophets and your fathers killed them” Luke 11:47. In India prophets are not killed but are forgotten - by a process which has become stereotyped. We instal their images, worship their forms and neglect their spirit and teachings. Will the Maharishi live in a stone image and a great temple or perpetuate himself in human hearts and lives. May God raise men who catch his spirit. These great men are the light and salt of India, They cease to be if they do not perpetuate themselves in Bhaktas. The greatest monument we should build to a prophet is to heed his words and the greatest tribute one can pay to a Rishi is to continue his life and become as it were his spiritual progeny.

Suffering and Vicarious Atonement

Interesting to watch how the national mind reacts to great tragedies. For the first time in the religious history of India the question was asked why did the Maharishi die a painful death through cancer? Could he not have laid down his life or taken it up as Christ said he could, at his free will and choice? Why a painful death for a man of God? Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa died of the cancer of the throat, but the question was not raised. In the days of our national travail our leaders turned to the cross and got strength. In the days of national bereavement they are drawn to the idea of vicarious atonement as an idea that has a bearing on the doctrine of Karma. The writers who raised the question - all of them Hindus - answered it by saying that the Maharishi took over the Karma of his mother. We do not believe that the mother of the Rishi had any evil Karma to be taken over. May be as suggested that he has taken on himself the sins of his disciples. There are no visible signs that the sins of the Bhaktas have been taken over from them.

We feel vicarious atonement is a pointer towards a solution of the problem of Karma. Vedic answer was that Ritual sacrifice renders Karma impotent. In the Gita Sri Krishna taught that action without Kama neutralises the binding power of Karma. The doctrine of the cross is that if sins cannot be taken over - the suffering - the evil of Karma can be taken over. Siva swallowing Kalakuta for saving the world was the Myth of which Christ taking the suffering of the sinful on the cross was the fulfilment. We hope the great intuition Hindu India gained, as it were at the deathbed of the Maharishi, will not be allowed to be dimmed. Hinduism needs the doctrine of vicarious atonement as a new approach to the old problem of Karma.

2. Indian Christian, Comparative and Co-Operative Theologies

This number of the Pilgrim may be called the theological number and is intended to commemorate the third All India Christian Theological Conference held in Jabalpur at about the time India was celebrating the Republican day. The conference marks the growing longing among Indian Christians to make Christianity and Christian theology indigenous and Christ - India’s own. At the first conference there was expressed the uneasy sense of intellectual bondage self-imposed to the theological systems of the west and a desire to declare freedom of thought not knowing how to do it or what to do with the freedom asserted. The sub-conscious feeling that Indian Christian theology, if true to itself, may mean parting company with the theology of the west, alarmed the traditionalist champions on one side and the timorous Indian Christian intellectual would be revolutionaries on the other. In a book stating the Christian doctrine published by Rev. Marcus Ward, - a book much appreciated a warning against breaking away from the traditional moorings was gently sounded. The second conference proved to be entirely safe. Revelation was the subject and various papers, enunciating the theological positions down the Christian history were gathered. Even here the leaven of freedom was working. The papers included the Islamic and Hindu view of revelation and raised an issue which was not pursued whether revelation, or inspiration is the more tenable idea in the light comparative theology. The third conference synchronising with the celebration of independence of India seemed to have inspired courage into the hearts of the delegates and pioneering lines of advance in theology visited the swapnavasta of the Indian Christian. The conference was moreover made memorable by the presence and participation in discussions of Dr. Brunner an eminent theologian from Switzerland. His presentation of liberal Barthian theology offered a clear position against which the Indian situation can be stated. Dr. Brunner helped the Indian Christian to discover an agent round which his Indian Christian theology can crystallise. The subject discussed is the phenomenon that is inadequately described as Incarnation or avatara.

We bespeak the interest of Hindu and Muhammadan theologians for comparative theology, which is yet in its infant stage. There are religions which do not believe in God becoming man - such as Judaism, Islam and Saivism. There are religions characteristically incarnational like Vaishnavism: and Puranic Hinduism. There are faiths which are incongruously associated with incarnation as in the case of adwaita. Buddhism and Jainism in their concepts of Arhat and Bodhisattva postulate Incarnation, as a stage in emergent evolution. Even faiths repugnant to incarnations speak of Messiah, Madhi, Jivanmukta. The traditional formulations of the doctrines of incarnation east and west need rethinking radically. We have to interpret incarnation in the light of evolution which neither Hinduism nor Christianity has done. Hence, the need of a new orientation of Karma and Avataras in Hinduism and of Avatara in traditional Christianity. The papers read at the conference merely gathered knowledge. There were two or three reactions, which may be noted Dr. Brunner in his lecture on recent scholarship on Christology said that a definite trend is to interpret theology from the standpoint of Christology. Sir Radhakrishnan and others attach more importance to the teachings of incarnation rather than to the fact of incarnation and interpret Krishna in terms of philosophical and theological theories. We have to reverse the process. The teachings of an incarnation are important by reason of the fact of incarnation. We have to re-interpret the whole gamut of theological notions in terms of the fact of Jesus. We propose later to write a short article indicating the original lines of thought which Indian Christian theology might take. For the present we may indicate three. They are:

1. The discovery and recovery of Pauline theology of incarnation as new Adam and
2. The working out of theology of the Son of Man in contrast with the traditional theology of Son of God.
3. Since incarnation is a new process of life a departure from tradition would be in linking it firmly with resurrection rather than with cross.

We believe that Indian theological conference can make very little headway unless centres or circles are established in different parts of India working throughout the year on different aspects of the subject. We propose to make Pilgrim one such centre in Madras. Our contribution will be in bringing together Hindu and Christian thoughts on the subject and setting Hindus and Christians to rethink the whole problem. A scheme for Hindu conception of incarnation would include:

1. A study of antecedents of incarnation,
2. The origin and development of the doctrine in ‘Maha Bharata’ outside Gita,
3. The development of the doctrine in Puranas,
4. The analogues of incarnation in Saivism Buddhism and Jainism, and
5. The preconception of the idea in the light of evolution.

We are publishing in this issue two articles:

1. The development of the doctrine of incarnation in Catholic theology by Father Fallon with emphasis on Ireneus doctrine of second Adam and
2. Incarnation according to Sri Madhwa by Mr. V.S. Narasimha Chari.

Sri Madhwa’s conception has some original features which the Christian has to consider. Sri Madhwa maintains a strictly dualistic position and holds that Avatars, are manifestation of Swarupa amsas of God. Of this we hope to say more hereafter. At the conference two papers were read one by the Editor on the advaitic view of Avatar and the light it may throw for Indian Christian theology of incarnation and the other on Vishishtadvaita and Incarnation by very Bishop Appasamy. We hope to publish extracts from these papers in a future issue. We offer the idea of Hindu religious papers taking, up the discussion of the idea of incarnation for this year for their consideration and acceptance. This would mean not only comparative but co-operative theology.

3. One Way Love: Christ’s Way in - Politics

Amidst much encircling gloom of moral degeneracy and increasing despair in politics, it is almost inspiring to come across complaints against the high command in politics that they are applying Gandhian ethics for a cure of political disease. A writer in the Hindu correspondence column under the caption ‘Unilateral love’ says “we are told that only by unilateral love” we can progress and not otherwise. The doctrine is whatever the opponents may do, however outrageous and illegal they may be, we must endure them like Saints, without dreaming of retaliation even in self-defence. Thus, we should convert the opposite side by our love. It should be noted that the charge is that our politicians and not our Sadhus that are applying this doctrine to Pakistan. The wonder of it all, is that this impossible doctrine worked the miracle and falsified all the champions of retaliation who demanded declaration of war against Pakistan. Yet one man of ideal sitting with no hatred in his heart with another, has changed the face of things and produced amity that might lead to important results - even if temporarily. The correspondent condemned unilateral love because it violates the lower and practicable ethics of justice. And yet the high and so-called impracticable ethics worked and worked well, and Mahatma Gandhi stands vindicated.

Our ethical outlook is vitiated by the belief that the higher values are not pragmatic and that politics can only work with lower values. We are afraid of practising love lest we destroy the order and peace which justice has established. The essential contrast between Judaism and Christianity lies just here. The great concept of Judaism was law and justice while the ethics of Christ centres on love. The Kantian idea that morality should take the form of a categorical imperative and nothing is worth to be called moral which does not win after struggle - is responsible for a conception of morality which we call oppositional (i.e.) having genesis in our struggle against nature. Jesus on the other hand calls nothing moral which does not express spontaneously our life. Hence, he came to give not a new law or testament but a new life whose deepest instinct is unilateral love. He prayed for those who crucified him not because it is a high ideal but because his nature can do nothing else. This is the sadness of the cross - exactly - that however wicked and vindictive your opponent may be you should love and bless him. If we burn our opponents houses because they have burnt, ours, we double the house - burning without any hope of changing the incendiary. That love is powerful and potent beyond our petty reason, has been demonstrated again and again. Yet we are afraid of God, Love and Saviours and do not give them a chance. Amidst greed and selfishness, ineptitude, moral degradation, one is proud that our high command tried and succeeded by applying Christ’s and Gandhijii’s doctrine of love to the worst spots of life. There is yet some hope for us.

