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Studies in Indian Philosophy
received an elaborate doctrinal backing in which a certain relative or qualified status is allowed for individual beings also in the context of ultimate reality which is conceived in personalised terms. Thus Vedāntism, like Buddhism, reflects the ineffability of the ultimate experience which does not lend itself to simple descriptions. That does not mean that clearcut descriptions are necessarily wrong as opponents in the polemics of rival schools would have us believe, rather it indicates the simple fact that the ultimate truth is bigger than words and that therefore every logically straightforward and cosistent description of its experience must appear to be a simplification. This, in turn, does not mean that such a description is entireiy useless, since it does convey a certain idea about the ultimate to the totally inexperienced and may act as an encouragement and motivation for entering the mystic path. A variety of descriptions addresses a variety of minds according to their dispositions.
There have been objections to this kind of interpretation of differing mystical doctrines and the consequent claim of a common core in all mystical traditions. Steven T. Katz expressed it bluntly saying that mysticism promises "something for everybody if not everything to everybody's 16 But that is an ill-founded criticism. The differing interpretations merely express the infinite richness of the ultimate wbich must be bigger than individual minds which can therefore approach it from a large variety of starting points. Various simplified descriptions of the ultimate goal become wrong only if taken literally and if they are individually believed in to the exclusion of other descriptions. That can happen only when the doctrine, accepted on authority, becomes more important than the experience, which means that he mystic path is not really being followed. Then we are in the province of theological or phi losophical polemics. These do occur also, of course, among historians of religions if they bring into their inquiry personal preferences or beliefs.
With Mahāyāna Buddhism and Vedāntism Indian spiri
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