What do we learn from Rabindranath Tagore’s copious yet lesser-known writings on the Hindu-Muslim question? What do we learn from the fascinating interplay of Hindu-Muslim interactions in the history of Bengal? How do the behavioral patterns between the two communities fare and change over the course of history, particularly entering into the modern period? What do the Bauls, Muslim and Hindu troubadours and singers, illustrate about the limits of language and identity? How do we maintain a distinct religious identity without effacing or encrusting our sense of self? Prof. Ankur Barua joins us again for a conversation on these topics and more as we discuss his fascinating recent publication ‘The Hindu Self and its Muslim Neighbours: Contested Borderlines on Bengali Landscapes’, which sketches the contours of relations between Hindus and Muslims in Bengal. The central argument is that various patterns of amicability and antipathy have been generated towards Muslims over the last six hundred years and these patterns emerge at dynamic intersections between Hindu self-understandings and social shifts on contested landscapes. The core of the book is a set of translations of the Bengali writings of Rabindranath Tagore (1861–1941), Kazi Nazrul Islam (1899–1976), and Annada Shankar Ray (1904–2002). Their lives were deeply interwoven with some Hindu–Muslim synthetic ideas and subjectivities, and these involvements are articulated throughout their writings which provide multiple vignettes of contemporary modes of amity and antagonism. Watch our previous conversation on Image Worship in Hindu Traditions:    • Image Worship in ...   Prof. Ankur Barua is University Senior Lecturer in Hindu Studies at Cambridge University. He read Theology and Religious Studies at the Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge. His primary research interests are Vedantic Hindu philosophical theology and Indo-Islamic styles of sociality An integral dimension of Prof. Barua’s research is the comparative philosophy of religion. He studies the theological and the socio-political aspects of Hindu–Christian engagements. In recent years, his research focus has moved to Indo-Islamic theology and, in particular, to an exploration of the intersections between the idioms of bhakti, yoga, tawḥīd, and taṣawwuf on the multiply-stratified postcolonial landscapes of South Asia.

Prof. Arvind Sharma and Dr. Saad Ismail continue their conversation on Hindu-Muslim dialogue. This conversation explores the central role of the historical encounter of the two traditions, and asks whether history is essential or accidental to our encounter. If history is accidental, then this opens up great possibilities for better interfaith relations in the present. Who is a Hindu? Who is a Muslim? What is Hinduism? What is Islam? These notoriously difficult definitions are explored. Finally, the discussion centers on the question of religious identity, and what are the different possibilities available for us to envision our identities. Formerly of the IAS, Arvind Sharma is the Birks Professor of Comparative Religion in the School of Religious Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada in, He has taught in Austrlia (University of Queensland, Sydney) and the USA (Northeastern, Temple, Boston,Harvard) and has published extensively in the fields of comparative religion and Indology. He was instrumental, through three global conferences (2006, 2011, 2016), in facilitating the adoption of a Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World’s Religions. His recent books include The Ruler’s Gaze: A Study of British Rule over India from a Saidian perspective, Gandhi: A Spiritual Biography; Hindusim and It’s Sense of History and Decolonizing Indian Studies. He has contributed to and edited Our Religions: The Seven World Religions Introduced by Prominent Scholars from Each Tradition. He is also the general editor of the Encyclopedia of Indian Religions (Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer,2017).

One of the most simple yet profound phrases to represent God/Reality is the Sanskrit formula Sat-Chit-Ananda commonly translatable as Being-Consciousness-Bliss. Prof. Arvind Sharma (McGill University) walks us through this elegant idea in our new conversation. Formerly of the IAS, Arvind Sharma is the Birks Professor of Comparative Religion in the School of Religious Studies at McGill University in Montreal, Canada in, He has taught in Austrlia (University of Queensland, Sydney) and the USA (Northeastern, Temple, Boston,Harvard) and has published extensively in the fields of comparative religion and Indology. He was instrumental, through three global conferences (2006, 2011, 2016), in facilitating the adoption of a Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the World’s Religions. His recent books include The Ruler’s Gaze: A Study of British Rule over India from a Saidian perspective, Gandhi: A Spiritual Biography; Hindusim and It’s Sense of History and Decolonizing Indian Studies. He has contributed to and edited Our Religions: The Seven World Religions Introduced by Prominent Scholars from Each Tradition. He is also the general editor of the Encyclopedia of Indian Religions (Dordrecht, Netherlands: Springer,2017).

