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Beyond Compare
This page intentionally left blank
Beyond Compare
St. Francis de Sales and Sri Vedanta De2ika
on Loving Surrender to God

Francis X. Clooney, SJ

Washington, D.C. / Georgetown University Press

Cover photos: (Top) Image of Sri Vedanta De2ika from his birthplace in Thoopul,
Tamil Nadu, India, courtesy of www.sudarasimham.org. (Bottom) Nicolas Brenet
(1728–92). St. Francis de Sales. Oil on canvas. Réunion de Musées Nationaux/
Art Resource, New York.

Georgetown University Press, Washington, D.C. www.press.georgetown.edu

© 2008 by Georgetown University Press. All rights reserved. No part of this

book may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage
and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Clooney, Francis Xavier, 1950–

Beyond compare : St. Francis de Sales and Sri Vedanta De2ika on loving
surrender to God / Francis X. Clooney.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-1-58901-211-0 (alk. paper)
1. Venkatanatha, 1268–1369. Rahasyatrayasara. 2. Francis, de Sales, Saint,
1567–1622. Traité de l’amour de Dieu. 3. Sri Vaishnava (Sect)—Relations—
Catholic Church. 4. Catholic Church—Relations—Sri Vaishnava (Sect)
5. Visistadvaita. 6. Love— Religious aspects. 7. God (Christianity)—Worship
and love. 8. Spiritual life—Comparative studies. I. Title.
BL1288.592.V46R3433 2008
261.2'45—dc22
2007050882

∞This book is printed on acid-free paper meeting the requirements of the

American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library
Materials.

15 14 13 12 11 10 09 08 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2
First printing

Printed in the United States of America

Dedicated to my fellow Jesuit, likeminded scholar,
best of friends,

Ronald Anderson, SJ
(1950–2007)
This page intentionally left blank
Contents

Preface xi
Chapter 1 Two Spiritual Classics and the 1
Possibilities They Present
I. On Writing as a Scholar beyond Himself: 1996 1
II. Reading Loving Surrender across 6
Religious Boundaries
1. Vedanta De2ika, His Srivaisnava Tradition, 6
and the Essence
2. Francis de Sales, His Catholic Tradition, 14
and His Treatise
3. Vedanta De2ika and Francis de Sales, 21
Brought into Conversation
4. “Loving Surrender” as the Key in 23
This Double Reading
III. Some Cautions as We Look Ahead 25

Chapter 2 Thinking, Writing, Reading: 32

Finding a Path to Loving Surrender
I. The Problem of Reason in Interpreting 32
Religious Truths
1. Reason’s Limits and Potential in the Treatise 34
a. De Sales on Pagan and Christian Learning 44
2. Reason’s Limits and Potential in the Essence 46
a. The Ascent of the Mind and Heart to God 53
viii Contents

II. Conversion: Reason and the Leap Beyond 56

1. De2ika on Conversion 56
2. De Sales on Conversion 60
III. The Self-Understanding and Intentions of 67
De2ika and de Sales as Writers
1. Why de Sales Writes, and with What Authority 67
2. Why De2ika Writes, and with What Authority 70
IV. From Writer to Reader: On the Exercise 77
of Religious Reading
1. Paul Griffiths 77
2. Pierre Hadot 79

Chapter 3 Awakening: Reading and Learning on 83

the Way to God
I. Scripture, Inscribed in the Treatise and Essence 85
1. De Sales’ Use of Scripture 86
a. Appropriating Scripture’s Wisdom 90
b. An Example: The Liquefaction of the Soul 94
2. De2ika’s Use of Scripture 98
a. “Five Things to Be Known”: First, God’s Nature 104
b. The Self and Obstacles to Attaining God 109
II. Engaging the Reader: Person to Person 112
1. De Sales Makes It Personal: Learning by Example 113
a. Reports of Heroic Persons 113
b. Addressing the Reader: O, Theotimus 119
2. De2ika’s Sparer, More Traditional Approach 121
a. Hearing Great Persons 121
of the Srivaisnava Tradition
b. Shifting the Way We Read: From Prose 124
to Poetry
c. A Lineage of Verses, A Lineage of Teachers 127
III. Reading More Intensely to Discover a Destiny 132
1. The Particulars of Rapture: Advice 133
from Charles Altieri
2. The Complex Text and the Complex Reader 139
 Contents ix

Chapter 4 Loving Surrender: Insight, Drama, 142

and Ecstasy
I. The Theological Presuppositions 143
of Self-Abandonment
1. De Sales: Freely Choosing to Let God Be All in All 143
2. De2ika: From Devotion to Human Readiness 146
II. De2ika’s Exegesis of the Dvaya Mantra 149
1. The First Clause: I approach for refuge the feet of 153
Narayana with Sri
a. I approach Narayana: Narayanam prapadye 154
b. I approach Narayana with Sri: 154
Sriman-Narayanam prapadye
c. I approach the feet of Narayana with Sri: 156
Srimannarayana-caranau prapadye
d. For refuge I approach the feet of Narayana with 157
Sri: Srimannarayana-caranau 2aranam prapadye
e. I approach: prapadye 159
2. The Second Clause: Obeisance 160
to Narayana with Sri
a. With Sri: Srimate 161
b. For Narayana: Narayana-aya 161
c. Obeisance: namah 162
3. The Whole Dvaya Mantra 163
III. De Sales on Love and Loving Surrender 166
1. The Foundations of Love 166
2. A Note on Deep Pleasure (Complaisance) 169
3. Deep Pleasure, Conformity, and Obedience 171
4. The Role of the Indifferent Heart 174
5. De Sales’ Mantra? 181
IV. Loving Surrender—Intensified 182

Chapter 5 As We Become Ourselves: On the 189

Ethics of Loving Surrender and
of Persistence in Reading
I. Life after Loving Surrender to God 190
1. De2ika on Life after Refuge 190
2. De Sales on Life after Loving Surrender 196
x Contents

II. On Being a Religious Reader and Writer after the 202

Essence and Treatise
1. On Becoming the Right Person 203
2. Reason Humbled and Restored (Chapter 2) 204
3. The Grounded, Liberated, Passionate Reader 206
(Chapter 3)
4. The Vulnerability and Safe Haven of the 208
(Inter)Religious Reader (Chapter 4)
III. A Final Word 210

Notes 213
Bibliography 249
Index 255
 Preface

This book seeks to be a commentary on two works rooted in different tra-

ditions: the Essence of the Three Auspicious Mysteries by Sri Vedanta De2ika
and the Treatise on the Love of God by St. Francis de Sales. Several of the
personal things that I might say in a preface are in chapter 1, specifically
with respect to this book’s genesis in my earlier writing, in questions
that lingered after that writing, and in personal choices I have made over
the years. I deliberately write from a personal perspective in chapter 1
because I do not want it to appear that more personal and confessional
observations on the genesis of this project should be kept at a distance
from the project itself, as if the personal is merely a catalyst for and
prelude to objective scholarly work. Personal insights and motivations
do and should deeply affect scholarly writing, particularly in a project such
as this, in which how we read and write are topics of keen interest. In-
deed, the whole point of the classic texts written by St. Francis de Sales
and Sri Vedanta De2ika, and of their reception over the centuries by an-
ticipated and unexpected readers, is that the intellectual, imaginative, and
affective are inseparable, each intensifying the other in a way that in the
end must really be personal. And so it is in chapter 1, and not in this pref-
ace, that I draw my reader into my project as a kind of personal quest that
begins in memories and in unanswered questions regarding my work
from a decade ago, and in acknowledgment of testimonies of loving sur-
render, literary and personal. So this preface can be brief, a place to note
some occasions on which I tested the ideas in this book and to offer thanks.
I was happy to test the theme and method of this book in a variety of
settings, including an October 2005 lunchtime seminar of the Project on
Religion, Political Economy, and Society at the Weatherhead Center at
xii Preface

Harvard University and an October 2006 conference on the Comparative

Philosophy of Religion at the University of Calgary. I was able to discuss
my project more in depth in a seminar called “Reading Hindu Texts
Interreligiously” in the spring of 2006 at Harvard Divinity School, and to
present a more developed version of chapter 2 in the Miller Endowment
Lectures at the University of Madras in February 2007. Since comparative
theology is a balancing act that in this project employs Indological, liter-
ary, religious, and theological practices, all within the double reading of two
classic texts, I welcomed the opportunity to present the methodological
issues at stake in this volume in seminars at the University of Hawaii in
January 2007 and at the University of Oxford in May 2007. An essay for the
International Journal of Hindu Studies was devoted entirely to De2ika’s ex-
egesis of the Dvaya Mantra; ideas, translations, and choices of texts that
eventually became part of chapter 4 of this book were first articulated in
that context. I was happy to develop the implications of this study with re-
spect to multiple religious belonging, in a presentation in the Christian
Spirituality Group at the American Academy of Religion annual meeting
in San Diego in November 2007.
Most notable, in terms of time commitment, was the other book
project that occupied me during my sabbatical year of 2006–7: The Truth,
the Way, the Life: Christian Commentary on the Three Holy Mantras of the
Srivaisnava Hindus, a commentary on the three holy mantras that figure
in this book too, read first in accord with Vedanta De2ika’s insights and
then from an explicitly Christian perspective. In a world where readers
would have great patience along with interest in my work, The Truth, the
Way, the Life would be taken as the groundwork of a project completed in
this book, as close reading is resolved and fulfilled in a recognition of the
act of loving surrender as a value not constrained within solitary religious
boundaries. If all these seminars, lectures, and publications overlap in
content and approach, this is inevitable because they all grew out of my
need to put into words what Vedanta De2ika taught so powerfully, and
then also to receive his erudite teaching in my own Catholic tradition by
a fresh discovery of St. Francis de Sales. I am indebted to all those who
provided opportunities in which my interconnected projects could grow,
each project with its own character but (as my “forthcoming” entries in
the bibliography shows) relying on the others as well. And yet, I hope,
Beyond Compare is the most mature fruit of this extended exploration.
I am grateful to those who took the time to read my manuscript in its
earlier stages: Dr. Anuradha Sridharan, associate editor of Nrsimhapriya in
Mylapore, Chennai; Professor Amy Hollywood at Harvard University;
 Preface xiii

