India/western Sociology

[dhu]

Francis Xavier Clooney : Building the Trojan Horse

Dr. Vijaya Rajiva

Time was when the Jesuits (the Society of Jesus established in 1539 by

St.Ignatius of Loyola) used every method to establish the ascendancy of

Catholic Christianity over the globe. Hindu India will remember the

infamous Goa Inquistion (1560)conducted by the followers of St. Francis

Xavier (said to be among the founders of the Jesuit order) against the

hapless Hindus of Goa. Francis Xavier was also a founding member of the

Society of Jesus and also the initiator of the Inquisition (1545)

Everything ranging from ferocious torture to murder and mayhem were

practiced in Goa (and elsewhere during the Inquisition) all in the name of

the Holy Church. The book Breaking India (2011) by authors Rajiv Malhotra

and Aravindan Neelakandan also writes about the first of the Jesuits in

India, Robert di Nobili (came to Goa in 1605 and settled in Tamil Nadu in

1606) who , in addition to claiming to be a scholar of Tamil, did not

hesitate to fulminate against the paganism of the Hindus. The goal of

Christianity in India has never changed : convert the Hindu pagans, harvest

their souls, as the Pope said publicly in India. His comment was : in the

first millennium Christianity spread to Europe, in the second millennium it

spread to the Americas, and in the third millennium it will complete its

mission in Asia. Since much of south east Asia has become Christianised,

India alone remains unconverted. The present writer believes that this will

remain so thanks to the devotion of the aam admi Hindus to their ancestral

religion and thanks to the spiritual strength of the traditional acharyas,

gurus, maths and so on.



Hence, the attempt of the Jesuit order to woo the elite of India is another

aspect of their strategy. The days of large scale conquests and violence

are over. The soldiers of Christ are heavily into the phenomenon known as

inculturation, started by Italian Jesuit Roberto di Nobili himself, the

borrowing of native cultural habits and practices and in general

ingratiating themselves into local culture. This inculturation was intended

to subvert the native cultures by stealth. An example would be di Nobili

wearing saffron instead of white and using Hindu words to describe

Christian rituals and so on. And now, Hindu-Christian dialogue (one wonders

what the purpose of this dialogue is).



An important aspect of the Jesuit order which needs to be mentioned : their

commitment to scholarship. Francis Xavier Clooney represents that branch.

He is a Jesuit, an accomplished scholar of comparative religion and has

published several books and articles. He is currently a professor at the

Divinity school at Harvard University (USA). He has impressed many Hindus

by his knowledge of Tamil and the bhakti religious tradition of Tamil

Hindus. Neverthless, as a Jesuit and as a dedicated Christian his innermost

and first priority is the conversion of pagan Hindus to Catholicism.

Needless to say this is never openly talked about. The goal of the

Jesuits(and of Christianity as a proselytizing faith) has never changed,

despite the change in methods. Dr.Clooney is heavily into the process of

inculturation. This is made possible by many intellectual Hindus who have

been drawn into what is called interfaith dialogue.



This was evident in the interfaith dialogue (so called) in which Dr.Clooney

participated, along with author/writer Rajiv Malhotra. This took place at

the University of Massachussetts during the talks on Malhotra’s new book

Being Different(2011) After Shri Malhotra’s talk on his book, which lasted

approximately 30 minutes, Dr.Clooney followed up with an approximately 45

minute talk mainly focused on Malhotra’s book Being Different. This book,

according to the author, is about a game changer. Instead of being the

object of Western scholars, Hindus must now view the West and the Judaeo

Christian tradition from the Hindu dharmic point of view. This is in itself

not a novel idea and whether the contents have been appropriately handled

will remain a question mark.



.

After Malhotra’s lecture, Clooney took the podium and the spectacle was

extremely illuminating to any discerning viewer. Clooney’s strategy was to

heap high praise( a euphemism for fulsome flattery !) on Malhotra, who

during his own comments on Clooney’s talk, agreed with him ! Clooney as

mentioned above is a well trained scholar and Rajiv Malhotra was no match

for him, in a sense. The range of Clooney’s intellectual cogitation was

impressive both for its subtlety and its delicate handling of contentious

issues.



In addition , his manner was courteous, soft spoken and well spoken (beware

of the Greek who comes bearing gifts !).



Some samples of the exchange between the two men are revealing:



Clooney : This is not the first time that Hindus have looked critically at

the West. Swami Dayananda Sarasvati and Swami Vivekaanana did that.

However, Rajiv has updated this in a sophisticated manner (read ‘improved’

on it, with the former being unsophisticated Hindus !).



