Ven. Saunaka Rsi Dasa, Director of the Oxford Centre for Vaisnava and Hindu Studies, has published a document, 'ISKCON in Relation to People of Faith in God', inviting people from various religious traditions to respond to it. Representing the Catholic Tradition and committed to promoting respectful and friendly relations with people of different faiths, I wish to share how the Catholic Church understands its dialogue with other religious traditions. I would like to state here that although the Catholic Church considers its relations with various Hindu religious traditions an important aspect of her mission it has, so far, not entered into any direct, formal dialogue with ISKCON. In recent years, several ISKCON members have made sporadic visits to the PCID (Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue) and the staff have always received them in a friendly spirit. The result of these informal but friendly meetings has been positive.

I am struck by the title of the document, namely, ISKCON in Relation to People of Faith in God. The first point in Part 1 of the document clearly states that ISKCON considers love of a supreme personal God to be the highest form of religious expression, and recognises and respects this expression in other theistic traditions:

In ISKCON we consider love of a Supreme personal God to be the highest form of religious expression, and we recognise and respect this expression in other theistic traditions. We respect the spiritual worth of paths of genuine self-realisation and search for the Absolute Truth in which the concept of a personal Deity is not explicit. Other communities and organisations advocating humanitarian, ethical and moral standards are also valued as being beneficial to society. (Part 1, 1)

Christianity is essentially a religion founded on faith in God. The divine mystery, fully re-vealed in the person of Jesus Christ, is central to the Christian faith. The Church, which is also part of that divine revelation, continues, like a sacrament, to communicate this revelation in history. Consequently, because of their search for the divine mystery, religious traditions, particularly those that explicitly acknowledge his existence, hold a special place in the Church's relations. In this context I would like to quote St. Paul's dialogue with a group of people belonging to another religious tradition that acknowledged existence of God. Paul said: 'Men of Athens, I have seen for myself how extremely scrupulous you are in all religious matters, because, as I strolled round looking at your sacred monuments, I noticed among other things an altar inscribed: To An Unknown God. In fact, the unknown God you revere is the one I proclaim to you.'

Since the God who made the world and everything in it is Himself Lord of heaven and earth, He does not make His home in shrines made by human hands. Nor is He in need of anything, that He should be served by human hands; on the contrary, it is He who gives everything — including life and breath — to everyone. From one single principle He not only created the whole human race so that they could occupy the entire earth, but He decreed the times and limits of their habitation. He did this so that they might seek the deity and, by feeling their way towards Him, succeed in finding Him. Indeed, He is not far from any of us, since it is in Him that we live and move and exist. As some of your own writers have said: We are all His children.

Since we are the children of God, we have no excuse for thinking that the deity looks like anything in gold, silver or stone that has been carved and designed by man. (Acts of the Apostles, 17:23-9, The New Jerusalem Bible)

Through its document, Nostra Aetate, the Catholic Church launched an official call 'in our times' to all its faithful to enter into positive relations with people of different religions. It was promulgated in Rome in 1962-5, during the Second Vatican Council, a decisive and major event in the life of the Church, as an official teaching concerning relations with other religions. Nostra Aetate makes the search for and belief in the existence of God by people of different religious traditions as the principal motive for the Church's dialogue with them:

Throughout history even to the present day there is found among different peoples a certain awareness of a hidden power, which lies behind the course of nature and the events of human life. At times there is present even a recognition of a supreme being, or still more of a Father. Such an awareness and such a recognition instil the lives of these peoples with a profound religious sense. Religions bound up with cultural advancement have struggled to reply to these same questions with more refined concepts and in more highly developed language.

