Journal articles on the topic 'Mysticism – Hinduism'

O artigo analisa o papel da mística na construção da Realidade Última em duas tradições distintas: hinduísmo e cristianismo. Ao longo do desenvolvimento apresenta a compreensão da mística e seus caminhos apresentados pelos cientistas da religião que levaram a construir as diversas imagens da Realidade Última, a saber, Deus. Duas imagens são escolhidas, Tríade hindu e Santíssima Trindade, apresentando-as como elas foram elaboradas pelos sábios dessas duas tradições, a partir da análise dos contextos existentes daquela época. Nas considerações finais se faz um apelo que o mais importante papel da mística é estabelecer as relações harmônicas dos humanos entre si e também entre os humanos e a Realidade Última.
 Palavras-chave: Realidade Última. Mística. Tríade. Trindade.
 
 Abstract 
 The article analyzes the role of mysticism in the construction of the Ultimate Reality in two distinct traditions: Hinduism and Christianity. All through the elaboration, the article clarifies the understanding of the mysticism and its paths presented by the scientists of religion that led to the building of the various images of the Ultimate Reality, namely, God. Two images are chosen, Hindu Triad and Holy Trinity, presenting them as to how they were elaborated by the mystics of these two traditions, through the analysis of the existing contexts of that time. The final considerations, make an appeal, that the most important role of mysticism is to establish the harmonic human relations with each other and also between humans and the Ultimate Reality. 
 Keywords: Ultimate Reality. Mysticism. Triad. Trinity.

As all religions have their mysticism, Islamic mysticism is well known as Sufism. In its development, many schools ofSufism appeared and they had been influenced by several religions and beliefs around such as Christian, Buddhism,Hinduism, Gnotisism, etc. This article tends to tell about Islamic Mysticism and its epistemology. It will be discussedabout the definition of Sufism, its schools, its objects, and ways to get it. The writing classified kinds of IslamicMysticism too into three types, Tasawuf Akhlaki, Tasawuf Amali, and Tasawuf Falsafi. Each type has thecertain character. In the end, it will be explained how to know the validity of Sufism.

This article examines perennials’ understanding through the Javanese mysticism tradition that has developed before and after the arrival of Islam. The focus on perennials in this article is based on recognizing and equality of noble values in every religion that has ever developed in Javanese society, such as Buddhism, Hinduism, and Islam. Previous studies have emphasized that Javanese mysticism is studied from the acculturation of culture with religion. Even this understanding of religion is considered the antithesis of religious exclusivism and conservatism that is currently developing. It is just that the study of Javanese mysticism in the approach of religious perennials is infrequent and limited. This study uses a library research method to reveal the values of mysticism that develop across the religious boundaries of Javanese society. The findings of this study are that there are several teachings of Javanese mysticism, including the conceptions of tantrism, tantularism, and manunggaling kawula gusti. These conceptions illustrate the openness of Javanese society to various religions. They believe that in religions, there is a commonality in ultimate truth or divinity and mystical unity.

Serat Cabolek shows the story which represents the Javanese mysticism, especially as told by the story of Dewaruci. The debate among Haji Amad Mutamakin and Ketip Anom about the spirituality of Dewaruci consist of synthesis Javanese and Islamic mysticism. Particularly, it is the emergence of Hinduism and Islam which shapes Javanese mysticism. Looking carefully at the dialogue and debate between Haji Mutamakin and Ketip Anom about the story of Dewaruci it shows that the concept of Javanese mysticism drawn to the fundamental themes such as what life is what to do in life, and how to live in a good life. Story of Dewaruci shows the significance of batin as an inner essence of a person. The goal of life is seeking “water of life” that is unity with the Divine. The Divine is not outside there and far from human. The mysticism of Java, therefore, is all about life in the world and human relation with himself, others, and the universe. It is about human activities in all their mundane activities and about human understanding of himself and the universe. Javanese mysticism lays in daily activities. It is in everyday life Javanese coming to the essence of life. These daily activities consist of all relations Javanese made the way of thinking Javanese understood and believed. All aspects become a mystic realm. Keywords:Islamic Mysticism, Javanese Culture, Cultural Fusion

On the island of Bali in Indonesia, the traditional Hindu religious leaders are the pedandas, or brahmin high priests. Their religious status is largely based on their mystical states, during which they create the highest and most valuable form of holy water, which is needed for all religious rituals on the island. It is one of the rare examples in world religions where mysticism is not only integrated into the daily life of the community but is vital to it. These are the religious authorities who maintain the ancient forms of Indonesian Hinduism, standing against the encroachment of Westernization, Islamization and modernization. Little ethnographic research has been done on them—there are no books about their lives and experiences in any Western languages, and only a few biographies in Indonesian. In this paper, we examine the lives of some Shiva pedandas, discussing their mystical experiences, and the ways that their states fit in with other sorts of mystical experiences in Bali. These other sorts of experiences include those of Buddhist priests, local healers or balians, and the debatably mystical experiences of possession trance.

The idea of mystical union with God or a higher being is universal in theological systems, although it may take many forms, metaphorical and moral as well as metaphysical. In Hinduism this concept is expressed in the sayingTat twam asi(“This is thou”); a human being, by finding his or her true immortal self (atman), becomes united with Brahman and, in so doing, achievesnirvana. In Buddhism, similarly, humans must strive to recognize the unity of all within the eternal Buddha, thedharmakaya, the absolute truth or reality that transcends human perception. Jewish mysticism teachesdevekut, commonly translated as adhesion, cleaving, or union with God. Christian mysticism refers to Jesus' words “Abide in me and I in you” (John 15:4) as pertaining to divine union, which has its concrete expression in baptism and the Eucharist. Even Islam, which insists on the absolute transcendence of God, has developed the mystical doctrine oftawhid(“union”).

<p><em>This research focuses on the effort of evangelization and religious conversion factors from Hinduism to Christianity in Badung, Bali. Bali as a unique island and famous all over the world has long been used as a target of missionary. In the early stages, the process of spreading Christianity is very slow. Even, Dutch East Indies government closed the door to evangelization and prohibited its activities in Bali. This study uses a cross field of knowledge and find that there are many causes behind the religion conversion in the area of study.</em> <em>Findings of this research shows that the reason for religious conversion is the social upheavals because of dissatisfaction on system and religion, individual crises, eco- nomic and socio-cultural factors, the influence of mysticism, spiritual thirst and the promise of salvation, family breakdown and urbanization, wedding and birth order in the family, education and professional evangelistic activity and lack understand- ing of Hinduism.</em></p>

The well-known modern Hindu reformer and pioneer of Vedānta in the West, Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902), based his ethical vision on mysticism: specifically, on the direct experience of non-duality and the ultimate unity and organic interconnectedness of all beings. This paper will explore the implications of this experientially based ethos for caste prejudice. Caste remains a hot-button issue in India to the present day and was no less so in the time of Swami Vivekananda. This system of social organization is rightly criticized by social justice advocates for the inequities it enshrines and enforces in Indian society. Because it has historically been justified by reference to Hindu textual sources—specifically such Dharma Śāstras as the Manusmṛti—prejudice based on caste, or casteism, has frequently been depicted, especially by critics of Hinduism, as essential or inherent to Hindu traditions. The implication of this identification of caste with Hinduism, and caste with social injustice, is that Hinduism is an intrinsically wicked and unjust religion. Such simplistic equations fail to consider the extent to which caste prejudice has been condemned by authoritative Hindu teachers, not least, by Swami Vivekananda himself. It is thus important to rearticulate Swami Vivekananda’s rejection of caste prejudice—and indeed, of all prejudice—based on Advaita Vedānta both to make the case against such prejudice in today’s world and to address criticisms of Hinduism as inherently or essentially casteist. Finally, it will be noted that Vivekananda’s criticisms of caste anticipate those of a contemporary anti-casteist voice from the Advaita tradition: that of Hindu theologian Anantanand Rambachan, who has also argued against prejudices of various kinds, including caste prejudice, based on Advaita Vedānta.

