Based on a phenomenological approach, the article describes a triple dialogue between Hinduism, Islam and Christianity, built in the minds of thinkers of the Bengali Renaissance of the XIX - early XX centuries.The trialog phenomenon is presented as a process of understanding other religions in order to understand one's own. There are two versions of the trialog. The liberal version created by Rammohan Rai and the Brahmo Samaj thinkers offers a high ideal of respect for other religions on a par with Hinduism. The conservative version was an attempt to present Hinduism as a great ancient spiritual tradition that encompasses all the revelations and truths of Christianity and Islam. The results of the three - pronged dialogue are the understanding of the universal meanings of Christianity and Islam, the creation of images of other religions and the image of Hinduism to protect its universal and comprehensive character.
Keywords: dialogue of religions, Bengali Renaissance (Renaissance), hermeneutics, religious and philosophical thought, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, subjects of dialogue.
TRIPLE DIALOGUE OF HINDUISM, ISLAM AND CHRISTIANITY IN THE CONSCIOUSNESS OF THE BENGAL RENAISSANCE THINKERS: THE PROCESS AND ITS RESULTS
The article describes the triple dialogue between Hinduism, Christianity and Islam, which had been built in the consciousness of the thinkers of the Bengal Renaissance in the nineteenth - early twentieth centuries. Triple dialogue is presented as a process of thinking about meanings and forms of other religions for understanding of owns one. There are two variants in triple dialogue. Liberal variant was created by Rammohun Roy and thinkers of the Brahmo Samaj, and it gave high ideal of respecting for other religions as well as Hinduism. Conservative variant was an attempt to represent Hinduism as a great ancient spiritual tradition which embraces all revelations and truths of Christianity and Islam. The results of triple dialogue of religions are follows: 1) understanding of the universal meaning of Christianity and Islam, 2) creating of other religions' images and 3) creating of images of Hinduism in defense of its universal and all-pervading character and truths.
Keywords: dialogue of religions, the Bengal Renaissance, Hermeneutics, religious-philosophical thought, Hinduism, Christianity, Islam, subjects of dialogue.
1 SKOROKHODOVA Tatyana Grigoryevna, Doctor of Philosophy, Candidate of Historical Sciences, Professor of Penza State University; skorokhod71@mail.ru
Tatiana SKOROKHODOVA - Doctor of Sciences (in Philosophy), Professor, Penza State University, Penza, Russia, skorokhod71@mail.ru.
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Eastern peoples, who are somehow involved in modernization processes, find themselves in a situation of challenge from the West, go through epochs of spiritual self-determination, which primarily affect the sphere of religion. Christianity, which is the basis of Western culture, being an alternative to local spiritual traditions, to a certain extent acts as a religious challenge, and in these conditions, different socio-religious groups are forced to justify the significance of their faith, its semantic content, and protect its dignity from criticism. The difference in means and techniques does not negate the deep community of goals: protection of one's own religious experience, practice of religion and correlation with the Absolute.
All kinds of external forms of religious protection are well known, but the internal aspects of this process also deserve serious analysis, since they represent a movement of religious thought that is subsequently objectified in actions of a reformist or traditionalist (up to fundamentalist) nature. And the nature of actions, as well as the social movements associated with them, is predetermined by the nature of the thoughts of their initiators. In my opinion, the most important criterion for determining the content and results of reflections can be the category of dialogue, first of all, its presence or absence. I. G. Yakovenko defines dialogue as a universal characteristic of culture, as "any interaction of two or several subjects, as a result of which significant information is exchanged" [Yakovenko, 2012, p.185]. The forms and content of dialogue in culture and the dialogue of cultures are diverse; along with them, there is also a refusal of dialogue, based on the "attitude to block dialogue with the opposing side in any form" [Yakovenko, 2012, pp. 186-194, 227]. The reasons for refusal lie in the perception of the Other as an enemy and opponent, and accordingly the lack of recognition of him as necessary and equal to himself. The presence of dialogue implies recognition and, at least, the desire to understand the Other and at the same time reveal yourself to him, and the absence - a monologue, behind which lies the rejection of the Other, the idea of one's own superiority and monopoly possession of the truth.
One of the forms is a dialogue that is built up in the minds of individual thinkers and groups of the "creative minority" (A. Bergson). The religious and philosophical thought of the Bengali Renaissance-the era of national and cultural revival of the XIX - first third of the XX century in the most developed region of colonial India-can serve as an example and result of dialogue in the context of a non-religious challenge to non-Western culture. If traditionalist circles and orthodox Brahmanism have retained the characteristic attitude of Brahmanism towards the Other - accepting one's own Other as a given and fitting it into the system and repelling one's own and even more foreign Other for reasons of ritual purity (negative and neutral recognition) [Halbfass, 1988], then the representatives of new elites who actively interact with the colonial authorities in In the economic and cultural fields, they qualitatively change this attitude: They see the other as a worthy and equal interlocutor who needs to be understood; dialogue becomes the way of understanding.
