Abstract
Grace is a flow in life which flows in rugged terrains as well as in smooth planes. Grace is an experience and it is phenomenological, but this shapes our lives with and beyond experience and it touches self, other, culture, society and the world. In my chapter, I explore the flow of grace in travel and translation. Travel is a multi-dimensional journey with home and the world with many challenges and uncertainties. The finitude and fragility of our body cannot cope with the challenges of travel without the grace of roads, rivers and Life. Similarly, translation is a journey of understanding across borders of different languages and cultures, which is not an easy task, and it is also a field and circle of grace. In my chapter, I explore further these experiences of life and its implication for thinking and rethinking phenomenology of Grace.
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Notes
- 1.
As Robert Bellah (1970: xvi), an inspiring and different kind of sociologist who links sociological vocation to the quest for creating a good society, invites us to see grace working in society as well especially in the work of social action and social systems:
I saw the worst is only a hair’s breadth away from the best in any man and any society. [..] If I am not a murderer it is because of the grace I have received through the love and support of others, not through the lack of murderous impulses within me.
For Bellah,
Some of the systems theorists such as Parsons and Karl Deutsch have conceived of human action as multi-layered and open. Deutch, for example, has spoken of the propensity for all highly complex systems to break down, and has borrowed the theological term ‘grace’ to designate the indispensable but unpredictable situational conditions that seem to be necessary in order for any complex system to function at all. (1970: 241)
- 2.
Here, what Gandhi writes deserves our careful consideration:
The word satya (Truth) is derived from Sat which means ‘being’. Nothing is or exists in reality except Truth. That is why Sat or Truth is perhaps the most important name of God. In fact it is more correct to say that Truth is God than to say God is truth. But as we cannot do without a ruler or a general, such names of God as ‘King’ or ‘Kings’ or ‘The Almighty’ are and will remain generally current. On deeper thinking, however it will be realised that Sat or Satya is the only correct [..] name for God. And where there is Truth, there is also knowledge which is true. Where there is no Truth, there can be no true knowledge. That is why the word Chit or knowledge is associated with the name of God. And where there is true knowledge, there is always bliss (Ananda).
Devotion to this Truth is the sole justification for our existence. All our activities should be centered in Truth. Truth should be the very breath of our life. When once this stage in the pilgrim’s progress is reached, all other rules of correct living will come without effort, and obedience to them will be instinctive. But without Truth it is impossible to observe any principles or rules in life.
Generally speaking observation of the law of Truth is understood merely to mean that we must speak the Truth. But we in the Ashram should understand the word Satya or Truth in a much wider sense. There should be truth in thought, truth in speech, and truth in action. To the man who has realised this truth in its fullness, nothing else remains to be known, because all knowledge is necessarily included in it. What is not included in it is not truth, and so not true knowledge; and there can be no inward peace without true knowledge. If we once learn how to apply this never failing test of Truth, we will at once be able to find out what is worth doing, what is worth seeing, what is worth reading.
- 3.
Here, what Devy tells us deserves our careful consideration:
From the beginning of the eleventh century, languages spoken by the masses in different regions of India started asserting themselves. The new bhasas expressed regional and heterodox aspirations in protest against the hegemony of Sanskrit and the culture developed through that language, Sanskriti. [..] Interwoven with the rise of these modern Indian languages, the bhashas, is the story of emergence of various religious sects. For about six centuries, from the eleventh to the sixteenth, India witnessed the march of a literary and philosophical creativity that produced a large number of saint- poets [..who] articulated for the masses a new, egalitarian philosophy of life (2004: 180).
- 4.
As Devy tells us:
It was during thebhakti period of Indian culture that for the first time the unity between Brahman and dharma, between the Upanishadic ideal of contemplation and the Buddhist ideal of compassion, was emphasized as the goal of life. In doing this, bhakti internalized and personalized the idea of truth that the ancient scriptures had posited. The bhakti philosophers claimed that truth in order to be truth must be accompanied by karuna, compassion and love, and the one who had these qualities was the Satguru, the teacher of truth, the true preceptor. (2004: 151)
- 5.