In medieval India, the desire for “the unity of Brahman and Self” was present in the Vedānta tradition of Hinduism. Adi Śaṅkara, the master of Vedānta philosophy, proposed the six-fold sādhana: mind control, sense control, mental tranquility, endurance, potential faith, and concentration. These six-fold practices can help Vedānta followers realize unity with Brahman. In medieval Christianity, mysticism was regarded as an important path for Christians to seek a closer relationship with God. Pursuing “the unity of God and man” became the goal and direction of Christians at that time, which could be achieved through spirituality. Bonaventure, known as the Seraphic Doctor, was a representative figure of medieval Christian mysticism. He proposed six stages of spirituality: Sense, Imagination, Reason, Intelligence, Understanding, and Spark of Conscience, through which one can achieve unity with God. This article attempts to compare Bonaventure’s theory of six stages of spirituality with Śaṅkara’s idea of six-fold practice and discover the similarities and differences between Eastern and Western religious spirituality in the Middle Ages. Through this comparison, we can further explore the medieval religious believers’ desire for ultimate reality and try to find the possibility of dialogue between Christianity and Advaita Vedānta.

This paper discusses the commonalities/differences between the understandings of holy mountains in Hinduism and Christianity. The first part deals with Ramana Maharshi’s understanding of the holy mountain Arunachala—his attraction to and reinterpretations of it. The second part presents Abhishiktananda’s views on Arunachala, particularly with regard to Christian mysticism. Here the focus is on how he engaged in an interreligious interpretation of the mountain. In the final section, the paper explores the implications of such studies to the field of Comparative Religions. The paper deals with the following questions: Do comparative studies of religious concepts produce metanarratives for further investigation? Do similarities/dissimilarities point to a dependence/autonomy of concepts? Are there enduring patterns to look for in future in such intercultural hermeneutical exercises?

India has been a Hindu nation from the very beginning. The Brahmins were considered to belong to the upper caste in Hinduism and the practices followed by the Muslims were opposite to those of the Hindus. After the Arab invasion of India, Islam was widely propagated by those who migrated to India. Sufis have the most important contribution in the propagation of Islam in India. Sufism or Islamic mysticism developed from the core ideas of Islam. Sufi saints tried to bring harmony in the society and a harmonious trend was established by them. Thus, the universality of Sufism is accepted in all hands. The present article attempts to trace the origins of Sufism, the Sufi silsila in India and the influence of Hinduism and other religions on Sufism. It has been observed that through Sufism, the philosophies of mystical traditions belonging to other religions such as Christianity, Judaism, Hinduism and Buddhism were shared by the Sufis among the people of India, which suggests that the Sufis had their own He was very generous in his views.
 Abstract in Hindi Language:
 भारत प्रारम्भ से ही हिन्दू राष्ट्र रहा है। ब्राह्मणों को हिंदू धर्म में उच्च जाति से संबंधित माना जाता था और मुसलमानों द्वारा अपनाई जाने वाली प्रथाएं हिंदुओं के विपरीत थीं। भारत में अरब आक्रमण के पश्चात् भारत में प्रवास करने वालों द्वारा इस्लाम का व्यापक रूप से प्रचार-प्रसार किया गया। भात में इस्लाम के प्रचार-प्रसार में सूफियों का सर्वाधिक महत्वपूर्ण योगदान हैं। सूफीवाद या इस्लामी रहस्यवाद का विकास इस्लाम के मूल विचारों से हुआ है। सूफी संतों ंने समाज में सामंजस्य स्थापित करने की कोशिश की और उनके द्वारा एक सामंजस्यपूर्ण प्रवृत्ति स्थापित की गई। इस प्रकार सूफीवाद की सार्वभौमिकता सभी हाथों में स्वीकार की जाती है। वर्तमान आलेख सूफीवाद की उत्पत्ति, भारत में सूफी सिलसिला और सूफीवाद पर हिंदू एवं अन्य धर्मों का प्रभाव का पता लगाने का प्रयास करता है। यह देखा गया है कि सूफीवाद के माध्यम से, ईसाई धर्म, यहूदी धर्म, हिंदू धर्म और बौद्ध धर्म जैसे अन्य धर्मों से संबंधित रहस्यमय परंपराओं के दर्शन को सूफियों द्वारा भारत के लोगों के बीच साझा किया गया था, जिससे पता चलता है कि सूफी अपने विचारों में बहुत उदार थे।
 Keywords: सिलसिला, सूफीवाद, हिंदू धर्म, इस्लाम, रहस्यवाद

In a recent study entitled ‘Numinous Experience and Religious Language’, Dr Leon Schlamm has endorsed Rudolf Otto's well known and much discussed account of the relationship of religious experience to religious language, and then used this position to criticize some highly influential voices in the continuing debate on the precise nature of mystical experience. The aim of this paper, in response to Schlamm, is to question the plausibility of Otto's account in The Idea of the Holy of the nature of religious knowledge and his closely related understanding of the relationship between religious experience (or as he prefers, numinous experience) and religious language. By implication, this also calls into question Schlamm's use of Otto's position in his criticism of those writers on mysticism that he takes issue with, chiefly Steven Katz and those who propose an essentially Kantian interpretation of mysticism. However, for the most part I shall leave the contemporary debate on mysticism unaddressed, though my comments do have a bearing on it. If there is a wider target, it is chiefly those interpreters of religion, like Schlamm, who conceive of the relationship of religious experience (or the religious object itself) and religious language in essentially the same way as Otto. One thinks immediately here of Friedrich Schleiermacher, whom Otto admired greatly, and who stands in the same Liberal Protestant tradition. Also Karl Barth, who ironically, for all his strictures of Liberal Protestantism, actually propounded a view of the meaning and nature of religious language which is remarkably similar to the views of both Schleiermacher and Otto; at least at the beginning of his theological career, in his famous commentary on Romans: all that talk of God as ‘the inexpressible’ and ‘the Wholly Other’. In addition one could mention those classical texts of Hinduism and Buddhism, which like many contemporary writers on mysticism (e.g. the late Deirdre Green), conceive of mystical experience and the truth which it reveals as ‘beyond the scope of discursive thought, language and empirical activity’.

Anandamath, or The Sacred Brotherhood (hereinafter “Anandamath”) is a political novel. In this literary work, Vaishnavism, one of the major forms of modern Hinduism, lays the foundation of the Bengali Vaishnava nation and provides the Children with a moral justification for resorting to violence under the auspices of state-seeking nationalism, which is a sociopolitical phenomenon in which members of a nation try to attain “a certain amount of sovereignty” or “political autonomy” (Guichard 2010: 15). To justify militant nationalism, Bankimacandra Chatterji (hereinafter “Bankim”) creates a code which is considerably different from Lord Chaitanya’s Vaishnava code and depicts a Dharma Yuddha along the thematic lines of the Mahabharata. Since the Vaishnava Order aims to restore the lost glory of the Mother, it demands complete dedication and commitment from the Children, who, otherwise, are to pay a heavy price. Even the caste system, which divides Hindus into four main categories—Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas, and Shudras—is negated to fulfil the Rashtra Dharma (national duty). The narrative is wreathed in the Indian religious and ethical values, supernaturalism, and mysticism in the epic tradition, and it upholds the principle of moral conscience, a central theme of the Bhagavad-gita (the Gita). The novelist presents Vaishnava nationalism as a Dharmic movement and the ideology of the Bengali Vaishnavas.

The goal of this paper is to identify points of convergence between the great religious traditions in addressing human–nature relations, as well as presenting a critical evaluation of whether these approaches have in fact affected environmental conservation in representative countries. Christianity, Islam, Judaism, Buddhism and Hinduism have been considered. The main traditions considered are: (1) dominion: humans at the top of Creation and using natural resources as needed; (2) stewardship: humans having a delegate dominion over Creation and being responsible and accountable for their use of natural resources; (3) empathy: nature is affected by human misbehaviour; (4) analogy: nature is an image of God; (5) God worshipper: nature gives glory to God; (6) cosmic humility: nature is beyond human comprehension; (7) natural mysticism: union with God is accomplished through contemplation of the created world; (8) worship: nature is sacred. These approaches are not necessarily conflicting but rather they can be considered in some cases as being complementary. Their actual impact on water and environmental conservation should be further researched.