In addition to external forms of dialogue with the Other-distant in the religious, social, cultural and political spheres, as well as with the Other-near-rediscovered in their human essence by representatives of different castes, religious communities, and ethnic groups of the Indian subcontinent, the Bengali creative minority builds a dialogue in their minds with the meanings and ideas of the Other. These two types of dialogue mutually feed each other and the changes taking place in the socio-cultural space.
Thus, in the spiritual and religious sphere, the challenge of the dharma religion (called Hinduism in the eighteenth century (see [Stitenkron, 1999]) by Christian missionaries stimulated a polemic with them, which began in 1818 by Rammohan Rai and continued in one form or another for several decades. This polemic was an external form of dialogue with Christianity, during which Bengali thinkers demonstrated their understanding of Christianity.
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understanding Christianity, Christ and his teachings [Skorokhodova, 2008 (2), Skorokhodova, 2010; Clark, 1999] and at the same time defended Hinduism from the attacks of missionaries, telling them about its merits. But the dialogue between Christianity and Hinduism is even more intense in the minds of every thinker involved in the external dialogue.
The phenomenon of the dialogue of religions in the mind of a thinker can be described as the trajectory of thought movement from the starting point - a certain pre-understanding of the essence of faith and the content of religion. From it comes the comparison of faiths/religions in the search for similarity of meanings. This mental space of adjacent religions encourages you to move to the position of Another faith in order to perceive your own from the outside and understand. The results of the dialogue can be different - this is not only the justification of one's faith as such in its real expression, but also the creation of one's own version and image of faith and religion, as well as the adoption of Christianity. By engaging in a conscious dialogue, Bengalis come to a deeper understanding of themselves, their religious experience, their religion, and their co-religionists, and thereby make a spiritual choice-a conscious preference for a particular religion. They justify their personal choice of faith in external forms of dialogue with another religion and in attempts to responsibly convey their understanding of religion, which is accepted not only emotionally, but also rationally.
However, in a dialogue with Another-distant attention sooner or later turns to Another-near. In this case, Hindu Bengalis from the new elites (bhadralok) discover non-Believers in the face of Muslims, Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists. It is the Muslims and their religion that are particularly interesting for Bengali intellectuals, both because of the stable and developed Indo-Muslim culture that was present in Bengal in the XII-XVIII centuries [Naravane, 1964, p. 27-28], and because of its otherness in comparison with Hinduism. The influence of Indo-Muslim culture should be fully appreciated - even on those thinkers who are seemingly free of it. Therefore, the attitude to Islam - the Other, neighboring religion-and attempts to understand it play an essential role in the dialogue with Christianity, since Islam takes the place of the third subject of the dialogue of religions in consciousness. Moreover, the founder of religious and social thought and reform practice of the era of Rammohan Raya (1772-1833), Islam was originally - The second is a different religion: he received a traditional Muslim education in Patna (and after that in Benares - traditional Sanskrit) and only in adulthood discovered the teachings of Christ, Christianity and studied the original Bible; it was then that a third subject was added to the internal dialogue.
The dialogue of religions in the minds of most of the key figures of the Bengali Renaissance is a trialog of Hinduism, Islam and Christianity - the mutual correlation and interaction of the meanings and ideas of the three faiths during the spiritual self-determination of the Renaissance individual and creative minority groups. It is possible to reconstruct the process and results of this internal dialogue by combining the biographical method, which allows us to take into account the peculiarities of the formation of the worldview and personal experience of each thinker in specific socio-historical conditions, with a hermeneutic analysis of the relevant texts written by him on religious topics. The process of trialog begins with an attempt to understand one's own (native) religion by comparing it with others (simultaneously or sequentially) and continues in forming an idea of these religions. As a result, images of all religions that are subjects of dialogue are formed, and what matters is not the content and completeness of the image, but the depth of penetration into the meaning and the approach of the thinker to the truth. In this regard, religions in the mind of the thinker enter into a kind of union, similar to the unity in spirit between debating representatives of different faiths, which M. Buber wrote about: "None of the disputants should give up their beliefs, but.... they come to something called a union, enter a realm where the law of persuasion is not valid" [Buber, 1999, p. 13].
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In the case of each individual thinker, the trialog is built individually and subjectively, with its ups and downs, breakthroughs and limitations. However, despite the dissimilarity of personal trialogs, they fit into the mainstream of two tendencies of thinking - liberal and conservative [Chaudhuri, 1967, p. 16-18], of which the first was more critical of Hindu socio-religious institutions and institutions and the idea of the possibility of reforming Hinduism, and the second was more inclined to maintain the status quo of Hinduism . a way of life and accepting it in its entirety as part of the spiritual heritage of India. But in the general history of Bengali religious thought, these tendencies coexist and intertwine, including in the works of one author.
The process of trialog of religions in Bengali thought begins for the first time in Rammohan Rai, initially as a dialogue between Hinduism and Islam. This was facilitated by a dual traditional education, which included the study of sacred texts. Then, after studying English, Hebrew, Ancient Greek, and Latin and reading the original Bible, as well as communicating and debating with Christian missionaries for a long time, a third religion - Christianity-entered the dialogue space.
