Theodor - FIFTH VEDA OF HINDUISM: poetry, philosophy and devotion in the bhagavata purana

Ithamar Theodor is Associate Professor of Hindu Studies at Zefat Academic College, Safed, Israel, and is concurrently Lecturer in Hindu-Jewish Studies at the University of Haifa. He is a graduate of the University of Oxford, a Life Member of Clare Hall in the University of Cambridge and has been an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong. His first book Exploring the Bhagavad Gita: Philosophy, Structure and Meaning (2010) was a Choice Outstanding Academic Title for 2011 and winner in 2013 of the Dharma Academy of North America (DANAM) Book Award for Excellence in Indic Studies.

The influence of the Bhagavata Purana on what has come to be known as Hinduism is paralleled only by the epic Ramayana. Yet it is, at first glance, a thematically complicated and stylistically unusual text. Building on his work analyzing the narrative structure of the Bhagavad Gita, Ithamar Theodor expertly argues that the combining of all the elements contained in the Bhagavata was a conscious harmonizing of two distinct orthodox scholastic traditions: the philosophical one stemming from the Upanishads, and the literary aesthetical one drawing from the rasa theory of kavya poetics. Theodor demonstrates how this confluence resulted in a theological masterpiece not just stylistically in terms of harmonizing these various elements, but because of the unique theological motive of the text. He argues that one of the main agendas of the Bhagavata is to contrast impersonal liberation with personal liberation. With great erudition and an intimate knowledge of his material, Theodor expertly elucidates how each of the two intellectual streams noted above feed into one of these two possibilities respectively, and how the Bhagavata both contrasts and harmonizes these ultimate but distinct forms of liberation. This is a fascinating and groundbreaking work.

Edwin Bryant, Professor of Hindu Religion and Philosophy, Rutgers University

The Bhagavata Purana, composed in eloquent Sanskrit about a thousand years ago, has subsequently become one of the principal sources of inspiration for Hindu traditions of devotion to Krishna as Supreme Being. In his carefully researched work, Ithamar Theodor takes us along a new path of interpretation, arguing systematically for an aesthetic understanding of the text as key, and showing in the process how apparent incompatibilities of its teaching for example of both an impersonal and personal view of the Supreme Being can be reconciled by this approach. In future, no meaningful comment about or study of the Bhagavata Purana can afford to neglect the illuminating argument of this book.

Julius Lipner, FBA, Professor Emeritus of Hinduism and the Comparative Study of Religion, University of Cambridge

THE FIFTH VEDA
OF HINDUISM

Poetry, Philosophy and Devotion in the
Bhgavata Pura

I THAMAR T HEODOR

To my dear and loving parents
Rachel and Emanuel Theodor

Published in 2016 by

I.B.Tauris & Co. Ltd

London New York

www.ibtauris.com

Copyright 2016 Ithamar Theodor

The right of Ithamar Theodor to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by the author in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in a review, this book, or any part thereof, may not be reproduced, stored in or introduced into a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

References to websites were correct at the time of writing.

Library of Modern Religion 49

ISBN: 978 1 78453 199 7

eISBN: 978 0 85773 925 4

ePDF: 978 0 85772 574 5

A full CIP record for this book is available from the British Library

A full CIP record is available from the Library of Congress

Library of Congress Catalog Card Number: available

CONTENTS

LIST OF TABLES

The nine primary emotions and their corresponding rasas

Compatible mixtures of secondary emotions (vyabhicribhvas), external settings (vibhvas) and their expressions (anubhvas)

PREFACE

The Bhgavata Pura (BhP) is a somewhat mysterious treatise that has long puzzled me. It is puric or epic in style, yet it has a unique character that can touch the heart of the reader in a way no other literature that I know of does. It certainly adheres to the puric, Vedntic and Upaniadic genres, but it has another, more personal, lyrical, perhaps poetic feature, which is somewhat difficult to identify. It seems as if this great pura tries to say something beyond its direct contents, to further a change of heart which wouldn't necessarily be considered a religious conversion in the Judeo-Christian sense of the word, of sinners repenting and relinquishing their former non-religious or immoral way of life. Neither is this an expression of a Vedntic enlightenment in the sense of realizing the inherent and all-pervading spirituality underlying one's entire existence. To my mind, reading, or rather hearing, the BhP is a kind of dramatic experience of a universal story, encompassing the entire realm of existence, but at the same time careful to maintain its dramatic framework. It seems that the BhP expresses its great mahvkya already in its very first opening line, which reads o namo bhgavate vsudevya, translated as I offer my obeisance unto r Ka, son of Vasudeva, who is the Supreme Person. The entire pura represents an attempt to echo, expand and comment on this statement, or perhaps to express just this very personal truth in a variety of philosophical and poetic ways. This work is an attempt to touch upon the BhP's subtle, personal and poetic nature by highlighting its special structure combining the Vedntic and poetic rasa traditions. Here is a verse that points to this unique combination (BhP 12.13.15):

sarva-vednta-sram hi r-bhgavatam iyate
tad-rasmta-tptasya nnyatra syd rati kvacit

The Bhgavata Pura is considered the essence of the entire Vednta tradition. As such, for one who is satisfied by tasting its nectar-like rasa, there does not exist any other delight elsewhere.

I wish to conclude the Preface by highlighting the importance of studying the Bhgavata Pura. As philosophy and theology may need to further develop a language fully appropriate to deal with the personal encounter between the human and the divine, I hope that this study will help readers understand how a particular religious tradition attempted to overcome this seemingly insurmountable gap, through gradual personal encounters with the divine, and how it engaged the best philosophical materials available at the time for this purpose. As I hope that this work will contribute to the study of comparative theology, I would like to follow R.C. Zaehner's vision:

R.C. Zaehner thought that the study of comparative religion can aim at creating a symphony of faiths. This image accounts for the distinctness and individual value of each religious tradition but at the same time it can be made to tune in with the intended symphony. (Matilal, Logical and Ethical Issues of Religious Belief, pp. xxi.)

I sincerely hope that this work will contribute, even in a minor way, towards the noble goal of creating a symphony of faiths as well as a symphony of philosophies of religion.