This article discusses the roots of religious pluralism of Sheikh Siti Jenar. As one of theprosecution of Islam in the land of Java, he had a thought of religious pluralism, which is themeeting point of religions on the esoteric landscape (the transcendent unity of religions), in termsof Islamic mysticism known as Wahdat al-Adyan. The author deliberately used pluralism touncover the thoughts of Sheikh Siti Jenar based on his teachings. The theory of religiouspluralism classification, which includes secular humanism, global theology, syncretism, andlasting wisdom, is used to determine the pattern of religious pluralism found in the thought ofSheikh Siti Jenar. The problems discussed in this paper are the thoughts and patterns of religiouspluralism Sheikh Siti Jenar. For that purpose, the relevant data, obtained through the literaturestudy, is analyzed using a method of content analysis and descriptive-analytic. Based on thestudy conducted, it can be suggested that the concept of religious pluralism Sheikh Siti Jenar isthe implications of the plurality of scientific networks that accumulate in the developedteachings, Manunggaling Kawulo Gusti. The pluralism in the thought of Sheikh Siti Jenarcovered the meeting point of various religions at the esoteric level, because the difference forhim only occurred at the level of exoscorers alone. This view when associated with religiouspluralism classification belongs to the category of eternal wisdom. The thought of Sheik SitiJenar about the mystical maqamat in the process of discovering identity, the three elements thatbuild human beings, heaven and hell, and his views on nature, all of which are intertwined withthe teachings of Islamic mysticism, Hinduism, Buddhism and Javanese philosophy. The thoughtof Sheikh Siti Jenar took the pattern of religious pluralism, syncretism.

The article deals with the phenomenon of the sacred as a certain condition of man, a conditioninherent in human nature. The sacred is considered in a circle of such categories and concepts as themystical state, the state of the artist, transcendence, silence, altarity. The sacred is understood as asense of mysterious power. But it has been observed that this power is constantly associated with theDivine. The connection with the transcendental is also fixed. Because of transcendence, communicationwith a certain state of a person, a trans state, is noticed. But it is not considered any trance, but acompensatory one. After all, the compensatory trance is appreciated by man because it compensates forthe disadvantages. Therefore, for a person this type of trance is sacred. It is also sacred because one feelsa mysterious power and an absolute ferocious fearlessness. Compensatory trance as a sacred, sacred,person associates with a certain religious tradition. With a tradition of Hinduism, Buddhism, Christianityor Mo-Sulmanism. But the compensatory trance as sacred is real. This is not a simple mythologicalprojection, which is referred to as God. This is the real state of the human spirit. The sacred is the stateof the human spirit, when it manages the most co-combat, the most possesses itself. Owning yourselfis a rational moment in a person’s life. Upon receiving the opportunity to possess oneself, a personundergoes the transformation of their states, among which one can record the Higher state, the state ofthe sacred. In the case of the sacred, it is a compensatory trance. The features of this compensatory tranceare conveyed by my own means in my own work, a mystic, an artist, a religious figure. Compensatorytrance can have a manifestation in the human melon and beyond all mysticism. But what is sacred whenit is outside religion and mysticism? For man, it is sacred because it compensates for the shortcomingsand makes life easier.

This research-based article discusses interreligious relations and religious believers’ views as determining forms of interreligious relations. It chose a village in a rural area as the research locus, namely Sukoreno, Jember Regency, East Java Province. This village has four religious communities (Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Catholicism) and one mysticism community (Sapta Darma). So far, they have displayed a peaceful-productive relationship amid the cultural diversities, especially religious differences. This is interesting in Indonesia's current situation, which is often plagued by religious conflicts. It is also important in the context of multiculturalism discourse, which tends to be urban-biased and its enrichment in an Islamic perspective. Therefore, this study explores forms of interreligious relations and how the Sukoreno community uses them as cultural energy to build social cohesion. From an Islamic perspective, the findings can be used as a pilot model for multicultural Indonesian society, both in rural areas and urban areas, where demographically, the majority of citizens are Muslims. Moreover, interreligious relations in Sukoreno can prove that Indonesian people have the cultural wealth to build their own multiculturalism, rooted in the cultural treasures of their own locality, indigenous Islamic multiculturalism.

Every aspect of human experience, including health and illness, has a spiritual component. Spirituality is now recognized as one of the key factors influencing health, and it is no longer just the domain of mysticism and religion. Spirituality has become a focus of neuroscience study in recent years, and it appears to have great promise for improving therapeutic therapies as well as our understanding of psychiatric morbidity. Sufism has been a well-known spiritual movement in Islam, drawing inspiration from major world faiths like Christianity and Hinduism and making a significant contribution to the spiritual health of many people both inside and outside the Muslim world.Sufism began in the early days of Islam and had many notable Sufis, but it wasn’t until the mediaeval era that it rose to its greatest height, culminating in a number of Sufi groups and its leading proponents. The Sufism promotes God as the sole source of genuine existence as well as the cause of all existence, and it seeks communication with God through spiritual realization, with the soul serving as the medium for this communion. It might offer a crucial connection for comprehending the origin of religious experience and how it affects mental health. In this connection author has attempted to address the Sufi of 18 century to 19 century, well-known Sufi Sain baba RA was benefited by haji Ali shah Buskhari.

This study investigates how different religious streams influence the morphological development of a historic city by giving a unique identity as a sacred landscape. Sylhet city, which is popularly known as the spiritual capital of Bangladesh, has been shaped by two different spiritual streams over years. From thousand years Sylhet is known for a transitional hub of political, cultural, ethnical and religious migration which shaped a unique urban fabric in the morphology of this city. The spirituality of Sylhet deeply influenced by two major streams of religious philosophy of both Islam and Hinduism, not in conventional form but in form or Sufism and Vaishnavism which is deeply rooted in a spirit of mysticism, humanity, and self-consciousness. God is prayed here not in form of temples or mosques but in Akhadas (informal shrine) and Mazars (tomb of saints, places are a mediator between creator and creation. These ritual centers also turned to be the focal point of the city surrounded by public spaces, road networks, commercial centers through the juxtaposition of sacred space and community space. Truly Mazars and Akhadas are a center of cultural transition beyond language, geography and race to shape this sacred land a spiritual identity and symbol of faith. This study focuses on these paradigms in terms of architecture and urban design to make a new approach to redefine the understanding of Sylhet city for future researchers and historians.

It is a positivist philosophy that assumed a religious character, and it appeared in India after the Hindu Brahmin religion in the fifth century B.C. In the beginning, it was opposed to Hinduism and tended to take care of the human being. It also included a call to mysticism and harshness, and the rejection of luxury, and the call for love, tolerance, and doing good. After the death of its founder, it turned into false beliefs of a pagan nature, and its followers exaggerated its founder until he worshipped him. We conducted a literature study by reviewing various sources and using a descriptive analysis approach and a historical approach in presenting this article. It is considered an ethical system and a philosophical doctrine based on philosophical theories, and its teachings are not revelations but rather opinions and beliefs within a religious framework. Old Buddhism differs from New Buddhism in that the former is ethical, while New Buddhism is Buddha's teachings mixed with philosophical views and mental measurements about the universe and life. Buddhism has spread to all corners of the world, including Russia. Buddhism is considered one of the traditional religions in Russia, which is legally part of Russia's historical heritage. In addition to the historical monastic traditions of Buryatia, Kalmykia, and Tuva, Buddhism is now spreading throughout Russia, with some ethnic Russians converting to it. The main form of Buddhism in Russia is the Gelukpa school of Tibetan Buddhism, with other Tibetan traditions in the minority. Although Tibetan Buddhism is most often associated with Tibet, the religion spread to Mongolia, and via Mongolia, it was brought to Russia.

The attempt in this article is to extrapolate the notion of hybridity latent in B. R. Ambedkar’s reflections on mixed castes, and outcastes, which subsequently leads to the causal link that he then derives gesticulating to social evils, namely, the origin of untouchability. Whether this embryonic notion of hybridity present in Ambedkar’s work is amenable to the extrapolation of Dalit identity thought along the lines of Gilles Deleuze’s notion of “immanent mixtures” is a thread that this study pursues. This certainly has broad implications for the prevalent notions of Dalit identity. This study ventures to read Ambedkar’s work, Riddles in Hinduism (1987) alongside Deleuze, probing into the intuitive link between notions of hybridity and the plane of immanence.
 Ideological distancing from predetermined categories of identity considered to be reductive in nature by the intellectuals of Indian philosophical thinking view such predetermined notions as facile conceptions that run short of representative qualities of complex and varied particularities of reasoned engagement with one’s resources. Amartya Sen heralded this ideological position in his work titled, The Argumentative Indian (2006), in favor of heterodoxy and reasoned choice determining priorities between different identities. Lacunae regarding identification of resources prominent in Sen’s work is pointed out by Jonardon Ganeri, who hails from the cluster of contemporary Sanskritists competent in philological and theoretical exegesis of “sastric” philosophical literature from the classical period of India.
 This study is a close reading of Jonardon Ganeri’s concept of ‘resources within’ which he develops in his work, Identity as Reasoned Choice (2012) to examine the potentiality of this concept to advance a theoretical framework that could counter a sectarian view of Indian tradition, as it is professed at the outset of his work. Sectarianism, which Ganeri opposes, identifies mysticism to be its chief trait which he shows to be selectively usurping only those resources grounded in Vedantic wisdom from India’s past.