The beginning and starting point of the trialog of religions in R.'s consciousness. Paradise is indicated in his first treatise " Gift to believers in the One God "("Tuhfat-ul-Muwahiddin") [Rai, 2010; Roy, 1982, vol. 1], and M. Muller reasonably believed that it embodies "his real religious feelings" - the belief in the unity of the Deity, his infinite power and goodness, in the immortality of the soul [Muller, 1884, p. 34], although many authors tend to underestimate the meaning and influence of this treatise on subsequent works of the philosopher [Sen, 2012, p. 60-64; Robertson, 1995, p. 29]. For our topic, three points are important-the ideas present in the treatise: the pre-understanding as the starting point of the trialog and the co-position of different (in fact, all religions known to R. Rai) on the basis of the chosen approach, plus the actual beginning of the dialogue between Islam and Hinduism.
R. Ray's pre-conception of Paradise, from which he begins the dialogue, is expressed in the formula of the preface: "A general appeal to the One Eternal Being is a natural inclination of human beings and is equally characteristic of all representatives of the human race in equal measure" - and therefore all religions are directed to the one God, although they differ in doctrines, commandments, and forms of worship [Roy, 1982, vol. 4. p. 943]. However, adherents of different religions are convinced of the truth of their own faith and the falsity of all others, which is the cause of prejudice, suffering, hostility, conflicts, wars and violence. R. Rai declares the truth (and primacy) of the spiritual attitude and faith in God and-the derivative nature of religious institutions that are created by people and therefore can be false and true simultaneously [Roy, 1982, vol. 4, p. 943, 955-957]. In other words, the pre-understanding is based on the universalist interpretation of the essence and spirit of any religion as an expression of the soul's desire for God.
On the basis of the universalist approach of R. Roy builds a critical method of understanding all religions, including his own, in order to "find the true nature of a faith that has existed for so many years without any investigation of its truth or falsity" (Roy, 1982, vol. 4, p. 946]. Native religion of R. Raya was the first to be criticized for his "growing belief in supernatural and miraculous things" attributed to heroes and saints (Roy, 1982, vol. 4, p. 949). His own religion, especially Vishnuism, in which R. Rai was brought up from birth, seemed to him full of rituals, idolatry, superstition, cruel customs and restrictions, despite the monotheistic tendencies of worshipping a personal God in a concrete form, and therefore the philosopher longed to find a Hinduism that would correspond to his high idea of the one God and would be free from all sorts of socio-historical layers. At the same time, the monotheistic credo and universalism were formed by R. R. Tolkien. Paradise both under the influence of Islam, and thanks to the knowledge of the Upanishads and Advaita Vedanta, where
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Brahman (the Absolute) is recognized as the only reality. In the Gift, the primary con-positing and comparison of the religious tradition of Brahmins, who strictly observe ceremonies and keep their faith (even in the face of death at the hands of followers of Islam)takes place, - and Islam, whose adherents, " always excited by religious zeal and willing... follow the orders of God", wage holy wars, kill idolaters and persecute polytheists (the Brahmins are the worst of them). According to R. Rai, these contradictory commandments are "an invention of the followers of these religions" and do not belong to God. Meanwhile, He is pleased with "the union of hearts in mutual love and feeling for all creatures, regardless of form and color, faith and religion (emphasis added - T. S.), which is pure devotion", and not formal actions dictated by delusions and fanaticism [Roy, 1982, vol. 4, p. 954-955, 957].
Later, on the basis of a universalist understanding of the essence of any religion as monotheism, and its forms and institutions as derived from this absolute faith, R. Rai begins to comprehend Christianity. In his works, the understanding of his own and other religions is constructed as a transition from the perception of them as a certain integrity (spirit + sacred text and doctrines + form of worship + institutions) to the definition of the essential-related to the universal spirit of religion and criticism of what, in the thinker's opinion, is the "letter" - layers of social and institutional nature after that, the revealed essential enters the space of the trialog of religions and interacts with the ideas of other faiths.
Acting in this way, R. Rai assimilates as essential in Islam monotheism (at-tawhid) and the rejection of polytheism (shirk) along with the worship of images of gods, as well as the idea of a merciful God - the Creator of the world and man. The emotional aspect of Islam Paradise is perceived from Sufi mystics, who are quite marginal to traditional Islam-hence the idea of personal experience and inner awareness of faith (which is confirmed by quotes from Hafiz in the Gift), and rationality - from the Mu'tazilites, who defend free will and the primacy of ethics.
In Christianity, p. Paradise sees a monotheistic religion, the humanistic content of which is represented in the teachings of Christ: love for God and neighbor, high ethics of charity, compassion and social service. This teaching is addressed to all mankind, regardless of the confessional affiliation of its member societies, and promotes peace and harmony. Thanks to Rammohan's polemical writings, there are clearly visible (in contrast to his attitude to Islam) aspects that he considers insignificant and institutional layers - the dogmas of the Trinity (hidden polytheism) and the atonement, the deification of the historical Christ, elements of image worship, miracles described in the Gospels, and the denial of salvation to non-Christians.