4. God, Rain and Religions

In India, an agricultural country much depends on timely rains and monsoons, which often irregular, draw in their train, famine and drought. The Religious mind has exercised itself on this matter and has reached some conclusions, which however strange to modern mind, were acceptable to the pious in all religions. The failure of rains is attributed to sins. Whose sins? Opinion differed. Some said the sins of the Rulers and Government and others maintained the sins of the people. Science disassociates God from the phenomena of rain altogether. But the religious India holds to the conviction so strongly that the previous premier of Madras attributed the failure of rains to the sins of the people exonerating the Government of which he was the head. Judaism, seems to agree with Hinduism that withholding of rains may often be a form of punishment for sins. The modern mind, indoctrinated by science finds it hard to believe in a God who punishes by plagues and droughts and does not see any relation between God and Meteorology.

When rains fail what should be the attitude of the people? ‘Repent’ said the prophet. ‘Pray to the God of rain - Varuna’ said the Hindu. In Madras the temples and Hindu Religious Endowments are under control of the officers appointed by Government to the Hindu Religious Endowment Board. The premier therefore ordered that special prayers are to be made in temples. The Hindu orthodoxy carried on a Rama Yagna for rain, for the belief exists that Yagna has the efficacy: of bringing down rain. When drought threatens in India Hindus repair to a Maidan for Varuna Japa and Muslims assemble in the same place for prayers. Christians offer prayers in their Churches. The belief whether strongly held or nominally entertained under the undermining influence of science, still exists that God hears prayers for rain. We cannot imagine a parliament in Western countries ordering prayers for rain. Such a thing happens in India. The Newspapers even the - Hindu Newspapers held the premier to mild, ridicule and hinted that such views are out of date.

Faith cannot be said to have demonstrated God’s connection with Rain either to its own satisfaction or to the satisfaction of the sceptic. When rains came as the result of prayers, the religious men have regarded it as the proof of the existence of a prayer hearing God and the sceptic explained it as a case of accident. Both the pious and sceptic agree that it would be, better to rely on irrigation systems than on prayers.

What shall we do? Why not experiment? Let us, whenever rains fail, pray together, Hindu, Muslim and the Christian. Let us also observe how often the prayers are heard or whether they are heard often enough to encourage our faith. When Elijah, bowed on his knees and prayed the clouds straight away appeared. Neither God nor elements seem to be so readily responsive nowadays. We have to wrestle with God as much as with elements. Here are opportunities to test our faith. Let us all unite in putting our faith, to test. The country needs rain, let us forget our religious differences and meet to pray on such occasions even amidst the incredulous smiles of the sceptics. Some day or other good men have to control nature for the good of men. Why not make a start with asking God to lend his ears to our agony?

5. Social Conscience - Where Religions Can Co-Operate

If a stranger lands in England and reads the daily newspapers he comes across he will at once know the latest murder that is exciting the public and if he goes through the paper he will perceive the mind of England in the social and political levels, the political parties and their activities - the social, measures and their opponents. If he takes any religious paper he will acquaint himself of the spiritual stresses and tensions, of the swirls created by the opposed pulls between orthodoxy and heterodoxy. But in India one may read all the religious Magazine without being any wiser of the agitations of the Indian soul in the realm of the spirit. He will find learned disquisitions on ancient wisdom, studies on religious classics, defensive strategies of Hinduism but will not know where the Holy of Holies of the Indian spirit lies and where it comes into contact and conflict with the secular and spiritual life of the nations. The ancient Judaism had the prophets who held up God and reviewed the life of nation from the standpoint of the will of God, praising those who obeyed God, calling those who have strayed away from the straight path; back to it. There were at one time, during the Muhammadan and British period - a line of religious reformers who represented the challenge of God to man in Society. Judgement is not the crucial term of Hindu men of God. But a long line of Maharata Saints endeavoured to live a life of broad enlightenment that comprehended the light of Islam and Hinduism and delivered through life and conduct the secret of Hindu-Muslim spiritual life. Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj, Swami Vivekananda have been prophets rebuking the nation for all its selfishness, greed and inhumanity, in the name of God. But now religious reformer is extinct and is reincarnated as a member of legislative council. The conscience of the race dwells not in prophet or Sadhu but in the politician our religious issues are fought out in Legislature and to know the soul of India and its struggles one has to read, the proceedings of legislative assemblies and councils.

After freedom came to India no measures of the Government stirred up emotion so strongly as the Hindu code pending before Central Legislature and the Hindu Religious Endowment Bill in the Select Committee stage in Madras. Both the supporters and attacker of Hindu Religious Bill admit that the mal-administration of Religious Endowments was an evil calling for a remedy. And yet even the opponents of the bill made no effort to stir up public conscience in this matter of temple abuses but whipped themselves up into frenzy in the name of Religious liberty The Matathipathis and Thambirans are morally trustees of the money the devotees subscribe and yet the worshippers are supen’s, and do not interest themselves in the proper administration of the temple funds. While they oppose reform initiated by Government, they have not raised their little finger to reform the evil apart from the Government. Even so while the cry of religion in danger is raised against the Hindu Code we do not find in Society any centre sensitive to claims of justice to women. One hears rhapsodies about women calling them Goddesses and even of worshipping them but when it comes to giving her an equal share with the son, a hard secular attitude manifests itself.

We have here a field for co-operation between religions. Can we not Christians, Hindus and Muslims meet together and see what can be done to create a sensitive social conscience which will not tolerate social injustice but will in the name of God proclaim the better way and condemn the selfish path? Should we not begin such a work at the feet of God and send forth the challenge of God through our religious press? Is it not strange that our religious conscientiousness should leave the soul and dwell in legislatures. How long will religious people justify the Government inroads into religion by their indifference and lack of vision?

6. Asoka Chakra Movement

We commend to our readers the Ashoka Chakra movement initiated by the Theosophist group from Adayar. The editor has attended one of the early meetings and has spoken at one of its propaganda meetings. The Ashoka Chakra movement may be termed the Indian version of the moral rearmament movement of the Oxford group which has done some exceeding good work. We hope the supporters of the Ashoka Chakra movement will read and follow the efforts of moral re-armament movement for encouragement and help.

We are, in New India, up against the moral problem. The illusion is cherished by politicians that we can dispense with morality in politics. This is a fatal error for which we are paying heavily. Communism is a highly disciplining doctrine, with an ethics of its own. Juggling with economic factors or with finance alone cannot produce any permanent improvement. India is free, but one cannot implement freedom worthily without vision and discipline. Want of discipline among citizen, greed and selfishness in daily life - unconcern for others, corruption among officers and black-marketing, merchants commercial dishonesty, are bound to be disastrous. Law and punishment alone are not sufficient deterrents. So to save free India we have to forge a ‘moral front’ as the sustainer and supporter of the ‘economic and political front’. Parties acclaimed as “Saviours of India” have lost the respect of India for letting go the ethical idealism in practice.

The value of the movement lies exactly in the advocacy of practical ethics to support national constitution. Ashoka was an emperor who realised the necessity of Dharma in politics. He appointed Government officers for the purpose. Ashoka Chakra is an inter-religion ethical movement for the support of democratic structure. A democracy demands not only outer institutions but also inner character - a dharma. This is the political gospel of Ashoka - propagated and preserved in his famous Pillars.

Adayar has begun the movement with characteristic vigour. It seeks to actualise the implication of the symbol adopted by Indian democracy. The publication, in cheap form, the edicts of Ashoka, brings down ethical emotion to a severely practical level. We hope every member of Ashoka Chakra will read the book. A pamphlet giving points to speakers has been brought out. The brochure is very helpful especially the notes by the Secretary M. Subramaniam. Meetings have been held in different parts of the City to explain the objects of the movement.

It seems to us that our danger is not so much the want of light as want of a technique. There was never a time in the history of the world when men are literally blinded by an excess of light. Even those of, good will do not know how to put it into practice. We are therefore anxious that the movement should pay attention to technique. We suggest the following for immediate action:

1. It is said that Indian contribution to world ethics will be to emphasise the duties as much as the rights. Our constitution has a chapter on fundamental rights but none on fundamental duties. We suggest the appointment of a small committee of lawyers and legislators and social workers for working out ‘fundamental duties’ of the citizen of India,

2. To draw up the contents of national dharma based on a perception of our national weaknesses and strength. The International fellowship of Madras has published its findings0 on National Dharma. Ashoka Chakra may work on it and see if it can be improved upon,

3. A good start has been made by not imposing subscriptions. The ‘cell method’ of propagation may be studied and put into practice. We call upon Christian pastors, Muslim teachers and Hindu preachers, Matadhipathis, Religious Magazines, Story writers, Cinema artists to take up the ‘moral front’ seriously and help to create the moral foundation on which alone Indian democracy can be reared.

7. Birthdays and Our Calendar

Last quarter has been rich in birthdays of great men - of Shakespeare, and Wordsworth, of Sri Buddha, Ramanuja in the East. Sri. Buddha seems to be coming to his own in India. Vaisakha Pournami (May 2) was his birth and enlightenment day alike. Governors in some provinces of India bore open testimony to the moral influence of Buddhism. The adoption of Dharma Chakra as a national emblem is the first tribute India has paid to Buddha. The starting ‘Asoka chakra movement’ is another indication of the benign influence of the ‘Light of Asia’. Where Jesus and Buddha are honoured and followed, we may be sure - highest good-will be sought and practised. No better discipline for democracy in India can be imagined than embodying the spirit of the Sermon of the Mount of Jesus and the ideals of Anukampa and Metta of Sri Buddha.

