  Aloysius Pieris, A Srilankan theologian,

suggests that when metacosmic religions,

referring to a Transcendent, spread across
the world, they root themselves in local
cosmic religions

  Such double or parallel religiosity is

particularly noticeable in popular religious
practice, even in Europe – not to speak of
Latin America, Africa and Asia
  Swami Abhishiktananda is an example of
personal inter-religious encounter: He had a
Hindu guru: Swami Gnanananda – He felt that
religious experience transcended, but
included, the religious namarupa
  He initiated his disciple Marc into sannyasa in
the Ganges jointly with Swami Chidananda
  He sought to experience his advaitic or non-
dual union with the Absolute, but was faithful
to the Eucharist and the psalms
  Swami Abhishiktananda writes: “The
absoluteness of the ultimate mystery is
discovered in the absoluteness of the self itself,
of oneself seen in its full truth... God is no longer
a HE about whom men dare to speak among
themselves, nor even only a THOU whose
presence man realizes as facing him. Rather,
necessarily starting from oneself, God is
discovered and experienced as I, the “aham asmi”
of the Upanishads, the “ehieh asher ehieh” of the
burning bush. It is not an I which I abstract or
conclude from the Thou that I say to him, but an
I of which I am aware in the very depth of my
own I.”
  What happens to people who grow up in
multi-religious families?
  I know three grown up children of a Hindu-
Christian family who choose spirituality
against the structures and rituals, the
conflicts and controls – the concrete reality -
of religions.
  But one of them, the eldest, as an adult (21),
has chosen to be baptized because of her
desire for community and also ‘roots’
  Such an inter-religious encounter is possible
and legitimate today because of a growing
positive appreciation of other religions.
  Other religions can facilitate salvific divine-
human encounter
  The Spirit of God is present and active in
other cultures and religions
  God and the humans are free, not bound by
socio-historical structures
  Philosophical reflection – e.g. The Upanishads
– arrives at One Absolute
  But symbolic imagination projects heavenly
court with an army of angels and devils and
saints – also a division of labour
  Experience also witnesses to sacred space
and times
  The unexplored supra-normal human powers
and the energy field
  Does our reflection embrace all these?
  Can the Scriptures of other religions be
inspired? – NBCLC 1974 – YES! Analgously –
pre-judaic or simply plural?
  Possibility of sharing worship (official rituals)
– NBCLC 1985 – YES! One God, many symbols
  Cultural or religious symbols? – Roberto de
Nobili and the Jesuit missionaries – shaving
heads, offering food, sacrificing animals – cf.
The work of late Dr. Selva J. Raj
  Raimon Panikkar has a pithy formula: “Jesus
is the Christ, but Christ is more than Jesus.”
  The mystery of Christ is cosmic, manifested
in human history in various ways, but
experienced by us in, and named as, Jesus
  The other religions are not necessary for my
salvific encounter in and through Christ. But
they can complement and enrich my Christ-
experience. They can be mutually challenging
too!
  Religious identity is not merely personal, but also
social in some way. Even a person who feels that he
prefers spirituality to religion seeks the fellowship of
similar people
  A person’s primary experience of God is in a
particular religious tradition – it is a response to a call
– If he is a convert, he may feel heir to the religion of
his ancestors
  But while rooted in one’s way, one is also open to
experience or encounter God through other ways and
be deeply influenced by them
  Ultimately one’s encounter with God is very personal
– one constructs one’s identity
  Such people live on the margins of a community -
liminal
  Comparative theology also may lead to a
crossing of boundaries.
  Dr. Francis Clooney of Harvard, after a
comparative study of Hindu (Vaishnavite) and
Christian mantras, writes: “There seems to
me to be no reason why a Christian cannot
still venture to appropriate the piety,
theology, and practice of the three Mantras as
well as the insights and theology of Desika’s
Essence, for the sake of a deeply Christo-
centric manner of prayer.”
  Religious identity is not merely social, but
deeply personal

  We need to respect the divine freedom to call

and the individual freedom to respond

  Someone’s quest for God may lead him/her

beyond socio-religious boundaries

  This may be happening more and more!