Savio Saldanha SJ
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.17762765
06-12-2025
Every
now and then, especially when I sit in silence after prayer, I find myself
asking the same question: How do I live as a Christian in India while honouring the deep spiritual
currents of Hinduism that have shaped my inner life? The question is more
of my cultural identity, and how I can balance my religious identity with this.
At the crossroad of this churning of cultural-religious identities, I reflect
on how I can respond to this in a positive manner.
India
has never allowed me to live a compartmentalised faith. Growing up surrounded
by sādhanā (training the mind to focus on God through devotion and
meditation), meditation, mantras, temple bells, and a felt sense of the sacred
in nature, I realised early on that the Indian experience of God is not an
abstract system—it is an encounter. And strangely, or perhaps
beautifully, this helped me understand Christianity more deeply than many Catechism
classes ever did. The following is my personal reflection on the spiritual
journey and how I learnt to synthesize the two traditions while remaining true
to the Universal, Apostolic Church.
I. The Indian Search and the Christian
Call
Vatican
II famously opened the windows of the Church to the world. One of the most
liberating lines in Nostra Aetate states that in other religions, the
Spirit of God is “not absent.” The Catechism affirms the same
spirit: “Truth and holiness can be found in other religions” (CCC
§843–844). For me, this wasn’t simply a theory. Meditation and sādhanā taught
me to listen with the heart, before I learned the language of Ignatian discernment.
When I finally discovered St. Ignatius’s way of finding God in all things, it
felt less like learning something new and more like recognising something I had
already been living:
- inner
movements of peace or disturbance,
- responding
to grace in daily life,
- choosing
not merely what is “better,” but what aligns with who God calls me to be.
II. Meeting Abhishiktananda: A Companion
on the Way
In
trying to put together my Indian heart and my Christian soul, I found a guide
in Henri Le Saux (Swami Abhishiktananda). His life is a testimony
that these two spiritual worlds need not collide—they can deepen one another. Le
Saux immersed himself in Hindu spirituality, especially Advaita Vedanta,
without abandoning his Christian identity. He did not approach India as a
tourist or a missionary; he allowed India to evangelise him, to expand
his heart’s understanding of the Divine.
Three insights of his continue to shape
my own spiritual path:
a. Experiential Encounter Comes Before
Doctrine
Le Saux insisted that religious truth begins in experience, not concepts. For him, authentic religious knowing is born from encounter and only later finds conceptual expression. In this sense, Jesus’ lived intimacy with the Father, the Upanishadic intuition of an indwelling mystery, and the deep silence of Indian meditation all gesture toward God’s presence within the human heart, though for Christian faith this presence is definitively revealed and judged in Christ.
This reminds me of the
saying, “God doesn’t have grandchildren!’ which means that the
God-experience is not a handover ‘knowledge’ but has to be experienced
personally. God has children (us!) who have experienced His presence first-hand
and not because someone told us so. As the Samaritans said to the woman, ‘It
is no longer because of what you said that we believe, for we have heard for
ourselves, and we know that this is truly the Saviour of the world.’
(Jn.4:42)
Abhishiktananda
reinterpreted Advaita beyond rigid monism. He called it “not-only-one, but
not-two” (aneka).
Unity is real, but so is diversity. Difference does not disappear; it becomes
transparent to God. This mirrors the Christian mystery of the Trinity: unity
without collapsing into sameness, diversity without falling into division.
Unlike
classical Advaita, which often treats the world as ‘Maya’
(illusion), Le Saux saw creation as sakti—the energy of God. He wrote: “God-eternal
is fully present in the tiniest speck of matter.” This resonates deeply
with biblical spirituality: God walking in the garden, God speaking through a
burning bush, Christ taking flesh, the Spirit groaning in creation (Rom
8:22–23). Christianity and Indian mysticism meet in this reverence for the
world.
