Page "Robert Charles Zaehner" Paragraph 11

Zaehner wrote extensively on comparative religion, as well as on mysticism.

Prominent among his contributions, Zaehner criticized on several occasions the simplistic idea of the mystical unity of all religions ; he based his contrary ideas and proposals on the historic texts written by well-known mystics of various traditions, which contain descriptions of their experiences, often with their interpretive theology as well.

In his innovative book comparing the mystical literature and practice of Hinduism and Islam, he includes this theme of the diversity of mystical phenomena.

He introduces here a description and discussion of five different types of mysticism to be found in Indian tradition: " the sacrificial, the Upanishadic, the Yogic, the Buddhistic, and that of bhakti.

" Zaehner relies on Hindu mystics because of their relative freedom from creed or dogma.

He leaves aside the first ( of historic interest ), and the fourth ( due to the definitions of nirvana ), so that as exemplars of mystical experience he presents: ( a ) the Upanishadic " I am this All " which can be subdivided into ( i ) a theistic interpretaion or ( ii ) a monistic ; ( b ) the Yogic " unity " outside space and time, either ( i ) of the eternal monad of the mystic's own individual soul per the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali or ( ii ) of Brahman, the ground of the universe, per the advaita Vedanta of Sankara ; and, ( c ) the bhakti mysticism of love, per the commentary on the Bhagavad Gita by Ramanuja.

On these experiential foundations, Zaehner explores the spiritual treasures left to us by the mystics of the Santana Dharma and of Islam.