Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

Volume 16 Article 7

2003 Swami Abhishiktananda's Interreligious Hermeneutics of the Upanishads Edward T. Ulrich

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Recommended Citation Ulrich, Edward T. (2003) "Swami Abhishiktananda's Interreligious Hermeneutics of the Upanishads," Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies: Vol. 16, Article 7. Available at: http://dx.doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1296

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Swami Abhishiktananda's Interreligious Hermeneutics of the Upanishads

Edward T. Ulrich University of St. Thomas

SWAMI ABHISHIKTANANDA everything."l Sensitized to the Spirit of God (Henri Le Saux,1910-1973) was a French through the Bible, one may hear the voice of monk who came to in 1948 to establish God in the Upanishads. . an "inculturated" form of Christian Though the Bible is the entry point for monasticism, a monasticism which would the Christian, one must not project one's not simply reflect a European heritage but Christian ideas onto the Upanishads but would be truly Indian in character. Engaged should be genuinely attentive to their in this project, he had many profound message: "He [the Christian] must first of all encounters and experiences witl) Indian life listen to the witness of this experience itself, and culture. These led him 'to become trying to make himself totally transparent to greatly enamored of the Upanishads and to it, to assimilate himself to it as deeply. as enter their spiritual world. Yet he possible.,,2 After listening carefully to the maintained his identity as a Catholic priest Upanishads the Christian is to return to the and strove to integrate the Upanishads with Bible, integrating one's newly gained Christianity. To this end he frequently read perspective with one's original perspectives. the Bible and the Upanishads side-by-side. Hence, the concluding two sessions of the Abhishiktananda's approach to this meeting consisted . of readings from the interreligious reading is. most clearly Gospel of John and discussions of these articulated in Hindu-Christian Meeting readings and the Upanishads in light of each Point, a book which developed out of a 1963 other. This paper will illustrate the two meeting N agpur of various Christian friends aspects. of Abhishiktananda's hermeneutic, and associates at Nagpur. During this week which are· his entry into the Upanishads and long event the Bible and the Upanishads his attempts at integration with Christianity, were prayerfully read in alternating sessions. by examining both his personal journey in The Bible was read first in the day to serve India and the proceedings of the Nagpur as an entry point into the Upanishads. meeting. Abhishiktananda explained: "It is precisely his practice of reading the holy Scriptures Entry into the Upanishad,s and recognizing the inspiration of the Spirit in the writings of prophets and apostles . . . Abhishiktananda was raised in a pious that has made him [the Christian] capable of Catholic family and was deeply inspired by recognizing the voice of God in Christian ideals and goals. In fact, he

Edward Ulrich is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Theology at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. His research interests include the theology of religions, monastic interreligious dialogue, and the comparative study of Vedanta and Western thought. He is working on a project examining current theologies of religious pluralism in light of the interaction between Roman religion and Christianity in the early centuries of the common era.

