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Review
65
It is a firm view of all the religious thinkers that prayers directed towards God bring the highest happiness here and now. Prayers of pure heart are answered in the form of Grace. Hence, the fabric of faith, prayer and grace, is, subject of central point for all the theistic philosophers.
The present work of the author mainly deals with comparison between these three concepts of Ramanuja and Kierkegaard. The author in his introduction beautifully pointed out that, though, both Ramānuja and Kierkegaard belong to diverse socio-religions contexts, none the less, if grace be regarded as God's call, on the one hand and faith and prayer as mans responses, on the other, they make a fairly similar fabric, the same general them of human salvation. (Introduction, p-2). The author concentrating on these three concepts of two great religious thinkers, has developed his thesis very systematically. Though there is a eight hundred years gap between both the philosophers, the work, tries to highlight how Ramanuja and Kierkegaard react to similar problems and situations. in life and thought. The main contribution of this work is two-fold; first of all it throws light on less known aspect of Kierkegaard thinking and secondly it compares the views of both Ramanuja and Kierkegaard which is the need of the day.
The book consists of ten Chapters. The first nine chapters are gro uped into three units consisting of three chapters in each. The first two units deal with the viewes of Ramanują aud kierkegaard respectively. In the third unit comparison is made between views of Ramanuja and Kierkegaard, highlighting both similarities and differances. The tenth chapter is a concluding one which is divided into two parts. In part one the author tried to show the inter relations among the three concepts, as they are understood in religion generally. In second part an attempt is made to show how the views of Ramanuja and Kierkegaard stand related to this general religious-position.
The author's understanding of Faith, Prayer and Grace, of Ramanuja and Kierkegaard is very subtle and he is very clear in presenting view of both the thinkers. This work is undoubtedly an outstanding contribution to the field of knowledge. Equipped with notes, Glossary, Bibliography and Index, the book is well printed and nicely produced. The author and publisher deserve high appreciation in bringing out this very useful book on comparative religion.
Y. S. Shastri
