The problem of understanding non-religious spiritual traditions, as well as an unbiased study of the religiosity, thought and culture of other civilizations, is one of the most complex and subtle in modern humanitarian scientific knowledge. It is based on the discovery of the Other in the cultural space, self-identification with it, and an attempt to understand and relate its meanings to the meanings of one's own spiritual and cultural tradition. V. N. Toporov sees this deep human vector reflected in the biblical tale of the Tower of Babel: the disappearance of a "single language" and a "single culture" is the destruction of an inauthentic unity people and opening up the prospect of creating a new, authentic unity based on cultural and linguistic pluralism [Toporov, 1989, p. 9-10]. It is not surprising, therefore, that it is precisely in the cultures of the European-American area, which go back to the Biblical spiritual tradition, that the most complex question of comparing one's own culture, sociality, and spiritual life with the cultures of other, non-Western peoples is first raised and then acquired scientific significance. However, the process of scientific comparison itself can lead to different results depending on the methodological position of the scientist: whether he admits the presence of universal universal principles in the life of each nation along with unique national features of its life, or approaches other peoples and cultures with the standards of his own culture, obviously considering it higher than others, or falls into another extreme - recognizes the absolute uniqueness of the values of the studied cultures and their incompatibility with each other. All three variants are found in modern research, which actualizes the question of finding a balanced and unbiased methodological position in the study of non-Western socio-cultural traditions.

Keywords: religious experience, A.V. Men, Christian spiritual tradition, Hindu spiritual tradition.

When studying religiosity and the culture of other civilizations, an extensive body of works by Fr.Alexander Me (1935-1990) devoted to theological, biblical, philosophical, and socio-cultural topics becomes of outstanding methodological importance. O. Alexander's theoretical approaches can be successfully applied in religious studies, world history, cultural studies, ethnology, social philosophy, history of philosophy, Oriental studies and other areas of socio-humanitarian knowledge.

As a Christian thinker, Fr Alexander was firmly rooted in the biblical theological tradition, in which universal/ universal spiritual meanings are expressed with the utmost depth. His encyclopedic knowledge of the European and, more generally, Western cultural tradition and the modern processes taking place in it allowed him to choose it as a methodological position.

page 116
the best intellectual achievements: the vector of an interested and equal dialogue with the Other, its spiritual, cultural and social world, a dialogue that is positive and enriches both parties involved in it. It is the dialogue that O. Alexander uses as a method of comparative research. Finally, Fr. Alexander worked in the Russian spiritual and intellectual space, where for centuries there were collisions of interaction and confrontation between eastern and Western socio-cultural principles. Here Fr. Alexander took the side of A. S. Pushkin and V. Solovyov, who highly appreciated the" native "heritage and at the same time were open to the perception and understanding of the" universal " (V. I. Ivanov). In this context, the interest of O. looks organic. Alexander's attitude to Eastern religions and E. B. Rashkovsky's " deep awareness of the cultural problems of the peoples of the "third world" - an awareness that favorably distinguished him from the majority of Moscow intellectuals of that time, for whom only Russia and Europe existed on the globe " [Rashkovsky, 2001, p. 90].

In general methodological terms, O. Alexander managed to combine the idea of the presence of a universal dimension in human life with close attention to the diversity and originality of its manifestations in the life of different peoples. Without claiming to fully disclose the general methodology of O. Alexander, I will try to show its significance for Oriental studies, namely for Indological studies, based on his "History of Religions", some articles and speeches.

To identify the indological aspects of O. Alexander's works, it is necessary to reconstruct his general theoretical approach to the analysis of the spiritual history of mankind in its cultural and civilizational diversity - an approach that has Oriental significance.

O. Alexander interprets religion as an exceptionally effective original factor in human existence, which underlies moral life [Men, 2005(1), p. 32, 77]. The essence and core of religion is "a person's sense of the presence of God, meeting with Him, loving Him, longing to know Him and unite with Him" [Men, 2005(1), p. 75]. Religion turns a person to "Being as a whole" (A. J. Blavatsky). Toynbee), which is based on the always unspoken Divine essence [Men, 2005(1), p. 33]. The religious experience of a person who has felt the presence of the Supreme, who has met the Supreme, has a universal, universal character. "In the very sense of the presence of the Divine, most religions find an inner community," Alexander writes in Magism and Monotheism (Men, 2005(1), p. 206).

In religious experience, God is " revealed as a Force that transcends the mechanical causality of the world.": as the highest Freedom and the highest Creativity", as absolute Perfection, as Good, Beauty, Truth [Men, 2005(1), p. 111]. Accordingly, religion is interpreted by Fr. Alexander both as "the connection of a person with the very Source of being, which makes his life full of meaning, inspires him to serve, penetrates his entire existence with light, determines his moral image", and as "the result of the weakening of the direct connection of a person with God" and the desire of people to " bridge the gap between them and the beyond"[Men, 2005(1), p. 78, 158]. Direct "vision" in religious experience, passing through intellectual comprehension, crystallizes in concepts, symbols, myths, which reflect Being in its diversity and the supreme reality [Men, 2005(1), p.45, 79].