As a result of such understanding of one's own and other religions, the space of the trialog turns out to be the space of universal faith in God, and on this basis, points of coincidence of meanings and opportunities for mutual understanding between believers of different faiths are found-opportunities that should be implemented in practice: "In China, in Tartary, in Europe, and in all other countries where there are so many sects, everyone believes that the object they worship is the Creator and Ruler of the universe; accordingly, they must recognize, according to their own faith, that this is our worship (in the proposed version). R. Raemin. - T. S.) - is the same as their own" (Roy, 1982, vol. 1, p. 136).
Moving to the position of Islam and Christianity gave R. Rai the opportunity to see "popular" Hinduism as a polytheistic worship of images of deities and paganism, full of irrational practices, superstitions and prejudices. And then he uses the authority of the Upanishads and Vedanta to show the true essence of his religion - monotheism, which was hidden behind a mass of rituals and inhumane customs, encouraged by self-serving Brahmanism. God - the "Supreme Being" - " is the subject of discussion in all the Vedas and Vedanta, as well as in all the Vedas.
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other systems of theology" [Roy, 1977, p. 264]. Accordingly, Hindu practices of worshipping the attributes of God must be overcome: although they "have their source in the allegorical worship of the true Deity", since they are supported by the Brahmins, who have established a monopoly on reading and interpreting the Vedas [Roy, 1977, p. 262]. Hindu monotheism corresponds to the high ethics of the Upanishads, built around the " great universal principle-do to others as you wish to be done to you "[Roy, 1982, vol. 1, p. 74], and therefore requires serious changes both in religious and social terms.
As a result of the dialogue, Rammohan Rai built his own image of Hinduism - refined, ideal, ethical, which should be restored (and in fact - built) in modern reformer India. This image formed the basis of the teaching of the Brahmo Samaj, a religious society designed, according to R. Rai, to serve as "a place of public gatherings of all people without distinction, who behave in a well-behaved, healthy, religious and reverent way, for worship and worship of the Eternal, Incomprehensible and Unchangeable Being, who is the Creator and Guardian of the Universe" [Roy, 1982, vol. 1, p. 216], but excluding traditional practices of image worship and sacrifice. This image remained elitist, as did the Brahmoist movement, which absorbed the Islamic pathos of denying images of God and Christian parish worship with elements of the liturgy.
But no less significant result of the trialog of religions in the mind of R. Rai was the formation of positive images of other religions and the very idea of the need for dialogue with them - in contrast to the ideas of the superiority of any of them. Actually, a liberal version of the trialog is formed here, the core of which is freedom in the aspect of correlating one's faith with other religions; all of them are recognized as necessary, since without them it is impossible to understand the universal truth, to understand in the very correlation of one's religion with Another-the near religion of Islam and Another-the distant religion of Christianity, and advantages and disadvantages. Criticism of all religions, including our own, is an organic component of the liberal version of the trialog. The general meaning of the Brahmoist trialog, in my opinion, was indicated by Rabindranath Tagore, who grew up in a Brahmoist environment: "In death, many things become one; in life, the one becomes many. Religion will be united when God dies "[Skorokhodova, 2008(1), p. 53]. The very multiplicity of faiths is an indicator of life and movement-both for the Creator and for adherents of different religions who believe in him.
Rammohan Rai, with his universalism, set the content and vectors of the trialog, which accepts all the religious insights of other religions and benevolently, without a sense of superiority, tells about his experience and practice. Moreover, the ideas and principles of other religions integrated by the reformer into Brahmoism are perceived by followers as close and personal thanks to the trialog.
The trialog of religions continues in different forms and with different results. In 1842, the Brahmo Samaj was headed by Debendronath Tagore (1817-1905), and thanks to his activities, many Bengalis joined the society and accepted this reformed version of Hinduism. The new leader of the Brahmo Samaj embraced R.'s anti-ritualism. Paradise as a rejection of the worship of "idols" and polytheism and a completely Sufi mystical sense of constant and direct connection with God, which indicates the presence of Islam in its trialogy. Since D. Tagore's pre-understanding is set by Brahmo universalism, the freedom to choose a religious path is indisputable for him, and imposing one's beliefs is excluded.
As for R. Rai, for D. Tagore, the spirit is primary in religion, and this explains the peculiarity of his trialog. Islam is present in it in the form of Sufi mysticism, expressed in the poetry of Hafiz, whom he read in the original. Seeking to understand his life, discovering its inner meaning, D. Tagore builds a dialogue between Sufism and religion.-
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dante (by which the Upanishads are meant). In an explicit form, it looks like questioning and responding. Thus, to Hafiz's question "I have not yet discovered where I was, why I came here?" in D. Tagore, Shankara answers: "You are that, and from there you came" (Tagore, 1909, p.104). Conversely, the saying of the Chandogya Upanishad, "I have gained the knowledge that a great sunlit Being is beyond this darkness" (Chh-up., III. 17.7) is confirmed in Hafiz: "Now I will pour out the light of my heart on the world; / since I reached the sun, the darkness has disappeared "(Tagore, 1909, p. 135). Realizing the beauty of nature, D. Tagore sees in it the embodiment of the Creator's mercy to both the world and man, and again repeats Hafiz's lines about the mercy of God in the depths of the heart [Tagore, 1909, p.127]. Dialogue between Islam and Hinduism by W. D. Tagore is a dialogue of mystical meanings that coincide in the depth of truth, and the third religion is implicitly in the space of dialogue, and it is more likely to be argued with it, since it is a source of concern for missionaries and their educational and preaching work, and the reformer is convinced that one should not look for God "in the sastras of other religions", if you have your own Hindu shastras [Tagore, 1909, p. 20].
