Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies

Volume 29 and Evil in Hindu and Christian Theology, Myth, and Practice Article 18

2016

Book Review: Modern Hindu Personalism: The History, Life and Thought of Bhaktisiddhantā Sarasvatī

Michael McLaughlin Old Dominion University

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Recommended Citation McLaughlin, Michael (2016) "Book Review: Modern Hindu Personalism: The History, Life and Thought of Bhaktisiddhantā Sarasvatī," Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies: Vol. 29, Article 18. Available at: https://doi.org/10.7825/2164-6279.1641

The Journal of Hindu-Christian Studies is a publication of the Society for Hindu-Christian Studies. The digital version is made available by Digital Commons @ Butler University. For questions about the Journal or the Society, please contact [email protected]. For more information about Digital Commons @ Butler University, please contact [email protected]. McLaughlin: Book Review: Modern Hindu Personalism: The History, Life and

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spiritual wisdom that visitors brought was their lives and witness. It is this third feature warmly welcomed. It is a pity that this Christian that in this ecumenical age of inter-religious ashram movement, which had its heyday in the openness provides continuing inspiration by period roughly from the 1960’s through the offering an example of inter-religious existence early 80’s seems now to have died down. capable of absorbing the best that religions and The lives of Murray and Mary Rogers indeed cultures have to offer, but yet looking beyond to exemplified a pilgrimage of awakening from farther horizons. their fundamentalist and conservative origins to their final evolution as deeply mystical Joseph Prabhu Christians, who did not attempt merely to follow California State University, Los Angeles the living Christ but actually to incarnate Him in

Modern Hindu Personalism: The History, Life and Thought of Bhaktisiddhānta Sarasvatī. Ferdinando Sardella. , 2013, xv + 342 pp.

THIS study is an excellent introduction to small feat, and the author has succeeded in Bhaktīsiddhānta Sarasvatī, an important figure reconstructing this from various archives. in the history of and one who He has also given us background on the directly inspired the better known A.C. classic three prejudices of Protestant Christian Bhaktivedānta Prabupada of the International missionaries in the period 1739 to 1850, who Society for Consciousness. As the reacted to based on their hatred of so subtitle accurately states, the author has tried to called idolatry, their contempt for sexual situate Bhaktisiddhānta in his whole cultural expression, and their high regard for science and historical context so that we can see how and rationality (Geoffrey A. Oddie). We could the thought and the movement he created are to note that Catholic missionaries would not share be understood with respect to other this Protestant tendency toward iconoclasm and interpretations of Hinduism which competed the bias against ritual in favor of preaching. for the Indian public’s attention and support in Sardella is interested in showing the a colonial and then postcolonial context. India distinctive characteristics of Vaishnava was finding its identity as an independent religiosity as compared to “Brahmanic- nation-state and also as a democracy troubled Sanskritic” Hinduism. He also points to the by poverty and by religious divisions between influence of Freemasonic esotericism which Muslims and Hindus. stressed universalism, tolerance and openness To assemble this context, especially for to all religions in the intelligentsia of the readers outside of India, and simultaneously class of the time, to include educated describe Bhaktisiddhānta’s own spiritual like Vivekānanda. The bhadralok evolution from his family roots onward is no “middle class”, often engaged in connection