However, religious experience leads to different results - a person responds to the call of the Divine with religious teachings, and these answers are many, as well as the results of Meeting with God. Fr. Alexander explains this by saying that God is hidden from elementary perception and is revealed to people gradually, entering their consciousness through nature, through love, a sense of mystery, etc. experiencing the sacred [Men, 2005(1), pp. 66-67].

In one of the talks, the theologian speaks of "a single model of human existence, a human being, which determines the same development of religious and cultural values."

page 117
phases in different parts of the world that are not related to each other, in general, the similarity of ethics... Social behavior may be different, there may be big differences on the periphery of the ethical and social whole, but there is still something in the center that allows, in the end, to go for a very big convergence and identity" [Men, 2005(3), pp. 111-112]. Therefore, all religions of the world are related, and this kinship comes from the universal unity of human nature and the similarity of religious experiences (reverence is the core of faith), and at the same time historically diverse, since they reflect different phases, levels and forms of Knowledge of God.

According to O. Alexander, the possibilities of diverse Knowledge of God are predetermined from above by the freedom given by God to man: "God does not enslave a person, does not bind his will, but, on the contrary, gives him the full opportunity to reject Him, to seek his own ways," says O. Alexander [Men, 2005(1), p.77]. Based on the biblical understanding of the world as a History, Formation and Process that unfolds over time and involves all peoples in overcoming chaos and improving, the theologian sees in the diversity of religious teachings the embodied ways of man and entire peoples and civilizations to God, the ways of Salvation. Each of the religions in this light is a set of answers to universal questions addressed to the Supreme Being. Fr Alexander formulates these questions as three theological problems: 1) the question of how the limited, conditional existence of man relates to the unconditional, absolute Existence of God; 2) the question of the presence of cosmic evil and 3) the question of immortality, or the question of human capabilities [Men, 2005(1), pp. 83, 86, 128]. The answers to these and other questions may vary, but this does not negate the deep similarity of different religious traditions and the possibilities of dialogue between them. The national (and, more broadly, civilizational) identity and unique appearance of a particular people are expressed: "A nation is the character, individual face of an ethnic collective. Outside of it, neither culture nor the Church is possible, just as they do not exist for "man in general"" [Men, 2005(4), p.30]. However, according to the theologian, the universal - first of all, faith, deep spiritual experience-is higher than the national tradition, and understanding this allows the culture, the people to develop through communication with other traditions and peoples, to reach heights of spirit; forgetting the dialectic of the national and universal (Fr. Alexander raised it to the Apostle Paul) leads peoples and cultures to a state of isolation, stagnation, and crisis. Ultimately, beyond the distinction between the national and the universal is the distinction between the earthly and the spiritual life, before which earthly differences recede into the background.

Being a Christian philosopher, O. Alexander proceeds from the fact that every religion is a stage, a phase, an element of the whole that Christianity is able to penetrate, embrace, include, and absorb [Men, 2005(3), p. 113]. From the standpoint of the Christian understanding of religious history, which goes back to the Apostle Paul, who distinguished its dialectical character - the path of ascent to the Truth despite the degradation and eclipse of this truth [Men, 2005(1), p.209], Fr. Alexander defends the position of recognizing a valuable core in ancient religious teachings. He consistently criticizes both the search for a single true religion in various forms, depersonalizing and emasculating the living richness of specific creeds, and the recognition of Biblical Revelation as the only and exclusively true one. The latter trend is particularly unacceptable, since "religious exclusivity and intolerance in practice often led to religious wars, violence and reprisals against dissidents", and in the light of the Gospel are incompatible with the teaching of love [Men, 1992, p.288].

According to this Christian-centric view of spiritual history, Fr Alexander puts forward the concept of monotheism as a universal vector of the history of all religions, which allows them to conduct a dialogue and understand each other; deviations from monotheism to polytheism and the corresponding magism, idolatry,

page 118
The theologian regards ritualism, ritualism, and occultism, which enslave a person and alienate him from true spiritual life and freedom, as regressive and leading to a crisis. Overcoming the crisis opens up the possibility of a new spiritual rise and - in the" earthly", social plan-the flourishing of culture, since "true cultural flourishing is unthinkable without an intense spiritual life", and "crisis and decadent phenomena in culture, as a rule, are associated with a weakening of the religious impulse, which leads creativity to degradation and death" [Men, 2005(1), p. 31].

In addition to this general approach, Fr Alexander proposed effective methodological tools for analyzing the historical evolution of religions and cultures.

First, following A. Bergson, O. Alexander distinguishes between two polar forces of religious life - static and dynamic principles. Alexander's interpretation of the static is rather a path from God, expressed in a variety of ways-from primitive magism to the idea that only your faith is absolutely true, and others are false. The dynamic beginning is the path to God; it shows the historical development of religion, the approach to God, the ascent, the spiritual growth of humanity (see: [Men, 2005(1), p. 210; Men, 2005(3), p. 111]).