and my Harvard students Michael Allen, Dominic Longo, and Ilyse Rian
Morgenstein. All were most generous in their willingness to read the
manuscript and give me their detailed comments. On various parts of
the project and its underlying research, Mangalam R. Parameswaran,
retired professor of the University of Manitoba, gave me invaluable ad-
vice on details, context, and the underlying academic concerns. With the
help of these friends and colleagues, I have avoided some of the smaller
and larger mistakes I would otherwise have made; had I the opportunity
to read for a long period of time with them and other teachers, the re-
maining imperfections too would have been diminished.
I am grateful to Harvard Divinity School for the 2006–7 sabbatical,
and to my new colleagues there for encouragement in my somewhat dis-
tinctive writing projects. I owe a special debt to my Jesuit brothers at
Boston College, where I continued to live during the writing of what has
turned out to be the last project completed during my twenty-three years
there. I dedicate this book to Ronald Anderson, SJ, a scholar and my friend
and housemate for more than twenty years, who died as this book neared
its completion.
This page intentionally left blank
 Chapter 1
Two Spiritual Classics and
the Possibilities They Present

Perhaps the ideal reader can be described as someone who reads

like a prapanna—like someone who does prapatti, who surren-
ders completely, somewhat desperately, having run out of
strategies and plans: surrendering to the text and its meaning
after attempting and abandoning every skillful strategy by which
to make something certain and safe of it. The prapanna would
speak and write from this simple, clear, unadorned learning.
This is a spiritual possibility, to be sure, but it can also be
described as a carefully cultivated intellectual virtue which
extends the scholar to the limit and which can profitably inform
the whole comparative exercise.
Clooney, Seeing through Texts

I. On Writing as a Scholar beyond Himself: 1996

When I wrote these words in 1996 near the end of Seeing through Texts, I
was enchanted by the one hundred songs of the medieval Hindu devo-
tional classic Tiruvaymo[i, which I had been studying for more than a
decade. I was deeply touched by Satakòpa\’s intense devotion, the liter-
ary and spiritual worlds he so vividly evoked, his bold act of taking refuge
(prapatti) with his Lord Narayana and the Goddess Sri, a moment of lov-
ing surrender commonly seen as enacted with this verse:

“I cannot be away even for a moment,”

says the Lady of the flower
2 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

who dwells on Your chest;

You are unmatched in fame, owner of the three worlds, my ruler,
O Lord of holy Ve0katam where peerless immortals and crowds
of sages delight:
with no place else to go, this servant has entered right beneath
Your feet.1

This verse has inspired Srivaisnava Hindus for more than a millennium,
and, for better or worse, I felt I understood it from the first time I trans-
lated it. I was moved even by the traditional commentaries that strove,
often in (what seemed to me) initially very difficult terms, to spell out the
great drama of desire and love that energized Tiruvaymo[i, the extraordi-
nary composition of this person who had indeed lovingly surrendered to
God and thus become entirely dependent (prapanna). In writing the words
that begin this chapter, I sought to capture, in completing the project,
the condition and manner of the reader trying to engage such texts with
so open a mind and heart.
In my reflection, I was attempting to imagine the situation of an at-
tentive reader who could be described by three features. First, ideally, she
or he would have the requisite historical, cultural, and linguistic exper-
tise and would be persistent in the interrogation of philosophical and
theological ideas and even underlying faith positions. Second, she would
also be open to the full powers of the text, vulnerable to being changed in
the reading, and determined to write in accord with truths discovered in
the reading, and with new purpose after this radical shift in perspective.
Third, she would also, as expert, speak and write this rich learning in a
way that would benefit a much wider audience. Expertise, after all, is never
simply for the satisfaction of the experts; it is also for the much wider
community that needs and seeks clearly composed and insightful writ-
ing. In the end, such a person might well be won over by the text and to
the purposes of its author and community—thereby moving from the
status of observer and even “scholar” to that of partially or completely
persuaded practitioner who at some level would convert to this new tra-
dition, surrendering in love. In the limit case described in Seeing through
Texts, such a person surrenders completely in an act that is both religiously
recognizable as a leap into the mystery of God and most easily described
in terms of what is lost rather than what is gained, as customary religious
beliefs and practices retreat to the background, and as God seems farther
away and not readily available in expected terms.
As I was estimating the texts and the surrender of which they spoke,
 On Writing as a Scholar beyond Himself: 1996 3

I was also mindful that I, a Roman Catholic, was learning from a South
Indian Srivaisnava Hindu text. This added complication contributes to
a transfigured intellectual and spiritual situation that is new and com-
plex, and that few of us can understand or find words for. Even if this
reader is determined to adhere faithfully to the tradition into which she
or he has been born, loving God in familiar, sanctioned ways, such simple
loyalties are more difficult after learning across religious boundaries. Such
interreligious learning cannot but take shape in accord with new norms,
new images, and new words that are more easily recognizable in some
other tradition. Neither the home tradition nor the visited tradition is likely
to understand this situation, and neither will be pleased by the intrusion,
in this person, of the other. This person-reader-scholar–surrendered
person may then stand at a distance from both traditions because of this
double reading that sins by taking both of them seriously. But remem-
bering her or his past commitments as well, such a reader also refuses to
move to a higher viewpoint or to claim a special, insider language, instead
remaining committed to careful and competent reading in several tradi-
tions at once, in a double reading that is necessarily unruly because un-
anticipated by the traditional readers of either text, both now subjected
to a double take, reception from the inside and from without.
I certainly did not, in 1996, take up the topic of radical transforma-
tion simply as an interesting topic that merited scholarly inquiry. As I have
already indicated in my preface, the boundary between the personal and
the academic ought not to be neatly definable. A key point, indeed, was
and is to call into question any such boundaries between the personal
and the scholarly. For even in writing Seeing through Texts, I was also
(re)discovering dimensions of my own experience, finding in Satakòpa\’s
text a way to come to terms with “surrender to God” as an intellectual
and religious commitment that does, or should, still have meaning in the
twenty-first century. My concern was also personal in a particular way,
since loving surrender to God was a value deep in my own tradition. The
words of Jesus can of course be taken as normative for all Christians:

If you would be perfect, go, sell what you possess and give the
proceeds to the poor. You will have treasure in heaven;
and come, follow Me. (Matt. 19:21)

and,

Father, into Your hands I commit my spirit. (Luke 23:46)

4 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

In reading Satakòpa\’s songs of desire and loving surrender, I had

also to look a little deeper into my own Jesuit tradition, recalling the prayer
I recited aloud as the vow formula by which a new Jesuit commits him-
self to God in the Society of Jesus.2 The words are meant to be uttered as
a very personal statement, even if redolent of imagery and sentiments
centuries old:

Almighty and eternal God, I understand how unworthy I am in

Your divine sight. Yet I am strengthened by Your infinite
compassion and mercy and am moved by the desire to serve You.
I vow to Your divine majesty, before the most holy virgin Mary
and the entire heavenly court, perpetual poverty, chastity, and
obedience in the Society of Jesus. I promise that I will enter this
same Society to spend my life in it forever. I understand all these
things according to the Constitutions of the Society of Jesus.
Therefore by Your boundless goodness and mercy and through
the blood of Jesus Christ, I humbly ask that You judge this total
commitment of myself acceptable; and, as You have freely given
me the desire to make this offering, so also give me the abun-
dant grace to fulfill it.3

I remembered too these still older words near the end of the Spiritual
Exercises of Ignatius Loyola, a prayer that is propaedeutic to any Jesuit
commitment:

Take, Lord, into Your possession, my complete freedom of action,

my memory, my understanding and my entire will, all that I have,
all that I own: it is Your gift to me, I now return it to You. It is all
Yours, to be used simply as You wish. Give me Your Love and
Your Grace; it is all I need.4