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with local economies and the East India names of God. His sometimes bizarre behavior Company, were in general the landed elite, the was meant to deter those who wanted to attach educated, those at the top of the caste hierarchy, themselves to him as a . and as he notes, benefited from colonial rule and Sarasvati would go on to found an who were often alienated from the poorer rural interpretation of Caitanya not as a work Muslims. Inevitably, as an elite and in the for the direct uplift of the masses or for nation context of the they were building, as others conceived religion, but engaged in a construction of Hinduism for the primarily as a means of union with the divine in modern age, determining what cultural markers this world, seen as caught in the dark Kali yuga. and devotions their brand of Hinduism would In the maths he founded all over India, a embrace. At the other end of the spectrum from recitation of the sacred names of Rādhā and the esoteric universalist interpretation were the Krishna as a practical means of fostering love of Hindu traditionalists with their rootedness in God as well as kīrtans, public singing caste and brahmanic ritual and law codes. In accompanied by instruments, a devotion going what becomes a program to strengthen the back to Sri Caitanya himself. By 1911 he was Vaishnava approach to Hinduism and remove its publicly challenging the hereditary authority of perceived taint of immorality and complacency, the brahmins over whether non-brahmins could Sarasvati finds a middle way, and as one not of initiate people who were not of that caste. high caste, a way which is to a degree self- Sarasvati wanted to allow these things and cited authorizing. verses from the Mahabarata and other Sardella gives important background on Vaishnava texts in support of his view that the Sarasvati’s father Kedarnath Datta character of persons of all castes and not their (Bhaktivinoda) as a bhadralok with contacts heritage should determine who is initiated. among the intellectual elite of Calcutta and Shortly after this, in an unusual gesture, friend of Tagore, who for a while preferred Sarasvati invested the order of saṃnyāsa upon Christianity to but who was later himself in the presence of a picture of his guru (1868) immersed in Caittanya Vaishnavism. In a Gaura Kiśora, as the author tells us, and began to methodical way, the father led his son Bimal wear the saffron robes normally associated with Prasad (Sarasvati) into Vaishnavism through his Advaita , not the Vaisnavas. The author efforts to take him on pilgrimages, introduce also emphasizes the rootedness of Sarasvati in him to and immerse his son not in the traditional Vaishnava texts, the works of commerce but in a spiritual milieu. The such figures as Kṛṣṇadāsa Kavirāja Goswami, Vaishnava mystic and ascetic Guara Kiśora dāsa Rūpa Goswami, Sanātana Goswami, and also Bābaji sometimes visited the family home to Vaishnava interpretations of earlier works such listen to the his now prominent guru-father as the Bhāgavata Purāna which he consistently Bhaktivinoda and made a strong impression on studied, commented on and had published. The Sarasvati who felt drawn into a more ascetic life. author offers a very detailed Appendix E Gaura Kiśora was an intense ascetic who lived showing all of the works Sarasvati commented outside in rough shelter, was uneducated and on in another manifestation of the quality of the begged for food while chanting the sacred author’s research.

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol29/iss1/18 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1641 2 McLaughlin: Book Review: Modern Hindu Personalism: The History, Life and

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Interestingly, although consciously foundations for future research. The book projecting this image of the ascetic himself, consistently shows a well grounded research Sarasvati would not initiate others of his including impressive archival research. On the followers into Saṃnyāsa. These challenges to level of methodology it shows a reflexive tradition met with severe opposition and awareness of the way in which he has framed occasionally violence on the part of this particular construction of Vaishnavism in traditionalists, but in many ways Sarasvati was its institutional dimensions and in its following the core views of his father who he construction of its own legitimacy. Sarasvati’s often referenced. Sarasvati also faced opposition focus was on love rather than on immediate for his use of motor cars, printing presses and social transformation, because that love would the building of large temple complexes. He ultimately result in a desire to relieve the encouraged his disciples to avoid the evil of suffering of other living beings, since all beings pride and to live a simple lifestyle of humility are ultimately connected to the person of the and service. He gave an example of this by his Godhead. It would endure. The need of the day refusal to accept a pension from his former in Sarasvati’s core view was to inspire strong employer the Maharaja of Tripura and by interpersonal bonds based on sincere affection, begging alms from the bhadralok in Calcutta. honest dealings and mutual respect, a core belief At times opponents in Bengal would accuse the author explicates under the term Bhaktisiddhānta of being too other-worldly and personalism. On a deep philosophical level this not responding to the material needs of the personalism contests the impersonalism of people especially in instances such as the Śaṅkara’s Advaita. is understood as the suffering caused by the flooding of Sept. 1931 in Supreme Person transformimg the entire Bengal. It appears from Sardella’s book that universe (braṃāṇda) and well as Nature Sarasvati did not address in any specific way the (prakṛiti) The devotional service of the bhakta is disenfranchised Muslim peasant class. Despite also a construction of and cultivation of the these criticisms and attacks, his life work emotion of compassion rooted in the belief that provided the basis of what would later become a society for its uplift needs deeper compassion global movement as ISKCON, and Sardella notes more than political changes, especially if those how often Swami A.C. Bhaktivedānta Prabupada policies promote egocentric isolation from references the commentaries of Sarasvatī. It is others and a lack of solidarity with lives that notable that Sarasvatī did not oppose the caste matter. While finishing up this review, I follow system as a stable frame for society nor did he from the coffee shop where I am working two oppose British colonial rule. Sardella’s book street persons; one familiar, who has woken up includes as an appendix an excellent review of from his usual sidewalk sleeping, and one less the literature which enables him to respond to known and much more mentally ill, who is other views of the guru. He leverages the work sometimes shrieking at passersby. As Rādhā of Elizabeth De Michelis and others in always sees Krishna in a loving awareness, so for schematizing the strands of modern Hinduism. both East and West, the focus on compassionate, His work to contextualize Bhakti Siddanta and loving service of Caitanya Vaishnava can still its global reach had set broad and solid awaken hearts to service and connection, far