III. Panikkar’s Cosmotheandric Vision:
One Reality, Three Dimensions
Raimon
Panikkar provides a philosophical and theological language that expands this
harmony. His famous statement captures the heart of his vision: “I left
Europe Christian; I discovered I was Hindu; and I returned a Buddhist, without
ever having ceased to be Christian.” Panikkar’s cosmotheandric
intuition teaches that reality is a single, integrated mystery with three
inseparable dimensions:
- Cosmos
– the world, nature
- Theos
– the divine
- Anthropos
– the human
These
are not three things, but three aspects of one living reality. From a Catholic theological
perspective, this language must always respect the radical distinction between
Creator and creature affirmed by the doctrine of creation, even as it
highlights their intimate relationship. However, this vision allows Christian
faith to dialogue deeply with Indian thought, because Vedantic and Christian
mysticism both recognize:
- The
Divine is inherent in creation
- The
human person is a locus of divine manifestation
- The
world is sacramental
Panikkar
shows that spiritual truths are relational and symphonic, not competitive. In
him, I find a way to articulate what I intuitively experience: my Indian and
Christian paths converge in the same Divine horizon.
IV. Rahner’s “Anonymous Christian”:
Grace Working Everywhere
Karl
Rahner, one of the greatest theologians of the 20th century, provides a third
voice — one that helps situate Indian spirituality within the wider Christian
understanding of salvation. Rahner’s famous concept of the “anonymous
Christian” does not mean that everyone is secretly Catholic. Instead, it means:
Wherever people respond to the movement of grace with authentic love, they
participate—implicitly — in the salvific mystery of Christ. Vatican II echoes
this vision: “Whatever goodness and truth is found in other religions is considered by the
Church to be a preparation for the Gospel” (Lumen Gentium, 16). This
allows me to see Indian spirituality not as a rival, but as a field in which
grace is already at work. The contemplative practices of Hinduism — silence, renunciation,
harmony with nature, devotion to the indwelling divine — are not foreign to
Christ. They may be places where the Spirit prepares the heart for the fullness
of divine self-gift. Rahner helps me understand my own experience: the more I
deepen in Christian prayer, the more I recognize the fragments of grace I once
found in dhyana and sādhanā.
V. Ignatian Discernment: Holding the
Tension with Freedom
Integrating two spiritual worlds
requires discernment. Ignatius of Loyola offers a concrete method:
- Attend
to your inner movements (consolation/desolation).
- Follow
the path that leads to greater love, service, and interior freedom.
- Seek
where God’s presence is more alive, not where ideas feel more comfortable.
Ignatian discernment does not resolve
tensions; it transfigures them.
It teaches me that:
- The
question is not “Is this Hindu or Christian?”
- The
real question is “Does this leads me deeper into God, love, and mission?”
Ignatian spirituality becomes the
compass guiding my Indian-Christian journey.
VI. A Harmonised Vision: Unity Without
Absorption, Identity Without Isolation
Bringing Abhishiktananda, Panikkar, and
Rahner together, a coherent vision emerges:
- From
Abhishiktananda – mystical non-duality that honors difference
- From
Panikkar – the cosmotheandric unity binding God, world, and
humanity
- From
Rahner – grace working silently within all religions
- From
Ignatius – discernment as the path to authentic integration
- From
Vatican II – affirmation of truth and holiness in all traditions
Together
they form a framework that allows me to stand fully as a Christian without
amputating the Indian spiritual heritage that shaped me. This is not
syncretism. It is incarnation - the Gospel taking flesh in an Indian
soul.
VII. Living the Tension, Not Solving It
If
I’m honest, I still feel a tension between these worlds. But I now see it as a creative
tension, not a contradiction. Ignatian discernment invites me to integrate at
the crossroads of two beautiful spiritual paths. I am not asked to choose the
“best” system. I am asked to choose who I am becoming. And
Abhishiktananda whispers: You do not need to collapse these worlds into one
doctrine. Live them both until they reveal their deeper unity. That unity, for
me, is found in Christ but a Christ who speaks in both the Aramaic of Galilee and
the Sanskrit of the Upanishads.
A Spirituality for India Today
When
I see Christianity in India today - sometimes defensive, sometimes confused and
sometimes courageous - I feel the need for spirituality that:
- honours
Indian mystical depth,
- listens
to the Spirit at work in all peoples,
- trusts
discernment rather than fear,
- and
recognises the Divine mystery shining in every human heart.
Again, this is not syncretism. It is incarnation
- God entering our history, our culture, our longing.