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entered the minor seminary at CMteaugiron at . This man had a at age eleven and the Benedictine monastery reputation in both India and Europe as a of St. Anne's in Kergonan at age nineteen.3 spiritual master and a great ascetic, and so Before entering the cloister, the young man Abhishiktananda was very excited to meet contemplated the harshness this life: him. About his first visit he wrote, "I "Poverty . . . must at times be a heavy concentrated on looking with deep attention burden. I like to have things of my own, to at this man, of whom I had read and heard have things which in some sense complete so much. This visit could not fail to be a my 'I', but in the monastery I have to feel high point in my life."lo A highlight of this that none of the things thai I use belongs to first visit was sitting in the presence of the me.,,4 Through communal living'· and Maharshi, receiving his darsh or "sight." On obedience to the abbot the Benedictine subsequent visits Abhishiktananda also monk learns humility and self-abnegation. conversed with Ramana's disciples, visited The goal is to thereby submit one's self-will the nearby holy mountain of Arunachala, to the· will of Christ.5 Although a very and carefully observed the life and activities difficult goal, Abhishiktananda was highly of the . 11 enthusiastic about it: "The richness of Abhishiktananda's understanding of the monastic life I have only begun to glimpse Upanishads underwent a profound now that I have entered it for good; and I transformation in conjunction with these still feel myself as if inundated, dazzled by visits to Sri Ramanasram. In Europe he had it; it is too vast for one to be able to grasp it received a Christian education which placed all at once.,,6 strong emphasis on the distinction between Within five years of having entered the God and the soul. Contrasting with this, the monastery, Abhishiktananda became Upanishads teach that the atman (self) is disappointed with St. Anne's and desired a Brahman (Immense Being), that the deepest more rigorous expression of Benedictine part of oneself coincides with ultimate monasticism. Hence, in 1948, after atotal of reality. From teachings such as this nineteen years at St. Anne's, he settled in Abhishiktananda had concluded, . while a with the permission of his monk in Europe, that is riddled abbot. Three years later, with the permission through with pantheism. 12 of the local bishop, Abhishiktananda and However, in classical Advaitic exegesis another French priest, Jules Monchanin, the atman does not refer to individual souls established the Benedictine monastery of which are subsequently merged with the Shantivanam near the village of Kulittalai.7 divine. Rather, it refers to the substratum of Their aim. was to "lead the contemplative consciousness which underlies individual life, in the absolute simplicity of early awareness. Abhishiktananda began to realize Christian monasticism and at the same time this meaning of the term through discussions in the closest possible conformity with the with Ramana's disciples. For instance, traditions of Indian samnyasa during his second visit in 1949 he was [monasticism]."g In this goal they were taught that the atman is "deep within inspired by the ideal of "inculturation," of oneself, beyond . . . , all the fleeting living Christian faith in conformity with identifications of what one is with what one local traditions, an ideal which had been has or what one does.,,13 Hence, by March emphasized in the writings of recent popes.9 1952, four months after his third visit to To establish a monastery which would Ramana's ashram, he no longer regarded the express both Christian religion and Indian Upanishads as pantheistic but referred in his life, Abhishiktananda made deep forays into diary to the atman as the subtle presence of Tamil culture, including three visits from God in all things, the "Self of one's Self, ... , 1949 to 1951 to 's ashram the very one who resides in the most

http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol16/iss1/7 2 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1296 If.,"· "'! Ulrich: Swami Abhishiktananda's Interreligious Hermeneutics of the Upanishads 24 Edward T. Ulrich

intimate depths of each created being: men, many periods of intensive Upanishadic animals, plants, the sun, stars.,,14 study, especially from 1962 to 1973.19 He As discussed above, Abhishiktananda generally approached this through the lens would later write in Meeting Point that it is of Ramana's philosophy, evident for one's Christian formation which serves as an instance, in his discussion of the epiphany of entry point into the Upanishads, for this Brahman in the Kena Upanishad. Ramana formation may render one sensitive to their had emphatically stressed that the power of spiritUal message. Indeed, it was the overlap thought belongs to Brahman alone, not to between .Benedictine and· Advaitic individual intellects. In the Kena Upanishad, spiritualities which had guided Brahman appeared as a specter to the Vedic Abhishiktananda to India and to sit at the deities, who, according to Abhishiktananda, feet of the Maharshi. Even more represent the physical, subtle, and mental specifically, the Benedictine ideal of self­ energies of the human being?O The gods abnegation served as a steppingstone could not comprehend this specter and they towards accepting the Advaitic concept of lost their powers when they approached it. the dissolution of individuality. As he had After their humiliation the goddess Uma written in February 1952, appeared and explained that the apparition Deep contacts with Hindu thought, was Brahman, later referred to in the books and people. Even before I came here, Upanishad as Tad, "That.,,21 The they had already made a mark on me. A significance, according to Abhishiktananda, hidden spiritual sympathy [with Advaitins], is that "nothin,g in the cosmos or in man has this sense of the Unity, of the ONE, of God power, energy or effectiveness apart from at the source of my being, of the fading out That [Tad], the one who is the source of all of this 'ego' as soon as you penetrate into power and who is at work in every activity, the interior of yourself so as to reach the whether cosmic or human.,,22 unique '1'.15 Though the Upanishads point to the From 1952 to 1955, Abhishiktananda reality of Brahman, their main purpose is not pursued this newly understood ideal by to rationally inform one. of Brahman's spending seven periods of residence at the existence or to impart ideas about it. Rather, holy mountain of Arunachala, near Sri they promote experiences of Brahman by Ramanasram. There he lived like the other shocking the normal flow of consciousness: Hindu ascetics at the mountain, regulating In them everything-words, the o:r;der of his life by solitude, begging, and silence.16 words, the sequence or non-sequence of This lifestyle helped him find immersion in ideas-is aimed ... at shattering the accepted interior levels of consciousness: "It is as if categories of perception and judgement in each day of silence was drawing you ever which we normally make-ourselves at home. further and further from all familiar ways ...... The effect is like subt~e but powerful the mind is freed from those external waves, conveyed by the words, the images, reminders with which it is assaulted in every the symbols, even the harshness of style and moment of its ordinary life.,,17 The the disconcerting shifts to different levels of mountain, too, which has been associated the macrocosm (the universe) and the with Advaitic realizations in the local microcosm (man).23 mythology, promoted detachment: "This Abhishiktananda probably had in mind world which I have left once, a second time, passages such as the following: "As vast as / and once again, finally and for good, for the space here around us is this space within you- / erase it from my being ... In silence the heart, and within it are contained both you teach me silence, 0 Arunachala.,,18 the earth and the sky, both fire and wind, In order to continue pursuing this both the sun and the moon. ,,24 Here, without experience, Abhishiktananda engaged in any_ justification or argument, the minute