Introduction. The article analyzes the frame-conceptual structure of the American popularpsychological discourse and touches upon the means of speech influence used in it. This discourse is a set of semiotic works aimed at popularizing and introducing ideas/concepts related to issues of practical psychology. The purpose of the article is to describe in general terms the frame-conceptual composition of American popular psychological texts.Methodology and sources. Methods of thematic and genre selection of texts are used, content analysis. The main method is interpretive: the gist of each text is reproduced, its meanings are extracted, frames and concepts are singled out. Materials range from popular science and scientific publications to popular psychological talks, TED talks, coaching, therapy lectures. In general, popular psychology in the United States comes from several sources, the most influential among which are the philosophy of “self-help”; psychotherapeutic/psychiatric models of humanistic psychology; transpersonal psychology, including mysticism, paranormal and religious experiences, practices of Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism, Kabbalah, Theosophy, etc.Results and discussion. it is found that the basic conceptual units of the American popularpsychological discourse are the conceptual frame PSYCHOLOGICAL WELL-BEING with the subconcept PSYCHOLOGICAL HEALTH and the subsubconcepts MINDFULNESS and EMOTIONAL HYGIENE; the conceptual frame ACTIVITY/WORK/STUDY with its subframes CORPORATE/OFFICE WORK (with the subsubframe WORK ORGANIZATION), INDIVIDUAL WORK/STUDY and subconcepts ATTITUDE TO WORK, RESULT/PERFORMANCE/ACHIEVEMENT; the concept of SUCCESS with different script-producing subconcepts; the concept OVERCOMING ADVERSE CIRCUMSTANCES with the script-producing subconcept TURNING OBSTACLES INTO OPPORTUNITIES. Popular psychological discourse is characterized by a mixture of styles, multiple addressees, publicity, narrativity, quasi-dialogue form, empirical exemplifications, and applicability to everyday life.Conclusion. This discourse develops its own concepts and conceptual frames, has the potential for reframing the semantic constructs of recipients. It also generates scripts, for example, the concept of MINDFULNESS becomes the basis of modern American psychological and psychotherapeutic practices. This discourse demonstrates informative, argumentative, persuasive, illustrative (or allegorical) types of speech; it is logical, idiomatic, expressive which contributes to speech impact.

<p>Barong and Rangda have become part of culture and religion in the tradition of Hindu religion. The Barong and Rangda tradition is a ritual process or pratima that is very sacred. The scary forms of both often scare children, but is greatly admired and adored since it is considered a protector from danger and disaster. If Barong and Rangda are worshiped in horrifying figures, it is then not uncommon for non-Hindus to assume that Hindus worship Satan because their description of Satan relates to scary things. Based on the above, there are three essential points to focus in this article. First, how the concepts of Barong and Rangda are in Hindu Literature; second, how Barong and Rangda are in Balinese Culture; and third, how the religious system of Barong and Rangda is in Hindu rituals. In analyzing these three topics, the researcher applied qualitative method to explain Hindu literary sources based on religious theory. The Barong and Rangda conception is in the Hindu literature, namely the Purana books and the books that have been adapted in Old Javanese literature. In the Purana books, Barong and Rangda can be associated with the manifestation of Shiva and Durga in the aspect of <em>Krodha</em>. Second, Balinese culture sets Barong and Rangda in the Sacred and Profane realms. Barong and Rangda become Wali Dance during religious rituals. Third, the Hindu Religious System explains that Barong and Rangda is the concept of Shivaistic divine teachings which explains the dualistic aspects of God as Purusa and Prakerti as a whole unit.</p>

Kashmīr has a long unique structure and identity due to its geographical beauty, natural resources, and traditional spiritual ethos since antiquity. In ancient times, although most Kashmīris were followers of Buddhism and Hinduism, in addition to these traditional religions, there was also an influential group ascetic mystics called Rishis in Kashmīr. They devoted their entire lives to abstinence (Nafs Kashi) and various spiritual struggles in order to control their desires of carnal self (Mujāhida’s). From the beginning of medieval times which is known as the golden age of Islāmic civilization and culture, the message of Islām spread rapidly throughout the world. In this regard, the group of Ṣūfīs played vital role in the whole Islāmic world. In Kashmīr, as in the rest of the subcontinent, Ṣūfīs made significant contributions to the propagation of Islām. The present article will examine the historical events of the medieval times, which are considered a milestone in the spread of Islām and the promotion of Islāmic civilization in Kashmīr. Moreover, the works of those Ṣūfī masters will be reviewed who have sacrificed a lot and done commendable works on the history of Kashmīr.

<p>Hindus community in Bali views time as an important matter. The presence of time or <em>Kala </em>is associated with the myth of <em>Magi</em>c. The relationship can be seen in the myth of <em>Sasih Ka-enem</em> which is believed to be the phase of epidemic. Often the myth of <em>Sasih Ka-enem</em> is also associated with the discourse of <em>Ida Ratu Gede Mas Macaling</em> as the <em>magi </em>figure of propagator and disaster in Bali. Interestingly, the image of <em>Ida Ratu Gede Mas Macaling Dalem Nusa Penida </em>just seems to be a living myth and "offerings" for <em>balian</em>, <em>pengiring</em>, and mysticism. Recently, many people perceive him as an object of worship, and more various interesting versions of <em>Magi</em> discourse about him growing in society. Because of those reasons, it is important to study the phenomenon into this scientific writing to identify the value and meaning of <em>Magi</em> discourse.</p>

In the Indian tradition, the Moksha (Salvation) is reckoned as a super goal of life and its genuine scripture is Bhagavad Gita, but where in Yoga is the super means of all that, connecting life i.e. as a spine of the India’s mysticism. In accordance with the tradition Bhagavad Gita is known as the specific treatise of Yoga-practices along with super ethics and as its originator Lord Krishna who was become in the unknown deeper past. So the Gita is extreme holly text particularly for the Hindus communities. For the spiritual transformation of human’s life, it describes prominently two streams of Yoga- first common Path of Yoga (Indirect travelling to cosmic consciousness) and second esoteric Path of Yoga (Direct travelling to cosmic consciousness). Although the major difficulty to understand is that the Gita is codified as the formulas (Sutras), symbolic words and metaphors, so it cannot be decoded exactly by the common skill but it’s needed enlightened skill for the exact de-codification and interpretation. In order to another context, Gita discusses the “Pravitti Marga” (Path of Tantra) and along with “Nivritti Marga” (Path of Yoga) in detail. If we see the entire scenario around spirituality so the Gita has been more popular from ancient to now because of introducing the Path of devotion, Path of action and Path of knowledge. So therefore these all Yoga has discussed briefly in this review article.

Most scholars believe that the majority of the population of Bangladesh embraced Islam through the influence of the Sufis (mystics, holy men). A large majority of Bangladeshi Muslims perceives Sufis as sources of their spiritual wisdom and guidance, viewing Sufi khanqahs [hospices] and dargahs [mausoleums] to be the nerve centers of Muslim society. It has been argued that the greatest achievement of the Sufis of Bengal is the “growth of cordiality and unity between the Hindus and the Muslims.” Yet, Sufism is a contested phenomenon in Bangladesh. Islamic reform movements in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries preached against some Sufi rituals and practices, and Sufism as a whole. This article analyzes how the concept of “Bangalee Nationalism” emerges, among others, from various Sufi ideologies that recognize the authenticity of another’s faith. This article will also analyze how these traditions have hitherto been engaged in establishing a pluralistic society as well as in developing a culture of tolerance and interfaith dialogue.