Articles

A Brief Conspectus of Catholic Theology Regarding the God-Man

(N.B. - These notes are very “sketchy” and do not aim at scholarly completeness, but they may draw the attention to some important authors or works, familiar to all Catholics but, perhaps, less known to many Protestants).

The first outstanding theologian of the Incarnation and of the Redemption in the Catholic Church is undoubtedly Saint Ireneus, at the end of the second century. He gave us the beautiful theory of ‘recapitulation’ and of ‘physical mediation.’ The New Adam comes to head humanity and in Him all humanity gains the victory over sin. For it behoved Him who was to destroy sin and redeem man, subject to the penalty of death, that He should Himself, be made the same thing that man was - man who had been enslaved by sin and held by death; in order that sin might be destroyed by man, and man might go forth from death … God recapitulated in Himself the ancient formation of man, that he might kill sin, deprive death of its power, and give life to humanity. ‘Ireneus’ theology is still today one of the main influences at work in Catholic Christological thinking.

We know from our study of Eastern Christology how much Athanasius and Cyril of Alexandria not only brought about the definitions of Nicaea and Ephesus to be accepted by the whole Church but how they built great theological treatises on the Christological doctrine. They have always remained the great doctors of the Incarnation in the Catholic Church and their influence can be noticed all through the works of later theologians to this day.

The greatest doctor of the Western Church is however Saint Augustine of Hippo. His theology of the Trinity would be of the greatest interest even in our present study of Christology because our Christology will always be superficial and fragmentary if we do not relate it to the Trinitarian Mystery. In the matter of Christology proper, Augustine gives a new and fertile analogy which was to become classic, that between the union of the soul and the human body in the one human person and the union between the Word and human nature in Christ. “Anima et corpus duae res sunt sed unus homo, Verbum et homo duae res sunt sed unus Christus.” “As the number of persons is not increased when the flesh is added unto the soul so that there be one man, so the number of persons is not increased when man accedes to the Word, so that there be one Christ.” (St. Thomas Aquinas will take back this comparison, correct and perfect it to make of it an integral part of his Christology). About Augustine and his influence on Western Christology, much should be said. For us in India who sometimes think of the Catholic Church as of a European or Graeco-Roman Church, let us remember that the greatest doctor of the Catholic Church knew little Greek, hated Roman civilisation, and was himself a dark-skinned African. But that man had experienced in himself the mystery of Christ’s redemption as few men ever did, he had contemplated the Mystery of the Trinity with a longing for God rarely equalled, and that is the reason why he remains the greatest theologian of grace and the God-Man. Indians, who are naturally attracted by St. John’s Gospel, would also love, I am sure Augustine’s incomparable commentary on St. John.

Due to the long struggle of the Western Church against Arianism and against its many survivals (there was a time when all the important princes and nations of the barbarian West seemed committed for good to Arianism), the divinity of the God-Man was emphasised to the point of making his humanity appear somewhat unreal and abstract. This was a reaction, but a temporary reaction only, and again, in the middle-Ages the God-Man will appear to the Church in all the beauty of His humanity. The history of Christology in the XII and XIII centuries is a most marvellous history of deep theological thinking, ardent devotion, faith penetrating the whole mind and heart of theologians who were, many of them, great Saints and Contemplatives.

Saint Anselm, in his ‘Cur Deus homo’, builds up a new soteriology: St. Bernard, in his sermons, speaks, as few had spoken after St. Augustine, of the redeemer and of the union between Christ and the Christian soul, His spouse; Hugh and Richard of St. Victor, and many other contemporaries, have great treatises on the ‘De Verbo Incarnato’; Peter Lombard, who was to remain the standard author in theological schools till late into the Reformation time, treats at length of the Incarnation in his Third Book on the ‘Sententiae.’

As the theologians were all starting on their theological inquiries into Christology, Francis Assisi, who was much more than a theologian, founded his Franciscan Order of Friars and, through his own example and their preaching, made the whole of Western Europe fall in love with the sacred humanity of our Lord The contemplation of the Crib, the ‘Way of the Cross’ devotion, the most beautiful Christian lyrics, the constant meditation of Christ’s life, all this and much more we owe to Assisi. Our whole theology was renewed by this intense ‘bhakti’ of the purest and warmest Christian type. Saint Bonaventure, Duns Scotus and a great line of Franciscan theologians will give us in the XIII and XIV centuries much of what is best in Catholic Christology. For them the whole world creation was, from the beginning, ordained to the Incarnation and the whole universe is theocentric because it is, and always was, Christocentric.

The Dominican Order gave the Church two of its greatest theologians, Saint Albert the Great and Saint Thomas Aquinas. The former consecrates an important part of his ‘Compendium theologiae’ to the question of the Incarnation, but it is Aquinas who really fixes the dominant lines of Catholic Christology. I cannot give you even a brief summary of Thomist Christology, it would go much beyond the limits of this paper. One of the important contributions of Thomism to Christology is the metaphysical notion of Being, clearly worked out due to the philosophical doctrine of Analogy and applied to the problem of the hypostatic union. The God-Man is one person because person means wholeness or integrity of being in an intellectual subject; in Christ there is only one Being - Esse - the ‘esse’ of the Son which is the divinity and by which the humanity of Christ subsists in the Son. This conception of person, deeply metaphysical, has saved Catholic theology from all the psychological theories of personality which led so many other Christologies into the most distressing confusions and contradictions. It presupposes a clear distinction between the nature and the person, the ‘whatness’ and the ‘whoness’ of the individual; it is also intimately connected with the fundamental Thomist thesis which establishes the real distinction between ‘esse’ (being) and ‘essentia’ (essence). But all this would take us far into philosophical problems. For Thomas Aquinas philosophy is the ‘ancilla theologiae’, the handmaid of theology, and it supplies to it clear and solid metaphysical notions without which the work of theology becomes nearly impossible. Many modern Christologies have suffered heavily from this absence of metaphysical thinking, succumbing too easily to the inroads of idealism, moralism, scientism, etc. Leaving all this for the moment, I would prefer to tell you something about Aquinas himself and about his ardent love for the God-Man. He was a theologian who would pass hours daily in the contemplation of the Crucifix and often said that he had learned more of Christology from this silent contemplation than from any amount of study. His theology may appear dry and even more philosophical at times than truly theological, but this is an altogether false impression. Thomas was above all a man who lived and thought by Faith and his whole theology is penetrated by his charity.

In the days that followed Aquinas we see a great florescence of the purest Christian spirituality, especially in Germany and the Netherlands: Tauler, Suso, Ruysbroeck, and so many more, were theologians as well as mystics and their Mysticism was deeply Christological. These great writers would have an immense appeal to the Indian soul.

Many commentators unhappily, followed upon Aquinas and Scotus, and it must honestly be said that except for a few great theologians like Capreolus or Cajetanus, we find much that is mere scholasticism and no longer original thinking. This gradually brought about a very low ebb in Western Christology in the late Middle-Ages. Nominalism, at a time, will very nearly dominate many of the great medieval Universities. Thought, and often religious life too, came to be dried up in many theological circles. Yet, even then, we have the wonderful ‘Imitation of Christ’, not Christology in the strict sense of the term (its saintly author is very critical of theology!) but one of the greatest productions of the Catholic Church as a spiritual Christological treatise of devotion.

The Reformation and the Counter-Reformation brought about a new age in Christology. Much was mere controversy, but much also remains which is deep and positive theology. Maldonatus, the greatest Catholic exegete of the time, renewed the Catholic study of Scripture. Suarez attempted to restore true Thomism and to save it from scholasticism, Vasquez, Lessius, Bellarmine the French man Petau de Lugo, John of St. Thomas, are all in the great theological tradition and all have deep treatises on the subject of Christology, grace, and the sacraments.

In the post-Reformation days, the Catholic theologians attach themselves more and more to the question of the Sacraments and of Grace, in other words to the study of the life of Christ in the Christian. At the same time a great French spiritual author, the Cardinal de Berulle, a contemporary whose influence was to renew French theology, was writing, his famous ‘Discours de l’elat el de la grandeur de Jesus’ in which he attaches himself to the contemplation of the Word Incarnate. He is one of those who helped most the progress of the theology of the Mystical body, through the influence of the school of spirituality known as ‘the French School’. I would be incomplete if I did not mention the names of the two great doctors and classics of Christian Mysticism: St. John of the Cross and St. Teresa of Avila. Their thoroughly Christological spirituality, based on their love for the Cross, has deeply influenced the whole life and theology of the Catholic Church in the last three centuries. The Indian Church will find in them a Mysticism, far removed from any pantheism or impersonal gnosis (it is through and through Christian, the blossoming forth of deep Faith and Charity) but likely to appeal immensely to the naturally contemplative mind of so many in this land.

I must leave many names … After the crisis of the 18th century, a century of ‘enlightenment’ but of great spiritual darkness, a renewal in theology was brought about in Germany by Scheeben, the master of all later day theologians in Germany and many other countries. He marks a return to the Greek tradition of the Eastern Fathers.

