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Cover Next Page > Cover Next Page > cover next page > title: Problems and Perspectives in Religious Discourse : Advaita Vedanta Implications author: Grimes, John. publisher: State University of New York Press isbn10 | asin: 0791417913 print isbn13: 9780791417911 ebook isbn13: 9780585044361 language: English subject Language and languages--Religious aspects, Language and languages--Philosophy, Advaita, Vedanta. publication date: 1994 lcc: BL65.L2G76 1994eb ddc: 200/.14 subject: Language and languages--Religious aspects, Language and languages--Philosophy, Advaita, Vedanta. cover next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page cover-0 next page > PROBLEMS AND PERSPECTIVES IN RELIGIOUS DISCOURSE Advaita Vedanta * Implications JOHN GRIMES State University of New York Press < previous page cover-0 next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page cover-1 next page > Published by State University of New York Press, Albany © 1994 State University of New York All rights reserved Printed in the United States of America No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. For information, address State University of New York Press, State University Plaza, Albany, NY 12246 Production by Christine Lynch Marketing by Theresa A. Swierzowski Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Grimes, John, Ph.D. Problems and perspectives in religious discourse: Advaita Vedanta * implications / John Grimes. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-7914-1791-3 (alk. paper).: ISBN 0-7914-1792-1 (pbk.: alk. paper) 1. Language and languagesReligious aspects. 2. Language and languagesPhilosophy. 3. Advaita. 4. Vedanta. I. Title. BL65.L2G76 1994 1994 200'.14dc20 93-18516 CIP 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 < previous page cover-1 next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page cover-2 next page > Contents Preface vii vii Special Feature of the Work viii Reasons Theme was Chosen ix Contributions of the Work x Acknowledgments I. Introduction 1 1 The World of Advaita Vedanta * 3 The Problem 6 Two Assertions 7 Religion and Language II. Advaita and Religious Discourse 11 11 Certainty 14 Advaita vis-à-vis Religious Discourse 15 Logic of Religious Discourse 16 Qualifications for Religious Knowledge 18 How Religious Knowledge is Conveyed 20 Advaita vis-à-vis Other Systems 21 The Nature of Religious Discourse 24 Three Assertions 25 Consequences III. Advaita Vedanta*: A Perspective 29 29 What is Advaita Vedanta* 35 Perspective 38 Key Concept IV. Advaita Vedanta* Prospectus 43 43 Religious Discourse The Problem 45 Indirect Approaches 47 The Gap 49 Religious DiscourseIts 'Use' 50 Peculiarities of Religious Discourse 52 The Theme of Advaita Vedanta* 53 Sankara's* Solution 56 Advaita and Language < previous page cover-2 next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_vi next page > Page vi V. Methods and Perspectives 59 59 Introduction 60 Method 66 Methodology 68 Relation to Epistemology 70 Language and Knowledge 73 BrahmanAtman * 76 BrahmanThe Objective Vision 78 Is the Absolute Known or Not? 81 Atman*The Subjective Vision 83 Atman* is Brahman VI. East and West 85 85 Introduction 90 Part 1 115 Part 2 VII. Advaita's Solution 121 121 Introduction 123 Two Approaches to Religious Discourse 124 Consequences of the Two Approaches 133 Two Levels of Language 135 A Two-Level Theory of Religious Discourse 139 Can the Absolute Be Signified Directly? 146 Second-Level Problems 150 Satkaryavada* and Asatkaryavada* 157 One Level LanguageAbsolute Language 162 Language About the Absolute VIII. Retrospect of Results 169 172 Comment Notes 175 Bibliography 193 Index 207 < previous page page_vi next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_vii next page > Page vii Preface Special Feature of the Work The present work is an attempt to look at the problem(s) connected with religious discourse in a new light. It proposes a new solution to an ancient problem. 1 It delineates a way of bringing together the dilemma found inherent in religious declarations, both Eastern and Western, with one branch of Indian philosophy, that is, Advaita Vedanta*. Its chief concern is to overcome the "gap" which has rendered religious discourse problematic. Religious discourse attempts to point to, describe, and guide one to the "promised land"whether that be God, the Absolute, heaven, happiness, peace, or however one wants to describe the "goal of life." Such an agenda renders religious statements frought with paradoxes and self-contradictions. Can what is claimed to be inexpressible ever be expressed? Is it possible to believe in that which appears to be inherently contradictory? What do the words used in religious discourse mean and what function(s) do they