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from its Bengali roots, in my view. To recover this spirit for us may be Sardella’s most Michael McLaughlin significant contribution and kīrtan. Old Dominion University

Hindu Christian Faqir: Modern Monks, Global Christianity, and Indian Sainthood. Timothy S. Dobe. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015, 363 + xiii pp.

HINDU Christian Faqir is a comparative work that symbolize at once a person of relative honor and examines the lives of two prominent saints in respect in indigenous contexts and a class of North India during the late nineteenth, early potentially dangerous degenerates in the twentieth centuries: the Protestant Christian colonial eye. For Dobe, faqir is indicative of Islam convert, Sundar Singh (1889-1929) and the Neo- as a formative “third space” in the Hindu- Vedantin Hindu, Tirtha (1873-1906). Both Christian study of [pre/post]-colonial India, a came to be regarded as “saints,” rose to space selectively ignored or rejected in the international recognition, and challenged the latter discourse of neo-Vedanta Hinduism and on-going formation of their respective religions. Indian Christianity. Timothy S. Dobe’s compelling study of these two In the context of Punjab prior to the figures highlights the influence of vernacular partition between Pakistan and India, ascetics [inter]-religious practice, asceticism, and the combined and transcended religious difference individual agency of the men themselves to to underscore the selective authority of a leader, reconsider the meaning of sainthood in the place, or particular practice. Thus, the faqir was Indian and global contexts. often a public figure, a teacher and healer, Chapter 1, “Unsettling Saints,” recounts the credited with miracles and representative of the biographies of the two men, highlighting the blurred lines of vernacular religious life. religiously plural context of their early lives in Chapter 2, “How the Pope Came to Punjab,” the Punjab state of India. Interestingly, both portrays the centrality of ascetic work and self- men used the terms saint, sadhu (monk), and determination in contrast with the Protestant sannyasi (renunciate) interchangeably to refer (British) rejection of both Catholic monasticism to themselves and other ascetics in Indian and and saints and North-Indian faqirs (and yogis). English contexts. Yet both favored the term The earlier diversity of local practice became faqir when speaking to Indian audiences. Faqir obscured in part through the introduction of literally translates as “poor person,” yet it is also colonial education that emphasized English commonly used to signify a Muslim holy person language and the study of select religious texts. or Sufi. Faqir (like the term yogi) is widely used Chapter 3, “Resurrecting the Saints,” across religious boundaries, and its use reflects provides an excellent historical study of the the complex and fluid religious identities of early leaders of modern Hinduism within Punjab. Also, (like the term yogi) it came to colonial India. By examining figures such as

https://digitalcommons.butler.edu/jhcs/vol29/iss1/18 DOI: 10.7825/2164-6279.1641 4