The 19th century was also an age of deep religious crisis all over the West Idealism, liberalism, scientism, nationalism were the new idols, and compromise with them brought what has been called ‘modernism.’ Renan, Loisy, Sabatier, Tyrrell are some of the great names associated with Catholic modernism, but the crisis within the Church itself was quickly overcome due to the energetic action of Pope Pius X and the renewal of sound biblical scholarship under his guidance. Great exegetes took the place of Renan Loisy: Lagrange, Prat, Grandmaison, Allo, and others created a solid corpus of biblical theology. With other theologians working in other fields of theology, they are responsible for the great renewal of Catholic theology in this century. You may be familiar with the names of Lebreton, Mersch (the author of the best works on the Mystical Body), De La Taille (the theologian of the Eucharist), De Lubac, Congar, (Ecumenism from the Catholic viewpoint), De Broglie, Huby, (whose latest book on ‘Mysliques Paulinienne et Johannique_’ has just appeared) and others whom I cannot mention for lack of time. Many of the names I did mention are French, but there are outstanding theologians in Germany for instance, a Karl Adam, a Romano Guardini, who have of late written remarkable Christological works; in Italy, Ricciortti has produced a Life of Jesus Christ, just translated into English, probably the best presently available Catholic theology has never been so much alive as it is today, and we may anticipate further progress, especially in Christology. Our Catholic Christology, except for the short crisis of modernism, has not known the terrible turmoil which perturbed so profoundly non-Catholic circles; there has been no time when the God-Man was lost sight of in the full harmony of His divine and human aspects. Yet the biblical studies have brought-forth great results as regards the knowledge of Christ, His milieu, His disciples, environment, etc. At the same time, the great theological progresses of recent years in the study of the Eucharistic Christ and the Mystical Body of Christ have brought theology much nearer to our spirituality and daily life. Our Christology, closer than ever to the word of Scripture, will also be therefore closer than ever to our personal and corporate ‘sadhana.’

Conclusion: Indian Christology?

What might be an Indian Christology some time in the future? I am not going to plan out what is to be left to the Holy Spirit living in, and guiding, the Church in her dogmatic progress and theological pursuits. Yet I think that I can say already that the Indian Christology of the future will tell us much more than we are actually conscious of about the Spirit of Christ, the Third Person of the Blessed Trinity, the Holy Ghost or ‘Pavitra Atman’, as we call him in our Indian vernaculars, the Soul of the Body of Christ. Is India not providentially prepared to approach Christology along this line; not sacrificing anything which the Church has gradually realised of the Christian Mystery, yet probing deeper into the ‘spiritual’ mystery of our oneness with Christ in the Holy Spirit.

St. John, coming after the Synoptic writers, did not sacrifice or change or suppress anything of the previous accounts given by Paul, Luke, Matthew or Mark. But he went deeper into the inner mystery of the God-Man, and he is the apostle who wrote most beautifully about the Holy Spirit.

This Indian theological inquiry need not be suspected of undue subjectivism; India has never been ‘subjectivist’ in her approach to Reality along this line, the inquiry into the ontological mystery of the Atman. I do not contend that the Atman, as realised in the Upanishadic tradition, is the Spirit of Christ as revealed in the Farewell Discourses of Jesus and as graciously communicated to the young Church of Jerusalem through baptism and the ‘breaking of bread’. But I believe that this long preoccupation of the best Indian souls with the Atman is a preparation, and a providential preparation, which will make the Indian Christian more receptive to this gracious communication and more understanding as to its nature and working in the soul.

I would also suggest that, together with the Fourth Gospel, the Acts of the Apostles, which have often been called the Gospel of the Holy Spirit, the first account of the Mystical Christ living on in His disciples and the Church, may become the favourite object of meditation and contemplation of the Indian Church.

I also think that Indian theology may reflect more than the West ever did on the mystery of the divine Sonship of the God-Man and that of our eternal pre-existence in Him as thought and uttered eternally by the Father together with, and in, that Divine Word to whom St. John witnesses in the prologue of his Gospel.

Contrary to what seems to have been the case in some parts of the Eastern Church, there will be no danger here in India of over-emphasising in the God-Man the divine at the expense of the human because Indians are already deeply in love with the sacred humanity of Christ, and because of the sacramental life and the whole sacramental character of Catholicism. The way to this contemplation of the Blessed Trinity will always remain the way of St. John, the disciple who knew best the Heart of the God-Man as revealed in the Farewell Discourses, the one who understood best the mystery of the Eucharist and the vivifying power of Christ’s Flesh, the one who most intimately knew Mary the Virgin Mother of Jesus. Indian Christians will never forget the Sacred Humanity of Christ because they love and venerate our Lady.

But it may be the role of the Indian Christian to show to the Advaita Jnanin and to the Dvaita Bhakta how Christianity, and Christianity alone, can transcend and solve the fundamental antinomy which has torn India’s thought and spirituality, I mean the antinomy between the Indian search for absolute reality beyond all relativity and the longing for a personal saviour, the God of religious souls. Only in the God-Man, who is by nature the Eternal Word, the Son consubstantial with His Father, the perfect expression and image of the absolute Being, but by nature also consubstantial, with us, the Man in whose Name we are all saved, only in that one theandric Person can come to an end the age-long quest of India. And when India’s quest will end in humble Christian adoration, this adoration shall reveal to India something, or rather someone infinitely more beautiful, more true, and more loving than all her mythologies or systems had ever dreamt or thought of.

Avataras or Incarnations According to Sri Madhwa

By V.S. Narasimhachar.

Sri Krishna says in slokas 7 and 8 of Chapter IV of Srimad Bhagavadgita:

    Yada hi dharmasya
    glanir Bhavati bharata
    abhyutthanam adharmasya
    tadatmanam Srijamyaham

[“Whenever languishment occurs of Dharma and the ascendancy of Adharma, O! Arjuna, then I manifest myself”]

    Paritronaya Sadhnam
    Vinasaya cha dushkritam
    dharma samsthapanarthaya
    Sambhavami Yuge

[“For the protection of the good, and the destruction of the wicked and for the purpose of establishing Dharma I incarnate in yuga after yuga”]

The above slokas clearly state the occasion for the incarnation of Supreme God. The question is what is the nature of incarnation.

It is a fact that, apart from Gnanis, people have always seen in the incarnation an ordinary individual in prakritic or material body and apparently possessing qualities common to man like:

    Amnatuam paravasyam
    vavedha bhedadikam tatha prakrita dehaivam
    deha tyagadikam tatha
    anisatvam cha duhkhitvam
    samyam anyaischa hinatam

— Mahabharata Tatparya - Nirnaya Adhikarna I slokas 38 and 39

[“Ignorance or dependence or pain or dismemberment or the possession of physical body, or the loss of it etc. or want of capacity or suffering, or equality with or even inferiority to others.”]

But God has according to Srutis no material body and its limitations of ignorance, viz, limited existence knowledge and bliss. He is “Satchidananda Swarupah”, his body and realities are of the essence of existence knowledge and bliss. He is full of faultless infinite perfect qualities “Nirdosa gune paripurnah”. He is omnipresent and omniscient and eternal and not subject to birth and death. How can such a Being be said to have a material body with qualities of an ordinary man subject to Karma and death and birth while in incarnation? In short does the infinite Being become finite incarnation?

Moreover, the authorities say that, from the time of creation itself the supreme Lord has existed in infinite number of forms and that those forms are eternal, never born ceasing to be, consist of perfect bliss and wisdom and, in fact, consist of all the characteristics of the Lord. The chaturveda Sikha says:

    Vasu devah Samkarshanah
    Pradyumno Anuruddho'ham
    Matsyah kurmo varaho
    Narasimha Vamano
    Ramo Ramah Krishna
    Buddha Kalkiraham
    Satha dhahun Sahasra dhahum
    Yamito'ham ananto'ham
    Naivaite jayate Namriyante
    Naisham anujna na bandhona
    Sarvaeya hyete purna
    Ajara Amrutah parah paranamdah

[“I am Vasudeva, Sankarshana, Pradyunna, Aniruddha. I am Matsya, Kurma, Varaha, Narasimha, Vamana, (Paraso) Rama, Rama Krishna, Buddha, Kalkeni. I am (in a) hundred forms; am in a thousand forms; I am (of) innumerable (forms); I am (of) infinite forms; these indeed are never born, never cease to be, they need no permission, they have no bondage, no release, and all these without exception are perfect, they all are the Lord, they are never old, are (all) absolutely immortal, they are all distinct, (from the imperfect world), they all consist of pure bliss”]

    Panchatmakah Sa bhagavan
    dvi shadatmaka bhut panca dvayi sata
    sahasraparo mitascha
    Ekah sayogyakhila dosha
    samujjhito'pi
    sarvatra purnagunako pi
    bahupamo bhut

— Quoted by Madhwa in Mah. Tat. Nirnaya Adhi I sloka 10

[“The Almighty Lord assumed five forms, twelve forms and again twelve forms, ten forms, one hundred forms, one thousand forms, forms of para (of 18 digits) and infinite forms. Though identical, equal and free from every blemish and full of complete attributes in all these forms, He appeared to be many”]

Sri Vadiraja says all these multiple forms of the Lord become manifest at the time of creation itself and not separately at intervals. They become merged at the time of Pralaya (dissolution).