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space within the heart is equated with the the Logos, the Word of God. The meeting vast stretches of the universe. Stunned by participants noted important similarities contemplating this paradoxical equation, between. the two principles, but also one's normal mental processes may be important differences. suspended, just as the powers of the gods The similarity is that both principles are were suspended in the Kena Upanishads. portrayed as permeating the cosmos. This This suspension allows an awareness of the overlap helped the meeting attendees to underlying substratum of consciousness to appreciate the Upanishads and to enter their emerge. spiritual world?? Yet, the difference is that the Logos has been classically regarded as Integration with Christianity the source of reason and order in the cosmos, as something that can be -The foundation of Benedictine monasticism apprehended by the intellect, whereas Tad is is the ascetical example of Jesus Christ. It a pronoun which conveys minimal was this example which, ultimately, had led information about its referent. The Abhishiktananda into the Upanishads. Upanishads designate supreme reality by However, he believed that Christ had left this term because Brahman lies beyond all behind a testimony very different from that thought. Abhishiktananda explained: "In the of the Advaitic sages. Like the Upanishads, East, when thought discovers that which is Christ had reported unity with his heavenly transcendent, it refuses to reason about or Father, but he had also reported an absolute name this .Beyond. All it will say is 'That is distinction: "The experience of the Absolute it, Tad.' Certainly it is supreme Bliss; it is a to which India's mystical tradition bears lightning-flash; but nothing more can be such powerful witness is all included in said.,,28 Jesus' word: 'My Father and I are one' .... Introduced to God as Tad by the And yet, at the very heart of all this, there Upanishads, the Christian returns to the remains the 'face-to-face' of the Son and the Bible with a new perspective. Father.,,25 The Christian theological tradition Abhishiktananda claimed that at the meeting has developed Jesus' joint reports of unity participants found the essential concept of and distinction into the doctrine of the Tad present in John 1:1, "The Word [Logos] Trinity. The Father and the Son share the was God [Theos].,,29 This is an odd same divine substance, but they are distinct expression in Greek, for John. was using in that the Father is the eternal source from neither the substantive ho Theos nor the which the Son receives his being. The Holy adjectival theios. In the former case he Spirit, in tum, is the reciprocal exchange of would have been asserting an identity love and communion betwe~n the Father and between the Logos and God, whereas in the the Son. latter case he would hav~ been affirming the Abhishiktananda carefully attended to Logos as a divine entity of lesser status. the differing testimonies of the Gospels and Scholars debate whether John was indicating the Upani5hads by reading them side-by­ an identity or whether he was cutting a 3o side, especially during the last decade of his middle path between the two possibilities. life"26 A good example of his approach to Abhishiktananda believed that John was this were discussions at the 1963 Nagpur doing neither of these. Rather, he was meeting which focused . on the Biblical pointing to a reality which exceeds the Logos and the Upanishadic Tad. While the categories of thought and reason, something Kena Upanishad concludes with the about which little can be conveyed. In other revelation of Brahman as Tad, "That," the words, John was pointing to the same reality true power in the cosmos, the Gospel of indicated by the' Tad of the Upanishads: John begins by introducing Jesus Christ as "The expression he uses is not theios,