Conclusion: My Path Forward
As
a person born in a loving Catholic household, and now as a Jesuit Scholastic
studying Theology, I firmly believe that Jesus Christ is the definitive Word in
whom all authentic “silences” and “words” of other traditions find fulfillment
and judgment, not one symbol among others. So how do I balance these two
spiritualities- Indian and Christian? I don’t balance them. I let them speak to
each other.
- Ignatius
teaches me to discern the movements of grace.
- Abhishiktananda
teaches me that God is larger than any one religious form.
- And
Vatican II assures me that the Spirit is already here, moving in my
Indian soul.
Perhaps
my vocation is simply this: to live at the crossroads with honesty, openness,
and wonder. Here, the ash of the ashram and the ashes of Lent, the silence of
the sādhanā and the silence of Eucharistic adoration, the river Ganga
and the living water of Christ - all flow into one stream. And in that stream,
I am slowly learning to listen.
- Karl
Rahner, Foundations of Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of
Christianity, trans. William V. Dych (New York: Crossroad, 1990),
116–120.
- Karl
Rahner, “Christianity and the Non-Christian Religions,” Theological
Investigations Vol. 5 (Baltimore: Helicon, 1966), 115–134.
- Raimon
Panikkar, The Intrareligious Dialogue (New York: Paulist Press,
1999), 32–48.
- Raimon
Panikkar, The Trinity and the Religious Experience of Man
(Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1973), 55–78.
- Pope
Francis, Amoris Laetitia (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana,
2016), §§37–38.
- Ibid.,
§§291–312.
- Gerald
O’Collins, The Second Vatican Council: Message and Meaning
(Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014), 133–138.
- Pedro
Arrupe, “Men and Women for Others,” Address at the Tenth International
Congress of Jesuit Alumni (Valencia, July 1973).
- Pope
Francis, Evangelii Gaudium (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice
Vaticana, 2013), §§171–173.
- Gustavo
Gutiérrez, A Theology of Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation,
rev. ed. (Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1988), 25–30.
- Michael
Paul Gallagher, Faith Maps: Ten Religious Explorers from Newman to
Joseph Ratzinger (Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 2010), 95–115.
- Dean
Brackley, The Call to Discernment in Troubled Times: New Perspectives
on the Transformative Wisdom of Ignatius of Loyola (New York:
Crossroad, 2004), 52–69.
- Francis
X. Clooney, Hindu God, Christian God: How Reason Helps Break Down the
Boundaries Between Religions (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001),
14–25.
- Jacques
Dupuis, Toward a Christian Theology of Religious Pluralism
(Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1997), 408–415.
- Pope
Francis, Laudato Si’ (Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana,
2015), §§10–12.
Bibliography
Primary Sources
Arrupe, Pedro. “Men and Women for
Others.” Address at the Tenth International Congress of Jesuit Alumni,
Valencia, July 1973.
Pope Francis. Amoris Laetitia.
Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2016.
Pope Francis. Evangelii Gaudium.
Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2013.
Pope Francis. Laudato Si’.
Vatican City: Libreria Editrice Vaticana, 2015.
Rahner, Karl. Foundations of
Christian Faith: An Introduction to the Idea of Christianity. Translated by
William V. Dych. New York: Crossroad, 1990.
Rahner, Karl. “Christianity and the
Non-Christian Religions.” In Theological Investigations, Vol. 5,
115–134. Baltimore: Helicon, 1966.
Panikkar, Raimon. The Intrareligious
Dialogue. New York: Paulist Press, 1999.
Panikkar, Raimon. The Trinity and the
Religious Experience of Man. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1973.
Secondary Sources
Brackley, Dean. The Call to
Discernment in Troubled Times: New Perspectives on the Transformative Wisdom of
Ignatius of Loyola. New York: Crossroad, 2004.
Clooney, Francis X. Hindu God,
Christian God: How Reason Helps Break Down the Boundaries Between Religions.
Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2001.
Dupuis, Jacques. Toward a Christian
Theology of Religious Pluralism. Maryknoll: Orbis Books, 1997.
Gutiérrez, Gustavo. A Theology of
Liberation: History, Politics and Salvation. Revised edition. Maryknoll:
Orbis Books, 1988.
Gallagher, Michael Paul. Faith Maps:
Ten Religious Explorers from Newman to Joseph Ratzinger. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist
Press, 2010.
O’Collins, Gerald. The Second Vatican
Council: Message and Meaning. Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press, 2014.
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