THE “AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SPIRITUAL ENLIGTENMENT"

Yıl 2017, Cilt: 3 Sayı: 5, 25 - 47, 21.06.2017

Mauro De Matteis

Öz

Indian
spiritual autobiographies pivot on the idea of spiritual enlightenment: by
transcending the ego, the self puts an end to the cycle of reincarnation. On
the one hand these works reflect an individual experience, and on the other
hand they mirror the society and culture that forms its background. In this
paper I examine two “enlightened” autobiographies, Paramhansa Yogananda’s Autobiography
of a Yogi (1946) and Osho Rajneesh’s Glimpses of a Golden Childhood (1984),
from the viewpoints of ideational content and rhetoric, in order to show the
difference between Yogananda’s sacred outlook, which G.K. Shandya interprets
from a post-colonial vantage point, and Osho’s secular spiritual perspective,
which has a cross-cultural character and includes key aspects of the Western worldview.
In the field of spiritual life writing no less than in general, the movement
from the cultural moment of 1946 to 1984 reflects the modernization of the
Indian tradition and consists in a change of emphasis from hierarchy to
individualism.

Though
little known to the average reader, Rajneesh’s autobiography is noteworthy as
it represents an original reinterpretation of spiritual enlightenment from the viewpoint
of Western individualism. Conversely, Autobiography of a Yogi (1945) is
a staple of Indian spirituality, and privileges cultural continuity and
tradition. Apart from their artistic merit, the interest of these books lies a)
in the paradox that they are purportedly written by self-realized and hence
“egoless” authors, and b) in the fact that they belong to a period in which the
process of decolonization came to fruition, and India took a stance with regard
to the scientific and individualistic outlook that constitutes “secular
modernity.” As for method, my framework draws on Modernization of the Indian Tradition,
in which Yogendra Singh analyses social change along the lines of a culturological
conception. In this perspective, what matters is not only reality per se, but also the
subjective representation of ideas
of reality. The focus is on how Indian minds have adapted to the revelation of
Western culture: Autobiography of a Yogi
and Glimpses of a Golden Childhood
are important examples of adaptive reaction because they represent the viewpoints
of pivotal figures of the Indian tradition: the gurus. Accordingly, I interpret
Osho’s work and Yogananda’s work, respectively, in the light of what Singh
calls “Modernization” and “Indian Renaissance.”

Anahtar Kelimeler

Indian Renaissance, Modernization

Kaynakça

• Anderson, Benedict. Imagined Communities. New York: Verso Books, 1991.
• Cudjoe, Selwyn. Reginald. V. S. Naipaul. A Materialist Reading. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press, 1988.