Thus in Hinduism men contemplate the divine mystery and express it through an unspent fruitfulness of myths and through searching philosophical inquiry. They seek release from the anguish of our condition, through ascetical practices or deep meditation or a loving, trusting flight toward God. (NA, 2)

However, I wish to make it clear that ' ... belief in (God) is the easiest and, at the same time, the most difficult starting point in Hindu-Christian dialogue. It is the easiest starting point because Hinduism is saturated with a rich and profound reflection on the existence, nature and the presence of God; Hinduism speaks of the practice to reach God in innumerable ways. But the question of God is also the most difficult starting point for dialogue with Hinduism because of its ambivalent, syncretistic and absorbing nature.' (F. Machado, Pro Dialogo, 93, 1996/3)

The second point in Part 1 of the ISKCON document speaks about a basic principle which is important in the dynamics of interreligious dialogue; namely, a certain openness towards the dialogue partner while at the same time the obligation to uncompromisingly hold on to one's own essential religious identity and respect that of the other:

ISKCON views dialogue between its members and people of other faiths as an opportunity to listen to others, to develop mutual understanding and mutual trust, and to share our commitment and faith with others, while respecting their commitment to their own faith. (Part 1, 2)

Part 2 of the ISKCON document speaks about this when it states that:

 ... diversity is accepted, but not to the exclusion of unity. Religions do not have to become homogenous or merge together, but they can develop respectful and practical relationships with one another.

The same document further states:

... we need to encourage one another to be faithful to the principles of our own traditions.

In its commitment to and practice of interreligious dialogue, the Church has considered, on the one hand, adherence to one's own religious identity and, on the other hand, a trustful openness to other religious traditions, as two important elements. To be rooted in one's own faith means, first of all, an uncompromising obedience to God as believed in faithfulness to one's own religious tradition. It means to be familiar with the essential precepts, doctrines, teachings, duties, etc. of one's own religious tradition. It also means to be committed to the duties and responsibilities that are consequences of belonging to a particular religious tradition. In short, it means to enter into dialogue with the integrity of his or her own faith. Dialogue begins, grows authentically and bears fruits, despite difficulties, when it stands on the solid foundation of mutual trust between partners. If fear of the other is the enemy of dialogue then lack of trust should be said to be at the root of fear. Trust inspires and cultivates eagerness to know the other, not superficially but in depth; trust helps overcome fear of hurting the other.

This obligation, with a double dimension concerning interreligious dialogue, is beautifully expressed in one of the documents from the Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, which states:

That they may be able to give this witness to Christ fruitfully, (Christians) ought to be joined to the people of their time by esteem and love, and acknowledge themselves to be members of the group of people among whom they live ... . They ought to know well the religious and cultural traditions of others, happy to discover and ready to respect the seeds of the Word which are hidden in them ... . As Christ himself ... so also His disciples should know the people among whom they live and should establish contact with them, to learn by patient and sincere dialogue what treasurers a bountiful God has distributed among the nations of the earth. At the same time, let them try to illuminate these treasurers with their Saviour. (The Attitude of the Church Towards the Followers of Other Religions, Vatican, 1984, n. 27)

The third point of Part 1 of the ISKCON document merits careful response on the part of the Catholic Church:

ISKCON recognises that no one religion holds a monopoly on the truth, the revelation of God or our relationship with God. (Part 1, 3)

The Catholic Church firmly believes that, created in the 'image of God', human beings have the possibility of knowing God. Only in God will they find the truth and happiness they never stop searching for. The Catholic Church further holds that in many ways, throughout history down to the present day, human beings have given expression to their quest for God in their religious beliefs and behaviour: in their prayers, sacrifices, rituals, meditations and so forth. However, the Catholic Church's self-understanding is also formed by her unshakeable faith that there is another order of knowing God, which one cannot possibly arrive at by one's own powers: the order of divine revelation. Through an utterly free decision, God has fully revealed Himself and given Himself to mankind by sending us His beloved Son, Jesus Christ, and by giving the Holy Spirit.

However, the Church considers dialogue with other religions indispensable because the Catholic Church acknowledges that the fullness of truth received in Jesus Christ does not give individual Christians the guarantee that they have grasped the truth fully. The Church admonishes the Catholic faithful to remain open to truth:

In the last analysis truth is not a thing we possess, but a person by whom we must allow ourselves to be possessed. This is an unending process. While keeping their identity intact, Christians must be prepared to learn and to receive from and through others the positive values of their traditions ... . Through dialogue they (must allow) the understanding of their own faith to be purified. ('Dialogue and Proclamation, Reflections and Orientations on Interreligious Dialogue and the Proclamation of the Gospel of Jesus Christ', P.C.I.D. Bulletin, 77, 1991)