Both of these Ignatian texts and the dedication they announce were fa-
miliar to me before I studied Hinduism, but they came to resonate with
what I learned from Satakòpa\, his prayer of refuge, and how it was read
in his Srivaisnava tradition.
All these texts, Christian, Jesuit, Hindu, resonate well, but the mean-
ing of the resonance has remained unclear. What does a complete, lov-
ing surrender to God mean? What are its intellectual, imaginative, and
affective implications? And where does this new affinity lead us, intellec-
tually and religiously? How texts mediate the power and possibility of
 On Writing as a Scholar beyond Himself: 1996 5

surrender is a mystery, as is the very idea of living out the act of surren-
der into God’s hands for the rest of one’s life. I have remained deeply
interested in the confident and passionate certainties underlying surren-
der, this total self-giving to God with no safety net, a choice disruptive of
the attitudes, habits, and self-conceptions that shape ordinary life, a choice
from which there is supposed to be no return. I remained curious how
this seemingly implausible and imprudent decision retains its (fragile,
marginal, nearly erased) place among an array of attractive and mundane
choices that religious people make.
Because (for me at least) all of this is deeply intertwined in the read-
ing of texts that promote this state and that provide the words of its en-
actment, the powers latent in proper reading have stayed in the forefront
of my concern. How have authors been able to put the ideal of loving
surrender into writing sufficiently eloquent and persuasive to inspire
readers to live by these ideals? Most believers grow up in a tradition, and
only later discover its texts. But in a world where many of us encounter
religious traditions other than our own first of all through written words,
it seems that the text can also introduce effective ways of religious living,
and not just arise in that context of that living. And so I have continued
asking what it means when a reader comes to understand and then be
attracted to an ideal and exemplar of loving surrender—either inside one’s
own tradition or outside it, in a tradition constructed even through that read-
ing.5 The ideal and its provocations have stayed with me, as I have sought
to find a way to remain religiously committed to my own Roman Catholic
tradition, but also be the kind of person who could be won over by the words
of a new religious tradition, here the Srivaisnava Hindu tradition—while
yet also remaining a member in good standing of the academic commu-
nity, able to teach and write respectably within that community.
I was facing such questions in 1996 as I completed Seeing through
Texts, but I was unable to deal with them adequately there or in subse-
quent writings. Over the years, I have tried other theological entrées into
the study of Hinduism, studies with one or another thematic focus.6 But
in this current work, I am circling back to probe more directly the potent
imaginative and affective dimension of intellectual work, the intense
engagements to which a careful reader is vulnerable as she or he learns
to live differently after taking the ideal of loving surrender seriously. In
the pages to follow, I explore whether the profile of this reader can be more
adequately refined, accounting for this affective power and yet too shed-
ding more light on how to study religions with a “post-objective” empa-
thy and engagement. In a sense, this book is an extended commentary
6 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

on my 1996 claim and quandary, a commentary in which I let a Catholic

author and a Hindu author do most of the talking.

II. Reading Loving Surrender across Religious Boundaries

I focus narrowly on just two learned, well-ordered, and highly rhetori-

cally charged texts of spiritual theology, one by a Hindu and one by a
Catholic: the Srimadrahasyatrayasara (The Essence of the Auspicious Three
Mysteries, henceforth Essence) of Ve0katanata (1268–1369; more commonly
named Vedanta De2ika [“The Teacher of Vedanta”]); and the Traité de
l’Amour de Dieu (Treatise on the Love of God, henceforth Treatise) of Francis
de Sales (1567–1623).7 I now introduce each text in turn.

1. Vedanta De2ika, His Srivaisnava Tradition,

and the Essence
Vedanta De2ika was born in Tuppul, near Kanchipuram in today’s
state of Tamil Nadu, into an orthodox Srivaisnava Hindu family.8 Srivaisna-
vism is an ancient South Indian tradition devoted to worship of Narayana
as the sole God, along with his consort, Sri (Laksmi). It draws on the
Sanskrit and Tamil language traditions, explicating their truths and de-
fending the coherence of a single creed expounded over the centuries in
two languages. According to the earliest South Indian accounts, De2ika
had a traditional upbringing, which included a rigorous education in
Tamil and Sanskrit sources, and was propelled by his deep faith and eru-
dition to become a teacher and scholar. Early on, he was recognized for
his extraordinary spiritual and intellectual capabilities, his vigorous de-
fense of Srivaisnava tenets, and his exemplary personal devotion and man-
ner of living. He matured into a leading Srivaisnava Hindu theologian
deeply rooted in the tradition of Satakòpa\, and he taught in certain key
locations of Srivaisnava culture in South India. He eventually settled in
Srira0gam, the temple town that is even today the center of Srivaisnava
piety and practice; it is was at Srira0gam that De2ika composed the Es-
sence. He is considered the leading teacher of the “northern” (vatakalai)
school of Srivaisnavism.9
Srivaisnavism is a tradition that prizes great learning and expects
much of its leading representatives. It traces itself to the learned teacher
Ramanuja,10 to his great predecessors Alavantar and Nathamuni, and
 Reading Loving Surrender across Religious Boundaries 7

beyond them to the poet saints known as the a[vars, most notably
Satakòpa\. In fidelity to the Ramanuja tradition, De2ika also drew upon
the Vedanta Sanskrit heritage, with the Upanisads, the Bhagavad Gita,
the Brahma (Uttara Mimamsa) Sutras and a much wider body of related
Sanskrit sources.11 As Singh, Patricia Mumme, and K. K. A. Venkatachari
have indicated, De2ika is a most highly respected synthesizer who gave
to his tradition, so complex in its multiple linguistic and cultural resources,
a solid coherence that would serve it well in intellectual and spiritual
matters. Though on any given issue his sharply stated views might pro-
voke some debate, his status and value are indisputable. As Singh states
rather boldly in arguing for De2ika’s preeminence:

He is the only Srivaisnavacarya who was equipped with a great

dialectical acumen. He is the only Visistadvaitin who combines
logic with poetry, intellectualism with emotionalism and ritualism
with spiritualism. . . . He is the only sectarian leader of his days
who was liked, even for his conservatism, by the people. He is the
only religious leader of his times who commanded the respect of
his rival-religionists.12

According to Singh, De2ika’s unique contribution is evident in many

fields:

Unlike any other post-Ramanuja teacher it was he alone who pos-

sessed the real synthetic sense, the key-note of the Visistadvaita
Vedanta. It was he who carved, first of all, a prominent niche for
Prapatti in the midst of the Vedic Sadhanas or the Brahma
Vidyas. It was he alone who gave, first of all, a sound metaphysi-
cal background to Sri Vaisnavism. It was he alone in the host of
his contemporaries or successors who utilized the services of
poetry for the spread of the ideals of Visistadvaita and Sri
Vaisnavism. The Vadagalais and the Tengalais both looked up to
him for upholding the cause of Visistadvaita against the attacks
of the Sankara-Vedantins, the Madhva-logicians and the other
diverse critics of Ramanuja.13

As an orthodox Hindu, De2ika has inherited a tradition of practice

(karma) and meditation (jñana) that cannot be merely dispensed with. Even
devotion (bhakti) takes an orthodox form as a highly respected efficacious
8 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

path, an arduous one requiring practice over a long duration. Although

respecting these three ways (yoga) and insisting that devotion can lead to
liberation and union with God, De2ika and important predecessors such
as Pillai Lokacarya (1205–1311) and his brother A[akiya Manava\la Perumal
Nayana] (1207–1309) sought to create an intellectual justification as well
as practical space for the simpler, more effective act of loving surrender at
the feet of the Lord. If devotion is successful in bringing the devotee to God,
it might seem that the “rival” path of taking refuge, so easy and simple,
could undercut devotion and all the virtues and practices that accompany
it. De2ika is in the mainstream of Srivaisnavas who praise taking refuge as
the easiest, most effective path, even if devotion is permitted its honored
and traditional place amid the enduring obligations of the orthodox way of
life. The shift from ordinary, honored devotion to the more radical act of
taking refuge is a key theoretical and practical theme in the Essence, a mat-
ter that clearly requires justification, since loving surrender might seem a
threat to the very idea of enduring orthodox obligations: All is God’s work,
and of us nothing is possible or required.
The Essence is by tradition one of De2ika’s last works, his erudition
in full flower, and yet by style, presentation of ideas, and practical intent,
it is also meant for a wide popular (though literate) audience.14 Like other
teachers of this tradition, but most brilliantly, De2ika draws with ease on
Tamil and Sanskrit sources, introducing abundant citations from each
language tradition as needed. In the prefatory Essence of the Lineage of
Teachers (Guruparamparasara; henceforth, Lineage) that sets the tone for
the entire Essence, De2ika repeatedly emphasizes the need to be connected
to the tradition, writing from it and in gratitude to it, not as an indepen-
dent thinker. At the start of the Lineage, for instance, De2ika confesses in
verse that his insights are simply those of the a[vars, who rendered in clear
Tamil the obscure teachings of the Sanskrit Veda:

The sage Poykai, Bhutattar, Peyalvar, Kuruke2a\15 who appeared

at the cool Tamiraparani River, Visnucitta\,
pure Kula2ekhara\, our Pananatha\, Tontaratippoti,
the light arising in Ma[icai,
the prince of Ma0kai carrying the sword and spear,
that the Veda might shine throughout the world:
with delight they recited beautiful garlands of Tamil,
and we in turn sing them with clarity
now understanding clearly the unclear parts of the Vedas.16
 Reading Loving Surrender across Religious Boundaries 9

He also takes care in enumerating the lineage of teachers, beginning

with Nathamuni who revived the tradition by retrieving and reviving the
seemingly “lost” heritage of Namma[var (Satakòpa\):

Among these teachers, Nathamuni, son of I2varamuni, graciously

composed the instructive text known as the Nyayatattva and also
the Yogarahasya. Through the lineage of the tradition beginning
with Maturakavi, by his own recitation of Tiruvaymo[i, Namma[var,
who appeared to him when he was in a yogic state, was his
teacher.