The conflict between religion and the world has intensified man's curiosity about the true purpose of life. This credit has been with the people and the properties, both Hindu and Muslim, and when the followers of both the Dharmas have focused on one center, it has been the center of humanity. This axis has given the idea of ​​unity in abundance. Mixed civilization has been given priority and spirit of equality has been nurtured. This conflict may be between Aryans and Dravidians, Buddhists, Jains, Brahmins or Hindus, Muslims but this conflict has also paved the way reconciliation and unity. Human love, tolerance and brotherhood have been promoted..One of the most popular saint poets of India, Hazrat Amir Khusrau was a truly multifaceted creative genius. While it is common knowledge that he created Khayal and Qawwali not many know that he wrote in more than a dozen styles of creative expressions. Till date he remains a great mystic, a Sufi saint, a Sufi poet. His works were source of pride and happiness for many. On the other hand, one of the most loved and revered mystics of India, Saint Kabirdas was a fearless poet, reformer, critic, devotee and spiritual master all rolled into one. His works continue to inspire people from all walks of life beyond the divides of age, nationality, religious preferences and cultural differences.

This article focuses on the metaphors employed by Swami Vivekananda. The aim was to explain otherwise abstruse philosophical principles within the Hindu school of thought, with especial emphasis on Swami Vivekananda’s version of Advaita Vedanta, which maintains that there is no duality of existence despite the appearance of such. Using conceptual metaphor theory as a framework, and corpus linguistics as a tool, the metaphors used in Vivekananda’s Complete Works have been explored and it is concluded that he more often than not draws on the water frame to explain concepts. This is contrary to mainstream Western religions, which seem to employ primarily the family frame to conceptualise God metaphorically; this is not so within Vivekananda’s Hinduism – though he does use the said frame. Hence, Vivekananda’s water-related metaphors are analysed here under various themes, and parallels are drawn between Christian mysticism and Vivekananda’s Hinduism, showing that there are significant similarities between these two influential traditions.

Mysticism and the spiritual experiences that lie in mysticism in different world religions have always fascinated me, and a source of attraction to me. With regards to Islam and Buddhism, I believe that devotion to religious morals and duties is the key to reach contentment in life.
 Meditation is a vital component of almost all the religions whether revealed or non-revealed. It is a mental and a physical discipline by which the meditator strives to reach beyond the material world into the realm of the spiritual and divine world. Different religions adopt different forms of meditational techniques that emphasize on different goals. It can be union with the absolute as in Hinduism. Or it can be getting close to Allah as in Islam or to reach a highest bliss that lies beyond the mortal world that is Nirvana[i] in Buddhism, etc. It is also practiced outside the religious tradition for simply soothing and calming the mind. Many people practice meditation as a way to improve one’s mental, spiritual and also physical health. Whatever goals are sought through meditation, it is quite evident that meditation is related to spirituality and spirituality is a basic part of religion.
 In this article I have discussed some of the major concepts in the spiritual journey of meditation in both the disciplines and compared between them.

The article deals with the meaning of the Divine Word in the agamic Kashmiri Śaiva tradition. At first, making a brief overwiev of the history of the sacred word in Indian culture, attention is drawn to the fact, that the function of word and oral language as an agent of transformation from the human realm to the divine has been perennial concern of Indian theological speculation, since language in Hinduism is nearly always identified with both human consciousness and the divine cosmos. It has been pointed out, that an elaborate mysticism of the word found in the Śaiva Tantras has Vedic precendents and presupposes the philosophy of Bhartrhari. Tantra has the assumption that man and the universe correspond as microcosm and macrocosm and that both are subject to the mysterious power of words and letters. The Tantric Kashmiri tradition, while building upon the Śaiva-Āgamas and Grammarian tradition, formulates its own unique rational theology of traidic monism and of complex verbal cosmology, wherein sacred Verbum is fundamental to both the creation of the universe and to the reintegration of the soul into the cosmos. The climax of a hermeneutics of synthesis and the sacred word exegesis is represented in Abhinavagupta’s works. Abhinavagupta’s subtle speculation on the Word extends from its mystical dimension to the intricacies of Sanskrit alphabet and linguistic speculation, from psychological subtleties to philosophical reasoning.

Purpose: The bulk of psychology practice in India as well as in other parts of the world is influenced by western ideas of psychological health and illness. The importance of theology, civilization, and eastern philosophy, together with healthcare, has been largely disregarded by these prominent psychological ideas throughout the last few years or more. They were also developed predominantly for those having an internal control center. To understand what Indian beliefs could give to psychology, one must understand the old Indian frameworks, or put it differently, the grand Hinduism and its huge repository of intellectual information. In this paper, we mainly examine how Hinduism, Indian traditions, and conventional Indian healthcare methods are applied to research the psyche and psychological well-being. Objective: This article's main goal is to provide details on psychology as a field from an Indian perspective. These are some of the topics discussed in this study, along with what the aspects of the mind are and what the Indian classics have to say about psychology from a scientific perspective. Design/Methodology/Approach: Secondary information that was obtained from a variety of reliable and trustworthy publications and websites was used to write this work. To increase the accuracy and authenticity of this document, the data was carefully and scientifically examined by making references to a number of different publications and subtopics. The data was acquired from a variety of trustworthy and respectable sources, including Academia and Google Scholar. Cross-referencing all the data from websites like Academia, Google Scholar, and others revealed that there wasn't a lot of material from different points of view that were included. Findings/Result: Here, a chance has been taken to succinctly synthesize the core principles of the many schools of Indian thought as they relate to understanding human character and behavioral patterns. The aforementioned makes obvious the enormous amount of understanding and knowledge that is a natural component of Indian theories, which has much more to offer psychology students. The significant therapeutic advantages that each way of thinking autonomously provides are very promising for those who provide psychological treatment. Because of this, Indian psychologists should be adaptable to infusing Indian concepts into our therapy, despite our training in contemporary Western psychological institutions. We must objectively assess the significance of our centuries-old beliefs, especially those related to yoga, meditation, and Indian forms of psychoanalysis and psychotherapies, in order to validate them as well as prevent labeling them as relics of third-world mysticism. Originality and value: To make this work relevant and palatable to the entire society, independent of one's educational level and career, an innovative and readily accessible complete methodology, and explanation have been developed. The primary goal of this study is to educate the public about certain well-known psychological and other mental health principles found in the Indian system of medicine (Ayurveda), as well as the great Indian epics and their relevance to the present and the future. Paper Type: Clinical/health analysis paper