Varaha Purana says:

    Dvirupam sakau tasya parasya harer vibhoh
    Pratibimbamsakaschatha svarupamsaka evacha
    Pratibimbamsaka jivah pradurbhavah pare smritah
    Pratibimbeshvalpa samyam Svarupantarani tu

[“There are parts or ‘Amsas’ of two different descriptions, of the Supreme Lord of all power, viz; the Amsa which is a reflection”pratibimbasakas” and the Amsa which is essential ‘Swarupamsakas’. The souls are ‘Pratibimbasakas’ and the others are known as manifestations of the Lord. In the Pratibimbasakas there is a little similitude, but the others are ‘Swarupus’ i.e., essentially the Lord Himself”]

Again the same purana says:

    Svamsas chatho vibhinnamsa
    iti dvedhamsa ishyate
    amsino yattu samarthyami
    yat swarupam yathasthtih
    Tad eva nanumairo'pi
    bheda svamsinoh kvachit
    vibhinnamso'lpasaktih
    kinchit sadrisyamatrayak

[“The Amsa is of two kinds viz; Swamsa essential part (which does not differ from the whole) and Vibaktamsa or the distinct part (which is quite distinct from the whole). In the first case, whatever is the nature, power or the condition (Supremacy etc.) of the whole, is also the nature etc. of the part and there is not an iota of difference between whole and its part That which is called the distinct part is of limited power and possessed of similitude in very small degree”]

Bhagavata says of Incarnations:

    Ete Swamsakalah pumsah Krshnastu bhagavan Svayam
    Indari vyakulam lokam mridayanti yuge

[“These are the essential (non-different) parts of the supreme Being which are identical with the glorious Lord of perfect bliss (and appear) in every age (to) protect, and bless the world afflicted by the foes of Indra”]

Therefore, the forms of God like Rama, Krishna etc. which are identical with the Lord cannot be made finite by embodiment in Prakriti contrary to their very nature of Existence, Knowledge and Bliss. The only way they can appear in the world of Prakriti is by manifestation as stated in sloka 6 of Chapter IV of Bhagavadgita which says:

    Ajo pi son avyavatma bhutanam isvaro pison
    Prakritim svam adhishthaya sambhavamytma mayaya

[“Although I am unborn and undying (even as to the body) and although I am the Lord of created beings, yet I appear before the world out of my free will dominating my own Prakriti”] and also as stated in Sloka II Chapter IX Ibid.

    Avajanantimam mudha manushim tanum asmitam
        Param bhavam ajananto mama bhutamahesvaram

[“The dull witted misapprehend me as possessing human body not knowing my transcendental nature and my overlordship of created beings”]

Vide Also T.A. 3,13

    Ajayamano bahudha vijayate

[“The Lord who is unborn becomes many”] and Padmapurana passage:

    Prathyakshatvam Harerjamna Navikarah Kathamchana

[“The birth of Hari consists in His revealing Himself (manifesting Himself)”]

Sri Madhwa takes these verses as solving the problem. Krishna says that though the Lord is without birth or death even as regards His body, and He is the Lord of all created beings, He, nevertheless manifests Himself in one of His ever-existing forms at His own Will and pleasure atma - mayaya manipulating Prakriti which is His Willing tool. Sri Madhwa says that in the case of man he is embodied in Prakriti over which he has no control and whose nature is ignorance, and he is subject to the Law of Karma, and therefore he is unaware of his inherent nature of “Sachidananda” but that the Supreme God being the Lord of Prakriti which is His willing tool is not subject to it or to Karma. He is not therefore limited in any of His qualities or nature by Prakriti His body consisting of Existence, Knowledge and Bliss remains unaffected and His incarnation and action is of the Divine essence.

    Janma karma chamedivyam

(Bhagavadgita Chapter IV. Sloka 9). It is unaffected by Prakriti which He uses as an instrument only to produce the impression in men of His being in ordinary Prakriti body when in fact He is in His own “Sachidananda Swarupam”.

Sri Madhwa quotes Bhavishyat Purana passage:

    Pradivibhavagato, pyaiah jneyah kevala Chiddcho Nirdosha purna sadgunah

[“Although he has manifested He must be known as having only intelligence body, full of good qualities without any faults”]

Says Sri Madhwa in Mah. Tat. Nirnaya Adhi. II:

    Vasudeva suto nayam
    Nayanga garbhe vasai Prabhu
    Nayam Dasarath jatho
    Nachapi jamadagbitah

[“He is not the son of Vasudeva, this Lord never lived in the womb; He was not begotten by Dasaratha nor by Jamadagni”]

    Jayate naive kutrapi mriyate kuta eva lat na vadhyu
        muhyate nayam badyate naiva Ke nachit

— Verse 79

[“He is never born through anyone; how can it be said then that He died; He cannot be killed; and is never in delusion nor can He be bound by anybody under any circumstance”]

    Kuto durham svalamtrasya nitynandaika rupiah

— Verse 80

[“How can there be misery to one who is independent and whose form is only eternal Bliss”]

    Pradurbava hareh sarve
    naiva prakritadehinah
    nirdosha guna sampurna
    dasayatyanyathaiva tu

— Verse 85

    Dushtanam mohanarthaya
    satam api cha kutrachit
    Yathayogya phalapraptai
    Lilaisha paramatmanah

— Verse 86

[“All the manifestations of Hari are never made of physical bodies; they are without blemish and full of good attributes; but He makes them seen otherwise. This is play of the supreme Lord to delude the wicked and sometimes of the good also in order that they may get their due desert”]

Garuda Purana (Brahma Kanda Chapter 24 Verse 71)

    Avataranam chedabhedadikam cha
    Tathotpaltir maranam chintanam cha

[“To think avatars as distinct or as having birth and death”] as enmity with God.

Sri Madhwa says that the Incarnations are real and not mere illusions and are resorted to by the Supreme God as part of His “Swarupam” or essential nature as the creation etc. of the world which He effects because it is His nature. Sri Madhwa quotes the Shruti:

    Devasyaisha svabhavo'yam

(This is God’s nature and Himself) and the Narayana Shruti:

    Srasthrivadi svabhavatvat
    svecchaya vishnuravyayah
    Srishtyadikam karotyaddhah
    svayam cha bahudha bhavet

[“The ever existing Vishnu out of His own Will does creation etc., or becomes Himself many because of His nature as creator”]

Therefore, according to Sri Madhwa the Avatara is the “Swamsa” manifestation of the Supreme Lord and as such is real and not different even in the least from Him. The form is eternal and itself Existence; Intelligence and Bliss in body and qualities and even when incarnate retains its original nail nature and becomes only manifest to man (apart from gnanis) at His sweet Will and pleasure as it is His “Swarupa” to manifest whenever there is occasion for such incarnation; using Prakriti or undifferentiated matter of ‘Tamoguna’ as His tool to produce the impression of possessing human body when in fact He is in His own “Satchidananda Swarupa”

Aryan Path

(May. 1949 - Dec. 1949.) Vol. 20.

Aryan Path - stands in its own words “for all that is now in the East and West alike; from the ancient times to modern days. It stands for the Ancient way of spiritual development and growth in Holiness rooted in knowledge, and it can be walked by Brahmanas and Mlechas, by Jews and Gentiles and by Philanthropists of any political school.” Under the able editorship of Mrs. Sophiawadia these objects are realised almost in every issue of the Magazine. Aryan path is not exclusively a religious magazine but a magazine of world culture that sheds its light on paths of men. Aryan path was on our exchange from May, and we enjoyed every issue. The wise and mature reflections of Shravaka on vital issues and fairly wide range of reviews by the best scholars of India are its permanent features. From the standpoint of “Pilgrim” we found the articles on the recent developments in Sanskrit by N.A. Gore highly illuminating and informative. Few magazines in India contain a periodical review of the religious literature of the year, and Mr. N.A. Gore is the only source in India for the periodic review of developments in Sanskrit. We hope these reviews will be counted as a permanent feature of the Aryan path. We give below religious articles that have appeared in this Magazine during 1949.

1. Appreciation of Vaishnava Lyricism by Lalmohan Mukherji.
2. Ego and the sense of ‘I’ by J.M. Ganguh, p. 170.
3. Kashmir Saivaism by K. Guru Dutt, p. 26, 64, 116.
4. Mysticism in Hindu Poetry by Indranath Madan p. 252.
5. Principles common to Islam and other religions by Edward J. Jurji, p. 252.
6. Sense of sin - Gutulal Mallik, p. 499.
7. Sri Purandaradas by R. Nagaraja Sarma, p. 70.
8. Wisdom of Laotse by Lin Yutang.
9. Gandhijii and image worship, p. 481.
10. Philosophy and Philosophers by Dr. T.M. Mahadeva M.A., Ph.D.
11. The path of souls Evolution by Dr. T.M. Mahadeva M.A., Ph.D. p. 443.3 10 and 11 lectures delivered at Cornell University under the title “The climate of Indian thought.”
12. The cultural value of modern science by Prof. M. Chayyappa, delivered at the Indian Institute of Culture, Basavangudi.
13. Efforts to reach World Unity, Unity through Philosophy, an East and West Philosophers conference by Charles A Moore - 381.
14. World Perspective in Philosophy - 559.
15. India and World Culture by Mr. C.P. Ramaswami Iyer - 6.
16. World Culture and India - 51.
17. Orient and Occident psychologically by Merton S. Yewdale - 103.
18. Standards of Morality and Justice in Ancient India by U. Venkatakrishna Rau - 357.
19. Ramayana in Independent India and the New World Order by K.S. Ramaswami Sastri - 471.
20. Good and Evil - Some young children’s views by Elizabeth Cross - 543.
21. Small child’s idea of God, views by Elizabeth Cross p. 219.

