Debate on one Controversy leads to many

SIHC PROCEEDINGS , 2024

For I was hungry, and you gave Me something to eat; I was thirsty, and you gave Me something to drink; I was a stranger, and you invited Me in' 1 are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ which was ardently followed by a person who gave her life and soul for the needy and the poor. A controversial figure both during her life and after her death, Mother Teresa was widely admired by many for her charitable works, but was also widely criticised, very often by many not knowing the reality of her deeds. Mother Teresa was not a celebrity

Journal of Global Catholicism

13, 2019

Despite of its importance and of the multiple possible outcomes, spiritual autobiography has not been enough valorised until now by the theological, philological, philosophical or historical research. Conscious on this fact, we will try there to bring into attention an important work of the genre, namely the spiritual autobiography of Mother Teresa of Calcutta (1910-2003), founder of the famous Congregation of Catholic sisters, "Missionaries of Charity." Moreover, we will investigate there a relevant aspect not only for the style and content of her work, but also for the contemporary society, namely the education and its role. We will try to emphasize there the multiple forms of education that can be found and to see what is the relationship between education, revelation and act according to the Catholic religious. We will also try to see the similitudes and differences between the investigated text and other coming from the same or from different confessional backgrounds and to create, where it will be possible, bridges between spiritualties.

The notion of the bodhisattva, the selfless individual who is dedicated to alleviating the sufferings of others, is traditionally articulated within a Mahāyāna Buddhist framework. The question posed here is whether and to what extent this religious ideal can be conceived of, or instantiated by, individuals whose religiosity is framed by a different set of beliefs and values, taking the Roman Catholic Sister of Charity, Mother Teresa, as an example. The broader question of commensurability arises when the criteria for qualifying as a bodhisattva, set within a specifically Mahāyāna context, are superimposed upon a figure who is solidly grounded within another religious tradition. At first glance, the requisite virtues of the bodhisattva-renunciation, compassion and wisdom-seem to intersect aptly with the life and teachings of the "saint of Calcutta." In the details, however, the Buddhist philosophical context of these requisites calls into question the legitimacy of attempting to blithely translate ideas and principles from one worldview to another. Ultimately, the contrivance may work, trumped by the attainments of the archetypal bodhisattva. With figures like Mother Teresa, who are regarded as moral exemplars not only within their own traditions but in other traditions and beyond religion as well, perhaps we can expand our understandings of compassion and of the cultural and religious categories that delineate religious ideals.

How do social practices construct and contest the discourses that constitute social reality? What meanings exist within a historical reality (i.e. in a given space and time)? These are some of the questions that are raised in this paper with specific reference to women in religious movements.

Religions, 2023

Saradamani Mukhopadhyay (1853–1920), more widely known as Sarada Devi and, to her devotees, the Holy Mother, presents an illuminating case study of the various means by which, in many respects, a highly traditional and typical rural Hindu woman of her time, operating from within the categories of Bengali Hindu society, was able to navigate these categories in ways that did not undermine, but rather enhanced, her agency, enabling her to shape her social reality in creative and transformative ways. Inhabiting the traditional role of mother and nurturer while carrying it out in a highly non-traditional manner, Sarada Devi played a central, often behind-the-scenes, role as a major influencer of an important modern Hindu spiritual movement—indeed, the first such movement to be able to boast an international following. Having no biological children of her own, Sarada Devi became the mother to this movement and to the monastic order dedicated to carrying forward the vision of her husband, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836–1886), as interpreted both by herself and his disciples, the most prominent of whom was Swami Vivekananda (1863–1902), who is well known for having brought Ramakrishna’s teachings to the Western world through his lectures in America, including at the World Parliament of Religions held in Chicago in 1893 and his founding of the first Vedanta Societies, starting in New York in 1894.

“Francis Seen from Outside-What Believers of the Other Faiths think of the Pope”, Ed. Dr. Roberto Catalano, Pub. Edizioni Citta Nuova, Italy, 2025

Abstract Prelude: “I raise up my voice – not so I can shout, but so that those without a voice can be heard…we cannot succeed when half of us are held back.” Malala Yousafzai The concern about women empowerment is expressed by Malala in so crystal-clear words. The reason is very obvious that in 21st Century, women are speaking for themselves and also helping their sisters to get empowered rather than waiting for menfolk to ‘donate’ them freedom. Field of religion is one such field where the phenomenon of ‘women empowerment’ is clouded with vagueness. Elizabeth Ozork, with an utter surprise, asks, “Why do women disproportionately invest in an institution that systematically devalues them?” This question is so significant due to the double standards applied by almost all religions in the world about women, their capacities, the reverence shown to them and their ‘rights’. On this background, Pope Francis’ views about women and the steps he has been taking for changing the old picture work like an oasis. It is necessary to get more details of his views and make an attempt to analyse those in order to understand the fabric behind it. This article is small but a definitive endeavour in that direction. It also explores the possibility of viewing the interface between Catholicism of Pope Francis and Religiosity in the Classical Indian religions, viz. Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism.

SWAMI VIVEKANANDA: HIS LIFE, LEGACY & LIBERATIVE ETHICS, 2021

This volume arises from deliberations at the first International Academic Conference in the United States to explore the life and legacy of the Hindu visionary, liberative theologian, and great modern exponent of Ādvaita Vedanta, Swami Vivekananda. The conference took place in Los Angeles on October 18th-19th, 2013, marking the 150 th centenary of the birth of Swami Vivekananda, an advocate of interreligious dialogue and foremost disciple of the modern era's most influential Hindu mystic, Sri Ramakrishna Paramahansa. The conference was sponsored by the School of Religion of the University of Southern California (USC), Los Angeles. Over 150 years since his birth and some 120 years after his momentous plenary address at the World Parliament of Religion in Chicago (1893), numerous aspects of Swami Vivekananda's life and work have begun to attract renewed attention. Vivekananda's philosophical, religious and social ideas, especially the manner in which they were extended, applied, or appropriated in recent times have been widely discussed, critiqued, and presented. His legacy, however, is being re-appraised within these pages in terms of its continuity as well as its discontinuity from tradition, and from postcolonial, feminist, hermeneutical, and ethical perspectives. This volume offers a multi-layered exploration of the contributions of Swami Vivekananda to a range of discursive and practical engagements that cut evenly across the Hindu traditions of philosophy, theology, ethics, and social justice. There are historical questions as well as exegetical or scholastic questions about the connection Swami Vivekananda claimed or is perceived to have had with the deeper recesses of

URI, 2020

International Journal of Dharma Studies 2:11 (2014): 1-16.

The 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda is an occasion for interreligious reflection on the enduring significance of his teachings and their potential for reflective engagement. This essay presents and engages select motifs from his four lectures on 'Practical Vedanta', particularly his understandings of sin, solidarity, and the relevance of his thought to the pervasive challenge of religious absolutism in contemporary experience. The essay notes some blind spots or vulnerabilities in his teachings owing to historical context and adopts these as tools to assist in Catholic theological reflection on analogous weaknesses in that tradition.