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76 : Sramaņa, Vol 61, No. 3 July-September 10
effort to achieve a universal intelligibility of many of the religious philosophies of other cultures may be further illuminated by some of the reflections of contemporary Western theology. A catholic theologian, David Tracy, has distinguished philosophical theology, which he calls fundamental theology, from systematic theology and practical theology in a manner addressing problems of crosscultural interpretation and rationality."!
The task is a difficult one and the effort must be made to evolve a maximum possible understanding of one another and minimizing the role of so-called objective philosophical inquiry, which may be, sometimes, detrimental to the understanding of an alien spiritual tradition.
With these words on the background of the dialogue and methodology to be adopted for establishing a meaningful interaction, I may speak about the specific Hindu view of the universe, the macro-micro-cosmic axis, the universe and the individual, cultural paradigms of our temporal consciousness, religion, rite, and myth and so on.
Hinduism and the other religions of Indian origin have a common basis, and dialogue among them has been constantly taking place. Now dialogue between Hinduism and Christianity is taking place. Thus, we may explore how we can work together for the good of humanity as well as for enriching our own spiritual experiences through such dialogue.
The Indian view of the universe is fundamentally different from the view in which man is the center of the world. In the Indian view, noted contemporary Indian thinker and writer Prof. Vidya Nivas Mishra observes- "When someone is in the center, the other is in the periphery. When the other is in the center the first goes to the periphery. this means that there is no absolute supremacy among the elements of the whole i.e., man, animal, nature, god, except that of the whole, of the unmanifest, undefined, which subsumes all and is something more than all."2 Man is neither