Here we can build upon the important work of Sabelo J. Ndlovu-Gatesheni (2018) who in his book Epistemic Freedom in Africa: Deprovincialization and Decolonization invites us to cultivate onto-decolonial turn in our modes of thinking and being especially as we relate to still persisting colonialism in our lives, thoughts and practices.
- 6.
Devy here draws our attention to shanta rasa in Avinabhagupta. Shanti as a goal and way of understanding is related to shanta rasa. Here Devy helps us understand this aspect of Indian tradition:
Bharata had not set the rasas in any hierarchy. For him all types of aesthetic sentiment were of equal importance, but Abhinava introduced the notion that Shanta was the ultimate among the rasas. Shanta, the tranquil, goes beyond all dualities, beyond right and wrong, manifest and transcendent, and presents and presents an equipoise that will bring the experience of Brahman to bear on the fictional world of poetry and drama. (2004: 143)
Devy further tells us: “It is through the concept of shanta, leading to shanty, that the aesthetics of Abhinava approximated the spirituality of the Upanishads” (ibid: 145).
- 7.
It is no wonder then that Giani Vattimo who cultivates pathways of weak ontology building upon both the spiritual strivings of Lord Jesus Christ and philosophical works of philosophers such as Martin Heidegger emphasise the need for Mercy in our lives. Similarly Fred Dallmayr (2019) who cultivates practical ontology as manifold movements in love, labour and learning also emphasizes the need for Mercy. Here what Vattimo (2011: 139–140) deserves our careful consideration:
At the horizon line of the near future toward which we gaze, pragmatically assessing the utility of truth, there lies a more distant future that we can never really forget. Rorty alludes to this with the term solidarity, which I propose to read directly in the sense of charity, and not just as the means of achieving consensus but as an end in itself. Christian dogma teaches that Deus Caritas est, charity is God himself. From a Hegelian viewpoint, we may take the horizon to be that absolute spirit which never allows itself to be entirely set aside but becomes the final horizon of history that legitimates all our near-term choices.
- 8.
It is no wonder then that Marcus Bussey writes the following in his introductory essay to this volume:
A phenomenology of grace then begins a conversation for me that must work from vulnerability towards some broader epistemic space in which the personal is generalised through shared engagements with our cultures, our temporalities, and our bodies.
- 9.
For example, Foucault (2011) writes: “pairhesia is the courage of the truth ini the person who speaks and who, regardless of everything, takes the risk of telling the whole truth that he thinks, but it is also the interlocutor’s courage in agreeing to accept the hurtful truth that he hears” (Foucault 2011: 13). Here what we are further invited to realise that it is Grace in both the speaker and the hearer which can contribute to the whole process of Truth sharing.
- 10.
This is explored in the following poem by the author:
Verse
Verse Co-Walking as a Passage for a New Revelation How to Do Things with Words But friend Shouldn’t we meditate How to be with words Walk and Dance Sleep and Ruminate Walking with Words Like a Camel Bringing Words to the Woods Walking and Dancing Together with Words Our Co-Walking as Passage for a New Revelation Meditative Verbs of Co-Realisations
- 11.
This probably inspired him to compose his poem “Nirjharinir Swapnabhang” (The Opening of the Dream of the Spring).
- 12.
As Husserl writes (2002: 161–162, 164, 173):
… While the natural scientist is thus interested in the objective and is involved in his activity, the subjective-relative is on the other hand still functioning for him, not as something irrelevant that must be passed through but as that which ultimately grounds the theoretical-logical ontic validity for all objective verification, i.e., as the source of self-evidence, the source of verification [..] thus that which actually exists in the life world, as something valid, is a promise [..]plane within an infinitely richer dimension of depth. [..]the life world was always there for mankind before science, then just as it continues its manner of being in the epoch of science. Phenomenology calls for a new vocation, a complete personal transformation, comparable in the beginning to a religious conversion, which then, however, over and above this, bears within itself the significance of the greatest existential transformation which is assigned as a task to mankind as such.