If the absolute reality (Brahman/God) is ultimately beyond form, as the Upanishads teach, how then are we to understand the multifarious forms attributed to it? Can we even imagine a purely 'form-less' idea of God? How is any relationship with God possible if He is ultimately beyond our imagination and fundamentally unknowable? We grapple with these questions and more, as we look at various attempts at resolving these perennial theological paradoxes in Hindu, Muslim, and Christian traditions. Our conversation is based on Prof. Barua's much celebrated recent piece in Renovatio, the journal of Zaytuna College, which can be found here: https://renovatio.zaytuna.edu/article... Prof. Ankur Barua is University Senior Lecturer in Hindu Studies at Cambridge University. He read Theology and Religious Studies at the Faculty of Divinity, Cambridge. His primary research interests are Vedantic Hindu philosophical theology and Indo-Islamic styles of sociality An integral dimension of Prof. Barua’s research is the comparative philosophy of religion. He studies the theological and the socio-political aspects of Hindu–Christian engagements. In recent years, his research focus has moved to Indo-Islamic theology and, in particular, to an exploration of the intersections between the idioms of bhakti, yoga, tawḥīd, and taṣawwuf on the multiply-stratified postcolonial landscapes of South Asia. His most recent publication is entitled 'The Hindu Self and its Muslim Neighbors: Contested Borderlines on Bengali Landscapes'. His personal Youtube channel can be found here:    / @theheartofreasons   @theheartofreasons

Harry Oldmeadow was born in 1947 and as child spent nine years in India where his parents were missionaries. He studied at the Australian National University, Sydney University and St Johns College Oxford. He is currently the Coordinator of Religion and Spirituality Studies at La Trobe University Bendigo, in central Victoria, Australia. His principal interests include the perennialist movement (as exemplified by René Guénon, Frithjof Schuon, Titus Burckhardt and others), mysticism, the spiritual encounter of East and West, primal traditions such as those of the American Plains Indians and the Australian Aborigines, and the environmental debate. His recreational interests include hiking, photography, reading and following the Collingwood Football Club. He lives with his wife and three dogs on a small property in Mandurang, outside Bendigo.

Dr. Saad Ismail engages Prof. Seyyed Hossein Nasr on how best to approach Hindu-Muslim dialogue in a manner that is both academically rigorous as well as spiritually cognizant of the wisdom of these rich traditions. Prof. Nasr has long maintained close ties as well as deep engagement with Indian thinkers, spiritual gurus, religious leaders from Jawaharlal Nehru to the Shankaracharya of Kanchipuram to his present-day students, themselves leading scholars in the field of Sanskrit and Persian, unearthing lost treasures of the Hindu-Muslim intellectual encounter in the subcontinent. Seyyed Hossein Nasr is university professor of Islamic Studies at George Washington University. Author of over fifty books, Professor Nasr is a well-known and highly respected intellectual figure both in the West and in the Islamic world. He was born in Tehran, raised from the age of twelve in the United States, and is a graduate of MIT and Harvard University.

The Indian sage Ramana Maharshi (1879- 1950) is perhaps the most widely known Indian spiritual figure of the last century, second only to Gandhi. This new book offers a fresh introduction to the Maharshi’s life and teachings, intending to situate him within the non-dualistic traditions of Hinduism. It also delves into themes and questions particularly relevant to the spiritual crisis and search for meaning that have characterised, in various ways, both the modern and postmodern outlooks. While the Maharshi’s background and frames of reference were traditional, the spiritual resonance of his teachings in today’s world must also be recognised. The sage’s message lies at the intersection of the contemporary search for Self-knowledge, and today’s critical reflections on the foundations and limits of religion. Thus, the book comprises seven chapters that touch upon such central issues as the role of religion in Self-inquiry; the relationship between devotion and knowledge; the role and limitations of traditional forms; and the implications in our postmodern era of both the Maharshi’s emphasis on surrender, and his basic question: ‘Who am I?’ -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Patrick Laude is a professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service in Qatar, where he teaches Religious Studies. He studied at the Université Paris-Sorbonne, the Ecole Normale Supérieure and Indiana University, and is the author of over a dozen books on mysticism and esoteric religion.

Dr. Nick Sutton, director of the Oxford Center for Hindu Studies, offers a critical and respectful response to some of the gross misrepresentations of Hindu Traditions knowingly or unknowingly employed by Zakir Naik in his talks on Hinduism and Islam. The figure of Zakir Naik remains a paradigmatic example of how not to go about engaging the Hindu tradition as Muslims. His case is a salutary reminder for all who wish to engage other traditions sincerely and respecting rigorous scholarship. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Dr. Nicholas Sutton is a Professor and Director at the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies (OCHS). The Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies is a Recognized Independent Centre of Oxford University. OCHS, founded in 1997, is an academy for the study of Hindu cultures, societies, philosophies, religions, and languages, in all periods and in all parts of the world.