AbsractIndonesia is a country with a multicultural society that forms a heterogeneous society, including in terms of religious diversity. With regard to religion, Indonesia officially establishes six religions as official religions and is recognized by the state, these religions namely Islam, Protestant Christianity, Catholic Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism and Confucianism. However, with the cultural diversity that is owned by the people of Indonesia there are other religions that exist outside of the six official religions. Among the many other religions outside the six official religions recognized by the state, one of them is the Mysticism School. Many of the kebatinan schools are considered part of Indonesian tradition and culture. Apart from that, Kebatinan is also considered as a habit and philosophy of life that is approved by its adherents. It is known that even though they adhere to one of the official religions, there are also people who still practice and agree with the customs taught in the Kebatinan school, thus showing that this kebatinan school is still embedded in the daily lives of Indonesian people even though it is not made as the main religion and is only carried out as a philosophy of life. . On the other hand, for adherents of the Kebatinan sect, the Kebatinan sect is considered a genuine religious sect originating from Indonesia even before the presence of other major religions which are widely embraced by the people of Indonesia. Meanwhile, other major religions are imported religions from other countries. The sect of kebatinan itself is one of the religions or beliefs that are adhered to by the people of Indonesia, especially said to be the most widely adhered to by the Javanese people. Nonetheless, in multicultural life in Indonesia, local religions such as kebatinan still experience discrimination from the government, including the non-recognition of local religions or beliefs as a separate entity that is outside religion.Keywords: Identity Politics, Mysticism, Local Religion AbstrakIndonesia merupakan negara dengan masyarakat yang multikultral yang membentuk masyarakat heterogen termasuk dalam hal keberagaman agama. Berkaitan dengan agama, Indonesia secara resmi menetapkan enam agama sebagai agama resmi dan diakui oleh negara, agama-agama tersebut yakni agama Islam, Kristen Protestan, Kristen Katolik, Hindu, Buddha, dan Konghucu. Namun, dengan keberagaman budaya yang dimiliki oleh masyarakat Indonesia terdapat agama-agama lain yang hadir diluar keenam agama resmi tersebut. Diantara banyaknya agama lain diluar enam agama resmi yang diakui negara, salah satunya terdapat Aliran Kebatinan. Aliran kebatinan sendiri banyak dianggap sebagai bagian dari tradisi dan kebudayaan Indonesia. Selain itu, aliran Kebatinan juga dianggap sebagai kebiasaan dan filosofi hidup yang diamini oleh penganutnya. Diketahui meskipun menganut salah satu agama resmi, terdapat juga masyarakat yang masih menjalankan dan mengamini kebiasaan yang diajarkan dalam aliran Kebatinan, sehingga menunjukkan bahwa aliran kebatinan ini masih lekat dalam kehidupan masyarakat Indonesia sehari-hari meskipun bukan dijadikan sebagai agama utama dan hanya dijalankan sebagai filosofi hidup. Disisi lain, bagi penganut aliran Kebatinan, aliran Kebatinan dianggap sebagai aliran agama asli yang berasal dari Indonesia bahkan sebelum hadirnya agama-agama besar lain yang banyak dianut oleh masyarakat Indonesia. Sedangkan agama besar lainnya merupakan agama impor dari negeri lain. Aliran kebatinan sendiri merupakan salah satu agama atau kepercayaan yang dianut oleh masyarakat Indonesia, terutama dikatakan paling banyak dianut oleh masyarakat Jawa. Meskipun demikian, dalam kehidupan multicultural yang ada di Indonesia agama lokal seperti aliran kebatinan masih mengalami diskriminasi dari pemerintah diantaranya dengan belum diakuinya agama-agama atau kepercayaan lokal sebagai suatu entitas tersendiri yang berada di luar agama.Kata kunci: Politik Identitas, Aliran Kebatinan, Agama Lokal

The paper tries to solve one of many Kabir’s mysteries - his ontological outlook. Being suspended between Hinduism and Islam, the great mystic gives in his poetry hints which can be read twice-fold. Linguistic analysis of one of his poems sets to dislose monistic and dualistic attitudes to the Absolute.

Islam spread to a very large part of the world in the Middle Ages. Southeast Asia, especially Indonesia, did not remain aloof from these processes. The penetration and spread of Islam in the Indonesian archipelago dates back to the 9th-16th centuries. We can say that merchants, tourists, mystics, military men, and scientists also contributed to these historical processes. Indonesia is the most populous Muslim country in Southeast Asia. Indigenous peoples in this area practiced mainly Buddhism, Hinduism, Confucianism, and numerous other local polytheistic religions before Islam. The entry of Islam into the Indonesian archipelago and its transformation into one of the region’s major religions continued for several years. After the arrival of Islam in the region, the locals warmly welcomed the religion, seeing the culture and attitudes of Muslims towards other religions. Scholars have put forward several theories regarding the entry of Islam into the region. The article discusses in detail these theories and the views of their supporters. The most common of these theories is that Islam came to Indonesia through India, Arab traders, and China. Each of the above theories about the entry of Islam into the archipelago has its own evidence and historical sources. These views are also explored in the article. Scholars from Samarkand also played an important role in the spread of Islam in Indonesia. The article also examines the activities of these scholars.

