Dialogue is neither a ‘debate’ nor an ‘argument’ not even any ‘negotiation’ to settle some dispute, but an endeavour where one goes voluntarily to listen to her opponent’s view and come back to ‘Rethink’ both her views about her opinion but also about her opponent’s views. It is the place where any authority and tradition is challenged. When one reads any book, she also has to enter an intellectual dialogue with the author of the book. In this she should read the book not with any aim to gather some information or for time pass. Unlike the past where we don’t have much opportunity to interact with each other due to the limitation of printed media, now the social media opened a new avenue for us to engage with each other on every point—sometimes even on one word. The Internet also provided the opportunity for us to learn from various sources where we can check on any point with unlimited resources. So dialogue made every partner in it as equal irrespective of position and advantage that one might have. It also set us from the mental slavery and never threatens one’s personal conviction. This is true in every field—religion, economic, politics, etc. Dialogue is hard work, but the results bring meaning and sense—giving an avenue for humanity to engage on an equal status, irrespective of the many limitations. ‘By dealing with contrary views we deepen, correct and refine our views even if they are not substantially changed.’ (Dr. Hoefer).
My journey began by reading book back from my teenage with a systematic approach of collecting points from the book, recording my reflections side by side. Though dialogue provided some inner freedom to search for new identity it also put some restriction not going widely end up living in a no man’s land. So my search for a guru though ended in Bhagavan Muktinath, my birth as a Hindu gave a blessing to engage seriously both in Hindu Scriptures, tradition and Muktiveda and also with Christian tradition in a limited way. Particularly my acquaintance with Evangelicals gave me an opportunity to learn more about Muktiveda, church and mission in right context without allowing me to become a ‘Christian convert’. Particularly my friendship and fellowship with Rajesh break a new ground as he guided me by providing proper books to read and engaging in dialogue with me without posing any kind of threaten to my individuality and social identity as a Hindu.
But my dialogue are mostly limited only in my reading and recording my reflection on them as mere ‘Brain storms’ than presenting my view in a systematic view. Though Rajesh helped me to publish two book (Living Water and Indian Bowl and Understanding Hinduism), still most of my reflections on various subjects remain mere ‘brain storm’ some of them shared in my blog and most of them remain buried in my computer. As I prefer to remain a student to learn from others, I resist all kinds of temptation to involve any kind of ‘dialogue’, though now I do some time on few topics in Whatsapp group.
What I learnt from all the reading is that most of the time it is our particular interpretation rather than the text which decides our course of dialogue. Added to this the subtle influence by our own people tries to impose their views and identity on us from a different context makes dialogue more complicated. The best example is the efforts of Diaspora Hindus influence on us here in India keeping their political agenda. However my personal conviction helped me emerge with some clarity than to compromise however other’s influence might be on me. My identity as a Hindu bhakta of the Lord provided a strong foundation with clear conviction than to compromise my bhakti in the process of dialogue with others. Dialogue also provided an opportunity to critique my own views. Here Muktiveda gave the strong foundation for me with clear teachings to have proper understanding of both the Muktiveda and Hindu worldview providing the right perspective to work out a solution without compromising my faith and social identity as a bhakta of Muktinath and also as a Hindu. This foundation helped me to become teachable than remain mere fanatic. Of course I faced many challenges both from Hindu and Christian worldviews. Instead of remaining a monolog my reading books both on Hinduism and Muktiveda helped me to engage in proper dialogue with me. The reason for me to share this is that unlike several dialogues arranged by Christians with some hidden agenda I remain opened to listen without having any kind of agenda. At the same time dialogue became both a blessing and problem. As a Hindu though I can use my own terms to understand Muktivedic theology still it posed seriously problem as I have to remain cautious to consider the various contexts of those terms like avatara, karma, Vedanta etc. Particularly the three ‘isms’ of ‘exclusivism’ ‘inclusivism’ and ‘pluralism’ pose a challenge to accommodate my personal conviction to one ‘ism’.
Though the Christian dialogue approach remains as part of their mission, still it helped me to understand both Hindu and Christian traditions in a better way. What I noticed in the Christian dialogue approach is that it most of the time remained one way traffic and elitist one. Whereas a common Hindu find no need to engage in any kind of dialogue with other religions as she found self sufficient in her religious tradition. Above all as she has no hidden agenda to convert others to her faith, she had better advantage when even compelled to engage in some kind of dialogue with people of other faiths—either on academic level or in normal life. Though I benefited a lot by the academic dialogue arranged by the Christians yet for me it looks more artificial than real one. However though a common Hindu (or even the elitist Hindu) feels self-sufficient still a Hindu bhakta should never feel like this. The fear of syncretism or the pride about the all-sufficiency of the gospel hampers the very purpose of dialogue. One personal benefit that I derived from all kinds of my Living Dialogue is that when my faith and conviction is seriously challenged, it helped me to be humble to learn more rather than irritated or disturbed by them. It helped me to progress in my bhakti in the Lord as it helped me to have an incarnational approach than attempting to contextualization either try to Christianize Hinduism or try to compromise my bhakti in the Lord.
In the Appendix I shared my reflection on some of the Christians’ dialogical approach.
In order to save the space in my blog I am posting only this summary. Those who wants to read the entire chapter, please contact me. Thanks