http://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol16/iss1/7 4 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1296 )4f Ulrich: Swami Abhishiktananda's Interreligious Hermeneutics of the Upanishads 26 Edward T. Ulrich

divine, not ho theos, 'the' God, the Unique; Tad, a term which otherwise implies a but theos without the' article, God who is reality beyond the realm of difference and called by the same name as the Unique, and categories.35 yet is other than the Unique .... , the Logos This means that the Upanishads can be seems to be ... , the 'That' of which the meditated on in new ways. Traditional rishis [seers] had an intuition,,31 Upanishadic predicates of the divine include This gives the Christian a new way of Sat, Cit, and Ananda (Being, Consciousness, seeing the Gospel. The early church had Bliss), which imply the self-existence, self­ developed a relatively clear and fixed awareness, and inherent joy of Brahman. doctrine of the Trinity which resolves the Abhishiktananda believed that when the ambiguities in John by accounting for both Upanishads are read alongside the Gospel of identity and difference in the Godhead. John a relationship of love and communion However, the purpose of John's Gospel is is revealed at the heart of Brahman. Sat and not to present conundrums to be Cit may be regarded, for instance, as shared intellectually solved but words and images between two centers: the Father and the Son. to transform the reader. Like the The Father emanates Being and Upanishads, the Gospel invites one to enter Consciousness while the Son receives it. the heart of the divine itself. The Upanishads Ananda hence indicates not simply the joy can help, the contemporary Christian to of unlimited Being but of shared Being: "He appreciate this facet of the Gospel and to be [Son] and I [Father] love each other in the transformed by it. In language evoking his very fullness of our Bliss-the supreme earlier spiritual experiences at Arunachala, revelation of ANANDA, the Bliss of Abhishiktananda explained that when the Being.,,36 In this way the Christian might Upanishads are read conjointly with John prayerfully read the Upanishads through the they "will allow nothing to remain of that lens of the Gospels .. superficial bodily, or at best merely mental, ego which belongs to the level of concepts. Conclusion It will never allow us to rest content with anything less than the 'I' which God utters Abhishiktananda's interreligious her­ within himself, in the mysterious meneutics of the Upanishads center on two [trinitarian] procession of Word and the poles: a deep receptivity to Advaita and a Spirit. ,,32 strong fidelity to Christianity. A critical The Christian who has undergone this turning point in his openness came when he encounter with Hinduism will not only see accepted some of the basic teachings of the Bible differently but also the Ramana , Maharshi' s philosophy. After Upanishads. Immediately before the making this step he did not focus on mysterious "Word was God" statement, expanding his knowledge of the philosophy John states that "'the Word was with God.,,33 of Advaita. Rather, he prayerfully read the This, according to some exegetes, implies Upanishads over and over with the same unmistakable difference: "The Greek themes in mind, allowing the words and preposition translated with suggests ,the idea images to impact his mind. Simultaneous of communion. The thought is lit. 'towards with this he was' reading the Christian God', which requires some distinctiveness scriptures, allowing the two worlds to between God and the Word.,,34 This, in turn, interact in profound ways. connotes the dynamic exchange of substance The importance of repetitiously reading between the Father and the Son in trinitarian the Upanishads can be seen by examining doctrine. Hence, through the Bible the the writings of Shankara, the classic Christian knows that there is a fundamental Advaitic commentator. In his Brahma­ distinction at the heart of the Upanishadic Sutra-Bhashya he had insisted that different

