Søren Kierkegaard reflected in Indian philosophy

2016

The ideas of Søren Kierkegaard have attracted the interest of a broad spectrum of creators of modern Indian culture. In the first place, it was the admirers of existentialism who diligently sought reasons to justify a legitimate place for existential thought in the new context of Indian thinking. They were followed by thinkers who categorically refused existentialism, criticizing it from various points of view. There have also been philosophers, who tried to evaluate the function of existentialism objectively and scientifically in a very sober way, first in connection to the traditional attitudes of Indian philosophers and religious thinkers and secondly in connection to the evident presence of existentialism in the context of Indian philosophy in the 20 th century.

Long-gone are the parochial pockets of partition within our ever-shrinking global village – those isolated, insular enclaves of xenophobia we’ve come to crave. Our contemporary, turbulent period in history is not the first time that Europe has faced an influx of new immigrants (and the accompanying new ideas which are, inevitably, introduced simultaneously). May we not shrink from this notion of true internationalism as the march of time quickens afoot. As a champion for Indian independence, Dr. Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was indeed a staunch advocate of both the neo-Advaita renaissance and the newfound political landscape of secularism. Within this context, it is noted that inter-cultural contact between previously separate and even isolated communities and civilizations is now an everyday experience. Scientifically, globalization had enabled the intentional development of a worldwide commonwealth of spirituality and the formation of a free fellowship of world religions. In today’s globalized environment, bona fide spiritual solidarity must become a living reality – otherwise, all prospects for our own spiritual progress will remain stunted and stagnant. Whether it be inter-continental air travel, the internet, an increasingly-entangled economic infrastructure or today’s pluralistic educational and work environment, it seems we are increasingly being forced to get to know one another. Culture is such in nature that it seeks to naturally spread and expand, much as we have discovered examining closely the etymology behind the root for Brahman, which likewise implies exponential growth and expansion. So, when confronted with an influx of new individuals and new ideas, what should be our response? It quickly becomes apparent that new and challenging ideas present opportunities to grow and expand – Growing Through the Myriad Approaches to Oneness. Dr. James Herndon - a visiting Canadian-American scholar in-residence in INDIA pursuing philosophical research and teaching - has just recently been awarded full-declaration for his PhD thesis on Radhakrishnan’s comparative philosophy. Dr. Herndon truly loves India, as is evidenced by his fresh and imaginative insights into the Eternal Truths. Gmail --------PLEASE EMAIL: jkherndon@gmail.com LinkedIN --- PLEASE CONNECT: https://ca.linkedin.com/in/james-herndon-ph-d-5a3252120 Mobile -------PLEASE PHONE: +91-7760258800

India’s progressive emergence on the world stage, in terms unimaginable just a few decades ago, obliges us to reconsider its image as nurtured by the West for over two thousand years: a prestigious image maybe, but also greatly reductive, as the privileged home of occult knowledge, ecstasy and asceticism, or – quite the opposite – of fabulous riches and voluptuous pleasures. Rather than getting to know India, the West has preferred to dream of it: one result has been that Indian thought, albeit unanimously celebrated as the seat of the highest wisdom, has not been granted even the smallest place on the great stage of the history of philosophy. This book presents the thought of pre-modern India first and foremost by outlining the cultural parameters within which it arose and developed, and should be read; often associated with religious experience, but also essentially independent of it; sometimes differing in form and outcome, but more often very close to Western thought, and certainly never ‘alien’. *** “This is a marvellous piece of compact insight in all respects: a summary as well as a fresh view of the whole area, always sound and based on first hand experience with the material. I really mean it when I would like to call it the best modern survey of our field at an extraordinary high level of penetration.” Prof. Ernst Steinkellner, University of Vienna - Austrian Academy of Sciences.

2023

An attempt towards the understanding of Kierkegaard's Understanding of True Existence in the presnece of God.

In India I was principally concerned with the question or the psychological nature of evil. I had been very much impressed by the way this problem is integrated in Indian- intuitive life, and I awared it in new light. In a conversation with the cultivated Chinese I was also impressed again and again by the fact that these people are able to integrate so-called evil without “losing face”. In the West we cannot do this. For the Oriental the problem of morality does not appear to take first place as it does with us. To the Oriental good and evil are meaningfully contained in nature and are merely varying degrees of the same thing. I saw that Indian spirituality contains as much of evil as of good. The Christian strives for good and succumbs to evil, the Indian feels himself to be essentially outside good and evil and all so-called opposites. Indian spirituality needs or aims at, nirwendwa, liberation from duality-consciousness and the mind-ridden ego-sense, and seems to realize this state by meditation, contemplation or some other kind of Yoga- (-There are dozens of different modes of Yoga). The Indian’s goal is not moral perfection or ego-salvation, but a condition of nirwendwa, ego-free Self-awareness-, integral consciousness or mature individuation. Source from old paper collection of letters (1950s,1960s,1970s) sent by Alfred Sorensen known as Sunya Bhai to my father Radhey Shiam – This article Compiled & Notes by _Rama Kant s/o Lsh Radhey Shiam – Author of – ‘Song of Life,’The Book of Life’, ‘Quotes of Life’ and ‘Nature and I’ in English and ‘Haiku Paheliyaan’ and ‘Haiku Ramayan’ in Hindi, kant.rama@gmail.com

Philosophy East and West, 1992