Hindu Theology is an emerging field of academic inquiry. These two seminars seek to examine the boundaries and possibilities for such inquiry. According to the classical Christian definition, theology is ‘faith seeking understanding.’ Is this an adequate understanding of theology from a Hindu perspective? Is there a Hindu Theology or simply a proliferation of multiple theologies? Is faith seeking understanding simply apologetics or can the understanding come from an external discipline (such as philosophy, psychology, sociology, or neurology)? Is there a place for Hindu theology as an ‘insider’ discourse in the publically funded university? If disciplines are defined by their method and object, what is the object of Hindu theology? If God is unknowable can there be an inquiry into her? Or is the object of theology ‘revelation’ in which case Theology is concerned with history and culture? Is Hindu Theology a development in the English language of the ‘discourse’ (v?da) tradition of Sanskrit commentary or is it something different? These questions and others will be explored during these two seminars. Active participation is expected.
Archives: Lectures
Preliminary notes on the erotic and ‘antinomian’ elements of vratya participation in the mahavrata and vratyastomas
Graduate Seminars in Indic Religions
I discuss the role of the vratyas in the Vedic rituals of the mahavrata and the vratyastomas. I argue that there are significant parallels between the religious practices of the vratyas in these rituals and the religious practices of earlier Saivite antinomian sects, such that, independently of any possible historical connection, the latter can be used as a heuristic device helpful for understanding these unusual Vedic rituals. Finally, I sustain the thesis that Vedic examples of ritual sexual intercourse had greater significance than as mere ‘fertility’ rites, as has often been believed.
Yeats’s Tantric Synthesis
In his final decade, the poet William Butler Yeats embarked on several years of study and collaboration with Shri Purohit Swami, an Indian monk. Though their partnership chiefly led to English translations of the Upanishads and the Yoga S?tras, Yeats found himself deeply attracted to Tantra. Having read some of Sir John Woodroffe’s texts, and having been instructed in Tantra by Purohit, he incorporated Tantric principles into his later work, including his 1937 revision of A Vision and several later poems. Just as he once wrote that Nietzsche completed Blake, Yeats found that Tantra completed Nietzsche, offering a vision of the cosmos that divinized the full range of human experience. This talk will address how Yeats’s fascinating, if often flawed and self-serving, poetic appropriation of Tantra informs some of his major late works.
Swami Vivekananda and the Transformation of Indian Philanthropy
Arising from research towards a history of Indian philanthropy, the lecture examines the influence of Swami Vivekananda. Briefly, the argument is that Indian philanthropy was transformed from its focus on temples and priests (with occasional charity to the poor), to take in “modern” concerns such as schools, hospitals, orphanages and other areas of public interest; and that Swami Vivekananda’s impact prepared the way for the expansion of the ambit of Indian philanthropy to national and international concerns.
Hinduism in Bengal and Bali (TT13)
In terms of layering, while Bengali Saktism has folk, yogic-tantric and bhakti layers, Balinese Hinduism has folk religion, agama tirtha, and agama hindu dharma. From the perspective of mysticism, while Bengali sadhus and sadhikas have visions of Kali and union through both emotion and yogic expanded consciousness, Balinese pedandas have daily ritual union with Shiva/Surya to create holy water and link the religion in exile with both the gods and the homeland of India, creating Ganges water. From a political perspective, whereas the Bengali goddess has been linked to patriotism, defense of the land and concern for the oppressed (including women). In Bali, the religion has developed into a monotheism that protects it from Islamic concerns with idolatry, and hints that the Hindu god has legitimacy as one of the hidden names of Allah. Balinese forms of religion strongly emphasize dharma (as one pedanda said, the island is too small for renunciation- there is no place to go to be alone!) In these and other ways we will explore the contrast between their understandings of dharma, and roles of religious experience, renunciation, and society in Hinduism.
Cosmopolitan visions of the homeland. How Hindus in the diaspora are renegotiating multiple identities
Hindus in Britain are undergoing an interesting shift in their understanding of place within society at large. From multicultural parodies of ghettos, to the current appreciable cosmopolitan ethos within many Hindu communities in Britain, this paper shall evaluate some key elements that could explain why homeland inclinations may be evolving in the next generation. Cosmopolitanism is now increasingly being raised to avoid the drawbacks of essentialism or some kind of zero-sum, all-or-nothing understanding of identity issues within a nation-state framework (Clifford 1998). It is amongst the backdrop of an emerging cosmopolitan that we can attempt to find ways in which Hindus have been negotiating the public, private, and religious spaces within which identity creation has been occurring. By using the framework of cosmopolitanism, we can attempt to understand the emerging new rhetoric of identity creation, and how these identities have been evolving over the course of multiple generations (Amin 2012). Temple building has served as one pillar, amongst many, that have served in performing this renegotiation of identities. They have served as a response to the diasporic longings of a transnational community, but most importantly, in a way that is ‘recognised’ and ‘accepted’ by their host community (Kim 2007). Hindus, raised in the ‘West’, whom are encultured into the ‘Western’ notions of religion and identity, are often caught in the middle between their ‘Eastern’ transnational linkages, beliefs, and understandings, and their daily lived reality. This paper seeks to investigate this hybrid space between the West and East in the minds and lived realities of the Hindus in Britain.
‘Till all nations hear’: enhancing the legacy of the American Baptist Missionary Union in Nagaland
In the 19th century, led by their desire to convert the Shans of Upper Burma and ultimately reach China, missionaries from the American Baptist Missionary Union ended up in the plains of Assam in Northeast India and from there embarked on a dangerous evangelising mission among the ‘wild’ and ‘uncivilised’ Naga tribes inhabiting the hills bordering Assam. What proved to be a slow and difficult beginning resulted in the mass conversion of the Naga to Christianity which gave them reason to proudly proclaim by the end of the 20th century that they were the most Christian state in the world. Building up on the example of the American missionaries, Naga Christianity nowadays is characterised by a distinct evangelical zeal which has led Naga missionaries all over the world. The paper will seek to elucidate the ideology and some of the challenges which underpin this contemporary missionary endeavour.
The Tantric Deliberations of Octavio Paz
The Mexican poet and essayist Octavio Paz is largely thought of as a Latin American writer, but both his roots as a writer and his fields of interest extended around the world, and Indic traditions held a particular fascination for him. In 1952, en route to a diplomatic post in Japan, Paz first travelled in India; he returned as Mexican ambassador in 1962, remaining until he resigned his post in 1968 in protest over the Mexican government’s mistreatment of student demonstrators. During his years in India, Paz took a special interest in Tantra, and Tantric thought and imagery figures in many of his finest works, from Sunstone (1956) through the poems of East Slope (1969) and beyond. He also wrote several essays on India and its traditions. This talk will focus on how Paz incorporated Tantric elements into his poetic vision, which not only sustains a delicate balance between the One and the many but also returns repeatedly to questions of subjectivity and consciousness.