He precisely details the lineage as it proceeds from teacher to student:

Nathamuni’s son was I2vara Bhatta[va\. To I2vara Bhatta[va\ was

born Alavantar, whose eight texts were the Agamapramanya,
Purusanirnaya, the Siddhitraya comprised of the Atmasiddhi,
I2varasiddhi, and Samvitsiddhi, the Sri Gitarthasamgraha, the Stotra
Ratna, and the Catuh2loki.17

After further detail regarding the students of Nathamuni and

Alavantar, De2ika focuses on the most revered teacher, Ramanuja, him-
self a beneficiary of the lineage of teachers.18 But then, after meticulously
listing so many names, he is generously inclusive with respect to the post-
Ramanuja period, allowing for local traditions that need not be certified
by himself: “The names of the chief disciples of Ramanuja may be learned
in accord with the respective local tradition of each (student).”19 As for
himself, De2ika reaffirms that his most important learning is what has
been passed down to him by his own teacher, a wisdom reenacted in his
own loving surrender to the Lord:

I take refuge with him who graciously bestowed on me my life,20

and in turn I reverence the lineage of his teachers, and after that
by grace I place before me Ramanuja,
the flood that rose in Perumputur, along with
Periyanampi, Alavantar, Manakkalnampi and
Uyyakontar who taught him the good path,
Nathamuni, Satakòpa\, Senanatha\, and
the auspicious Lady Sri of sweet ambrosia—and putting this one first,
I take refuge at the holy feet of my Lord.21
10 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

At the end of the preface, three verses proclaim De2ika’s adherence

to the teaching of the three great teachers, Ramanuja, and his predecessor,
Alavantar, and Alavantar’s grandfather, Nathamuni.22 De2ika humbles
himself before these esteemed predecessors, and makes it clear that he
intentionally and firmly stands in their lineage. It is essential to De2ika’s
approach that he—and his readers—should continually trace true teach-
ings back to these masters, powerful defenders of the truth; in their teach-
ings and persons, he finds guidance and personal inspiration that
transforms how one adhering to the tradition is to think, speak, act. We
return in chapter 2 to appreciate more deeply how De2ika’s estimate of
the Essence as a work of tradition shapes his thinking and writing. Here it
suffices to note that he does not boast of originality or independence; what
matters most is that he belongs to a tradition in which he was a humble
learner before daring to teach. His own singular contribution, paradoxi-
cally, is to be nothing but the handing down of what others taught before
him. In this way, of course, he establishes his authority as one authentic
in his transmission of all that he received.
As a constructive text deeply indebted to tradition, the Essence is first
of all an exegesis of three holy (sacred, rahasya) mantras central to Srivaisna-
vism’s theology, piety, and commentarial production. They are short,
totaling twenty-seven “commentable” units; compared with many other
mantras, they are also straightforward, simple words. They praise Lord
Narayana, the Lord’s invitation to the devotee to surrender completely,
and the devotee’s unqualified act of taking refuge in Narayana with the
Goddess Sri:

The Tiru Mantra: Aum namo Narayanaya—Aum, obeisance to

Narayana.

The Carama Sloka: Sarvadharman parityajya mam ekam 2aranam

vraja aham tva sarvapapebhyo moksayisyami, ma 2ucah—Having
completely given up all modes of righteousness, to Me alone come
for refuge. From all sins I will make you free. Do not grieve.

The Dvaya Mantra: Srimannarayanacaranau 2aranam prapadye

Srimate Narayanaya namah—I approach for refuge the feet of
Narayana with Sri; obeisance to Narayana with Sri.

The mantras chart the human acknowledgment of dependence on God,

the divine and human exchange of commitments, and the divine prom-
 Reading Loving Surrender across Religious Boundaries 11

ise of liberation and ultimate peace. They are considered by the Srivaisnava
tradition to contain, in a particularly condensed and essential fashion, all
that needs to be said about the human condition, the goal of life, the way
to that goal, and obstacles thereto.23 Elucidated with the commentator’s
acute eye, they condense the ancient, large body of revelation (2ruti) and
revered tradition (smrti), offering a succinct distillation of teachings that
in turn can be expanded at great length.
De2ika invites Srivaisnavas, including readers of later generations,
to understand, feel, and enact all necessary religious truths and values
through the ideas, words, and actions inscribed in the three mantras.
Their theology is an implicit creedal formulation, and traditional teach-
ers found the interpretation of them to be an effective catechesis, in
summary of the faith and practice of the tradition: To recite the man-
tras is to say and pray all that is necessary. They are more than contain-
ers for ideas; they are also effective with respect to the pedagogy and
psychology of devotion. They are, or can be, prayers appropriate for
devout recitation, regular moments in individuals’ and communities’
ongoing relation with the divine couple: praise, invitation to trust, and
loving surrender.24 In Sanskrit, they distill a very orthodox tradition;
meant for the widest of audiences, they return Sanskrit learning to the
whole community. A reflective appropriation of the mantras opens the
way for the transformation of the life of a person who takes them to
heart.
For one thousand years or more the three mantras have been read to-
gether, complementing and reinforcing one another. The textual evidence
for this goes back at least to the time of Para2ara Bhattar (twelfth to thir-
teenth centuries), whose Asta2loki is the oldest commentary we have. Soon
thereafter we have the Parantappati and Nigamanappati of Periyavacca\
Pillai (1167–1262). Pillai Lokacarya wrote a number of commentaries on
the mantras. His Mumuksuppati is considered authoritative for many
Srivaisnavas, especially with the commentary of Manavalamamuni (1370–
1443); similarly, his Srivacanabhusanam, also with Manavalamamuni’s com-
mentary, is also dedicated to fostering the attitudes and life intended by the
mantras.
De2ika, very much aware of his predecessors and the virtues of their
work, followed their example in composing a number of small commen-
taries on the mantras. But his Essence is the most comprehensive of all
commentaries on the mantras. It is an exegesis that pays explicit con-
textual attention to the accompanying philosophy and theology, the re-
ligious practice and communal values of south Indian Srivaisnavism.
12 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

The thorough exegeses of the Tiru Mantra, Dvaya Mantra, and Carama
Sloka occur only in chapters 27, 28, and 29, and this is balanced and
enriched by the prose narratives of chapters 3–19. Chapters 3–6 offer
philosophical and theological underpinnings for the entire project; chap-
ters 7–12 offer the logic and psychology of taking refuge; and chapters
13–19 spell out the manner and motive of a life lived in accord with the
mantras (table 1.1). We thus have a series of intersecting perspectives:
exegesis (chapters 27–29), doctrine (chapters 3–6), psychological-spiri-
tual context (chapters 7–12), ethical implications (chapters 13–19), and
the transmission of tradition (chapters 30–31). Thus the truth, the ben-
eficial way, and the goal—geared respectively to the Tiru Mantra, Dvaya
Mantra, and Carama Sloka—are explained variously throughout the
Essence, seen over and again from different perspectives. As a result, the
attentive reader learns the truths to be affirmed, the practices to be
undertaken, and the goal that concludes life’s journey.
Inclusive in tone and relatively accessible in terms of the learning
expected of readers, the Essence marks De2ika’s determination to fashion
a consensus for all Srivaisnavas regarding the meaning and implemen-

Table 1.1 A Thematic Overview of the Essence

Expository Exegetical
The Teaching Chapters Mantra Chapters

Preface: On the lineage of teachers

chaps. 1-2 Introduction

Tattva (truth, reality of total

dependence on God) 3–6 Tiru Mantra 27
hita (the beneficial:
Narayana and Sri
as means to salvation) 7–12 Dvaya Mantra 28
Purusartha (the goal,
living in service, for the Divine
Couple and the community) 13–19 Carama Sloka 29

chaps. 20–22 Eschatology

chaps. 23–26 Further consideration of disputed topics
chaps. 30–31 The duties of the teacher and the disciple (on the importance of
tradition)
chap. 32 Summation and conclusions
 Reading Loving Surrender across Religious Boundaries 13

tation of the mantras in the life of the community. He emphasizes com-

mon ground and appeals to scriptures and treatises widely honored by
all Srivaisnavas; he roots his interpretations in the teachings of revered
predecessors, including Alavantar, Ramanuja, Para2ara Bhattar, and his
own uncle and teacher, Appullar. He does not attack Srivaisnava rivals
by name but rather presents his ideas as logical developments that fill out,
without contradiction, what had been said previously. His goal, in the long
run, is to enhance the inner power of his tradition by a complete and clear
presentation of it. Though quite argumentative in other writings, here he
has little time for polemics.25
De2ika is clearly orthodox, and his thought seems definitely aimed
at a scrupulously faithful presentation of the tradition he has received.
Yet we cannot ignore the fact that there is no text quite like the Essence: It is
so full, complete in every way, in inscribing the mantras in a notably mul-
tidimensional framework. It is a work that shows both the self-effacement
and the distinctive brilliance of its author. In a sense, De2ika finds creativ-
ity in reliance on tradition. Indeed, his coherent presentation of the ortho-
dox worldview—culminating in the case for loving surrender to God as
an alternative to be preferred over the well-established, proven paths of
religious practice and wisdom—is a cautious radicalism, traditional the-
ology at the service of real change.
In studying the Essence over the past five years—having first read
the English translation nearly thirty years ago—I have been duly im-
pressed at how this formidable work of scholarship serves to instruct
minds and touch hearts so deeply and acutely that readers might well put
into practice what they have read.26 It interests me as a site where reason,
imagination, affective intensification, and radical religious commitment
come together powerfully. I have been fascinated by De2ika as a religious
intellectual who, by his choices in writing, makes his erudite tradition ef-
fectively present, a vast store of learning geared to the benefit of a wide
range of readers. Or to draw on his terminology to predict the nature of
my own book: Truths and doctrine (tattva) are only the beginning of learn-
ing and as such cannot be our primary object. More to the point is the
beneficial path by which we undertake the transformation of our lives
(hita), a path that includes attention to how we are to think rightly (chap-
ter 2) and how, again by careful reading, we are to expand our imagina-
tions and cultivate our emotions (chapter 3). But all this is for the sake of
where we are to end up (purusartha), at the brink of loving surrender,
before God (chapter 4).
14 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