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Upanishadic meditations cannot be combined into a single master account. 5. Adalbert de VogUe, Community Francis Clooney concludes from this that the and Abbot in the Rule of St primary purpose of the Bhashya is not to Benedict, trans. Charles yield a theoretical system but to promote a Philippi, Cistercian Studies, no. continuous rereading of different 5.1 (Kalamazoo: Cistercian Upanishadic texts in light of each other. The Publications, 1979), p. 236. aim of such study is to realize "Brahman in 6. Abhishiktananda to R. Mace, 27 a radical revision of our own identities.,,3? October 1929, in Stuart, Swami One can best accomplish this, Clooney Abhishiktananda, p. 6. argues, through participation III the 7. Stuart, Swami Abhishiktananda, exegetical tradition of Shankara and his pp. 12-13, 38-40. successors. 8. Abhishiktananda to J. In sharp contrast to Clooney, Mendonc;;:a, 15 May 1947, ibid., Abhishiktananda large1y avoided Shankara, p.13. feeling that the complexities of his exegesis 9. For a discussion of these papal 38 are unnecessary for the modern reader. He writings see Aylward Shorter, even suggested that this commentarial Toward a Theology of tradition erected a system of thought in Inculturation (Maryknoll, NY: place of the experiential approach of the Orbis, 1988), pp. 179-86. 39 Upanishads. Clooney and Abhishiktananda 10. Abhishiktananda, The Secret of disagree in their evaluation of Shankara, but Arunachala, (Delhi: ISPCK, they both conclude that the Upanishads are 1979), p. 4. meant to be continuously reread in order to II. Ibid., pp. 9-23. promote a transforming encounter with 12. "This [pantheism] is the error reality. Further, they both argue that not par excellence of Hinduism, only should the Advaitic aspirant submit to which places the supreme good this process, but that the would-be Christian [of man] in an absorption into cbmparativist should do so as well. Such God." Abhishiktananda, study will enable tne comparativist to see "Amour et Sagesse," and experience the Christian mystery in new typewritten document, and different ways.40 Abhishiktananda Archives, Vidyajyoti College of Theology, Notes Delhi, p. 23. See also Abhishiktananda to J. 1. Abhishiktananda, Hindu­ Monchanin, 18 August 1947, in Christian Meeting Point: Within Stuart, Swa1'!li Abhishiktananda, the Cave of the Heart, rev. ed., p.18. trans. . (Delhi: 13. Abhishiktananda, Secret, p. 14. ISPCK, 1976), p. 31. 14. Idem, Guhantara, typewritten 2. Ibid. document, Abhishiktananda 3. James Stuart, Swami Archives, Vidyajyoti College of Abhishiktananda: His Life Told Theology, Delhi, 37. For a through His Letters (Delhi: discussion relation between this ISPCK, 1989), pp. 1-6. essay and the March 1952 diary 4. Abhishiktananda to novice­ entry see Stuart, Swami master, 4 December 1928, ibid., Abhishiktananda, p. 64. p.3.