Christian understanding of the truth, which is defined as the revelation of God in Jesus Christ, must not become an occasion for Christians to be self-complacent, righteous and judgemental of others. The official teaching of the Catholic Church states:

Truth, however, is to be sought in a manner proper to the dignity of the human person and his social nature. The inquiry is to be free, carried on with the aid of teaching or instruction, communication and dialogue. In the course of these, men explain to one another the truth they have discovered or claim to have discovered in order to help one another in their search for the truth. Moreover, as truth is discovered, it is by personal assent that men are to adhere to it. (The Second Vatican Council, Dignitatis Humanae, n. 4)

The Catholic Church proposes different forms of dialogue so that all may have the possibility of promoting it according to his or her ability. Among these forms, dialogue of collaboration is mentioned. This corresponds to the fourth point of Part 1 of the ISKCON document:

ISKCON's members are encouraged to be respectful to people of faith from other traditions and to see the need for people of different faiths to work together for the benefit of society as a whole and for the glorification of God. (Part 1, 4)

Catholics are encouraged to work with people of different religious traditions to confront together the problems of the world and for goals of a humanitarian, social, economic, or political nature which are directed towards the liberation and advancement of mankind. The most outstanding and concrete example of this form of dialogue is found in the coming together of different religious leaders in Assisi in 1986, at the invitation of Pope John Paul II, to pray for peace in the world. The clarion call in the 1950s of the founder of ISKCON to the leaders of various religions, in the midst of the growing indifference to the religious nature of the human person, not to sit idly and silently watch the rapid growth of a Godless civilisation, merits our serious consideration.

Notwithstanding the points of convergence between different religions, it must also be said that religions also essentially differ in their fundamental beliefs, doctrines and manner of living. Consequently, there are different ways of understanding the divine mystery, distinct ways of approaching it, characteristic ways of conceiving and expressing beliefs, definite ways of responding to moral and ethical questions, etc. These questions need to be reflected upon by experts and specialists. Yet, in the pluralistic world of today, all believers face the same existential problems. Thus dialogue of collaboration becomes a necessity. The Catholic Church encourages its faithful throughout the world to seek collaboration among various religions to address such problems as war, violence, moral decline, crime, intoxication, poverty and hunger, social instability and environmental degradation.

In the fifth point in Part 4 of the document, ISKCON proposes that each individual develop his or her relationship with the Supreme Lord:

ISKCON affirms the responsibility of each individual to develop his or her relationship with the Supreme Lord. (Part 4, 5)

According to the Christian tradition, God reveals Himself as the Father of all in His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. As the third person of the Blessed Trinity, the mystery of divine love, the Holy Spirit, inspires and enables each individual to relate to God the Father by associating in a mysterious way through the passion, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Thus, every individual has the possibility of accepting this relationship with God, the Supreme Lord. What is to be emphasised here is the characteristic of the Christian faith, namely, it is not so much the initiative of the human person to develop a personal relationship with the Supreme Lord as simply to go on accepting, through an act of faith, the initiative of God in the course of his or her life. Of course, far from being inert, uninvolved and passive, every person is called to responsibly inculcate this relationship through God's grace, which is constant and unfailing.

But there is another dimension to this relationship, namely that love of God cannot be separated from the love of one's neighbour. According to the Christian tradition they go together inseparably like two wings of a bird. One grows simultaneously in one's relationship with God and one's neighbour. In other words, the whole of religious experience cannot be reduced to just a personal relationship between an individual and the Supreme Lord. One cannot claim to love God while hating his brother or sister. This is why caritas or agape (unselfish love) has been the constitutive dimension of the Christian faith. Commitment to bring, not just better life, but fullness of life, to every person, particularly the poor and the downtrodden, is an intrinsic part of the sadhana for growing into a personal relationship with the Supreme Lord.