The May issue of the Aryan-path celebrates the birthday of Buddha in three articles - The Paths of Inner Life, Science, Buddhism and Tadism, the wheel of law. The moral aspect of life receives attention in two ‘Morality and Materialism’, ‘science and society.’ Sharavaka, as usual, drives home his reflection, always opportune and helpful, by an apt quotation (in which he excels) from Knowyin. The article that appealed to us most comes from the pen of Ralph-Turner, Durfee Professor of History, Yale University. He uses Semantics, Linguistics in a novel and challenging way to discover the emergence of a new culture in our midst as illustrated by words ‘Welfare State,’ ‘Stream of consciousness,’ etc. - an extraordinarily stimulating line of inquiry. Aryan path is the magazine for leaders of thought who are the Light of Society.

A Survey of the Hindu Religious Literature of 1949

The difficulties in the way of general survey of the annual output of Religious Hindu Literature are many.0 While almost ail religious magazines contain reviews of Books sent to them, few of them make a feature of annual survey either of general literature on Hinduism or particular literature on special sects. The only exception is the periodical review in ‘Aryan Path’ of ‘recent developments in Sanskrit literature by N.A. Gore’ - which is very useful to the student of Hinduism. The publishers of religious literature are not well-known there being no year book available. The publishing houses set apart a few books for review and are reluctant to expand the list. We have found the review section in the Hindu of Madras Sunday issue most informing and instructive for the purpose. I took the editorship last year in March, and it took some time to contact with publishers and establish a review list with them for the ‘Pilgrim’. In these circumstances a survey is not possible. What we propose is to give a list of books on Hinduism that have appeared this year and restrict the survey to ‘Gita and Advaita.’ As Pilgrim becomes better known among publishers-we hope: we will be able to give a more satisfactory survey.

The year under survey has not produced any book on Hinduism of outstanding merit not even books of more than normal value. No new ideas and no revolutionary studies have been issued. On ‘Hinduism in general’ we may mention A.C. Boquet’s Hinduism and Father Zachariah’s ‘studies in Hinduism.’ A critique of Hinduism by Pandit Lakshmana Sastri Joshi - translated by - Parikh has been reviewed as a critique of Hinduism from socialist standpoint. Prof. P.N. Srinivasa Chari’s ‘Essentials of Hinduism’ is a valuable addition to the General study of Hinduism. Of translations into English Mimamsa Paribhasha, Yatindra mata dipika, Nyayavatara Vartika Vritti deserve attention. Studies on Nyaya - Vaishesikaa - under the name of ‘Indian realism’ by Sadananda Bahaduri, M.A., Ph.D., Bhandarkar Oriental Institute is an outstanding treatise.

For volume, Gita and Gandhi take the first place, books on Advaita taking an easy second. That Gita has been attracting the attention of Free India is obvious by the issue of Gita ‘for laymen’ by Judge A.P.S. Iyer, Gita ‘for children’ issued in the course of the year. Gita Rahasya (secret of Gita) by Ramakantacharya, ‘Essential teachings and Sadhanas of Gita’ by Mr. Venkata Narayana Naidu come from Andhra Desa while “Buddhi yoga” by Ramachandra from Canarese country. On the date, structure or even on the message of Gita very few books of originality have come out. Sridharaswami’s gloss on Gita translated by Visweswarananda Swami of Ramakrishna Mutt gives us the Bhakti approach and Mr. S.D. Satwalker’s commentary in Gita explains the orthodox view. Prof. Srinivasachari’s the ethical philosophy of Gita expounds the ethics of Gita. Sir Radhakrishnan’s Bhagavad Gita is perhaps the best book of the year as it conveys an interpretation of Gita that appeals to modern minds. Of all the writers Mr. Sultan Chand in his ‘Gita the gospel of harmony’ strikes the new note that Chapters IX to XII in the Gita are interpolations breaking the continuity of thought and should be excluded. He excises what others regard as the very heart of Gita. The scholarship in Gita has not been advanced by the output literature on the subject. A desire to show that the message of Gita is the message of other religions is a note-worthy feature of Gita commentaries of the year. Adwaitism of Sankara had some notable expounders. P.N. Srinivasachari in his ‘Aspects of Vedanta’ tackled the problems which Prof. Kappuswami Sastry set in his “compromise in the history of Vedanta.” Sri Sankara Bagavapada by Prof. Sankaranarayana though brief is meaty. The Vedanta of Sankara - a metaphysic of value by Rampratap Singh promises to be a serious study of Sankara. Lingayatism has sought the ear of the world in ‘Veerasaiva Philosophy and mysticism’ of Sri Kumarasamiji and the Lingayat movement of S. Hanushal.

We hope to publish in the next issue a list of books on Hinduism covering 1949 and indicate wherever possible in which magazine it was reviewed.

Samapada Chaturanga: Theology: Religion

We have received the following interesting letter from Fr. Pirrie Fallon on Theology. Your theological game interests me immensely. Yet for the word ‘theology’ I am at a loss. For us theology as distinct from Philosophy has a clear reference to revelation. Our philosophy is concerned with the absolute God or first principle and cause of the universe etc., but not with God as revealed to us in Christ; theology on the contrary is concerned with revelation would therefore a word like ‘Shruti’ be useful in the compound used to render the word theology? - sruti - jignasa. I doubt however, then, to add further to our list there is the ‘Paramartha vidya’ - not to be despised or Paramartha jignasa, Adhyatma vidya is more directly ‘spirituality’ than ‘theology.’ ‘Brahma vidya’ has been used too much by theosophists. These criticisms require consideration. In Ancient and Mideval India. ‘Philosophy’ and ‘Science’, ‘Spirituality’ Religion had no distinctive departmental existence. Therefore, all words available were attributed to theology. We have however to separate Theology from Philosophy on one hand and religion on the other and assign terms for each, ‘tatva’ and ‘sastra’ has to be handed over to Philosophy definitely. So also I feel ‘Paramartha’ - has to be equated to metaphysics artha being matter, para being meta - Paratatva. Abhi Dharma and Adhibhautika also has to be segregated for the use of metaphysics - ‘Adhyatma’ may be assigned to the spiritual aspect of theology but the distinction between spiritual and theological is not so prominent as between Philosophy and Religion. Dr. V. Raghavan in a personal conversation, opined that ‘Philosophy’ may be called ‘Darsana.’ I would be reluctant to part with that word for theology for the ‘vision’ is distinctively of the theologian. ‘Brahma Vidya’ is found both Upanishads and in ‘Gita’ and has secured a firm footing as the name for theology. We may add Para - Vidya to the list of synonyms for theology. The list stands as:

1. Brahma Vidya
2. Para Vidya
3. Parartha Jnana (Metaphysics)
4. Tatva Jnana (Philosophy)
5. Adhyatma Vidya (Theology with emphasis on the spiritual)
6. Shruti - Mimamsa or Mimamsa shortly (scriptural theology)
7. Sad Vidya
8. Siddhanta
9. Atma Vidya
10. Upanishad
11. Daivagnanam
12. Pranava Veda

One word as to Mimamsa - which originally meant as in Purva Mimamsa scriptural theology. Shruti - Mimamsa may meet Fr. Fallon’s suggestion. Mimamsa like Siddhanta gained wider meaning latter. In spite of Baker’s dozen names for theology we are in need of a word derived from “the word of God” or Revelation. We await its arrival. While we are about this matter we may inquire into ‘am’ business. Take the words Sankhyam, Saivam, Vaishnavam, Yogam. Is this ‘am’ a Sanskrit terminal and what does it signify? Can we get anything from it in our search for a Sanskrit equivalent to theology? In Bhagavatam, Bharatam it means history of Bhagavan or Bharata. Can we use ‘Christavam’ as Rev. Tilak used Christayana for the story of Christ. Saivam - is used for siva - cult. Can it be equated with Siva Siddhanta - which means theology of saivism. If ‘am’ can yield the meaning of ‘Ology’ we can use Christavam for Christology, Bhagavatam for theology. We shall be happy if the readers discuss this point. This week’s honourable mention goes to Father Fallon for sound criticism and suggestion.

Now for this quarter’s game we choose Religion. The common Sanskrit Synonym, Mata is not quite satisfactory. Mata is opinion. Summata - means agreement in opinion. Religion is more than opinion. It goes deeper. Mata can be used where you refer to religion in its intellectual aspect of dogma and doctrine. Marga as a way of life is certainly the most suitable word. ‘Marga’ is used for pathways to a goal as in Bhakti marga. But when we apply it to religion we mean not ‘a way to life’ but ‘a way of life’ - not a means to an end but a fundamental mode of self-expression. Yana is another word for way of life. In Upanishads, we have Davayana (the way of Gods) Pitruyana (way of the fathers) and Buddhism is either Hinayana or Mahayana. ‘Dharma’ for religion has good sanction for it. Hinduism or Buddhism are names imposed by foreigners. Hindus, and Buddhists call their religion ‘Hindu Dharma or Buddha Dharma’. Etymologically religion - (ligate - bind) means the binding together that which is broken. Have we a Sanskrit word that brings out this meaning ? Yoga - means - uniting - making one. Both bind and unite represent different shades of meaning in the way many may be made into one. The separate may unite - the broken is bound. Yoga however has taken a specialised meaning of Religious technique of realisation. Yet I do not see why Christianity in its realisation aspects be not called Christu-yoga to bring out the original sense. Thus, for religion we have (1) Mata, (2) Marga, (3) Dharma, (4) Yoga - I appeal to the pandits of theological colleges to join the game or get Hindu Pandits join it. The remarks the readers are welcome and where of general interest will be published.