2. Francis de Sales, His Catholic Tradition,

and His Treatise
Given my Christian upbringing and current commitment, and my
hope to exemplify an intelligent response to today’s pluralistic environ-
ment wherein no religion stands alone, I have chosen to intensify my
reading of the Essence by drawing it into a more complex double reading
with St. Francis de Sales’ Treatise. The Treatise is a classic of Christian
spiritual theology that like the Essence focuses in practice on loving sur-
render to God. In important ways, the Treatise manifests the same in-
telligence and passion as De2ika’s text, reinforcing in the reader the
disposition to recognize loving surrender as a real possibility.
As in my original choice of De2ika, at the base of my choice of de Sales’
text is my instinct as a reader about what works well in an interreligious
reading. It would be an interesting but very different project to choose texts
that do not read well together, do not fruitfully compare. My choice of de
Sales is not a neutral one: After reading De2ika’s Essence, I considered a
number of possible analogues in my own tradition and found in the Trea-
tise a Catholic text that promised to read well with and in light of the Es-
sence.27 Even if the Catholic tradition de Sales and I share deeply affects how
I have received his text, readers are advised not to think that I was familiar
the Treatise before turning to the Essence; rather, the reverse was true. Given
the manner of my choice, reflection on the Treatise and Essence ought not
to be taken as the basis for proving something larger about the Christian
and Hindu traditions; the value of my choice should become evident in the
actual reading, but not as a theoretical matter on a larger conceptual ter-
rain where one might try to prove something about the nature of religions,
devotion, and so on. This book is simply an exercise in reading two power-
ful religious classics together, with great interest in the fact that this double
reading enhances each text’s effect upon the reader in ways neither author
could possibly have anticipated.
Francis de Sales was the bishop of Geneva-Annecy, renowned as
teacher and preacher and spiritual guide during his busy lifetime. He was
canonized a Roman Catholic saint in 1665 and was declared a doctor of
the church in 1877. His Treatise aims to instruct and inspire readers, lead-
ing them on a reflective journey from the simplest material forms of desire
and love to the highest manifestations of a love immersed, surrendered,
in the depths of God. Like De2ika, de Sales was a versatile religious leader
for whom writing was part of a larger, fully lived intellectual and spiri-
tual vocation in service to his community. Despite his many duties, he
 Reading Loving Surrender across Religious Boundaries 15

devoted much time also to a serious exploration of the subtleties of the

spiritual life, that he might help seekers advance more quickly. He saw
the Treatise as a tool for the spiritual guidance of the Catholic commu-
nity in Geneva and throughout the French-speaking world (and beyond,
with early translations). Even if the Treatise is a challenging text most
suited for those who are both literate and advanced in the spiritual life, it
is, like the Essence, meant for the whole community and not reserved for
ascetic meditators.
What we know of the history behind de Sales’ writing of the Treatise
goes beyond the minimal internal information we have regarding De2ika’s
writing of the Essence; numerous scholars have rehearsed the story of de
Sales’ life and the creation of the Treatise. But for our purposes, a few com-
ments must suffice. The Treatise appeared in print in 1616, but de Sales
referred to the project as early as 1607, even before the 1609 appearance of
his more famous Introduction to the Devout Life. The Treatise was first envi-
sioned as a “Vie de sainte Charité,” to appear in a smaller format. Thus in
1609 de Sales reported his plan for two small treatises, one on the love of
God, grounded in the first three of the Ten Commandments, and a second
on the love of neighbor, grounded in the remaining seven commandments.
The idea for a second treatise was never followed through, but the first took
fruit in the Treatise, furthered by his regular service of spiritual direction
for the nuns at the newly founded Visitation Sainte-Marie.28 Out of his
exchange with the nuns there resulted, as André Ravier suggests in his
preface to the Oeuvres de Saint François de Sales, “a spiritual doctrine in-
tegrating the most elevated and humblest states of the soul.”29 He an-
nounced the work to be finished—in draft form—in 1614, and it was
published two years later.30
As Antanas Liuima indicates near the beginning of his Aux Sources
du Traite de L’Amour de Dieu de Saint François de Sales, over the ten years
when de Sales was writing the Treatise, it became also a record of his own
history during that period:

The history of the Treatise is also the history of his soul. It was little
by little, in the course of multiple redactions, and after multiple
revisions, that its idea developed. In 1609 he spoke of a book on the
love of God in practice. Later, the idea came to him to add a few
theoretical chapters which are now joined together in the first two
books. After ten years of prayer, reflection, study, and experience,
the “little book” that had been discretely mentioned appeared as a
veritable treatise full of erudition and personal insights.31
16 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

Though de Sales, like De2ika, does not dwell on his personal experience,
we do well to keep in mind the foundation of the Treatise in his own dis-
cernment of God’s will and the meaning of divine love.
Here is a brief overview of the Treatise, by way of the themes an-
nounced in the titles of its twelve books. Books 1 through 4 offer the
philosophical and theological grounding of de Sales’ understanding of love
and its growth:
1. Containing a Preparation for the Whole Treatise
2. The History of the Generation and Heavenly Birth of Divine
Love
3. Of the Progress and Perfection of Love
4. Of the Decay and Ruin of Charity
Beginning with book 5, de Sales focuses on practices likely to be fruitful
within the stated theological and psychological framework, particularly
practices leading to greater conformity to the will of God:
5. Of the Two Principal Exercises of Holy Love Which Consist in
Complacency and Benevolence
6. Of the Exercises of Holy Love in Prayer
Books 7–9 move quickly to the climax of de Sales’ reflection on the logic
of love:
7. Of the Union of the Soul with Her God, Which Is Perfected in
Prayer
8. Love of Conformity, by Which We Unite Our Will to the Will
of God, Signified unto Us by His Commandments, Counsels,
and Inspirations
9. Love of Submission, Whereby Our Will Is United to God’s
Good-Pleasure
The final three books, perhaps additions to the Treatise as originally con-
ceived, have to do with living the Christian life:
10. Commandment of Loving God above All Things
11. Sovereign Authority Which Sacred Love Holds over All the
Virtues, Actions, and Perfections of the Soul
12. Containing Certain Counsels for the Progress of the Soul in
Holy Love32
De Sales, at a quickening pace as the Treatise progresses, guides the reader
spiritually into an intensification of love that is also an increasingly pure
 Reading Loving Surrender across Religious Boundaries 17

submission to God’s will. As such, the Treatise begins with the same kind
of theoretical foundations as the Essence, tends practically to the same
spiritual goal as De2ika’s, and highlights too problems of ethics in regard
to how life is to be lived in the community after the act of loving surren-
der. Thus, although the chapters and books of course do not line up ex-
actly, and key portions of each text are not mirrored in the other, it is
helpful to notice a certain parallelism (table 1.2).33
As for the wider context: Of course, de Sales too was not writing in a
vacuum or simply for the sake of a lovely exposition of the spiritual life.
In his preface, Ravier sketches the difficult social and political situation
in which de Sales worked as bishop, theologian, and reformer in Geneva-
Annecy, given the religious politics of Savoie in the time of the Catholic
Reformation.34 From his position of authority, de Sales was concerned
with nourishing Catholic identity in Geneva-Annecy by implementing the
reforms of the Council of Trent. Although the Treatise does not directly
inform us about debates current in the larger world of the church in de
Sales’ time, scholars rightly assume that it was written in light of the in-
tellectual challenges of seventeenth-century Geneva and Reformation
debates about grace and free will: All is dependent on God and surren-
dered to God, yet human freedom and dignity remain important. I re-
turn to this balance in chapter 4.
Like De2ika, de Sales too makes his case by synthesizing traditional
sources in support of a coherent and healthy life that is both intelligent
and spiritual. In his survey of the theories of the rational and sensitive
appetites and passions in seventeenth- and eighteenth-century French
thought, Anthony Levi stresses the importance of de Sales to a wide range
of participants in debates during his era and later.35 Although de Sales
was not a systematic theologian or philosopher, we cannot overestimate
his importance in drawing together key elements from the tradition for a
coherent understanding of human nature:

The significance of Francis de Sales in any study of the French

moralists of this period derives primarily from his transitional
ethic. On the one hand, he belongs to the homogeneous tradition
of non-scholastic moral writing which highlighted truly religious
values and which derives from Ficino. . . . On the other hand his
authentic Augustinianism relates him to another series of
moralists including Bérulle, Saint-Cyrian, and many of the
authors associated with Port-Royal. These, too, are frequently
beholden to the Neoplatonist tradition of Florence. But Francis de
18 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

