3-7-98 RADHAKRISHNAN, THOMAS MERTON AND TRUE CATHOLICISM

Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan was one of India's outstanding thinkers and, later in life, social and political leaders. He was a world leader in comparative philosophy and religion and realized that the faculty of intuition is the meeting ground of philosophy and religion. He made a distinction between true religion based in spiritual experience and dogmatic religion, which relies on authority, and suggested that Hinduism has a much larger proportion of its members engaged in true religion than does Christianity. As a result, he argued, the typical Hindu is far more tolerant, liberal and catholic than the average Christian.

Radhakrishnan was inspired to restore the true meaning of religion and the best of Vedic philosophy, both metaphysical and applied. Because of his Warrior caste nature, he was also capable of transposing theory into practice. and, as president of India, devoted himself to the creation of a social democracy which would find a middle ground between the evils of capitalism and communism.

His book entitled "Indian Philosophy" is a classic in the field, even though its accomplishments lie more in the organization and preservation of the ancient philosophical knowledge than any original contribution to it. This is what a Kshatriya does best: catalogue, preserve and protect the knowledge most often originally created by Brahmins, and then apply it to practical community life.

Another of Radhakrishnan's life-long missions was to erase the idea that Vedic knowledge encourages other-worldliness and passivity. His commentary on the Bhagavad Gita is an effort to reinstate the spirit of Karma Yoga, or active, selfless service in the world, which was so dear to his heart. and so clearly demonstrated in his every action.

Across the seas there was another man not unlike Radhakrishnan, who also had a passion for restoring the true meaning of religion. His name was Thomas Merton and he was a Christian monk. Unlike many of his contemporaries, Merton realized that the Christian religious theories and practices of his day were, like Radhakrishnan had suggested, heavy in dogmatism and short in genuine spiritual experience. He realized that Christ's statement: "My Kingdom is not of this world" did not mean that a person must physically die before acquiring Heaven, but that a spiritual transformation must take place while the person is still living. This transformation could only take place through many of the practices highlighted in the eastern spiritual literature, but long lost to western Christians except for the few Christian monks scattered throughout the world who had adapted these ancient practices to the teachings of Christ.

Merton did his part to open Christians to the best of the ancient mystery traditions and to breathe a spirit of true catholicity into the church. Fortunately, he was a very prolific writer and it will be difficult for church hard-liners to stamp out his progressive, insightful interpretations of the teachings of Christ.

Merton's "New Seeds of Contemplation" served as a beautiful bridge for my beloved father; it enabled him, a devout Catholic, to take up, without reservation, the practice of Transcendental Meditation (TM)

On an inner spiritual level, and also on the level of caste dharma, Merton and Radhakrishnan were like twins, but their destinies were somewhat different. Radhakrishnan's fate was to stay focused on his career as a philosopher and, later, political leader. Merton had the opportunity to delve deeply into matters of the spiritual life through his writing and lectures. Both made a great contribution to the enhancement of the true meaning of religion.