All Rights Reserved.

P. Chenchiah.

Reviews

1. Discourses on the Philosophy of the Bhagavad Gita

By the late Sri Mangal Charan, B.L. with a foreword by Sir S. Radhakrishnan and a preface by Mahabir Prasad, Judge, High Court, Patna - pp. 206 - Published by Shri Awadhesh Kumar Tiwari at the Searchlight Press, Patna.

Price Rs. 2-8-0

Written by the leader of the bar at Arrah, introduced by his brother, a judge of the Patna high Court, and commended by Sir Radhakrishnan: whose latest Book happens to be on Gita, the book at the outset promised to be interesting beyond the normal stream of commentaries and on perusal. I find it more than amply realising the expectations raised by the circumstances above-mentioned.

Sri Mangal Charan has the gift of sustained philosophic thinking and can move in a very high level of abstraction fairly easily. One mark of an independent mind is seen in this book (i.e.) the absence of quotations. Though steeped in modern and ancient philosophies of the East and West the author does not parade his learning and all he says has been absorbed first and comes out as coherent, integrated system of thought. In this respect the book under review stands above the usual level of discourses on Gita.

The book is not a commentary. The author selects the determining texts of each chapter and connects them by a process of reasoning and exposition that brings out the implications and presuppositions of the Gita text; as he understands them. The exposition includes, though not ostentatiously, the background philosophy against which the capital verses of the Gita stand out.

Naturally we ask - what is this philosophy? The traditional commentators - the great acharya have worked out the background philosophy of Gita - in different ways. They are either - pure, modified or absolute adwaitism or pure, modified or absolute dwaitism. The author, so far as we are able to judge does not adopt any of these philosophic systems, in toto. For one thing, the leaven of modern philosophies has been working in his mind and the resultant outlook has been a synthesis. On the whole he takes the absolutist position of Sankara and defends it in the light of modern idealistic philosophy. Kant, Hegel and Sankara are always in his mind though he rarely mentions Sankara. Absolute idealism of the negativist type is sought to be welded into the positivist verdict of mind on which so much of our sense of reality depends. Reading between the lines he does not adopt the Maya theory of Sankara in all its latter-day implications. In stating the idealistic position the author attaches supreme importance to self-consciousness - in contrast to traditional advaitic system which delegates self-consciousness to realm of relativity which is equated to unreality. Naturally the exposition is open to all the attacks to which absolute idealism has been subjected. The development of psychology has outmoded the view that self-consciousness was the only significant mark of personality. Herein comes the necessity not felt in the author’s time of interpreting personality not in terms of avastatraya but in terms of telepathic and other abnormal manifestations of mind. A characteristic feature of the lectures is an attempt to derive the many of personality from the aboriginal one. The attempt though beset with difficulties of thought and expression, has been done better than in other avowedly philosophical treatises on Gita. The ‘I’ obeying some inner impulses gradually reaches the position of ‘I am myself’ - having no object to contemplate but contemplating itself. ‘I am myself’ is said to be the result of Satwa, Rajas and Thamas and a major part of the exposition is taken up in working this out in detail. It is difficult to say apart from the pleasures of intellectual journey - the conclusions reached are either original or striking. This and the theory of avatars, expounded in the book are claimed as the original features of the lectures. It should be remembered that late Mangal Charan did not live to complete his study of all the chapters of the Gita. Any criticism of his views should take into account that we do not possess his concluding survey of the various suggestions put forward in course of the exposition.

The author says that an avatar is really nothing more than a man - a type man who has realised Brahman completely. Though the attempt to interpret the ten avatars in the light of evolution has to confront many difficulties the general view of Avatar ‘as ascent of man’, not ‘descent of God’ has much to commend, particularly to Christian theologians who are grappling with the ‘Son of Man’ theory of the Avatar. If we regard the ten avatars as an ascending scale, we have to treat Narasimha avatar as a primitive expression of divinity. But this is the avatar which was the Ishta devata of Sankara. However ill it may fit with traditional valuation the author’s approach makes it possible to choose the higher avatar in preference to the lower - a view which appeals to Indian Christian theologian. Those who want more light on this topic are referred to Chapters IV and VII of the book.

More than the philosophy we find the exposition of Sankhya and Yoga and particularly of Yagna very instructive.

The Ethics of Gita has been the battleground of debate in modern times Sri Mangal Charan tones down the tension by assuming that sacrificial love that forgets the egoistic self as the root of Gita ethics. In this we may see the influence of both Buddhistic and Christian ethical outlook on the modern mind. While we may derive ahimsa and love from the vast regions of Hinduism especially from theistic, Bhakti sources of Upanishads, it would be straining the ethos of the Gita as understood by competent scholars like Lok-Tilak, to derive these from its teaching of Nishkamya and Lokasamgraha, as Mahatma Gandhijii and his school of thought endeavoured to do. The author does not argue the point but takes it for granted. We do not see why, and the modern mind should not graft the Christian and Buddhistic branches on the Hindu stem, if by so doing they can restore to ethics its true soul and vitality.

We have expressed our views at some length because that is the true compliment we can pay to a stimulating book which grapples with the conflicts of the modern mind and seeks to offer it a background of coherent thought instead of patch work of incoherent ideas. The virile intellect of the author has in this book brought out treasures old and new out of a storehouse of rich, thought and mature reflection.

2. Spiritual Renaissance / Problems of Life

By Swami Narendra Ananda Saraswati - Sri Baskara Ananda Ashrama - Nandigama - Krishna Dt. Rs. 3 and Rs. 2 respectively pp. 108 and 66 - published by Hindu Vijnana Prachara Samiti.

The second book with chapters very thin and short though treating with great themes is evidently intended to be read along with the first. Thus, read as we have done they give solid food for thought.

The peculiar problem which Hinduism was to face in its own children who are more and more shaped by the conditions of modern life is to make ancient wisdom and religious thought relevant to the conditions and problems of the generation. Harping on ancient truth in the traditional way rarely helps, where the writer has no insight into the present day, conditions and problems. The writer has to step into the present in order to make the past intelligible and applicable. It is somewhat strange that Andhra Desa, reputed for its sound Sanskrit Scholarship has yet to pull its weight in the realm of research; nor has it been fortunate in its publishing houses. We therefore welcome these two books from Andhra Desa - by one who views the vital issues of the day with a mind completely purged of sectarian bias and makes no attempt to display and parade Sanskrit knowledge. The great factor in the modern situation is the all conquering science, with which religion has to come to an understanding. The author helps the Indian searcher after truth by taking a correct measure of the scope and function of modern sciences.

The ‘Spiritual Renaissance’ tackles the problems of the modern man from the standpoint of ancient Hindu wisdom. The first chapter gives succinct yet adequate statement of the distinctive approach of Hinduism to the problem of life - namely - from the conspectus of Karma and Samsara. The characteristic Hindu solution of cutting the jiva grandi (knot of life) through Nishkamya is also stated. The chapters on yagna point out how the idea developed from animal to moral sacrifices. The author seems to have a good perception of the place of Body in evolution of the spirit, and we are therefore somewhat puzzled by the blessings showered on ascetic. These approbations might as well have been reserved for monastic on which the author’s views are very instructive. The chapter on science avoids the common error of the pose of pontifical superiority adopted by orthodox mind and for that reason is better able in guiding the reader to a just appreciation of its role in life. ‘Differences in humanity’ is an attempt to diagnose the true malady of the modern man and makes some shrewd hits and illuminating suggestions. The book tails off very weakly in three short sketchy, thin chapters which require careful re-writing and development in a future edition. ‘The problem of life’ is more ambitious and unfortunately the set-up of short chapters is ill-suited for the magnitude of the themes handled. Read by itself it gives a hazy though somewhat colourful thumbnail outlines of big subjects. Here again the end chapters are weak and compared with the rest of the book, nerveless. As we suggested both the books should be read together. Though short the chapters are lighted by rays that illumine in sentences like these “we are punished by our actions and not for our actions”, “keep your body strong and healthy.” It is the finest tool we have. “What right has a man to say he has a soul if he does not feel it or that there is a God if he does not see him. If there is a God we must feel him, if there is a soul we must perceive him”. Here we have a true diagnosis of the disease that has attacked all religions today. We have mesmerised ourselves into beliefs about God and soul which are not within our experience.

The author writes English very well and where he measures swords with science we see him give good display of parry and thrust. We were therefore surprised to come across a sentence like this. “Hoax which is the purest form of religion for it puts the accent not on ceremonial and symbology but on the personal experience of the supreme.” The word Hoax has set us guessing, and we confess mystifies us even now.

