Interfaith Dialogue and Mystical Consciousness in India

Interfaith Dialogue and Mystical Consciousness in India is a research inquiry in interfaith studies that uses hermeneutical phenomenology to address vexing issues arising in the study of mysticism and enlightened sages.

This book raises the following questions: If all human beings have access to mystical consciousness, and some do access it, how is it that only a few become luminary sages, displaying extraordinary power? What is the ethical responsibility of such sages? And how is the encounter among sages/mystics of different traditions contributing to the harmonious unfolding of religious diversity? The author provides original answers and a renewed vision of Hinduism through the lens of two of the most loved and admired sages of modern India—Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Aurobindo.

This book is a blueprint for transformative research on religion: it envisions an innovative method—integrative hermeneutical phenomenology—contributing to the development of interfaith mysticism. Bringing to the fore key themes such as Self-realization, the Hari-Hara mystery, and Mystic Fire, the author shows the importance of mystical experience in the understanding of the religious “Other” and the future of religion.

The book will be of interest to scholars and students of religious studies, inter-religious/interfaith studies, comparative religion/theology, and interfaith relations, and to thoughtful readers with an interest in Asia and spiritual practice. Those interested in the mysteries of India and Hindu spirituality will find in this book a pioneering analysis of Hindu mystical consciousness and the Christian encounter with it.

Isaac Portilla is a visiting scholar at the University of St. Andrews, UK, researching interfaith mysticism and religions’ future. He is author of What Christ Said: Revisiting the Countercultural Sayings of Christ Jesus (2022) and The Possibilities of Spiritual Experience: An Autobiographical and Philosophical Exploration (2017).