have? Are they cognitive, factual, and verifiable, or are they noncognitive, non-factual, and unverifiable? This work posits and depicts two paradigmatic approaches to these questions. Either religious discourse refers to an "other" and the approach to this remote and foreign "other" must be through perception or mediated concepts, or, religious discourse refers to the very constitutive being of anything whatsoever and as such is self-evident, immediate, and certain.2 This is not a false dilemma. Either the Divine is somehow totally different from oneself (dvaita or bheda), different-cum-non-different (visistadvaita* or bhedabheda) or non-different (advaita). And even among those systems who advocate non-duality, except for Advaita Vedanta*, there is "some sort" otherness" posited. < previous page page_vii next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_viii next page > Page viii The former approach postulates a gap between Divinity/God/Reality and the individual while the latter approach emphasizes absolute identity. Most, if not all of the proposed solutions to the problem of religious discourse, both of the West and of the East, fall under the approach to an "other." Advaita's solution declares that religious discourse primarily concerns individuals, here and now, and not a God, above and beyond. Methodologically its analysis commences with empirical existence and culminates in (trans-empirical) essence, declaring that in fact the two are not different. It refers to that which is immediately evident and immanently present 3 (Atman/Brahman*unlike the general approaches to an "other," which, in one degree or another, search "elsewhere.'' Reasons the Theme was Chosen This theme was chosen for a number of reasons. The problem(s) of religious discourse has existed within philosophy for thousands of years and to this day there is no one definitive solution. In fact, the majority of solutions presented are not even viable possibilities,4 being as they are contradictions and inconsistencies.5 Merely because this topic has virtually "run its course'' in current Western academic circles (as the topic of the day) does not in any way lesson this analysis. As far as my knowledge goes, no one has attempted to solve this problem of religious discourse from the perspective of Advaita Vedanta* in a thorough manner. Second, the problem of religious discourse has been a contemporary subject of enquiry, both within the disciplines of Philosophy and Religious Studies. Though the central issue of the debate has currently turned from the question of whether God's existence can be proven,6 it still centers upon the elusive concept of "God" and oft times finds itself wrestling with the non-anthropomorphic Absolute or Ground of Being. In fact, the Absolute (in its non-dual aspect) has become a topic of some fascination in recent years. Finally, this theme allows one to do philosophy with a religious theme. It is still almost a "voice in the wilderness" when < previous page page_viii next page > If you like this book, buy it! < previous page page_ix next page > Page ix the claim is put forward that Indian philosophy is philosophy (or can be presented as pure philosophy on anyone's definition of exactly what philosophy is) and not only, merely, exclusively theology. 7 Indian philosophy is still, in many instances, incorrectly taught in Western circles as something outlandish, sexually oriented, culturally degenerating, unrealistic, quietistic, illusionistic, and/or undesirable. Such teachers do not even suspect that Indian philosophy has an intellectual content.8 Thus, this theme, gives scope for demonstrating how philosophical issues are as relevant to Indian philosophy as religious issuesEast or West. Contributions of the Work The uniqueness of this work and its contributions to philosophy/religious studies are three-fold. First, this thesis proposes that all religious discourse can be interpreted not only as cognitive, but also as valid. This in itself is not a unique claim, but it becomes so when Advaita adds that since the referent of religious discourse is immediately present as the constitutive being of everything whatsoever, and therefore is self-evident and certain, it is fundamental and prior to all proofs which must presuppose it. Yet, it does not presuppose itself as it is the one indubitable fact of experience which can never be denied without self-contradiction. Flew's challenge of falsifiability is met at the empirical (vyavaharika*) level (wherein, according to Advaita, ignorance (avidya*) holds court). But actually, and here is the real uniqueness of Advaita, all language directly and cognitively asserts the Reality. "Those who have eyes can see; those who have ears can hear."
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