Understanding God from the Indian Context in the 20th and 21st Centuries

서지정보

· 발행기관 : 신학과사상학회
· 수록지 정보 : 가톨릭신학과사상 / 77호 / 17 ~ 65페이지
· 저자명 : Vincent Kundukulam

초록

Given the diversified religious and cultural contexts, the God-concepts that have been emerged in India are extremely diverse. The Indus Valley people (middle of the third millennium BC) seem to have had no systematic belief in God but there are evidences to think that Indians put trust in millions of gods and goddesses after the arrival of Aryans (1500 BC).
Soon the polytheistic understanding gave way to henotheistic faith and people worshiped the cosmic gods like Agni, Soma, Varuna, Mitra, Indra and Asvins.
At the time of Brahmanas, when a significant priestly class developed among the Aryans there emerged the belief in Prajapati, the immortal Self who can be reached through the mantras, rituals and sacrifice. Later, during the period of early Upanishads, the speculation and contemplation of the Ultimate led to envisage God as Brahman, both as Nirguna and Saguna.
At the later period of Upanishads, due to the theistic emphasis, the belief in Trimuti (Brahman, Vishnu and Shiva) and goddesses got strengthened.
The search of the devotees for a personal God resulted, as we see it in Gita, in the adoration of Krishna as equal to Brahma.
Coming to the 20th century, the social reformer Sri Narayana Guru, partly influenced by the modern thought, equated the worship of Atman with delivering the oppressed classes. In the similar vein, Mahatma Gandhi defined God as Truth and the essence of manhood as adherence to Truth. Since the essential nature of God is love a religious person has to avoid hatred and all means of violence. Thus at the modern times, God personified people’s longing for a society based on the values of freedom, justice and equality.
At the end of the second millennium, a few missionaries, both Western and indigenous, took initiative to translate the Christian dogmas in the Hindu categories and this gave birth to new ways of speaking about God among Christians. Jules Monchanin called God as the ‘Non-Multiple Advaitic Trinity’, Henri Le Saux presented the concept of ‘Trinitarian Saccidananda’, Brahmabandhab Upadhyay qualified the Ultimate as ‘Trinitarian Brahman’, and Raimundo Panikkar proposed the notion of Kenotic Father. These authors did not totally invent new images of God.
They formulated new languages which, they think, can effectively respond to the aspiration of Indians to have a God who is simultaneously personal and impersonal, transcendent and immanent, monistic and pluralistic and prophetical and mystical. However, theologians like Sebastian Kappen, who were attentive to the miseries of the underdeveloped portrayed liberative image of God in the image of ‘Christ the Subaltern’.
In the contemporary era, Hindus seek in God the power to develop their potentials, solve their problems and lead a harmonious life. They see God both as a person and as energy. Brahma Kumaris identify God concurrently as the Supreme Soul and Shiva. The International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) trains its disciples to get merged in the Krishna Consciousness. Matha Amritanandamayi Movement promotes the image of a simple and a loving God who gets manifested in the person of Amma. The Art of Living Foundation visualizes God as the immanent power within man capable of removing his anxieties. In brief, postmodern Gods conform to the need of people to converse with the Ultimate and cherish values like freedom, peace, tolerance harmony, solidarity, and material progress.

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