Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality: Sri Ramakrishna & Cross Cultural Philosophy of Religion

Sri Ramakrishna is widely known as a nineteenth-century Indian mystic who affirmed the harmony of all religions on the basis of his richly varied spiritual experiences and eclectic religious practices, both Hindu and non-Hindu. In __Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality__, Ayon Maharaj argues that Sri Ramakrishna was also a sophisticated philosopher of great contemporary relevance. Through a careful study of Sri Ramakrishna’s recorded oral teachings in the original Bengali, Maharaj reconstructs his philosophical positions and analyzes them from a cross-cultural perspective. Sri Ramakrishna’s mystical journey culminated in the exalted state of “__vijñāna__,” his term for the “intimate knowledge” of God as the Infinite Reality that is both personal and impersonal, with and without form, immanent in the universe and beyond it. This spiritual standpoint of __vijñāna__, Maharaj contends, opens up a new paradigm for addressing central issues in cross-cultural philosophy of religion, including the infinitude of God, religious diversity, mystical experience, and the problem of evil. Sri Ramakrishna’s __vijñāna__-based religious pluralism—when grasped in all its subtlety—proves to have major philosophical advantages over dominant Western models. Moreover, his mystical testimony and teachings not only cut across long-standing debates about the nature of mystical experience but also bolster recent defenses of its epistemic value. Maharaj further demonstrates that Sri Ramakrishna’s unique response to the problem of evil resonates strongly with Western “soul-making” theodicies and contemporary theories of skeptical theism. Cover 1 Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality 4 Copyright 5 Dedication 6 Contents 8 Acknowledgments 12 A Note on Sanskrit and Bengali Transliteration 14 Abbreviations of Texts 16 Introduction 20 PART ONE: The Infinitude of God 30 1. Sri Ramakrishna’s Harmonizing Philosophy of Vijñāna Vedānta 32 I. The Spiritual Basis of Sri Ramakrishna’s Philosophical Outlook: His Upbringing, Religious Practices, and Mystical Experiences 36 II. Five Interpretive Principles for Reconstructing Sri Ramakrishna’s Philosophical Views from the Kathāmṛta 38 III. The Central Tenets of Sri Ramakrishna’s Vijñāna Vedānta 46 IV. Beyond “Neo-Vedānta”: Implications of Sri Ramakrishna’s Philosophy of Vijñāna for Discourse on Modern Vedānta 64 2. A Cross-Cultural Inquiry into Divine Infinitude: Sri Ramakrishna, Paraconsistency, and the Overcoming of Conceptual Idolatry 70 I. Satyaṃ jñānam anantaṃ brahma: Sri Ramakrishna in Dialogue with Śaṅkara, Rāmānuja, and Viśvanātha Cakravartin 72 II. Scotus and Cusa: Two Medieval Christian Paradigms for Understanding Divine Infinitude 82 III. The Paraconsistent God: Sri Ramakrishna and Benedikt Paul Göcke 86 IV. Idol versus Icon: Sri Ramakrishna and Jean-Luc Marion 91 PART TWO: Religious Pluralism 102 3. “All Faiths Are Paths”: A Reconstruction and Defense of Sri Ramakrishna’s Vijñāna-Based Model of Religious Pluralism 104 I. A Reconstruction of Sri Ramakrishna’s Model of Religious Pluralism 107 II. Sri Ramakrishna’s Response to the Problem of Conflicting Religious Truth-Claims 120 III. Addressing Major Objections to Sri Ramakrishna’s Religious Pluralism 128 4. John Hick’s Vedāntic Road Not Taken? Hick’s Evolving Views on Religious Pluralism in the Light of Sri Ramakrishna 136 I. Sri Ramakrishna’s Legacy: Sri Aurobindo’s “Logic of the Infinite” in the Context of Nonsectarian Vedānta 138 II. The Early Hick’s Aurobindonian Model of Religious Pluralism 143 III. The Ontological Underpinnings of the Later Hick’s Quasi-Kantian Model of Religious Pluralism 152 IV. A Ramakrishnan Critique of Hick’s Quasi-Kantian Pluralist Model 157 V. Adequacy Criteria for Assessing Theories of Religious Pluralism 166 PART THREE: Mystical Experience 170 5. Beyond Perennialism and Constructivism: Sri Ramakrishna’s Manifestationist Model of Mystical Experience 172 I. Perennialist Models 175 II. Constructivist Models 181 III. Sri Ramakrishna’s Experiential Method 188 IV. A Reconstruction of Sri Ramakrishna’s Manifestationist Model of Mystical Experience 202 V. Anticipating a Possible Objection 212 6. A Cross-Cultural Defense of the Epistemic Value of Mystical Experience: Sri Ramakrishna, Self-Authentication, and the Argument from Experience 215 I. Sri Ramakrishna’s Critique of Theological Reason 217 II. Sri Ramakrishna and the Question of Self-Authenticating Mystical Experience 220 III. The Argument from Experience in the Light of Sri Ramakrishna 230 IV. The Cross-Checkability Objection 238 V. The Conflicting Claims Objection 250 PART FOUR: The Problem of Evil 258 7. Sri Ramakrishna’s Multidimensional Response to the Problem of Evil: Skeptical Theism, Saint-Making Theodicy, and the Panentheistic Standpoint of Vijñāna 260 I. Karma and Līlā in the Classical Vedāntic Theodicies of Śaṅkara and Rāmānuja 264 II. Sri Ramakrishna’s Skeptical Theist Refutation of Evidential Arguments from Evil 268 III. Sri Ramakrishna’s Saint-Making Theodicy 274 IV. Reconciling Sri Ramakrishna’s Saint-Making Theodicy with His Hard Theological Determinism 283 V. Sri Ramakrishna’s Theodical Endgame: The Panentheistic Standpoint of Vijñāna 287 VI. Anticipating Possible Objections 292 8. A Cross-Cultural Approach to the Problem of Evil: Sri Ramakrishna, the Rowe-Alston Debate, and Hick’s Soul-Making Theodicy 300 I. Skeptical Theist Positions in Dialogue: Sri Ramakrishna and Alston 301 II. Soul-Making Theodicies in Dialogue: Sri Ramakrishna and Hick 311 III. A Ramakrishnan Critique of Hick’s Soul-Making Theodicy 316 IV. Toward a Metatheodicy: Adequacy Criteria for Assessing Theodicies 324 Methodological Postlude 330 Bibliography 334 Index 354 Sri Ramakrishna is widely known as a nineteenth-century Indian mystic who affirmed the harmony of all religions on the basis of his richly varied spiritual experiences and eclectic religious practices, both Hindu and non-Hindu. In Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality , Ayon Maharaj argues that Sri Ramakrishna was also a sophisticated philosopher of great contemporary relevance. Through a careful study of Sri Ramakrishna's recorded oral teachings in the original Bengali, Maharaj reconstructs his philosophical positions and analyzes them from a cross-cultural perspective. Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual journey culminated in the exalted state of " vijana , " his term for the "intimate knowledge" of God as the Infinite Reality that is both personal and impersonal, with and without form, immanent in the universe and beyond it. This expansive spiritual standpoint of vijana , Maharaj contends, opens up a new paradigm for addressing central issues in cross-cultural philosophy of religion, including divine infinitude, religious pluralism, mystical experience, and the problem of evil. Sri Ramakrishna's vijana -based religious pluralism--when grasped in all its subtlety--proves to have major philosophical advantages over dominant Western models. Moreover, his mystical testimony and teachings not only cut across long-standing debates about the nature of mystical experience but also bolster recent defenses of its epistemic value. Maharaj further demonstrates that Sri Ramakrishna's unique response to the problem of evil resonates strongly with Western "soul-making" theodicies and contemporary theories of skeptical theism. A pioneering interdisciplinary study of one of India's most important philosopher-mystics, Maharaj's book is essential reading for scholars and students in philosophy of religion, theology, religious studies, and Hindu studies. Sri Ramakrishna is widely known as a nineteenth-century Indian mystic who affirmed the harmony of all religions on the basis of his richly varied spiritual experiences and eclectic religious practices, both Hindu and non-Hindu. In Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality, Ayon Maharaj argues that Sri Ramakrishna was also a sophisticated philosopher of great contemporary relevance.0Through a careful study of Sri Ramakrishna's recorded oral teachings in the original Bengali, Maharaj reconstructs his philosophical positions and analyzes them from a cross-cultural perspective. Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual journey culminated in the exalted state of "vijnana", his term for the "intimate knowledge" of God as the Infinite Reality that is both personal and impersonal, with and without form, immanent in the universe and beyond it. This expansive spiritual standpoint0of vijnana, Maharaj contends, opens up a new paradigm for addressing central issues in cross-cultural philosophy of religion, including divine infinitude, religious pluralism, mystical experience, and the problem of evil. 0Sri Ramakrishna's vijnana-based religious pluralism-when grasped in all its subtlety-proves to have major philosophical advantages over dominant Western models. Moreover, his mystical testimony and teachings not only cut across long-standing debates about the nature of mystical experience but also bolster recent defenses of its epistemic value. Maharaj further demonstrates that Sri Ramakrishna's unique response to the problem of evil resonates strongly with Western "soul-making"0theodicies and contemporary theories of skeptical theism. A pioneering interdisciplinary study of one of India's most important philosopher-mystics, Maharaj's book is essential reading for scholars and students in philosophy of religion, theology, religious studies, and Hindu studies Sri Ramakrishna is widely known as a nineteenth-century Indian mystic who affirmed the harmony of all religions on the basis of his richly varied spiritual experiences and eclectic religious practices, both Hindu and non-Hindu. In Infinite Paths to Infinite Reality, Ayon Maharaj argues that Sri Ramakrishna was also a sophisticated philosopher of great contemporary relevance. Through a careful study of Sri Ramakrishna's recorded oral teachings in the original Bengali, Maharaj reconstructs his philosophical positions and analyzes them from a cross-cultural perspective. Sri Ramakrishna's spiritual journey culminated in the exalted state of'vijñana,'his term for the'intimate knowledge'of God as the Infinite Reality that is both personal and impersonal, with and without form, immanent in the universe and beyond it. This expansive spiritual standpoint of vijñana, Maharaj contends, opens up a new paradigm for addressing central issues in cross-cultural philosophy of religion, including divine infinitude, religious pluralism, mystical experience, and the problem of evil. Sri Ramakrishna's vijñana-based religious pluralism--when grasped in all its subtlety--proves to have major philosophical advantages over dominant Western models. Moreover, his mystical testimony and teachings not only cut across long-standing debates about the nature of mystical experience but also bolster recent defenses of its epistemic value. Maharaj further demonstrates that Sri Ramakrishna's unique response to the problem of evil resonates strongly with Western'soul-making'theodicies and contemporary theories of skeptical theism. A pioneering interdisciplinary study of one of India's most important philosopher-mystics, Maharaj's book is essential reading for scholars and students in philosophy of religion, theology, religious studies, and Hindu studies. "This pioneering study examines the philosophy of the nineteenth-century Indian mystic Sri Ramakrishna and brings him into dialogue with recent Western thinkers. Sri Ramakrishna's expansive conception of God as the impersonal-personal Infinite Reality, Maharaj argues, opens up an entirely new paradigm for addressing central issues in the philosophy of religion"-- Provided by publisher