Faith cultures living together: challenging, but not impossible

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A friend in India wrote to say that the BBC’s ‘History of India’ is now playing on the Discovery Channel which is broadcast all over the world, including India. I sent him my piece on the first programme of the series, Hinduism Damned with Faint Praise, and he then sent it to all his friends. Somehow it reached the Hindu press and other media and I’ve started getting responses to it.

As I said then, I don’t like to unnecessarily criticise anyone’s work of art, and I’m all for film makers expressing themselves, but sometimes you have to speak up in support of a culture which, over many centuries, has been repeatedly mauled by treasure-seeking adventurers, envious politicians, and pseudo-intellectuals. The Vedic culture has suffered from poor representation for centuries; perhaps this is the generation when we can do something about that.

I made mention in my last post, about artists, that India has never had an iconoclastic historical period - a stretch of history when the representation of God in material elements was forbidden. Thats not strictly true of course. For 800 years the Moguls were there in India as the government and, as Islam forbids artistic representation of any human or divine form, the temples of India came in for some horrific treatment.

If that wasn’t enough, Adi Shankaracarya (788-820 AD), though externally behaving as a classical follower of the Vedas, sought by his teaching to relegate the form of Vishnu to that of a mundane manifestation, albeit in sattva-guna.

Then the bhadraloka, the intelligentsia of Bengal in the mid-1800s, fell in with the new teachings of preachers like Dayananda Saraswati and the promulgators of the new Arya Samaj, who, embarrassed at ‘idol-worship’ of traditional Hinduism, tried to come up with a neo-Hindu religion minus the veneration of the forms of God. By this they sought to appease their Christian overlords who were generally appalled by such things, and establish Hinduism as something respectable and dignified.

The results are still felt today, where the pejorative English Christian expression for murti-seva or deity puja, still endures. In the Indian press (now dominated by Muslim media barons) and in common parlance, the term for the most sacred act of the Hindu religion remains ‘idol worship.’

Hindus are still explaining their millenia-old traditions using the language and mindset of the conquerors who dominated them for so long. They never seem to appreciate that the word ‘idol’ is not the English translation of the word ‘murti’ (which is a neutral term) but a term meaning ‘veneration of a non-monotheistic man-made object’ itself a definition overloaded with Judaeo-Christian disdain.

Not that I have anything against anyone who feels that it is theologically inadmissible for God to be portrayed; my objection is just that you cannot adequately express the notion of Deity worship using parts of the English language which are redolent with centuries of revulsion at such ideas. The English language does not contain enough words to express such things properly, or the philosophical ideas underpinning them.

Its not that Vaishnavas are intolerant of the religious conceptions of others, though. There has never been a time in history when Vaishnavas sought to impose worship of Krishna by force. It doesn’t work like that. The variety of religious conceptions are always given respect as a necessary stage in the evolution of the soul. Vaishnavas invite others to enjoy the beauty of Krishna, according to the person and the circumstances, but will be cautious not to speak or act in such a way as to cause offence.

What a fine line we all walk when attempting to broadcast the specific glories of Krishna, yet simultaneously trying to establish cordial relations with members of different faith communities. His Holiness the Pope was attempting to do that this week in America, as were the Vaishnavas who came to meet him one evening. The result was the presentation of a flaming aum sculpture in brass by Dr. Ravi Gupta on behalf of the Hindu community.

At only 24, Dr. Gupta achieved his PhD rather early in life, after a brilliant academic career. Educated at home by mum and dad then over here in England at Oxford University, Radha Ramana Das, as we all know him, is an extremely likable and very knowledgeable devotee. His doctorate was based on his own Translation from the Sanskrit of Jiva Goswami’s Sat Sandarbha, the mediaeval treatise on Krishna bhakti.

He was very happy to meet the Pope and spoke with him for a few seconds. Here’s what he had to say about the meeting:

“It was a great honor to meet His Holiness Pope Benedict on behalf of the
Hindu community in America,” said Dr. Gupta. “I was impressed by the
intimacy of the gathering, and the Pope’s genuine interest in meeting with
us. It was my feeling that the Pope - as both a holy man and a scholar -
wished he had more time to spend with his guests, and to be able to know us
all better,” Gupta said.

“I greeted the Pope with our traditional Hare Krishna greeting,” reported
Gupta. Then I said, ‘Your Holiness, you are well aware of the richness
within Hinduism, including a strong tradition of monotheism and religious
tolerance. I hope these can be a foundation for a strong and continued
dialogue with the Church.”

The Pope responded, “Yes, our dialogue should continue to grow,” accepted
the aum symbol, and held Dr. Gupta’s hand before the next representative came
forward.

“It was a historical occasion,” said Anuttama Dasa, ISKCON GBC Member. “The
tensions on the world stage call for religious leaders to understand each
other better and to teach their respective congregations to not only
respect, but to learn from one another. The Pope, while careful to not
minimize his own tradition’s values and faith commitments, opened the door
wider for increased cooperation with the Church.”

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