Opera Omnia: Vol. 4: Hinduism: Part Two: The Dharma of India

By the dharma of Hinduism we mean its spirituality. This volume includes a whole book on this subject. But what do we mean by Hinduism? To write about Hinduism in an understandable way will start from the fundamental experience by which Man is Man and not a cat, a tree or a stone, even if he is in deep relation to them. Without this fundamental human experience (which we have frequently covered up by the encrustations of civilization and the dust of history) there is the risk of not interpreting other religions correctly. The first step toward avoiding this risk is to respect what have been called the golden hermeneutic rule, that is, that what is interpreted recognizes itself in the interpretation. If Jews or Shintoists are described in a way in which they cannot recognize themselves, it means that the description is not correct. The first section includes the book of the same title, The Dharma of Hinduism, in which the dharma is described not only as a real ontological order but also as a system which is extrinsic to the nature of things. The second section consists in various articles on Indian theology and philosophy while the third concentrates more on present day problems and the important role which India could play in the world of today as an alternative to technological society so long as it does not become overwhelmed and is able to be inspired by its ancestral richness for a new civilization. A hitherto unpublished essay (Indra's Cunning), which I wrote many years ago but was unable to finish yet feel is still valid from this perspective, is also included.…