However, in the precepts of the Book of Brahmo Dharma ("Brahmo Dhormo Grontho") created by D. Tagore, there are reminiscences of Christian ethics, as well as in sermons and prayers. These are the motives of "the kingdom of Truth, Light and Eternal Life" and overcoming sin for the salvation of the soul (Tagore, 1909, p. 182, 179-180). Thanks to Christianity and the precepts of D. Tagore, the idea of creating the world according to the will of God is repeatedly strengthened - far from the main one in Indian religious thought. The juxtaposition of the spirit and mystical meaning of religions only reinforces D. Tagore's deeply critical attitude to traditional Hindu practices - pujas and worship of deities in temples, as well as to the social dependence of priests and endless references to the authority of the Vedas, which reveal the same set of gods as in modern India. The Debendronath Tagore trialog resulted in the deepening of the universalist content of the Brahmo faith in terms of mystical and ethical aspects and the strengthening of its Hindu coloring through the idea of unity in the faith of the Brahmo Dharma.
After the arrival of the young Keshobchondro Sena (1838-1884) to the Brahmo Samaj in 1857, and then schisms over the social aspects of its activities (Bharotborshiyo (All-India) Brahmo Samaj 1865-1878, then Nobobidhan (New Implementation) Brahmo Samaj) (see [Rybakov, 1981, pp. 46-58]), the trialog continues, but much later it is less intense; in a sense, it is narrowing, and some religions are being replaced by others.
To. Sen not only keeps a trialog in the mind, but also actively broadcasts both the process and its results in speeches. Here, the primary dialogue is between Hinduism (in the form of Brahmoism) and Christianity, and Islam acts as a source of interesting theological ideas. K. Sen's pre-understanding of religions is expressed in the idea of subordination of " all external sacred books... the teachings of the Inner Spirit" and the revelation of God in the soul [Leaders of Brahmo Samaj, 1926, p. 109-110]. Its universalism is based on the recognition of the Asian origin of all three religions, including Christianity, and a peculiar disidentification of the latter with Western values and institutions. Christ, his teaching and Christianity are similar in their Eastern origin for K. Sen. Its dialogue with Christianity is so extensive and intense that it calls for the Christianization of Hinduism through the assimilation of the truths of Jesus Christ, his moral precepts, the Christian spirit of social service, charity and self-sacrifice. Christ's teaching contains all philosophy, theology, and ethics - "the love of God and the love of man" (Keshub Chunder Sen in England, 1938, p. 100, 230]. Islam attracts K. Sen, 1954, p. 37-40], as well as the pathos of the brotherhood of people in faith, which allows us to find an alternative to the caste system. In traditional Hinduism, K. Sen is close to Vishnu mysticism, which gives vent to emotional faith. As a result of the Brahmoism trialog in the versions of K. Hay by putting-
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With the aim of creating a special church for all peoples, countries and times, it became a separate religion, radically distanced from Hinduism - which neither R. Rai nor D. Tagore ever did-and briefly outlived its creator.
A narrowing of the trialog is observed in another leader of the Brahmoists-the writer, scientist and public figure "Shadharon Brahmo Samaj" (since 1878) Shibonath Shastri (1847-1919). Having passed through an acute spiritual crisis associated with the rejection of traditional Hinduism, Shastri joined the Samaj of K. Sena and considered Brahmoism "a progressive religion representing universal faith in the integrity of the human race and love for God" (Kopf, 1979, p.31). In his mind there was a dialogue between Brahmoism and Christianity in the unitarian version, and the ideas of social compassion and support for the oppressed and rejected in the teachings of Christ became the most attractive to Shastri. Islam is not included in this dialog. As a result of the narrowing of the trialog, the social liberation motives in Brahmoism are strengthened, and the religious motivation behind them is hidden.
The line of the trialog in the traditions of Debendronath Tagore and Adi Brahmo Samaj was continued by Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), who notably developed the polylogue by turning to Buddhism and polemics with neo-Hindus inclined to apologise for traditionalism and criticise the Brahmo movement. Reflecting on Brahmoism, traditional Hinduism, Islam (in the Sufi version), Christianity and Buddhism, R. Tagore proposed his own version of religious humanism-faith in such a "God who belongs to everyone-Hindus, Muslims, Christians, Brahmins, everyone without exception, the doors of the temple of which are not closed to anyone" [Tagore, 1961, vol. 5, p. 465].
The liberal version of the trialog generally sets a high ideal of respect for other religions based on the idea of the universality of the human desire for God and the deep community of religions in the spirit - regardless of the difference in symbolism, practice and institutions. It may well be described by the aphorism of Vladimir Solovyov: "The boundaries between faiths do not reach the sky." As a result, one's own religion - Hinduism-turns out to be full of high meanings-on a par with others, although it is an idealized version of the ancient religious tradition in all its cultural and civilizational completeness.
