Interfaith Dialogue and Mystical Consciousness in India - Isaac Portilla

Interfaith Dialogue and Mystical Consciousness in India

Sri Ramana Maharshi, Sri Aurobindo, the Hari-Hara Mystery, and the Hindu-Christian Encounter

(Autor)

Buch | Hardcover
272 Seiten
2025
Routledge (Verlag)
978-1-032-78205-8 (ISBN)
168,35 inkl. MwSt
This book is a research inquiry in interfaith studies that uses hermeneutical phenomenology to address vexing issues arising in the study of mysticism and enlightened sages. It will interest religious studies, interreligious/interfaith studies, comparative religion/theology, and interfaith relations.
Interfaith Dialogue and Mystical Consciousness in India is a research inquiry in interfaith studies that uses hermeneutical phenomenology to address vexing issues arising in the study of mysticism and enlightened sages.

This book raises the following questions: If all human beings have access to mystical consciousness, and some do access it, how is it that only a few become luminary sages, displaying extraordinary power? What is the ethical responsibility of such sages? And how is the encounter among sages/mystics of different traditions contributing to the harmonious unfolding of religious diversity? The author provides original answers and a renewed vision of Hinduism through the lens of two of the most loved and admired sages of modern India—Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo.

This book is a blueprint for transformative research on religion: it envisions an innovative method— integrative hermeneutical phenomenology—contributing to the development of interfaith mysticism. Bringing to the fore key themes such as Self-realization, the Hari-Hara mystery, and Mystic Fire, the author shows the importance of mystical experience in the understanding of the religious “Other” and the future of religion.

The book will be of interest to scholars and students of religious studies, interreligious/interfaith studies, comparative religion/theology, and interfaith relations, and to thoughtful readers with an interest in Asia and spiritual practice. Those interested in the mysteries of India and Hindu spirituality will find in this book a pioneering analysis of Hindu mystical consciousness and the Christian encounter with it.

Isaac Portilla is a visiting scholar at the University of St. Andrews, UK, researching interfaith mysticism and religions’ future. He is author of What Christ Said: Revisiting the Countercultural Sayings of Christ Jesus (2022) and The Possibilities of Spiritual Experience: An Autobiographical and Philosophical Exploration (2017).

Abstract

Introduction

Preliminary Sections

1. Exploring an Inter-religious Future

2. Interfaith Dialogue and Mystical Consciousness

3. Reflections on the Trinity

4. The Hindu-Christian Context

Special Section: Toward an Integrative Hermeneutical Phenomenology

Introduction

1. The Importance of the Study of Religion: Flood’s Contribution to Hermeneutical Phenomenology

2. The Importance of the Circumstance and Historical Context: Ortega y Gasset in Conversation with Heidegger, Gadamer, and Dilthey

3. The Importance of Symbols and Narrative: Ricoeur’s Hermeneutical Phenomenology and Its Application to the Study of Religion

4. The Importance of a Phenomenology of Intersubjectivity: Toward a Balanced Hermeneutical Phenomenology

5. The Importance of Phenomenology, Witness Consciousness, and Non-dual Consciousness: Reconsidering Husserl’s Project

Final Thoughts: Envisioning an Integrative Hermeneutical Phenomenology

Chapter 1. Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo in Context

1.1. The Tradition of the Rishi

1.2. The Hindu Context: Sacred Landscapes, Avatars, and Karma

1.3. Worldly and Divine: Thresholds, Politics, and War

Chapter Reflections

Chapter 2. Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo: An Inquiry Focused on Mystical Experience

2.1. Sri Ramana Maharshi: Experiences and Realizations

2.2. Sri Aurobindo: Experiences and Realizations

2.3. Comparative Analysis of Ramana and Aurobindo

Chapter Reflections

Chapter 3. The Hari-Hara Mystery and Other Intra-Hindu Explorations

3.1. The Hari-Hara Mystery and the Hindu Triad(s)

3.2. The Ramana-Aurobindo Leela as an Enactment of the Hari-Hara Mystery (and the Triad)

3.3. The Role of the Devotee in the Ramana-Aurobindo Leela

Chapter Reflections

Chapter 4. Hindu-Christian Interfaith Explorations

4.1. I AM and Embodiment

4.2. Matter and Descent

4.3. Mystic Fire: The Primordial Experience

Chapter Reflections

Chapter 5. Existential Interfaith: A Practical Framework

5.1. First Characteristic: Meeting in Being

5.2. Second Characteristic: Experiential Inquiry

5.3. Third Characteristic: Focus on Truest Meaning

Conclusions:

A Different Narrative

Summary and Development of Ideas and Findings

Essential Interfaith Insights

Reflections on Method and Future Research

Concluding Thoughts

Note on Texts

Sanskrit Transliteration

Index

Erscheint lt. Verlag 28.1.2025
Reihe/Serie Routledge Hindu Studies Series
Verlagsort London
Sprache englisch
Maße 156 x 234 mm
Themenwelt Geisteswissenschaften Philosophie Östliche Philosophie
Geisteswissenschaften Religion / Theologie Hinduismus
Sozialwissenschaften Soziologie Spezielle Soziologien
ISBN-10 1-032-78205-6 / 1032782056
ISBN-13 978-1-032-78205-8 / 9781032782058
Zustand Neuware
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