Kylie Minogue, her interviewer tells us in the October 2000 issue of Sky Magazine, is a "fatalist": meaning she "believe[s] everything happens for a reason" (Minogue "Kylie" 20). And what kind of reason would that be? Well, the Australian singer gives us a few clues in her interview of the previous month with Attitude, which she liberally peppers with references to her personal beliefs (Minogue "Special K" 43-46). When asked why she shouldn't be on top all the time, she explains: "It's yin and yang. It's all in the balance." A Taoist – or at any rate Chinese – perspective then? Yet, when asked whether it's important to be a good person, she responds: "Do unto others." That's St. Matthew, therefore Biblical, therefore probably Christian. But hang on. When asked about karma, she replies: "Karma is my religion." That would be Hindu, or at least Buddhist, wouldn't it? Still she goes on … "I have guilt if anything isn't right." Now, far be it from us to perpetuate religious stereotypes, but that does sound rather more like a Western church than either Hinduism or Buddhism. So what gives? Clearly there have always been religious references made by Western pop stars, the majority of them, unsurprisingly, Christian, given that this has traditionally been the major Western religion. So there's not much new about the Christian references of Tina Arena or Céline Dion, or the thankyous to God offered up by Britney Spears or Destiny's Child. There's also little that's new in references to non-Christian religions – who can forget the Beatles' flirtation with Hinduism back in the 1960s, Tina Turner's conversion to Buddhism or Cat Stevens' to Islam in the 1970s, or the Tibetan Freedom concerts of the mid- to late nineties organised by the Beastie Boys' Adam Yauch, himself a Buddhist convert? What is rather new about this phenomenon in Western pop music, above and beyond its scale, is the faintly dizzying admixture of religions to be found in the songs or words of a single artist or group, of which Kylie's interviews are a paradigmatic but hardly isolated example. The phenomenon is also evident in the title track from Affirmation, the 1999 album by Kylie's compatriots, Savage Garden, whose worldview extends from karma to a non-evangelised/ing God. In the USA, it's there in the Buddhist and Christian references which meet in Tina Turner, the Christian and neo-pagan imagery of Cyndi Lauper's recent work, and the Christian iconography which runs into buddhas on Australian beaches on REM's 1998 album Up. Of course, Madonna's album of the same year, Ray of Light, coasts on this cresting trend, its lyrics laced with terms such as angels, "aum", churches, earth [personified as female], Fate, Gospel, heaven, karma, prophet, "shanti", and sins; nor are such concerns entirely abandoned on her 2000 album Music. In the UK, Robbie Williams' 1998 smash album I've Been Expecting You contains, in immediate succession, tracks entitled "Grace", "Jesus in a Camper Van", "Heaven from Here" … and then "Karma Killer". Scottish-born Annie Lennox's journey through Hare Krishna and Buddhism does not stop her continuing in the Eurythmics' pattern of the eighties and littering her words with Christian imagery, both in her nineties solo work and the songs written in collaboration with Dave Stewart for the Eurythmics' 1999 reunion. In 2000, just a year after her ordination in the Latin Tridentine Church, Irish singer Sinéad O'Connor releases Faith and Courage, with its overtones of Wicca and paganism in general, passing nods to Islam and Judaism, a mention of Rasta and part-dedication to Rastafarians, and considerable Christian content, including a rendition of the "Kyrié Eléison". Even U2, amongst their sometimes esoteric Christian references, find room to cross grace with karma on their 2000 album All That You Can't Leave Behind. In Germany, Marius Müller-Westernhagen's controversial single "Jesus" from his 1998 chart-topping album Radio Maria, named after a Catholic Italian radio station, sees him in countless interviews elaborating on themes such as God as universal energy, the importance of prayer, the (unnamed but implicit) idea of karma and his interest in Buddhism. Over a long career, the eccentric Nina Hagen lurches through Christianity, Hinduism, Hare Krishna, and on towards her 2000 album Return of the Mother, where these influences are mixed with a strong Wiccan element. In France, Mylène Farmer's early gothic references to Catholicism and mystical overtones lead towards her "Méfie-toi" ("Be Careful"), from the 1999 album Innamoramento, with its references to God, the Virgin, Buddha and karma. In Italy, Gianna Nannini goes looking for the soul in her 1998 "Peccato originale" ("Original sin"), while on the same album, Cuore (Heart), invoking the Hindu gods Shiva and Brahma in her song "Centomila" ("One Hundred Thousand"). "The world is craving spirituality so much right now", Carlos Santana tells us in 1995. "If they could sell it at McDonald's, it would be there. But it's not something you can get like that. You can only wake up to it, and music is the best alarm" (qtd. in Obstfeld & Fitzgerald 166). It seems we're dealing here with quite a significant development occurring under the auspices of postmodernism – that catch-all term for the current mood and trends in Western culture, one of whose most conspicuous manifestations is generally considered to be a pick 'n' mix attitude towards artefacts from cultures near and distant, past, present and future. This rather controversial cultural eclecticism is often flatly equated with the superficiality and commercialism of a generation with no historical or critical perspective, no interest in obtaining one, and an obsession with shopping for lifestyle accessories. Are pop's religious references, in fact, simply signifieds untied from signifiers, symbols emptied of meaning but amusing to play with? When Annie Lennox talks of doing a "Zen hit" (Lennox & Stewart n.pag.), or Daniel Jones describes himself and Savage Garden partner Darren Hayes as being like "Yin and Yang" (Hayes & Jones n.pag.), are they merely borrowing trendy figures of speech with no reflection on what lies – or should lie – or used to lie behind them? When Madonna samples mondial religions on Ray of Light, is she just exploiting the commercial potential inherent in this Shiva-meets-Chanel spectacle? Is there, anywhere in the entire (un)holy hotchpotch, something more profound at work? To answer this question, we'll need to take a closer look at the trends within the mixture. There isn't any answer in religion Don't believe one who says there is But… The voices are heard Of all who cry The first clear underlying pattern is evident in these words, taken from Sinéad O'Connor's "Petit Poulet" on her 1997 Gospel Oak EP, where she attacks religion, but simultaneously undermines her own attack in declaring that the voices "[o]f all who cry" will be heard. This is the same singer who, in 1992, tears up a picture of the Pope on "Saturday Night Live", but who is ordained in 1999, and fills her 2000 album Faith and Courage with religious references. Such a stance can only make sense if we assume that she is assailing, in general, the organised and dogmatised version(s) of religion expounded by many churches - as well as, in particular, certain goings-on within the Catholic Church - but not religion or the God-concept in and of themselves. Similarly, in 1987, U2's Bono states his belief that "man has ruined God" (qtd. in Obstfeld & Fitzgerald 174) – but U2 fans will know that religious, particularly Christian, allusions have far from disappeared from the band's lyrics. When Stevie Wonder admits in 1995 to being "skeptical of churches" (ibid. 175), or Savage Garden's Darren Hayes sings in "Affirmation" that he "believe[s] that God does not endorse TV evangelists", they are giving expression to pop's typical cynicism with regard to organised religion in the West – whether in its traditional or modern/evangelical forms. Religion, it seems, needs less organisation and more personalisation. Thus Madonna points out that she does not "have to visit God in a specific area" and "like[s] Him to be everywhere" (ibid.), while Icelandic singer Björk speaks for many when she comments: "Well, I think no two people have the same religion, and a lot of people would call that being un-religious [sic]. But I'm actually very religious" (n.pag.). Secondly, there is a commonly-expressed sentiment that all faiths should be viewed as equally valid. Turning again to Sinéad O'Connor, we hear her sing on "What Doesn't Belong to Me" from Faith and Courage: "I'm Irish, I'm English, I'm Moslem, I'm Jewish, / I'm a girl, I'm a boy". Annie Lennox, her earlier involvement with Hare Krishna and later interest in Tibetan Buddhism notwithstanding, states categorically in 1992: "I've never been a follower of any one religion" (Lennox n.pag.), while Nina Hagen puts it this way: "the words and religious group one is involved with doesn't [sic] matter" (Hagen n.pag.). Whatever the concessions made by the Second Vatican Council or advanced by pluralist movements in Christian theology, such ideological tolerance still draws strong censure from certain conventional religious sources – Christian included – though not from all. This brings us to the third and perhaps most crucial pattern. Not surprisingly, it is to our own Christian heritage that singers turn most often for ideas and images. When it comes to cross-cultural borrowings, however, this much is clear: equal all faiths may be, but equally mentioned they are not. Common appropriations include terms such as karma (Robbie Williams' 1998 "Karma Killer", Mylène Farmer's 1999 "Méfie-toi", U2's 2000 "Grace") and yin and yang (see the above-quoted Kylie and Savage Garden interviews), concepts like reincarnation (Tina Tuner's 1999/2000 "Whatever You Need") and non-attachment (Madonna's 1998 "To Have and Not to Hold"), and practices such as yoga (from Madonna through to Sting) and even tantrism (Sting, again). Significantly, all of these are drawn from the Eastern faiths, notably Hinduism, Buddhism and Taoism, though they also bear a strong relation to ideas found in various neo-pagan religions such as Wicca, as well as in many mystical traditions. Eastern religions, neo-paganism, mysticism: these are of course the chief sources of inspiration for the so-called New Age, which constitutes an ill-defined, shape-shifting conglomeration of beliefs standing outside the mainstream Middle Eastern/Western monotheistic religious pantheon. As traditional organised religion comes under attack, opening up the possibility of a personal spirituality where we can pick and choose, and as we simultaneously seek to redress the imbalance of religious understanding by extending tolerance to other faiths, it is unsurprising that we are looking for alternatives to the typical dogmatism of Christianity, Islam and even Judaism, to what German singer Westernhagen sees as the "punishing God" of the West ("Rock-Star" n.pag.). Instead, we find ourselves drawn to those distant faiths whose principles seem, suddenly, to have so much to offer us, including a path out of the self-imposed narrow-mindedness with which, all too often, the major Western religions seem to have become overlaid. Despite certain differences, the Eastern faiths and their New Age Western counterparts typically speak of a life force grounding all the particular manifestations we see about us, a balance between male and female principles, and a reverence for nature, while avoiding hierarchies, dogma, and evangelism, and respecting the equal legitimacy of all religions. The last of these points has already been mentioned as a central issue in pop spirituality, and it is not difficult to see that the others dovetail with contemporary Western cultural ideals and concerns: defending human rights, promoting freedom, equality and tolerance, establishing international peace, and protecting the environment. However limited our understanding of Eastern religions may be, however convenient that may prove, and however questionable some of our cultural ideals might seem, whether because of their naïveté or their implicit imperialism, the message is coming through loud and clear in the world of pop: we are all part of one world, and we'd better work together. Madonna expresses it this way in "Impressive Instant" on her 2000 album, Music: Cosmic systems intertwine Astral bodies drip like wine All of nature ebbs and flows Comets shoot across the sky Can't explain the reasons why This is how creation goes Her words echo what others have said. In "Jag är gud" ("I am god") from her 1991 En blekt blondins hjärta (A Bleached Blonde's Heart), the Swedish Eva Dahlgren sings: "varje själ / är en del / jag är / jag är gud" ("every soul / is a part / I am / I am god"); in a 1995 interview Sting observes: "The Godhead, or whatever you want to call it - it's better not to give it a name, is encoded in our being" (n.pag.); while Westernhagen remarks in 1998: "I believe in God as universal energy. God is omnipresent. Everyone can be Jesus. And in everyone there is divine energy. I am convinced that every action on the part of an individual influences the whole universe" ("Jesus" n.pag.; my transl.). In short, as Janet Jackson puts it in "Special" from her 1997 The Velvet Rope: "You have to learn to water your spiritual garden". Secularism is on its way out – perhaps playing the material girl or getting sorted for E's & wizz wasn't enough after all – and religion, it seems, is on its way back in. Naturally, there is no denying that pop is also variously about entertainment, relaxation, rebellion, vanity or commercialism, and that it can, from time to time and place to place, descend into hatred and bigotry. Moreover, pop singers are as guilty as everyone else of, at least some of the time, choosing words carelessly, perhaps merely picking up on something that is in the air. But by and large, pop is a good barometer of wider society, whose trends it, in turn, influences and reinforces: in other words, that something in the air really is in the air. Then again, it's all very well for pop stars to dish up a liberal religious smorgasbord, assuring us that "All is Full of Love" (Björk) or praising the "Circle of Life" (Elton John), but what purpose does this fulfil? Do we really need to hear this? Is it going to change anything? We've long known, thanks to John Lennon, that you can imagine a liberal agenda, supporting human rights or peace initiatives, without religion – so where does religion fit in? It has been suggested that the emphasis of religion is gradually changing, moving away from the traditional Western focus on transcendence, the soul and the afterlife. Derrida has claimed that religion is equally, or even more importantly, about hospitality, about human beings experiencing and acting out of a sense of the communal responsibility of each to all others. This is a view of God as, essentially, the idealised sum of humanity's humanity. And Derrida is not alone in giving voice to such musings. The Dalai Lama has implied that the key to spirituality in our time is "a sense of universal responsibility" (n.pag.), while Vaclav Havel has described transcendence as "a hand reached out to those close to us, to foreigners, to the human community, to all living creatures, to nature, to the universe" (n.pag.). It may well be that those who are attempting to verbalise a liberal agenda and clothe it in expressive metaphors are discovering that there are - and have always been - many useful tools among the global religions, and many sources of inspiration among the tolerant, pluralistic faiths of the East. John Lennon's imaginings aside, then, let us briefly revisit the world of pop. Nina Hagen's 1986 message "Love your world", from "World Now", a plea for peace repeated in varying forms throughout her career, finds this formulation in 2000 on the title track of Return of the Mother: "My revelation is a revolution / Establish justice for all in my world". In 1997, Sinéad points out in "4 My Love" from her Gospel Oak EP: "God's children deserve to / sleep safe in the night now love", while in the same year, in "Alarm Call" from Homogenic, Björk speaks of her desire to "free the human race from suffering" with the help of music and goes on: "I'm no fucking Buddhist but this is enlightenment". In 1999, the Artist Formerly Known as Prince tells an interviewer that "either we can get in here now and fix [our problems] and do the best we can to help God fix [them], or we can... [y]ou know, punch the clock in" (4). So, then, instead of encouraging the punching in of clocks, here is pop being used as a clarion-call to the faith-full. Yet pop - think Band Aid, Live Aid and Net Aid - is not just about words. When, in the 2000 song "Peace on Earth", Bono sings "Heaven on Earth / We need it now" or when, in "Grace", he begs for grace to be allowed to cancel out karma, he is already playing his part in fronting the Drop the Debt campaign for Jubilee 2000, while U2 supports organisations such as Amnesty International, Greenpeace and War Child. It is no coincidence that the Eurythmics choose to entitle their 1999 comeback album Peace, or give one of its tracks a name with a strong Biblical allusion, "Power to the Meek": not only has Annie Lennox been a prominent supporter of the Dalai Lama and the Tibetan cause, but she and Dave Stewart have divided the proceeds of their album and accompanying world tour between Amnesty International and Greenpeace. Religion, it appears, can offer more than hackneyed rhymes: it can form a convenient metaphorical basis for solidarity and unity for those who are, so to speak, prepared to put their money - and time and effort - where their mouths are. Annie Lennox tells an interviewer in 1992: "I hate to disappoint you, but I don't have any answers, I'm afraid. I've only written about the questions." (n.pag). If a cursory glance at contemporary Western pop tells us anything, it is that religion, in its broadest and most encompassing sense, while not necessarily offering all the important answers, is at any rate no longer seen to lie beyond the parameters of the important questions. This is, perhaps, the crux of today's increasing trend towards religious eclecticism. When Buddha meets Christ, or karma intersects with grace, or the Earth Goddess bumps into Shiva, those who've engineered these encounters are - moving beyond secularism but also beyond devotion to any one religion - asking questions, seeking a path forward, and hoping that at the points of intersection, new possibilities, new answers - and perhaps even new questions - will be found. References Björk. "Björk FAQ." [Compiled by Lunargirl.] Björk - The Ultimate Intimate. 1999. 26 Jan. 2001. <http://bjork.intimate.org/quotes/>. Dalai Lama. "The Nobel [Peace] Lecture." [Speech delivered on 11.12.89.] His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama of Tibet. The Office of Tibet and the Tibetan Government-in-Exile. Undated. 26 Jan. 2001. <http://www.dalailama.com/html/nobel.php>. Hagen, N. "Nina Hagen Living in Ekstasy." [Interview with M. Hesseman; translation by M. Epstein.] Nina Hagen Electronic Shrine. Undated. 26 Jan. 2001. <http://208.240.252.87/nina/interv/living.html Havel, V. "The Need for Transcendence in the Postmodern World." [Speech delivered on 04.07.94.] World Transformation. Undated. 26 Jan. 2001. <http://www.worldtrans.org/whole/havelspeech.php>. Hayes, D. & D. Jones. Interview [with Musiqueplus #1 on 23.11.97; transcribed by M. Woodley]. To Savage Garden and Back. Undated. 26 Jan. 2001. <http://www.igs.net/~woodley/musique2.htm>. Lennox, A. Interview [with S. Patterson; from Details, July 1992]. Eurythmics Frequently Asked Questions. Undated. 26 Jan. 2001. <http://www1.minn.net/~egusto/a67.htm>. Lennox, A. & D. Stewart. Interview [from Interview Magazine, December 1999]. Eurythmics Frequently Asked Questions. Undated. 26 Jan. 2001. <http://www1.minn.net/~egusto/a64.htm>. Minogue, K. "Kylie." [Interview with S. Patterson.] Sky Magazine October 2000: 14-21. Minogue, K. "Special K." [Interview with P. Flynn.] Attitude September 2000: 38-46. Obstfeld, R. & P. Fitzgerald. Jabberrock: The Ultimate Book of Rock 'n' Roll Quotations. New York: Henry Holt, 1997. [The Artist Formerly Known as] Prince. A Conversation with Kurt Loder. [From November 1999.] MTV Asia Online. Undated. 26 Jan. 2001. <http://www.mtvasia.com/Music/Interviews/Old/Prince1999November/index.php>. Sting. Interview [with G. White; from Yoga Journal, December 1995]. Stingchronicity. Undated. 26 Jan. 2001. <http://www.stingchronicity.co.uk/yogajour.php>. [Müller-] Westernhagen, M. "Jesus, Maria und Marius." [From Focus, 10.08.98.] Westernhagen-Fanpage. Undated. 26 Jan. 2001. <http://home.t-online.de/home/340028046011-001/Presse/Focus/19980810.htm>. [Müller-] Westernhagen, M. "Rock-Star Marius Müller-Westernhagen: 'Liebe hat immer mit Gott zu tun.'" [From Bild der Frau, no.39/98, 21.09.98.] Westernhagen-Fanpage. Undated. 26 Jan. 2001. <http://home.t-online.de/home/340028046011-001/Presse/BildderFrau/19980921.htm>.