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,Ii 28 Edward T. Ulrich

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,i, 15. Abhishiktananda to J. Lemarie, 353-54; ibid.,31 May 1972, p. 10 February 1952, in Stuart, 355; Abhishiktananda to R. Swami Abhishiktananda, p. 59. Vachon, 8 March 1970, m 16. Accounts of his stays at the Stuart, Swami Abhishiktananda, mountain are spread through p. 254; ibid., Abhishiktananda Abhishiktananda, Secret of to o. Baumer-Despeigne, 28 Arunachala, 19-136; idem, May 1972, pp. 300-301; ibid., Ascent to the Depth of the Abhishiktananda to Marc Heart: The Spiritual Diary Chaduc, 28 May 1972, p. 302; (1948-1973) of Swami ibid., 9 June 1972, p. 304; idem, Abhishiktananda (Dom HLe Further Shore, pp. 59-64. Saux), trans. David Fleming and 24. Chandogya (trans. Patrick James Stuart, ed. Raimon Olivelle in Upanishads, Oxford Panikkar (Delhi: ISPCK, 1998), World's Classics, Oxford: pp. 25-131; Stuart, Swami Oxford University Press, 1996), Abhishiktananda, pp. 60-97. 8.1.3. 17. Abhishiktananda, Secret, p. 30. 25. Abhishiktananda, 18. Abhishiktananda, diary entry, p. Saccidananda: A Christian 6 April 1952, Ascent, p. 37. See Approach to Advaitic also Skanda Purana Experience (Delhi: ISPCK, 1.3.U.16.23. 1974), p. 82. Abhishiktananda 19. Stuart, Swami Abhishiktananda, was aware of the theism of the pp. 176-78, 202-203, 219-20, Upanishads and of Ramana 232, 294-300, 302-303, 308, Maharshi. See ibid., p. 81; idem, 311-12,324,334. Meeting Point, rev. ed., p. 46; 20. Abhishiktananda, M ieting idem, Further Shore, p. 70; Point, rev. ed., pp. 51-52. Abhishiktananda to Marc 21. Kena 4.6. See also Chaduc, 13 June 1972, in Stuart, Brihadaranyaka 2.3.1-5; 3.9.9; Swami Abhishiktananda, p. 304. Taittiriya 2.6. 26. See n. 19 .. 22. Abhishiktananda, Meeting 27. Abhishiktananda, Meeting Point, rev. ed., p. 52. For other Point, rev. ed., pp. 59-60. examples of how he approached 28. Ibid., p. 57. Cf. Raimundo the Upanishads through Panikkar, ed. and trans., The Ramana's philosophy see Vedic Experience (Berkeley: Abhishiktananda, ibid., pp. 54- University of. California Press, 58; idem, "The Upanishads and 1977), p. 894; Olivelle, trans., the Advaitic Experience" Clergy Upanishads, 312. Monthly 38 (1974): 476-82; 29. John 1.1 (NAB). idem, The Further Shore: Two 30. Raymond Brown, The Gospel Essays by Abhishiktananda: According to John (i-xii), vol. "Sannyasa" and "The 29, The Anchor Bible (Garden Upanishads-An Introduction" City, NY: Doubleday, 1966), (Delhi: ISPCK, 1975), pp. 63-65 pp. 5, 24-25. 23. Idem, Meeting Point, rev. ed., 31. Abhishiktananda, Meeting pp. 47-48. See also idem, diary Point, 'rev. ed., p. 80. See also entry, 28 May 1972, Ascent, p. idem, diary entry, 29 March 351; ibid., 30 May 1972, pp. 1964, Ascent, p. 267; Henri Le

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Saux, Interiorite et Revelation: author was not already aware. Essais theologiques, Le Solei! Abhishiktananda, Meeting dans le Cceur, ed. M.-M. Davy Point, rev. ed., p. 77. (Sisteron, France: Presence, 36. Abhishiktananda, Meeting 1982), p. 282. Point, rev. ed., p. 88. (The 32. Abhishiktananda, Meeting original, poetic form of this Point, rev. ed., p. 97. passage was modified for 33. John 1:1 (NAB). (Italics added.) insertion into the current text.) 34. Donald Guthrie, "John," in New 37. Francis X. Clooney, Theology Bible Commentary: 21 st after Vedanta: An Experiment in Century Edition, fourth ed., Comparative Theology (New (Downers Grove: Inter-Varsity York, NY: State University of Press, 1994), p. 1025. New York Press, 1993), p. 78. Abhishiktananda's discussion of See also ibid., pp. 18-23, 33-35, this point focuses on John 17, 64-68. not John 1: 1, but the available 38. Abhishiktananda, Further exegesis supports his thesis. Shore, pp. 66-67. 35. Abhishiktananda felt that the 39. Abhishiktananda to Marc diversity in cultures and peoples Chaduc, 26 June 1972, in Stuart, help one to plunge more deeply Swami Abhishiktananda, pp. into the mysteries of the 306-307; ibid., 11 April 1973, p. Christian scriptures. He tdid not 329. believe he was discovering 40. Clooney, Theology after anything in John of which the Vedanta, pp. 153-56.

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