A different, conservative version of the trialog is constructed by neo-Hindu thinkers who view their religion as an integral whole and accept all practices and cults-from the lowest forms of" folk faith " to the high monotheism of Advaitists. The emergence of this option is associated with the growth of patriotic sentiments among Bengali intellectual elites and a deepening interest in their own history and culture, as well as spiritual traditions. If the liberal version of the trialog was founded by the philosopher Rammohan Rai, the conservative version was influenced by the teachings of the Bengali preacher and mystic Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836-1886), who had a unique experience of understanding different religions in a state of samadhi (ecstasy). The first layer of his religious experience was understanding the main spiritual practices of Hinduism-from the pre-Brahmanic / pre-Aryan cult of Kali and tantra to the Vishnu sadhanas of Bhakti and the realization of Absolute Brahman in the state of Advaiti samadhi. The second layer of experience was understanding the meaning of Islam, Christianity and Buddhism, in which Ramakrishna saw other ways to God. Ramakrishna, both in his experience and in his conversations, built a polylogue of religions, consisting of many dialogues, the basis of the polylogue was the idea of a single all-encompassing Absolute and the possibility of an external and internal dialogue of the believer with Other faiths. Therefore, there can be an external dialogue between Hinduism and other religions, and within it between different trends and interpretations; in the case of Hinduism, it can be a dialogue between Shaktism and Advaita, Vishnuism and Shaivism, Tantrism and bhakti, etc.-
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krsna. "If one recognizes Brahman, one must recognize Kali" [Bhuteshananda, 2006, p. 427], and this is just one of the variants of the internal dialogue between Brahmoism and popular Hinduism.
Ramakrishna's religious experience confirmed the equal truth of all religions, not to mention the recognition of all trends and cults within Hinduism itself, and set the general tone for the neo-Hindu trialog of religions. Hinduism turned out to be an integral religion, which included all the stages of God's realization, leading to God in different ways; other religions - worthy of respect for God's realization: "Be true to your path, but respect the beliefs of others, that is, admit your ignorance. Don't indulge in useless criticism of other paths" (Bhuteshananda, 2006, p.465).
Ramakrishna's audience included prominent Calcutta intellectuals, including the Bengali writer and social activist Bonkimchondro Chottopadhyay (1836-1894). He arrived at the trialog in the late period of his work, when he set out to prove that Hinduism is "a perfect all - encompassing religion that produces happiness for all" and therefore "the best religion in the world" [Chatterjee, 1986, pp. 166-170, 175]; in doing so, he proceeded from the universal monotheism characteristic of religion as such and all religions, including Hindu, and the proof of the superiority of Hinduism was built by comparing it with other religions. This comparison applies only to some aspects of Bonkimchondro's interest, but in the most general sense, it is an external polylogue. For example, when asked about the origin of religions, he told Christians, Jews, Muslims, and Buddhists that their religions were not created by their "founders" - Jesus, Moses, Muhammad, and Buddha-because they only "helped spread the existing religions" that came before them.
"Before the Buddha, there was a Vedic religion, and therefore Buddhism is essentially a reformed Hinduism. Moses helped refine the religious practices he found in the Jewish community of his time. Thus, it is appropriate to say that religions can arise in primitive communities, so we cannot attribute them to any founders" [Bankim's Hinduism, 2011, p. 47-48].
Accordingly, all religions have "a seed from which they sprout into a huge tree." The Vedic religion - the source of the "eternal dharma" - also grows from such a root seed [Bankim's Hinduism, 2011, p. 63]. Similarly, many primitive communities of the world, as well as the Vedic Aryans, worshipped natural phenomena - the Greeks, Romans, peoples of the Americas, Africa, Australia, the islands of Polynesia, as well as the Zoroastrians, Japanese, peoples of Siberia and Mongolia, Indian tribes, etc. [Bankim's Hinduism, 2011, p.64-67]. However, Bonkimchondro "undertakes to prove that the Vedic Hindus then comprehended such truths that even now the civilized peoples of Europe did not comprehend, despite the multitude of deities, a great invisible God is hidden behind them" [Bankim's Hinduism, 2011, p. 65]. They went through three stages of God-realization-from worshipping material objects to serving the God chosen from the entire pantheon (M. Muller's henotheism) and up to the realization of the only true God - the Brahman of the Upanishads. Thus, the polylogue becomes a tool for substantiating the spiritual superiority of the Vedic religion over similar primitive religions, using the historical method and data of religious studies.
In the context of the polylogue, a trialog of Hinduism-Christianity-Islam is constructed (to which Buddhism can be added), and Christianity and the teachings of Christ, which Bonkimchondro was interested in in the early periods of his work (the essay "Equality", etc.), are clearly more significant than Islam, with which the writer is only superficially familiar. For him, all three religions are religions of "civilized" societies, which are based on the revelation of the word of God given in the Vedas, the Bible, and the Koran, respectively, they all lead their followers to progress [Bankim's Hinduism, 2011, p. 166]. The basis of all
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world religions, according to Bonkimchondro, are chittashuddhi, or moral purification of the soul, without which there can be no religion at all. But with this similarity, Hinduism is still superior to other world religions.