Since we appreciate the two books very much we may make a suggestion or two. Emancipated thinkers of the type of the Swamiji have to consider whether the time has not arrived for Hinduism to discard the whole karma, theory or modify it radically. The dominance of law is waning even in the physical world, and we should not impose its archaic tyranny on moral and mental life Hinduism has nothing to lose but everything to gain if it cuts this umbilical cord. Next, the modern Hindu needs not so much a learned diagnosis of his disease i but a competent prescription for curing it. Here and there, we find ‘Bhakti’ and ‘Pranava’ prescribed, but who is to read this prescription? We need men speaking of remedies, not from the ancient books but of them from living experience. A good deal is being said about the power of ‘Aum’, This is to a large extent a repetition of what some of the Upanishads have said. What we need is not repetition but experiment and a statement of the result of experiment. Does ‘Aum’ work in our work a day world and how? We have seen sadhus pronouncing it day and night who are no better for it. In the age of experiment, the reader expects something hot from life. The two books - make us hope for better things from this ashrama and its head, and we look forward for something solid from this source which may put Andhra Desa right in the centre of religious thought in Hinduism.

3. A Christian Alternative to Communism

By M.S. Vairana Pillai, M.A., B.D., Ph.D., with a foreword, by Dr. S. Guruadam and an introduction by Rev. R.R. Keithahn - pp. 87. Madura Book House - Tallakulam P.O. Madura, South India.

Price Rs. 1-4-0. -5 Sh. - One dollar.

This neatly and tastefully printed brochure draws the attention of the Christians to what is perhaps the immediate vital issue confronting states and churches. Between the panic of politicians and the fanaticism of the catholic and protestant churches of the west, the correct approach is neglected. America by flourishing Atomic and Hydrogen bombs has contributed to hysteria rather than to calm appraisal. The church cannot escape the issue. Let it at least study it. After giving a succinct account of the main tenets of communism and their attraction to the masses, the author touches on the criticisms of communism and proceeds to sketch an alternative to communism. Many Christians feel that the ends and aims of communism are worthy of acceptance while its methods militate against the values of Christianity. The chapter on ‘Communist experiment in Russia’ sums up the practical achievements of communism impartially and the chapter on ‘A criticism of communism’ brings out the reaction of finer minds to its absolutism. The chapter “on the challenge of communism to Christianity” needs to be pondered over by every honest Christian. Much of what the author says has been adopted by true followers of Gandhi - the Sarvodaya movement. The chapter is very sketchy and does not reveal the basic principles. If the author adds a chapter on capitalism - the want of which forms a significant defect - the reader may perceive how the programme indicated is an alternative to communism. Almost all the reforms advocated, in the book are accepted by the congressmen and communists in India. We hope in the next edition a study of the basic principles of capitalism vis a vis communism will be added and the Christian nature of the - alternative proposed will be developed. The bibliography attached at the end, though elementary is useful. For one who in an hour’s reading wants to get acquainted with the problems which capitalism and communism raise we recommend this book as a good beginning for a deeper study.

4. Tolkappiam

By P.S. Subramanya Sastri, M.A., Ph.D., Porul Athikaram - Tamil Poeties Kuppuswami Sastri Research Institute, Mylapore, pp. 61 - Rs. 2.

The object of this Review is to indicate the contents of the book rather than to state and discuss them. The author has brought out already Tolkappiam with an English translation published by Kuppuswami Sastry Research Institute. This should be read for without it the present, commentaries coming in parts may not be instructive; the part dealt with in the book. In section 3 - Part one containing Porul Athikaram - Tamil Poeties. The verses are given in Tamil and transliterated into Roman script. We commend this example to all writers who desire an audience for their works beyond Sanskrit World. If the English translation is added to each verse it will dispense with the necessity of referring to the author’s other book frequently. The Commentaries of Ilampuranar and Nachinarkiniyar are given for each verse. We observe the learned author finds that the former interprets the original far more naturally than the latter. The notes are in detail, deep and learned. For the general reader they are far more interesting than the commentaries. It may be asked what light can grammar throw on religion? As a matter of fact Tolkappiam (the first kavya) does deal with religion and social conditions.

In the part under review these topics occur - the geographical divisions of the country with their presiding Gods, the elopement of lovers and warfare. The division of the land was into ‘Mullai’ - forest region presided by Mayon - (the dark complexioned one), the mountain region Kurinji, by Seyon (the red coloured one), the sweet water region by Vetan (Indra) and the extensive sand region by Varuna. Varuna is mentioned by name. The learned author interprets Mayon as one who has Lakshmi and Ceylon as Kumara. The interpretations are suggestive.

Dravidian scholarship has been much biassed by politics. A study of classics with commentaries is a corrective to this tendency since it places before the reader the material for forming impartial judgement. We expect much light on the vexed problem of Dravidianism from the future issues. This is a book to mark and digest by those interested in Dravidian versus Aryan religion in India ?

5. Kalyan

Hindu Samskriti Amka - Special issue - pp. 1043.

We promised to give to the readers of the ‘Pilgrim’ some idea of this Encyclopeadic issue of ‘Kalyan’ in Hindi. We find what with our limited knowledge of the Hindi and the lure of the number, we have undertaken more than we can fulfil. We hope to make this volume our holiday companion by the time we return we expect we will be in a position to give our readers the benefit of some of the articles as also able to say that we have improved our Hindi considerably by going through it.

The part is named Hindu Samskriti (culture) number evidently a recurring annual, improved and extended each year. One part of the volume consists in determining what exactly is the Hindu or Bharatiya culture by stating its differentia. Three types of articles fall under this head

1. What is Hindu culture? What is its form and features?
2. How does it differ from other cultures
3. What does it contribute to universal culture?

The answer to these questions make up the one part. Another part deals with art, architecture, literature, Ayurveda and Astrology. Ayurveda receives more attention than one expects. Hindu Samskaras - Upanayana, Marriage, Caste - come for treatment though the defence of varna may not be so invulnerable to the readers as it is to the writers. The statement of the Hindu ideals of womanhood will be perused with pleasure by all readers. The third part - the one that concerns ‘Pilgrim’ more, relates to Hindu Religion - Articles on Vedic Gods, translations of Riks, discourses on Upanishads, Ramayana and Mahabharata make up the religious section. Generally speaking we find Puranas are neglected, and we would like to see ‘Kalyan’ giving us a volume similar to the one under review on Ashta-Desa Puranas stating their teachings under various heads. Both the Hindi ‘Kalyan’ and the English ‘Kalpataru’ have resources to undertake the task so far avoided by other researchers. The articles that appealed to us are:

1. Hindu darsanas;
2. Hindu Gods;
3. Great men who sacrificed their lives for the good of others, and
4. Hindu Goddesses.

Of persons who sacrificed their lives for others the following are mentioned Ikshyaku, Kakustya, Mandhata, Bharata, Bhagirita, Raghu, Sibhi, Ranthideva, Ambarisha, Janaka, Bishma, Udhistara, Arjuna, Abhimanyu, Usddhava, Vidura, Samjaya. This is an interesting and original line of study. ‘Persecuted for the sake of righteousness’ are not wanting in Hinduism and this is the nearest to a study of martyrs we have come across. We commend this volume to Hindus whose ideas of Hinduism are somewhat misty and to non-Hindus who desire to get at the orthodox mind as affected by modern forces. We congratulate ‘Kalyan’ on this magnificent volume. One thing curious strikes us - the superiority of pictures over essays. We are sure that after reading the whole volume of a thousand pages two pictures one on the first page and another of an ashrama and a Sanyasi teaching the nations of the world take us better to the heart of Hinduism. In the Ashrama - a thatched hut we see trees in foliage and the cow, the deer, the peacock and the lion moving in brotherly amity (reminiscent of Isaiah’s picture) the guru teaching the students, the agnihotra with young and old around the fire (why were the women omitted?). Can a thousand pages of print convey the genius of Hinduism any the better. We thank the editors for including this picture and hope that in, the next: issue girls among students and women among worshippers will be introduced into the picture.

Reviews of:

1. Strotramala,
2. Universal Prayers by Ramakrishna Mission,
3. Theology and Religion by Mr. L. Sweatenham,
4. Gospel according to St. John (Bengali) by Fr. Perrie Fallon, S.J.
5. Sacred Order No. 1,
6. Caritas (Alwaye);
7. Journal of Oriental Research, Mylapore, Madras

Are held over for want of space and will appear in the next issue.

Fenn Thompson and Co. Vepery, Madras

Patrons

1. The Metropolitan of India - Calcutta.
2. Bishop Clement D. Rockey - Lucknow.

President

The Rt. Rev. C.J.G. Robinson, M.A., Allahabad

Vice-Presidents

1. The Ven. Rev. A.J. Appasamy, M.A., Ph.D., Palamcottah
2. The Rev. C.E. Abraham, N.A., B.D., D.D., Serampore.
3. The Rev. C.S. Thoburn, M.A., S.T.B., Jabalpur.

Secretary of Society and Convener of Institutes

The Rev. R.C. Das, M.A., 129, Dashashwamedh, Banaras,

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P. Chenchiah Esq., M.L., 28, Hall’s Road, Egmore, Madras.

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1. Prof. V.E. Devadut, M.A., B.D., Serampore:
2. The Rev. Paul Das, B.A., Allahabad.
3. The Rev. C.G. Diehl, Madura.
4. The Rev. J. Altor, Allahabad
5. Mr. S.J. Duraisamy, B.A., N.M.S., Madras.
6. The Rev. R.W. Scott, M.A., Christian Council, Nagpur
7. Dr. D.W. Donaldson, School of Islamics, Aligarh.

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THE PILGRIM is sent free to members of the Society. Complaints as to non-receipt, corrections or change of address and communications about the paper, and literary contributions should be sent to:

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