Sales, much more successfully than Charron, by exploiting the

tiered structure of the soul itself, unites the Neostoic and the
Augustinian traditions of moral writing in a way which is itself
sufficient to call in question some of the conventional views on
the antithetic nature of the two traditions.36

Table 1.2 A Comparative Overview of the Essence and Treatise

The Essence The Treatise

The Lineage, on the teaching tradition The preface, placing the Treatise in the
context of earlier spiritual and
theological classics
Chapters 1–2: Introduction to the Book 1. Containing a Preparation for the
Content and Purpose of the Essence Whole Treatise
Chapter 3: On the Dependence of All
Things on God
Chapter 4: On the Five Things to Be Book 2. The History of the Generation
Known and Heavenly Birth of Divine Love
Chapter 5: On the Three Realities Book 3. Of the Progress and Perfection
of Love
Chapter 6: On the Identity of the Book 4. Of the Decay and Ruin of Charity
Supreme God
Chapters 7–12: On the Theology of the Book 5. Of the Two Principal Exercises of
Taking of Refuge in Relation to Holy Love Which Consist in Compla-
Other Religious Practices, and on cency And Benevolence
the Psychology and Enactment of Book 6. Of the Exercises of Holy Love in
Surrender to God Prayer
Book 7. Of the Union of the Soul with
Her God, Which Is Perfected in Prayer
Book 8. Love of Conformity, by Which
We Unite Our Will to the Will of God,
Signified unto Us by His Command-
ments, Counsels, and Inspirations
Book 9. Love of Submission, Whereby
Our Will Is United to God’s Good-
Pleasure
Chapters 13–19: On How One Is to Book 10. Commandment of Loving God
Live after Taking Refuge with above All Things
Narayana and Sri Book 11. Sovereign Authority Which
Sacred Love Holds over All the Virtues,
Actions, and Perfections of the Soul
Book 12. Containing Certain Counsels for
the Progress of the Soul in Holy Love
 Reading Loving Surrender across Religious Boundaries 19

Though he acknowledges the “eclectic” and “uneven” nature of de Sales’

contribution to explaining the passions, Levi insists that “the synthesis
attempted by Francis de Sales was to be of great importance for the his-
tory of vernacular writings on morals in the first half of the seventeenth
century.”37 De Sales, like De2ika, provided a deep and sure foundation
for intelligent spiritual practice in generations after him—even if he was
a transitional figure, whereas De2ika powerfully fixed his “northern”
Srivaisnava tradition in the form it holds even today. To read de Sales or
De2ika is to catch hold of the interwoven broader conversation of the
author’s time.38
In his own preface, de Sales readily acknowledges his debt to earlier
authors:

Now it is true that many writers have admirably handled this

subject. Above all those ancient Fathers, who as they did very
lovingly serve God so did they speak divinely of his love. O how
good it is to hear St. Paul speak of heavenly things, who learned
them even in heaven itself, and how good to see those souls who
were nursed in the bosom of love [dilection] write of its holy
sweetness! For this reason those amongst the schoolmen that
discoursed the most and the best of it, did also equally excel in
piety. St. Thomas has made a treatise on it worthy of St. Thomas;
St. Bonaventure and Blessed Denis the Carthusian have made
diverse, most excellent ones on it under various titles, and as for
John Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris, Sixtus of
Sienna speaks of him thus: “He has so worthily discoursed of the
fifty properties of divine love which are described in the course of
the Song of Songs, that he alone would seem to have taken proper
account of the affections of the love of God.” Truly this man was
extremely learned, judicious and devout.39

Even his comments on women writers show him to be progressive (for

his era) and attentive to what counts most in spiritual writing:

And that we may know this kind of writings to be made more

successfully by the devotion of lovers than by the learning of the
wise, it has pleased the Holy Ghost that many women should
work wonders in it. Who has ever better expressed the heavenly
passions of sacred love, than St. Catherine of Genoa, St. Angela
of Foligno, St. Catharine of Siena, St. Mechtilde?40
20 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

The implied tension between “the devotion of lovers” and “the learning
of the wise” is strong, and we shall return to it in chapter 2.
De Sales goes on to mention the writers “in our age,” appearing to
make a courteous tour of religious orders: “Louis of Granada, that great
doctor of piety . . . Diego Stella, of the Order of St. Francis . . . Christo-
pher Fonseca, an Augustinian . . . Louis Richeome of the Society of Jesus
. . . John of Jesus Maria, a discalced Carmelite . . . that great and celebrated
Cardinal Bellarmine . . . M. Camus . . . Laurence of Paris, a Capuchin
preacher . . . [and] lastly the Blessed Mother Teresa of Jesus.” He then
makes an estimate of his own contribution, professing humility and in-
viting his readers to see for themselves where his work stands:

And although, my dear reader, this Treatise which I now present

you, falls far short of those excellent works, without hope of ever
running even with them, yet have I such confidence in the favor
of the two heavenly lovers to whom I dedicate it, that still it may
be in some way serviceable to you, and that in it you will meet
with many wholesome considerations which you would not
elsewhere so easily find, just as again you may elsewhere find
many beautiful things which are not found here.41

He concludes somewhat obscurely, but with clear emphasis on the dis-

tinctiveness of his practice: “Indeed, it even seems to me that my design
is not the same as that of others except in general, inasmuch as we all
look towards the glory of holy love. But of this your reading will con-
vince you.”42 Indeed, after the preface, the mass of bibliography and
erudition slips into the background, and de Sales rarely if ever cites any
of the authors he praises as masters of such “excellent works.” In read-
ing de Sales, we must therefore be mindful of the wide learning behind
the Treatise and the connectedness of his writing to the literary and
ecclesial tradition, yet also recognize his determination to write in his own
voice, without undue explicit reliance on older sources. In the same way,
De2ika’s interactions with his own revered teachers and with other learned
teachers in his adulthood deeply enrich his writing and its insights—even
as he composed a text with a distinctive, even unique character to it. For
both authors, it is in the text itself, written in a most original way, that
tradition comes alive.43
And to what effect are we then to read? De Sales makes clear that he
hopes for divine activity in the hearts of his readers:
 Reading Loving Surrender across Religious Boundaries 21

Ah! I conjure you by the heart of your sweet Jesus, King of hearts,
whom your hearts adore—animate my heart, and all hearts that
shall read this writing, by your all powerful favor with the Holy
Ghost, that henceforth we may offer up in holocaust all our
affections to his divine goodness, to live, die, and live again for
ever, amid the flames of this heavenly fire, which Our Lord your son
has so much desired to kindle in our hearts, that he never ceased
to labor and sigh for this until “death, even the death of the
cross.”44

This intense and ardent devotion is also the ardor of ideal reading; the
Treatise offers and intensifies the states of which it speaks, serving as an
instrument of divine action.
As we have seen, this is true for De2ika too, whose own words can be
traced, in his mind and that of his original readers, to divine wisdom and
divine teaching. However we estimate the inspiration guiding both au-
thors, our readings and double reading put us in touch with traditions,
truths, and manners of expression of extraordinary pedigree and power
that are intended to change attentive readers. If, therefore, I say less than
might be said regarding a multiplicity of possible conceptual compari-
sons, it is because I have placed priority on de Sales’ larger goal—animate
my heart, and all hearts that shall read this writing—and the eventuality of
loving surrender toward which he writes, what De2ika terms the benefi-
cial way (hita) and the goal (purusartha).

3. Vedanta De2ika and Francis de Sales,

Brought into Conversation
Neither of our authors has much to say about the historical and so-
cial situation in which he is writing; each prefers that we focus on his
words and submit to the educative process that constitutes the activity of
his treatise. De2ika and de Sales are both traditional and creative; though
each is indebted to his predecessors, neither relies on some previously
developed, complete model for his work. Both are deeply concerned with
communicating a practical message that will bear practical implications
in their readers’ lives—and for this, they write highly original and effec-
tive treatises that promise to transform all who would read them carefully.
De2ika’s Essence is an integral treatise that is deeply practical, aiming to
draw in readers by illumining their minds and making them realize the
22 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