- 13.
As Bussey also tells us in his introductory essay, Grace is not dissociated from the experience of shock and terror.
- 14.
Here I present two narrations of such meetings and encounters. Both these relate to meeting with Chitta Ranjan Das, a seeker and traveller. The first is between Ramesh Ghode and Chitta Ranjan Das when Ghode was a young man. Ramesh Ghode taught Sociology at Hilsop College, Nagpur and in the preface to the collection of letters that Chitta Ranjan had written to him and he has edited, Rameshda tells us:
We ‘discovered’ each other in the All India Conference of Sociology Teachers from Rural Institutes all over India. [..] The conference was held in the last week of November, 1960 in Rural Institute, Amravati [..] I was then a student of 2nd year [..] I had a chance to speak on a sociological concept of social disorganization in that conference. After having delivered my lecture on the concept all the eminent scholars of Sociology cross-examined me by asking pertinent questions, including Professor Chitta Ranjan Das. I could feel the depth of empathy in his eyes. During that short encounter with him, he asked me several questions to glean my personal profile, family background and interest in academic pursuits. I frankly shared all the personal information with him.
I perceived in him a Guru, a preceptor and an elder brother who would guide me in academic pursuits. As luck would have it, he immediately said in a soft tone, “Ramesh, do not call me Sir, you can call me ‘Dada,’ and I mean it in real sense of thought and action.” Hearing his words I was spellbound and could not believe myself. I saw in him a Guru, elder brother, a friend, philosopher and a guide. I was convinced within that he would help me not only to tide over all the obstacles in my academic ventures but direct me in the right path of life too. Our camaraderie and kinship commenced and it was to to be a sincere and life-long commitment. (Ghode 2010: iii–iv)
The second narrates the meeting between O.P. Bhasin, himself a great seeker, and Chitta Ranjan Das. Bhasin writes about his meeting with Das:
I had an occasion to visit Odisha in July, 1992 at instance of Utkal Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Cuttack. I shared this with Dr. Ananta Giri, then working at G.B. Pant Social Science Institute, Allahabad, who was kind enough to suggest and arrange my meeting Chitta Ranjan during my stay at Cuttack. I did this only on July 18, 1992 at his residence in Bapuji Nagar, Bhubaneswar.
At the appointed time, I found Chitta Ranjan waiting for me at the entry point of his house. He escorted me to his modestly furnished sitting room. We sat for a while when silence only spoke. We kept looking at and through each other’s eyes, with no actuation for oral communication. A little later, Chitta Ranjan broke the silence: “Haven’t we known each other? No matter if we haven’t met hitherto.” On an affirmative reply for me, we both instantaneously got up, held each other’s hands, and with an ecstatic smile experienced warmth of a closely held hug. To hitherto unknown mortals sat down as old intimate friends eager to know each other!
At my request, Chitta Ranjan gave me a peep into his long journey of life, covering his vast and varied areas of interest pursued without any geographical limitation. A soft and gentle voice overcoming the natural inhibition of self-speaking, he perceived my unexpressed appetite and opened before me his whole life span like a book. It was indeed a very touching and illuminating experience for me. The air in the room was full of human warmth and we were totally at ease.
