The Truth, The Way, The Life

by Clooney, Francis X.

• ISBN13: 9780802864130
• ISBN10: 0802864139
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2009-04-06
• Publisher: Peeters Pub & Booksellers

Summary

The Truth, the way, the Life offers a careful reading of the three holy mantras of Srivaisnavism, a south Indian Hindu tradition dedicated to Narayana, Lord of the universe, and Sri, his eternal spouse. The mantras, short prayers rich in theological and devotional meaning, explain and encourage a way of life dedicated to praise and service, surrender and dependence on divine grace - and so introduce key topics that Christian readers will find familiar and still central to the spiritual life today. Book jacket.

Author Biography

Francis Clooney's commentary is explicitly Christian and yet deeply indebted to the classic reading of the mantras by the 14th century theologian Vedanta Desika; it thus exemplifies an interreligious learning appropriate to the 21st century and yet, in the end, still deeply Christian.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 1
Introduction: The Three Holy Mantras: Commentary and Christian Commentary	p. 5
Commentary, Religious Reading, and Christian Commentary	p. 6
The Three Holy Mantras of the Srivaisnavas	p. 14
The Srivaisnava Tradition	p. 14
The Three Mantras	p. 15
Reading with Vedanta Desika	p. 17
Who Can Understand Sacred (Rahasya) Mantras?	p. 24
The Order of the Chapters to Follow	p. 26
To Know the Truth: The Tiru Mantra	p. 31
Aum, obeisance to Narayana	p. 31
Introduction	p. 31
The Tiru Mantra in the Astasloki of Parasara Bhattar	p. 35
Exegeting the Mantra	p. 37
Insights Elsewhere in the Essence	p. 61
Reading the Tiru Mantra from a Christian Perspective	p. 63
Theological Insights and Concerns, for a Christian Reader	p. 63
Resonances in the Christian Prayer and Worship	p. 66
Praying with the Tiru Mantra?	p. 72
Looking Ahead	p. 73
A Divine Invitation: The Carama Sloka's First Line	p. 75
Having completely given up all dharmas, to Me alone come for refuge	p. 75
Introduction	p. 75
The Carama Sloka's First Line as Verse 18.66a of the Bhagavad Gita	p. 75
The Carama Sloka's First Line in the Astasloki of Parasara Bhattar	p. 78
Exegeting the First Line of the Carama Sloka	p. 79
The First Line in the Rest of the Essence	p. 99
Reading the First Line from a Christian Perspective	p. 101
Theological Insights and Concerns, for a Christian Reader	p. 102
Resonances in the Christian Tradition	p. 105
Praying with the Carama Sloka's First Invitation?	p. 107
Looking Ahead	p. 108
The Way of Radical Faith: The Dvaya Mantra	p. 109
I approach for refuge the feet of Narayana with Sri, obeisance to Narayana with Sri	p. 109
Introduction	p. 109
The Dvaya Mantra in the Astasloki of Parasara Bhattar	p. 113
Exegeting the Dvaya Mantra	p. 114
The Dvaya Mantra in the Larger Narrative of Surrender in the Essence	p. 132
Reading the Dvaya Mantra from a Christian Perspective	p. 139
Theological Insights and Concerns, for a Christian Reader	p. 139
Resonances in the Christian Tradition	p. 142
Praying with the Dvaya Mantra?	p. 144
Looking Ahead	p. 145
To Live in Freedom: The Carama Sloka's Second Line	p. 147
...from all sins I will make you free. Do not grieve	p. 147
Introduction	p. 147
The Carama Sloka's Second Line as Verse 18.66b of the Bhagavad Gita	p. 148
The Carama Sloka's Second Line in the Astasloki of Parasara Bhattar	p. 149
Exegeting the Second Line of the Carama Sloka	p. 150
The Second Line in the Rest of the Essence	p. 164
Reading the Second Line from a Christian Perspective	p. 169
Theological Insights and Concerns, for a Christian Reader	p. 169
Resonances in the Christian Tradition	p. 171
Praying with the Carama Sloka's Second Invitation?	p. 172
Looking Ahead	p. 173
After Commentary	p. 175
On Reading and Writing from the Perspective of Commentary	p. 176
Theological Openings	p. 178
From Commentary to a Theology of Religions?	p. 182
Ethical Openings	p. 185
Scriptural Intertextuality	p. 189
Praying with the Mantras: A Brief Reprise	p. 190
Bibliography	p. 195
Index of Names, Terms, Texts	p. 199
Index of Biblical References	p. 203
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