Sadhu Sundar Singh (1889-1929) was a Christocentric Indian Christian Mystic, known for his efforts to Indianize Christianity and whose thoughts on Christ, Bible, Spirituality, Christianity etc, are very original. Born in Sikh religion, by the age of sixteen he read Bhagavadgita and memorised Granth, Koran and several Upanishads. He hated Christianity so much, that he tore up and burnt the bible at this teen age. But next year, in a powerful vision he saw Jesus and was converted to Christianity. At the age of Seventeen, he set out on his journey as a new Christian, penniless, except with a New Testament copy, wearing a saffron turban and the saffron robe of a sadhu, as an ascetic devoted to spiritual practice, to preach the Gospel and about Jesus. Due to the Sadhu's uncanny physical resemblance to the Incarnate Jesus, similarities to the life and ministry of Apostle Paul, he was considered as a Biblical gure coming alive. He travelled extensively in India and around 24 countries in his missionary work. His thoughts on Prayer, Visions, Bible, and Heaven on Earth etc were so strong and original, that it even surprised most of the western theologists. His entire theology is based on his personal and spiritual experiences (Anubhava) with Lord Jesus. His thoughts about the primacy of Prayer in a Christian's life are compa red with that of other great European Christian mystics like St. Augustine, St Francis of Assisi, and St. Thomas a Kempis. Many of his theological thoughts are similar to that of Luther, even though he never met him nor read about him, but he also had some differences too. In his various severe sufferings that he faced in his efforts to preach the Gospel, even when he was persecuted, left to dead, imprisoned in Ilom, dumped in a dark well in Rasar, among skeletons and bones, he said Christ's presence has turned his prison or hell into a heaven of blessing. In him Christianity and Hinduism meet, and the Christian is like a ower which blossoms on an Indian stem. He says non-Christians, who did not get an opportunity or left an opportunity to accept Jesus, will get another opportunity afterlife to have their false and partial views of truth corrected. Even though he says all other religions are inadequate and only through Jesus one can get salvation, in his fullment approach, he says there is dim measure of “light of the truth” among the followers of different religions and provides for “continuity” in fullment and that they will eventually get full knowledge of true God, the “True Reality”. Sundar Singh is thoroughly convinced, that Christianity can enter Indian hearts and souls if offered in Indian form. He had done more than any man in the rst half of the twentieth century to establish that "Jesus belongs to India” and Christianity is not foreign.