incongruity of their current situation such that they become all the more
inclined to act in accord with the worldview of loving surrender. For lov-
ing surrender is indeed a plausible option that they can only with diffi-
culty avoid choosing once their minds and hearts are cleared of distorted
images and disordered emotions with respect to their own identities and
how they stand before God. De Sales’ Treatise is a similarly integral and
practical work, likewise meant for a well-disposed audience. He too as-
pires to a transformation in his readers while insisting that his own role
is minimal, a matter of human words that can channel divine power. The
fundamental life change that both De2ika and de Sales aim to inspire
cannot be fully apprehended or assessed conceptually, even if the reader’s
analysis proceeds by lucid and logical arguments. Imagination and intu-
ition are at stake, and the reader is required likewise to reflect on her or
his own reading, discerning shifts in her own sense of what is possible
and desirable in the presence of God.
My work here responds in kind; it is primarily a rather simple but
extended exercise in reading together these two brilliant and compelling
texts, in order that we might notice how attentive readers, possibly includ-
ing ourselves, are educated and made vulnerable to the power of the ide-
als our authors propose. This exercise requires that we move from reading
at a distance, with a professional control that correctly and necessarily
prizes detachment, toward a submission to these texts, immersion finally
in a double reading that makes us vulnerable to the realities of God and
self as imagined by the authors. In this process, I suggest, not only do we
learn much about each author and his tradition and its underlying spiri-
tual theology; but, in the freedom engendered by our necessarily uncharted
double reading, we also gain a vantage point from which to see how the
presentations of loving surrender, consisting of their many ideas, images,
stories, appeals, and rhetorical charges to the reader, create a community
of readers competent in both texts and susceptible to their power.45
Our best practice, then, is to attend to the Treatise and the Essence
as the effective communicative acts they were intended to be, as it were
catching them in the act, in three moments. First, we discover a recon-
sideration of how and for what purpose we think and then write and read
religiously; their confidence in productive writing is operative even as they
see clearly the limits of the power of words and utility of books with re-
spect to spiritual advancement (chapter 2). Second, we discover a new
sensitivity to spiritual writing as deeply educative and productive of fresh
imaginative and affective resources that change how individual readers
(re)act with respect to possible religious goals; with humility and a con-
 Reading Loving Surrender across Religious Boundaries 23

ception of themselves as instruments of tradition, they make a place and

give voice to potent ideas, sentiments, and personal insights that long
preceded them (chapter 3). Third, we discover a reappropriation of the
case for loving surrender as a real life choice; all of this opens the way for
actual transformation, and loving surrender to God, as an event that can-
not be produced by any text and yet is made intensely present in the words
of their Essence and the Treatise (chapter 4). By going directly to the texts
and these movements that infuse their reading and writing, I hope to draw
my readers right into the middle of de Sales’ and De2ika’s creative worlds,
mirroring in my text the dynamic of their writing, as we ourselves begin
to face the prospect of loving surrender and all that follows from it.46

4. “Loving Surrender” as the Key in This

Double Reading
Though the core of this book lies in the dynamic of a double reading
of the Essence and the Treatise, I am also making this claim: “Loving sur-
render is the value and practice at the core of both texts.” I have used the
term “loving surrender” many times in the preceding pages, and the
theme recurs everywhere in the chapters to follow. Thus a preliminary
clarification is in order regarding the advantages and costs of the choice
I have made to use this term, which is found explicitly in neither text, as
a key to my reading of both.
“Surrender,” if we can put aside connotations inevitably associated
with military victories and defeats, can be taken to capture what is at stake
in the Catholic Christian and Srivaisnava Hindu ways of relation to God.
As the Oxford English Dictionary puts it, to surrender is “to give up, re-
sign, abandon, relinquish possession of, especially in favor of or for the
sake of another,” “to abandon oneself or devote oneself entirely to,” and
even, in an older usage, “to render, return (thanks).”47
De2ika speaks at length of the giving over of oneself to God: prapatti
(approaching the Lord humbly), 2aranagati (taking refuge), bharanyasa
(laying down the burden of self-protection). By this act, a person reshapes
her or his way of life, so that God and not self is at the center of her ac-
tions and of her plan for survival, flourishing, and liberation; and it is an
approach and entrustment to the divine Narayana—and to the Goddess
Sri—who are known to be loving, approachable, and eager to receive
people in need. I have attempted to capture in English something of this
commitment that is both radical and secure, by reference to a “surren-
der” that is “loving”—rooted in love, an enactment of loving trust. To say
24 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

that surrender is “loving” rules out factors of violence, demeaning fear,

or sheer compulsion, highlights the freedom and intelligence that are
intrinsic to this surrender, and draws attention to the trust, recognition,
and reciprocity that make self-abandonment possible. If we admit that
loving surrender is a radical choice, then we also rule out the easier no-
tion of a choice that would be merely one among many choices autono-
mous agents make. Rather, this is an irrevocable self-giving that cannot
be taken back.
As for the comparable theme central to de Sales’ Treatise, here too
we find repeated and increasing mention of a dramatic transformation
of life, a self-giving into the hands of God, a commendation and an aban-
donment. Since this self-giving is exemplified by the words of the dying
Jesus on the cross—Into Your hands I commend my spirit—it is by no
means to be imagined tame. Surrender is radical, transformative; it is all
about permitting a revision of one’s life in accord with God’s often mys-
terious, sometimes terrible will. Yet as the title of de Sales’ text suggests,
all of this is about love, God’s love and the drawing of human desire, plea-
sure, and love up into the divine fullness. Here too, then, it seems that
“loving surrender” serves reasonably well as a key to the Treatise. As we
read, however, it will be worthwhile to keep in mind the distinctive nu-
ances of each text and its theme.
I find the term “loving surrender” and the values underlying it to be
powerful and attractive. As will be increasingly clear in the following pages,
I am committed primarily to a positive and sympathetic presentation of
the ideal of loving surrender posed by both authors, such that we will be
able to appropriate both texts and reflect on them with real understand-
ing and empathy. Yet I admit the need for a critical eye in an era when
religious extremism as a kind of sacred abandon is a great worry and when
people may all too confidently speak of extreme choices as “the will of
God.” Our reading requires balance and patience: balance, because
throughout we remain necessarily on the boundary between insider sym-
pathies and more distanced questioning; patience, because more useful
critiques are those posed by individuals understanding the complexities
of positions regarding which they have doubts. De Sales and De2ika them-
selves are not far from such a balance; indeed, they write both to rein-
force the deepest values passed down to them, and to correct, more or
less gently, errors that have diminished loving surrender and its accom-
panying values. But if readers wish to take a much more critical approach
than I, that too will help move our project forward.
 Some Cautions as We Look Ahead 25

III. Some Cautions as We Look Ahead

I close this chapter by highlighting five issues implicit in the preceding

pages that condition the work of following chapters, its constraints, and
the results likely to issue from it.
First, context is of course important, and it is noncontroversial to
admit that one does well to research in detail the intellectual and literary,
social, and religious factors defining the spaces in which authors such as
De2ika and de Sales write. There is no value in imagining a stark choice
between historical and social contextualization on the one hand, and close
reading on the other. Yet the order and priority of one’s interests remain
a question. We cannot do everything at once, or in a reasonably sized book,
and rightly have to make choices. The close reading of texts seems often
deferred for the sake of the study of an external context, and on occasion
actual close reading occurs only belatedly if at all. Moreover, reading together
two texts from different traditions rarely occurs. It seems fair, then, to admit
a distinctive emphasis in this book, with distinctive priorities. The recov-
ery of the dynamic of loving surrender in an interreligious context requires
that we remain close to the dynamics of our two texts as they are written
and tell us of their worlds and that we discipline ourselves to think within
the boundaries of this writing. It is not the traditions as social and histori-
cal phenomena, nor any given theme, nor comparative methodology, that
is of primary concern, but rather the Essence and Treatise as texts that draw
readers into a transformative process. And so I work from the inside out,
as it were. But although I do not aim to contribute significantly to our under-
standing of the historical and cultural contexts of either author and his book,
this does not mean that I have written only for specialist readers who al-
ready know those contexts and have read the relevant secondary literature.
Rather, my goal is to draw us quickly into the middle of things, so as to
begin learning the traditions and how those traditions might act upon us
in these particular classic texts. From this specifically defined inner place,
any number of acts of contextualization might be taken up later.
Second, that we may indeed find ourselves in the middle of things, I
seek to compose an “intratextual” space comprising abundant quotations
from both texts; I seek to position myself and my readers as incipient
commentators dedicated to prolonged reflection on the Essence and the
Treatise as we read them carefully. Though my own book cannot replace
the texts about which I write, I do intend at every point to allow the Es-
sence and the Treatise to intrude upon our reading. Myriad quotations,
26 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

carefully chosen, break the flow of my writing and force upon the atten-
tive reader a slower assimilation of the text. I seek to write in such a way
that my words defer to theirs and make no sense without theirs. In this,
I am simply imitating de Sales and De2ika, both of whom cite their sources
liberally in hopes of drawing readers into the traditions from and for which
they humbly wrote.
Third, I privilege the productive convergence of these texts—chosen
in part for their affinity—and locate the primary meaning of my study in
their interplay when read together and its ability to produce new challenges
for their readers. Since, as I said earlier, I read and studied the Essence
first and only thereafter found my way to the Treatise as an equally pow-
erful text, I decided early on that the texts can be read together fruitfully,
intensifying our theme of loving surrender. With this admitted bias, the
present book cannot be enlisted as neutral scholarship demonstrating the
similarity of religions. Another scholar might just as well choose two very
different texts, to rather different effect, or might choose simply to read
the Essence and Treatise against each other to accentuate differences. Some
readers might notice more differences than I draw attention to, and that
too can be a fruitful extension of the experiment undertaken here.
But distinctiveness does matter greatly with respect to styles and
shared ways of producing an awareness conducive to choosing loving
surrender. As we read the Treatise and the Essence attentively, we are
flooded with the names, ideas, beliefs, images, texts, and practices of two
independent traditions and have to shift gears continually, moving from
De2ika’s crisp analytic discourse to de Sales’ more intuitive, expansive
narrative, and from De2ika’s clarification of our thinking to de Sales’ ig-
niting of our hearts. Though the texts do not clash in any single intellec-
tual and emotional space by contrary claims that would stymie further
reading, the texts do instruct and affect us distinctively, and we should
become all the richer, unsettled and released, by the back-and-forth pro-
cess of reading them together.
And yet as we read the Essence and the Treatise carefully, we will find
that it is very difficult to read them together. These texts inscribe com-
plete religious worlds and resonate with fuller traditions, Catholic and
Srivaisnava, that do not easily tolerate alternative religious conceptions
of the world. The two texts occupy whole mental spaces and cannot sud-
denly be said to exist in some broader encompassing space. Reading one
of these texts tends to shadow and marginalize the other, and for many
readers through the centuries, just one of these texts is quite sufficient
for a lifetime. If we are to read the texts together, our reading has to take
 Some Cautions as We Look Ahead 27