Christianity is most significant for Bonkimchondro: the ideas of love for the whole world, equality before God ("all people are children of one God, and therefore brothers"), the ethics of love for one's neighbor, he considers the highest teaching, which, however, has not been implemented by Christians in life and history [Chatterjee, 1986, p. 185]. However, while respecting Christ as the messenger of these ideas, Bonkimchondro believes that he preached "a stoic ascetic religion in which God is independent of the world "(Chatterjee, 1986, pp. 167-168). But Bonkimchondro recognizes the need for a moral ideal for the believer, and therefore Christ is such an ideal for Christians, and Muhammad is such an ideal for Muslims, whose representatives are also capable of loving only their co - religionists. Against this background, the Indian hero Krishna embodies not only Hindu heroes, but also Buddha, Christ and Muhammad in one person (Chatterjee, 1986, p.167).
Like Rammohan Rai, Bonkimchondro cannot fathom why Christianity, with its high spirit and values, denies salvation to those who do not profess it, and why the" tyrannical Lord of the universe " sends everyone who does not accept Christianity to hell for the slightest sin. "Those who have remained outside of this religion are dragging out miserable and sad days, constantly living in the shadow of Eternal Damnation "[Bankim's Hinduism, 2011, p. 224]. Having interpreted Hinduism as a faith dictated by the ethics of moral purity and duty, Bonkimchondro did not see the urge for moral improvement in the Christian idea of atonement for sin.
The strength and superiority of Hinduism, according to Bonkimchondro, lies, first, in the ability to unite various beliefs and religious paths on a common basis, secondly, to make the whole human life, not only spiritual, but also social interactions of people, a religion/culture/dharma, and, third, in the fact that neither religion nor religion can be used as a basis. One of the other religions failed to shake the position of Hinduism [Bankim's Hinduism, 2011, p. 307-308, 299, 138].
The result of the Bonkimchondro trialog in the context of the polylogue of religions was the justification of the merits of Hinduism in its entirety, but at the core of a monotheistic religion that is in no way inferior to others or even superior to them. The point of superiority in Bonkimchondro's work is not brought to the fore, but it reflects a tendency to build dialogue on the principles of hierarchy and even inclusion, which was more noticeable in Ramakrishna's disciple, the philosopher Swami Vivekananda (1862-1902), who translates neo-Hindu ideas throughout India and the world.
Understanding the essence of religion, which is the basis of the trialog (and polylogue) in Vivekananda, it is similar to Ramakrishna's main idea of the equal truth of all faiths and paths and connects with the liberal version of the Brahmo dialogue and the legacy of R. Rai. But taking as a basis the idea of the exceptional power of Hinduism due to its ability to unite different cults, sects, ideas and forms and lead to the attainment and contemplation of God (along with two other ancient religions-Zoroastrianism and Judaism) [Vivekananda, 1998, vol. 1, p. 6] makes Vivekananda's version of the dialogue quite conservative although the very Eastern origin of all religions allows people of different faiths to understand each other. So, in his talk "What is religion" Vivekananda, generously quoting the scriptures of the Bible and the Vedas, states that "...the goal of all religions is the same - but the language of teachers is different. An attempt to kill the false Self so that the real Self-the Lord-will reign" [Vivekananda, 1998, vol. 1., p. 342]. However, following Ramakrishna's ideal, he does not call for a change of faith, but "to embrace the spirit of others, and at the same time to preserve one's individuality and grow according to one's own law of growth" (Vivekananda, 1998, vol. 1, p. 24).
Vivekananda most often compares Christianity and Islam with each other in the polylogue that includes Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Buddhism, and Jai-
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nazism, and sometimes Confucianism. The comparison is systematic: the essence of the religious path, the personality of the prophet, the doctrine of faith, its correspondence to the values of life and behavior of believers-and the history of religion.
Vivekananda calls all three religions "religions of the book" - the Vedas, the Bible, the Koran (in the image of the Islamic classification of religions!) - they are "the most powerful and have the largest number of followers" [Vivekananda, 1998, vol. 1, p. 126]. In their religious paths, they complement each other: Hinduism calls for the renunciation of selfishness and the development of the spirit in the name of freedom; Christianity preaches helping one's neighbor in the name of finding the Kingdom of Heaven, and Islam - practical brotherhood of people in faith [Vivekananda, 1998, vol. 2, p. 371-372], and they all call to creation. Vivekananda's favorite thesis, "unity in diversity," is here used to justify religious universalism. Everyone honors One - " who is for Hindus - Brahman, for Jews-Jehovah, for Christians-the Heavenly Father "[Vivekananda, 1998, vol. 1, p. 19-20].