It was now my turn to share with Chitta Ranjan whatever little about me was there. My lone audience evinced lot of interest and wished to know more details. We then delved deep into what human life is all about, its purpose and how to handle its vagaries. Covering various aspects and stages in this sojourn we touched upon the role of ‘Pursharatha’ and ‘Prarabdha’, the theory of Karma, Nature’s place in our actions and how positive and negative emotions determine course of events in our lives. While in this realm, Chitta Ranjan shared how he had been in search of his real identity as a human being. Despite his deep commitment to improvement in quality of life and devotion to the concept of service to the society, deep down in his heart he would still experience of Reality as Ramakrishna and Ramana Maharshi had, although he was also clear that such level cannot be reached through comprehension but through experience only, to be had in and through this life. Here, he recognized the limitations of intellectualism and of being a scholar, and endeavoured to seek a way out. I then brought out the experience of Sri Aurobindo who heard Vivekananda’s voice giving clarity and guidance to him as seeker of truth. His practice of purity and piety in his life world determine his reaching the goal. Life of Swami Rama Tirtha, a ‘grihasthi,’ married with two children, was an example in this regard. The relevant point is practice of detachment in attachment and of renunciation in, and not of the world. This indeed is a formidable challenge but still practicable. The thought sharing then veered around what is purity and what is piety in relation to day-to-day life of a normal human being. Continued search seemed to be the only way out, but when and how the finale would be experienced was yet outside the domain of human effort. For all this, one life as unit of time might not be necessarily enough. (Bhasin 2013)
We can note here the warmth and grace of eyes in meetings which help in realisation of Grace of life.
- 15.
Professor Uberoi spoke about this in one of his lectures I heard. For a glimpse of his related reflection on this, please see Uberoi (1996).
- 16.
Here what Sailen Rautray (2019) writes about Das’s travel writing interestingly entitled “A Requiem for Solidarity,” deserves careful consideration:
When Das started learning Urdu as a teenager, he had made a startling discovery — that the word ‘vilayat’ in the original Persian means what the word ‘desh’ means in most Indian languages: ‘home’ or ‘country’. And yet ‘vilayat’ in modern South Asian languages means ‘foreign land’. This strange morphing of meanings perhaps points to a larger existential truth — we can know our own country only through our travels (both imaginary and real) in other lands. In other words, the only way to be an Indian is to become an Asian and then onwards a citizen of the world. In this era of heightened nationalism and individualism, it is instructive to read Das’s travelogues. By taking us back to the almost lost worlds of kibbutzs and communes, he reminds us of an ideal of egalitarianism and human solidarity transcending barriers that seems all the more relevant now, in our fractured times.
- 17.
Here we can feel the continued haunting image of a dead child floating near a shore in the Mediterranean sea. The child was a part of a voyage to cross the sea and it seems his or her parents perished in the sea. Such deaths call for us to engage ourselves with new acts of Grace and not continue a politics and religious bigotry of killing in the name of resisting the threat of migrations.
- 18.
This is explored in the following poem of the author (Giri 2019b):
Verse
Verse Travelling with Truth Translating Truth in Travel In Between the Relative and the Relational Absolute and Approximate Translating While Travelling Self, Culture and Divine Beyond the Annihilating Tyranny of the Singular A New Trinity of Prayer A New Multiple of Sadhana and Surrender.
- 19.
In many creative works of translations we find such grace of trans-creation. We can here again travel with many works of translation of Chitta Ranjan Das. Das, among others, translated the works of Sri Aurobindo, and while we being with such translations, we feel the work of Grace flowing across translated works. Das had also translated Nobel prize winning writers such as Boris Pasternak’s Doctor Zhivago and Karl Gellerup’s Pilgrim Kamaneeta. Being with such translations as trans-creations one experiences not only grace of translation but also Grace (see Das 2001a, b, 2003, 2006, 2009a, b).
- 20.
Written at Mata Amridananda Math, Vallikavuon the occasion of Amitavarsham 60, Sept 26, 2013 9:30 am. This is dedicated to Mata Amritanandamayee and Dr. M.S. Swaminathan.
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Giri, A.K. (2020). Grace: Truth, Travel and Translation. In: Bussey, M., Mozzini-Alister, C. (eds) Phenomenologies of Grace. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-40623-3_8
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