on the characteristics of an agile dance, as the texts are made to defer to

one another, each read for a moment before the other steps again into
the foreground. What these powerful texts tell us of God and loving sur-
render lies, I suggest, partly in their resistance to each other, the inter-
play of their forces, intensified through the fact of the double reading.
The entirety of this book may be taken as the cultivation of a kind of
Derridean différance wherein we learn in the persistent, unsettled, and
unsettling double reading to tease out the presences and absences our
two texts impose upon each other and the quite possibly confused reader.
In this context no reader should imagine herself or himself standing back
so as to make neat comparisons of selected themes or methods; rather,
we are exercised within, inside, the encounter of texts, pushed along (I
would say) toward the ideals of loving surrender they promote.
Fourth, it is in light of the preceding points that the meaning of this
book’s title becomes evident. Beyond Compare does not seek to be a com-
parative study in the sense that one might systematically compare the
theologies and spiritualities of de Sales and De2ika on such themes as the
nature of God, grace, sin, and the practice of loving surrender so as to
highlight commonalities and differences in what the authors have to say.
The words “comparison” and “comparative” occur rarely in the pages to
follow, and the reader is advised not to think of this as a comparative study
with a stable objectified context; even “loving surrender” is less a topic
for comparison than, as I have explained, a key that unlocks our reading.
And so I will be saying less about comparative method than readers who
might hope to pick up a few ideas on comparison and comparative read-
ing. To draw once again on De2ika’s terms, this book is less about sys-
tematic truths than about what is in practice beneficial (hita) toward the
finality (purusartha) of spiritual reflection. This project is “beyond com-
parison”; it is concerned rather with the further step occurring when a
reader (who may also become a writer) takes the texts of two traditions to
heart, reading them together with a vulnerability to their power and pur-
pose precisely so as to be doubly open to the transformations their au-
thors intended to instigate in readers. If, in this light, we discover a new
situation, after and beyond the myriad comparisons that occur along the
way, we might nonetheless have achieved some fruitful comparative in-
sight; but such is not the primary purpose of this engagement in a double
reading of loving surrender.48
Fifth, despite the fact that my bookish project may seem rather far re-
moved from the more immediate arena of actual interreligious dialogue, I
see it as making a particular contribution to interreligious understanding,
28 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

precisely in its intensive focus on particular texts. For example, my ap-

proach resonates well with “Scriptural Reasoning,” an established project
of dialogue and close textual reading in which Jews, Christians, and
Muslims read together selected passages from the scriptures of the three
traditions for the sake of deeper mutual understanding.49 Scriptural Rea-
soning seminars are convened regularly in various settings, including the
American Academy of Religion Annual Meeting, and in local venues
around the world. Most pertinent for our purposes is the project’s self-
conception with respect to the sharing of traditions, and the benefits and
risks we incur in venturing to take seriously the scriptures of another tra-
dition. In his foreword to a recent issue of Modern Theology dedicated to
Scriptural Reasoning, C. C. Pecknold highlighted the key dynamic at stake
in an interreligious reading:

Scriptural reasoning is a risky practice. It resists dominant modes

of neutral public reasoning. It embraces inherited, embodied
traditions of faith and judgment, particularly those traditions
generated by the story of Abraham’s God. It is a practice that is
local and provisional and yet risks a long-term commitment to
patient dialogical contestations and conversations on a scriptural
plane.50

These risks, potent enough in the Jewish-Christian-Muslim context, may

be seen as further intensified in the relatively uncharted realm of Hindu-
Christian relations, where the openings made possible by this new ex-
change are not constrained by a shared story of history and human destiny,
and where, from a certain perspective, the theological differences seem
greater than any that occur in the Jewish-Christian-Muslim exchange.
In the same issue of Modern Theology, Ben Quash highlights four
pertinent characteristics of Scriptural Reasoning. Particularity is the in-
sistence “that responsible thought only ever proves itself by the quality of
attention it is able to pay to the concrete and particular, by the adequacy
of its descriptions of the world around it, just as by the adequacy of its
descriptions of texts.”51 Provisionality is a sense that conclusions are al-
ways open to revision, elusive with respect to definitive formulation, and
woven into the larger ongoing drama of life in encounter with God. Of
sociality, he writes: “[Scriptural Reasoning] is an activity of irreducibly
particular gatherings of people. . . . The interrogative, argumentative and
collaborative patterns of SR study depend on there being groups rather
than solitary individuals at work in response to the scriptural texts on the
 Some Cautions as We Look Ahead 29

table.” And of surprise: “The interrogation of one’s own scriptures by other

voices can have the effect of making the all-too-familiar texts of one’s tra-
dition ‘strange’ once again” as we thus become able to return to our own
tradition with a fresh sense of possibilities. These four elements that are
validated in the ongoing experience of Scriptural Reasoning are, I sug-
gest, also operative in the differently configured dialogue that occurs when
the Essence and the Treatise are read together. For our project too is highly
particular, limited to a reading of these two texts; it is provisional in the
sense that it is an exercise that can be repeated, extended, improved, and
tested in other unanticipated circumstances with other texts; it is social,
at least in the sense that the voices of two traditions must be heard
throughout our study, neither generalized according to the expectations
of the other; and it is likely to be surprising, since there is no already
settled framework in which its meaning can be adjudicated or the out-
come predicted.
Quash admits a value that arises in the conflict of texts discovered
by participants in the Scriptural Reasoning seminars:

Part of what stimulates the energetic labor of SR are the tensions

that arise (or the gaps that open up) between the texts being studied.
The texts—especially when read in each others’ company—present
difficulties of interpretation. But . . . SR tends to see the inter-
scriptural challenges of reading across Jewish, Christian and
Muslim traditions as signs of the generosity of our scriptural
texts, and not simply as regrettable problems. . . . Debate over the
texts creates a community of argument and collaborative reason-
ing. The texts are together creative of a community of discussants.
And this may be a more desirable, flexible and time-sensitive
“product” of the texts than any body of doctrine would be. The
participants in SR are not asked to come to agreements that can
always be summarized in propositional terms. They are not first
and foremost concerned with agreement on “doctrines.” High
quality argument may in the end be a better “product” of SR . . .
than any agreed statement would be, and a more desirable thing
to transmit to those who enter the tradition which this practice
generates.52

A similar tension is operative as the Essence and Treatise are read together,
and the entirety of Beyond Compare is written along the fault line where
the two great texts suddenly share a proximity that is difficult to decipher
30 Two Spiritual Classics and the Possibilities They Present

insofar as neither text is to be allowed to dominate the other, neither

tradition’s mode of reading is to be given absolute priority, and no higher
academic perspective is to be permitted to decide what counts in the read-
ing. As the reading deepens, the tension grows, especially when mem-
bers of the other tradition reinterpret and reread for us the scriptures of
our own tradition—and when, as in our reading of De2ika and de Sales,
a growing understanding of and affinity for the “other” text changes our
own relationship to a more familiar text of our own tradition, and thus
begins to create a new community among those willing to engage in this
reading.
Although Scriptural Reasoning is in harmony with the intentions of
this book, three differences are noteworthy, even apart from differences
in tradition and style already mentioned. First, as I have already suggested,
my book offers primarily an interior dialogue constituted by my reading
of Catholic and Hindu texts together. In a sense, the sociality of my project
is minimal; I have been primarily reading books, and I have not been read-
ing them with members of the Srivaisnava tradition. However, I have been
learning from the Hindu commentarial tradition and from Srivaisnava
friends over several decades, and several of them have generously read
the manuscript of this book. De Sales and De2ika too write as members
of long traditions; they can teach because they have listened to numer-
ous older voices. In reading their works as works of tradition, we begin
to engage, respectfully, the communities so deeply interwoven with such
classics, and we become (at first unexpected) members of both commu-
nities, even as long-term guests.
Second, in my interior dialogue as reader (learning with De2ika and
de Sales) and as writer (hoping for my own readers), my intention is not
ultimately to read Hindu scriptures through Christian eyes nor to listen
to Hindus speak of their scriptural and interpretive traditions. Rather, as
a Christian reader and writer, I have read conscientiously and taken to
heart a spiritual classic of a Hindu tradition and remained attentive to its
ideas, affective states, and its decisive movement toward loving surren-
der. So too, my reading of the Treatise as a deeply Christian text is, I hope,
irredeemably informed by the insights, strategies, affects, intentions, and
practices of the Essence. In my project, boundaries are ideally blurred,
references doubled, lineages interwoven. Beyond comparison, in a respect-
ful sense this book is also beyond dialogue as ordinarily understood, since
there are no longer settled groups of interlocutors, religiously identified,
who come and constitute the expected sides of the dialogue.
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