Hinduism is different in that its revelation is received by several rishis at different times, while Christianity and Islam go back to the teachers of faith- "prophets". For Vivekananda, Christ is a true incarnation of God (but not the only one), a "messenger", a great prophet from Nazareth, who appeared in history to give an impetus to the development of countless peoples of the world (see: [Skorokhodova 2008(2), pp. 352-353]). He taught the very essence of religion: awareness of the spirit and dignity - of man, of God who is transcendent and abiding in the soul, salvation, renunciation of selfishness, charity and selflessness [Vivekananda, 1998, vol. 4, p. 148; vol. 8, p. 203-210]. In the creed of Christ, Vivekananda sees all the stages of knowledge of God known to Hinduism: The God of the universe as the Judge, the omnipresent God in the universe, and the God in the human soul [Vivekananda, 1998, vol. 4, p. 147-148]. Muhammad for Vivekananda is "one of the messengers of light", "the great Arab prophet who was stung by the sight of sin and idolatry" and had a religious experience in the form of an accidental insight. His message was faith in One God, equality, and love, but along with good, he preached a fanatical attitude to faith [Vivekananda, 1998, vol. 1, p. 481-482, 184] - in contrast to Vivekananda's co-religionists, who, according to him, never fought against any religion.
Accordingly, in the creeds of the founders of other religions, love, charity, monotheism, ethics, equality, according to Vivekananda, are quite understandable to Hindus with their ideas of unity and bhakti. All divergences - and with them misunderstandings-begin with the behavior of believers who do not care about following the highest commandments of Christ and Muhammad, the New Testament and the Koran. For example, Vivekananda contrasts the church's negative attitude towards science with Islam's direct and indirect promotion of the arts, sciences, and the development of civilizations; but the same Muslims, following the precepts of the Koran, have caused evil, suffering, and death to millions of people [Vivekananda, 1998, vol. 1, p. 184]. Vivekananda sees the reasons for the gap between faith and behavior in the selfishness that permeates religions and the behavior of believers. Vivekananda does not accept in the Qur'an the idea of killing " infidels "in the name of going to heaven - although, in his opinion, as soon as the religion of Christianity" penetrated rudeness", it turned into a religion not much better than the religion of the Prophet Muhammad [Vivekananda, 1998, vol. 2, p. 352-353]. In another place, he talks about inter-religious disputes (between Muslims and Christians) and notes that to overcome them, it is necessary to turn to a rational study of religions - not only ethics, but also spiritual content.
Against this background, despite the deep commonality of all religions, Hinduism in its historical evolution and diversity of practices turns out to be a kind of"religion of religions". It is not for nothing that Vivekananda, at the 1893 Parliament of Religions in Chicago, called it the "mother of all religions" with its universal tolerance, and Hindus who accept all religions as true [Vivekananda, 1998, vol. 1, p. 3]. His trialog serves to enrich the meanings of the native tradition through the appropriation of non-religious ideas of Islam and Christianity-like none of the other Bengali trialogs after R. Rai; and the polylogue allows
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present Buddhism and Jainism as genetically descended from Hinduism. There is a kind of friendly absorption in this, but it exists in Vivekananda in equal proportions with the criticism of Hinduism in its social dimension and even with the dream of a universal religion as "the sum total of all religions... It will be a religion in which there is no place for persecution or intolerance, but which recognizes the divinity in every man and woman... and it leads humanity to the realization of its true, divine nature "[Vivekananda, 1998, vol. 1, p. 19].
The conservative version of the trialog is an attempt to understand other religions from the idea of their great national religion of Hinduism, which already has all the revelations and insights that happened in others only later thanks to the work of prophets and teachers of faith. Other religions confirm the power and glory of Hinduism - in its integrated integrity and historical development and "unity in diversity". In the conservative trialog, there is a tendency to criticize Islam and Muslims (and only partially Christianity), based on attempts to understand the historical evolution of religions and explain the peculiarities of behavior. This trialog greatly contributes to the creation of neo-Hinduism as a current of thought and religious movement.
The overall result of the trialog of Hinduism, Islam and Christianity can be symbolically represented as a three - layered pyramid, based on the comprehension of the meaning of other religions as universal and identical or similar in the deep foundations of faith in God, its ethical projection into the life of a person and society. This comprehension, with varying degrees of completeness, marks a cardinal breakthrough from the isolation of religion on itself to a dialogue, even if carried out by intellectual elites, to a dialogue where "the truth of dialogue is above individual opinions" (G. S. Pomerants). The middle layer of the pyramid is the creation of images of other religions-based on the universalism of faith (Brahmoists) or on the national-religious vision of other faiths as a kind of repetition of the truths already existing in Hinduism (neo-Hindu thinkers), but with the preservation of ideas about the universality of faith. It is the result of discovering and comprehending the Other after many centuries of co-existing with it without the desire to know and understand it. The third layer - the top of the pyramid-was the creation of an image of Hinduism, which, first, is a response to the "accusatory theology" and criticism of Hinduism by Christian missionaries as "paganism" and its justification by emphasizing monotheistic and ethical components in it. Secondly, the image of Hinduism brings this religion to a universal level with other world religions through a new interpretation and self-reflection in comparison with Islam and Christianity. The trialog is motivated by creating an image of Hinduism in order to justify the native religion, and therefore this result is the most significant - at the top of the pyramid. However, without this goal of justification in the course of a dialogue with another religion, neither the reformist activities of the Brahmoists, nor the universalization of Hinduism by neo-Hindu thinkers, nor the actual comprehension of the meaning of another faith as a different image of the one truth would be possible. This latter result was the main achievement of the thinkers who built a trialog in the religious philosophy of the Bengali Renaissance.
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