We find the essence of this Christian teaching in the first letter of St. John. He says:

My dear friends, let us love one another, since love is from God and everyone who loves is a child of God and knows God. Whoever fails to love does not know God, because God is love. This is the revelation of God's love for us, that God sent His only Son into the world that we might have life through Him. Love consists in this: it is not we who loved God, but God loved and sent His Son to expiate our sins ... . Let us love, then, because He first loved us. (The First Letter of John, 4:7-10, 19)

For Christians, dialogue means all positive and constructive interreligious relations with individuals and communities of other faiths. Enterprise of dialogue must be carried out in obedience to truth and respect for freedom. Through their dialogue with other religious tra-ditions and their adherents, Christians wish to understand themselves better, to get to know others justly and fairly, to dispel fears and misunderstandings, to be influenced, inspired and enriched mutually with their partners in dialogue and to accept the new self-understanding which may emerge as a consequence of dialogue. For Christians, dialogue is a sacred act be-cause 'by dialogue we let God be present in our midst; for as we open ourselves in dialogue to one another, we also open ourselves to God.' (Pope John Paul II, Madras, 1986) Respect, tolerance, mutual understanding, good behaviour, etc., form part of one's spirituality of dialogue. The guidelines for approaching members of other faiths in the ISKCON document are a fine summary of what the Catholic tradition has been proposing and communicating through the official teaching of the Church (through the Pope and the Bishops) in our times.

I wish to conclude by presenting some challenges that are generally faced by Christians in their dialogue with Hindus. The Catholic Church has high esteem for Hinduism, the family of religions in which a reflection of that truth which enlightens all men is found. All the traditions of Hinduism (sampradayas) manifest the quest of the human person for the Absolute Truth. This quest instils the lives of Hindus with a profound religious sense.

This is what Pope John Paul II publicly declared to the Hindus: 'I hold in esteem your concern for inner peace and for the peace of the world, based not on purely mechanistic or materialistic political considerations but on self-purification, unselfish love and sympathy for all.' (Address at Los Angeles, 16 September 1987)

Christians need to know this complex tradition well. Hinduism as such has no identity. The most appropriate approach to this tradition is to know the particular sampradaya, such as Gaudiya Vaisnava — a monotheistic tradition within Hinduism. Given the well-organised structure of the Catholic Church, its members wish to find a credible, suitable and representative dialogue partner in Hinduism. There are devout and practising individual Hindus who are not necessarily part of any institution, organisation or community. It is important to enter into dialogue with these rather than wait for a representative of an institution or an organisation or a community. Hindus in dialogue with Christians must also realise that the mys-tery of God, revealed in Jesus Christ, and the living community of the Church are distinct but inseparable. Of course, the Church is not merely the sum total of all Christians, neither is it a purely human institution. As transcendental mystery, the Church is the living 'Body of Christ' (The First Letter of Paul to the Church at Corinth, 12:12-30). Thus every individual Christian is at the same time his or her entire community. In other words, every individual's essential identity is the Church.

According to the particular nature of Hinduism, Jesus Christ is accepted, loved and revered by most Hindus. This fact makes it easy for a Christian to enter into dialogue with Hindus. However, dialogue also becomes difficult and appears to have reached a dead end for Christians when Jesus Christ is seen by Hindus only as one of the many manifestations (avataras) of the Absolute Mystery; because, for the Christian there is no other Saviour outside the person of Jesus Christ. The Church accepts that people in other religions could be saved in and through their respective religious traditions; however, that salvation is never independent of Jesus Christ. The Catholic Church teaches that all religions, as far as they uphold truth, holiness and goodness, are related to the mystery of Jesus Christ. This is why Christian theologians speak of 'participatory' ways rather than 'parallel' ways of salvation, which are always related to the mystery of Jesus Christ, the Saviour of all.

Based on the revelation of God in history, Christianity gives history a paramount im-portance:

Christianity has its starting-point in the incarnation of the Word. Here, it is not simply a case of man seeking God, but of God who comes in Person to speak to man of Himself and to show him the path by which He may be reached ... . The Incarnate Word is thus the fulfilment of the yearning present in all the religions of mankind: this fulfilment is brought about by God Himself and transcends all human expectations. (John Paul II, Tertio Adveniente, n. 6)

A Christian enters into dialogue with people of different religious traditions because he or she is aware that the action of Christ and his Spirit is already mysteriously present in all who live sincerely according to their religious convictions.