How shall we praise thee?

The dvaitaadvaitaatita parama, kena anyena namnaa tvaam stuyaam?, asks a Sanskrit hymn, actually a translation by Jesuit R. Antoine of a G...

The dvaitaadvaitaatita parama, kena anyena namnaa tvaam stuyaam?, asks a Sanskrit hymn, actually a translation by Jesuit R. Antoine of a Greek poem of St Gregory of Nazianzene. quot;Oh Thou Supreme, beyond dvaita and advaita, by what name shall I praise you?quot; The question of the fourth century theologian continues to puzzle me. Not that the multiplicity of namesbothers me. I was taught by the wisdom of the ancient rishis: the One has many names bahudhaa!. The problem is that each name seems to falsify the Reality, to narrow it down.

In my tradition we use God. But, despite the capital letter, God is really a common noun. It is applied to many kinds of being8230;Whatever its Teutonic etymology I am told it may be related to the Sanskrit Atilde;sup2;f40Atilde;sup3;huta, called8217; or worshipped8217;, the word has no intrinsic content. It is a label.

The Hebrews opted for a proper name, Yahweh, with a probable vague etymology of I shall be what I shall be8217;. At least it was a word devoid of gender and number! But then it became a national8217; God!

The Latins took to Deus, a cousin of our Deva, the Iranian Daiva and the Greek Theos 8212; the shining one8217;, used as often in the plural as in the singular. The Romans did have the idea of a supreme deus, the Shining Father8217; hidden behind Jupiter, also found in the Vedas as Dyauspitar, the Father in the shining regions of heaven8217;. Unfortunately, Jove8217; gets so mixed up in his later personal life that the name cannot help me in my devotion. Deus8217; and therefore Deva8217; remains alive and is invoked in Southern European languages: Dios, Deu, Dio, Dieu8230; Under the influence of the Bible he is the Supreme Being, creator and controller of the Universe.Somewhat distant, though8230;.

The Indian tradition offers rich linguistic resources. Not all can be fully translated into English, but they do have a rich content of their own. Aatman, at times specified as Paramaatman, cancels out the distance of the Latin Deus8217;: It is the very breathing Self, close to what Bishop John Robinson called the Ground of Being8217;, the most appropriate modern substitute for the anodyne God8217;8230; Its cosmic equivalent is Brahman, the ever-growing Being, the all-encompassing root of the Universe. A friend of mine used often an almost equivalent English expression: she would speak of the quot;Ineffable Mysteryquot; that surrounds us and is at the root of our Being.I liked the expression. It says something of a Reality that embraces and at the same time eludes us.

The popular words in North India at any rate are Ishvara, equivalently Parameshvara, highest Lord8217;, dear to the Shaivite tradition, and Bhagavan, the One endowed with all auspicious qualities, more at home among the Vaishnavas. Strangely, Ishvara has fully entered the Christian vocabulary, but for some reason Bhagavan is avoided in the official Hindi liturgy. However, he is familiar to Christian popular hymns and poetry. Bhagavan connotes love, closeness, intimate relationship.

Jesus preferred a simple word, Abba, Father or Daddy8217;, expressive of an intimate and trustful relationship rather than of any metaphysic or historical associations. As simple as that, Dad8217;, Bapu. It speaks of love. Much of the Indian tradition will have the feminine equivalent, Amma, Mother8217;. It matters little which gender we use to denote the One beyond all gender. The important thing is the personal relationship which hovers above dogmas, cultic expressions and churches. Our Father!8217; Our Mother!8217;Jesus also told us that we discover the Father in the faces of those in need.