Rajiv Malhotra was obligingly silent, presumably he agreed with this

remark. He must believe that he is an improvement on Swami Dayananda and

Swami Vivekananda ! Since liberal theorists in India such as Jyotirmaya

Sharma have written sneeringly about them, the least that Malhotra could

have done was to modestly insert some remark about their great contribution

to Hindu nationalism and the ongoing resurgence of Hindu thinking, not to

mention their profound spirituality and writings on Hinduism) But that

would go against Clooney’s agenda. To resume.



Clooney : Authors such as Ram Swarup and Sita Ram Goyal have politicized

the Hindu Christian relationship. Rajiv does not do that. He is respectful

of the differences and shows understanding (one can guess at Clooney’s

target : authentic Hindus who resist Christian conversion methods !)



Rajiv Malhotra : I am not interested in ‘ politicization’. I am interested

in knowledge systems (By this time any discerning listener must surely

wonder where he is going with all this ready agreement with Clooney. What

does this remark mean except that it is a hit at Hindu nationalism ? Or at

Hindutva ? The intellectual and spiritual errors involved in this

distancing of himself from both need to be pointed out).



In that one statement Malhotra distanced himself from the aam admi Hindu

and Hindu nationalism. There were also some slighting references to the

ignorance of Hindu gurus regarding Western thought. His eagerness to secure

Francis Clooney’s endorsement for his book Being Different was all too

obvious. It was also clear that the magic of the Jesuit’s flattery was

working on him, slowly but surely.



This raises the question of why the intrepid author of the book Breaking

India (2011) was doing his own version of a u turn. That book clearly

documents the insidious workings of Christian missionaries in India. It

speaks about the first Jesuit Roberto di Nobili’s infamous methods. It

talks about inculturation and so on. It recognizes quite explicitly that

since the time of Max Mueller (the indologist) , the chosen enemy for

Christianity was Hinduism .



Ofcourse, the authenticity and strength of the book Breaking India also

come from the fact that the co author Aravindan Neelakandan is a Tamilian

and is knowledgeable about Tamil history, which constitutes a large part of

the book.



Mr. Malhotra is economically independent and has over a period of time in

the Hindu diaspora in North America done service to the community by

establishing the Infinity Foundation and helping with other Hindu causes.

He is articulate, intelligent and well read. Economic motives, the

acquistion of wealth, cannot be his agenda. Ofcourse, as with any

author/writer he would like to maximize the sales of his books. In his

case, there is also an almost messianic notion of wanting to reach out to

Hindus to empower them. Some would simply call it an ego trip. There is

also the fact that he is an autodidact and therefore his excursions into

Judaeo Christian and Western thought are a novel exercise for him. In this

exhilarating exercise (novel for him !) he lost sight of many things.





Purva Paksha, the method he borrows from ancient Hindu

intellectual/spiritual thought, and claims to use ,becomes simply an

occasion for self advancement. Mr. Malhotra is no Shankara. Purva Paksha is

not simply a ‘gaze’ at the adversary, but is accompanied by a rigorous

unflinching critique of the enemy, as Adi Shankara did, and alas, Rajiv

Malhotra is unable/unwilling to do ! Adi Shankara’s aim was to defeat, not

to accommodate the enemy. As is well known, Shankara’s efforts led not only

to the creation of Advaita Vedanta, but to the clearing of the decks for

the ongoing continuation of Hinduism. In Mr.Malhotra’s hands it becomes a

distortion both of the method and its aims.



Malhotra wants to accommodate the enemy so to speak (although that is not

his conscious agenda or so one hopes) and is therefore, a good candidate

for Francis Xavier Clooney’s agenda. The ripple effect of these many

discussions/debates on Hindu-Christian dialogue are Clooney’s great

opportunity at further inculturation.



And Rajiv Malhtora is entirely unprepared for this unequal balance of

power, whatever his own subjective feelings about the importance of such

events and the impact of his book. By putting forward his work as something

different from what other Hindus are already doing and by a constant

running down of Hindu gurus that they are not prepared to debate with the

West, Malhotra is in effect trying to advance, at the expense of Hindus.

This contradicts his own well meaning efforts at the empowerment of Hindus !



For Hindus, both in the diaspora and in the homeland, the lesson to be

garnered from the Clooney-Malhotra discussions (euphemistically called

Hindu-Christian dialogue) is that the tried and tested strength of Hinduism

will endure. New fangled attempts are just that. They can be a fun read,

but not to be taken seriously. The aam admi Hindu and the traditional

acharyas, gurus, maths, etc. will continue their traditions. There are no

signs that this will give way to what at present looks like the

intellectual equivalent of Wallmart’s attempted entry into Indian retail.



Has Mr. Malhotra set up only a straw man, the non existent uninformed Hindu

of his imagination, in order to demolish this straw man , and thereby

highlight his own albeit limited work ? And is Francis Clooney attempting

the impossible, the destruction of Sanatana Dharma ?



(The writer is a Political Philosopher who taught at a Canadian university).



http://haindavakeralam.com/HKPage.aspx?PageID=15182