Secondly, the theologian suggests - following V. S. Solovyov, N. A. Berdyaev and M. M. Tareev, and first of all following the Apostle Paul - to distinguish between two forms of religiosity: "open" - free, humane and "closed" - deadening, humiliating a person. The Gospel example of the opposition between them was Christ's Good News and the extremes of Pharisaism [Men, 1992, p. 85]. The distinction between the" life-giving Spirit " and the killing Letter of the Apostle Paul opens up a wide range of possibilities for analyzing crisis phenomena in the history of nations; an example of this is the works of Fr. Alexander himself. At the same time, the criterion for distinguishing these forms of religiosity is humanism in its Christian understanding in the spirit of the Gospel, which elevates a person to an unattainable height - as God's creation and spirit, in which freedom, love, tolerance and respect for the individual - the image and likeness of the Creator-prevail [Men, 2005(4), p. 29; Men, 1992, p. 84].

Third, Fr Alexander pays special attention to the correlation between apophatic and cataphatic knowledge of God in the theology of various faiths (see [Men, 2005(1), p. 81-82; Men, 1992, p. 253]), which makes it possible to deepen the comparative analysis of religious traditions that understand the nature of the One God as impersonal and personal. The corresponding ideas are projected into the sphere of ethics and cult practice.

Fourth, methodologically productive is Fr Alexander's christocentric interpretation of the "axial time" of K. Jaspers, who attributed the universal spiritual breakthrough to monotheism, high ethics, and the knowledge of Truth to 800-200 BC. For the Russian theologian, Christianity is the axis of history not only for the Western world, as the German philosopher believes, but also for the entire history of mankind since it is a way out of the eternal cyclical return, characteristic of Eastern and many ancient teachings, and reveals the moral goals of human history, its uniqueness (see: [Men, 2005(4), pp. 284-285]). Moreover, the legacy of the "second axis" (i.e., a rational-scientific approach to the phenomena of the external world and to thinking itself) in the history of the post-Renaissance West, connected, among other things, with the renewal of the ideals of Christian humanism, during the era of colonialism and post-colonial modernization comes to non-Western countries and affects their culture and spiritual traditions.

Fifthly, O. Alexander's works contain some provisions that deepen the interpretation of traditional society: society is considered as an ethical and social whole that has developed on the basis of the most important moral values; they correspond to social institutions that regulate people's lives and owe their origin to the specific conditions of people's life. "A person can be deep

page 119
having five wives is moral, if the order of the social order in which he lives is morally sanctifying, it allows polygamy, " Fr. Alexander said in one of his conversations....Morality lies deeper than social institutions, which strongly overlap with it, but, nevertheless, do not cover it" [Men, 2005(3), p.111]. Thus, the explanation of the life of traditional societies should be based primarily on the study of their religious and ethical values. O. Alexander considers collective consciousness and power in traditional society from a humanistic perspective as two obstacles to the spiritual growth of a person, since these phenomena dissolve a person in the collective (genus, community, etc.), impose on him "collective ideas" (E. Durkheim), deprive a person of the right to an individual position, his own doubt and judgment [Men, 2005(1), p. 258]. In this context, the subordination of a person to the power of society is most effectively carried out through rituals and ritual prescriptions that occupy a large part of his life and distort his religiosity. The triumph of the static principle of religion always points to crisis phenomena in the history of traditional societies, despite the fact that the systems of rules and norms dictated by institutions and collective consciousness usually very rationally and effectively regulate the life of not only communities, but also entire civilizations.

So, the orientalist significance of O. Alexander's methodology in the most general sense lies in the approach to religious traditions and teachings as special forms of response to the Encounter with the Higher coming from the universal religious experience of a person. These forms are interpreted as stages of knowledge of God in the universal history of striving for the ideal and Truth. Monotheism is interpreted as a universal vector of the history of religions, which opens up opportunities for development and dialogue between them and their respective cultures; however, the development of religions occurs through the interaction of polar principles: monotheism and polytheism, static and dynamic components, open and closed forms of religiosity. At the same time, O. Alexander sees the vector of human freedom, given from above and based on religious humanism and ethics, as the main content meaning of world and national histories.

How can this methodology, as well as the works of O. Alexander, be useful for an orientalist who studies traditional and modern India?

In O. Alexander's History of Religions, indological subjects are presented in the context of the general spiritual history of mankind, which sought to restore and strengthen the direct sense of God, return to monotheism and accept the Good News of Christ, as well as as illustrations in his articles, conversations and speeches. From an indological point of view, O. Alexander's interpretation of the Hindu spiritual tradition is of interest, especially since the author is not an indologist; but it is often "from the outside" that aspects and meanings are often visible in the subject, which a professional who is deeply immersed in the study of his topic cannot always detect. Briefly, I will present the main points of the concept of spiritual history of Ancient India as follows.

I. In the Vedic period (2000-1700 BC), the religion of the Aryans who came to India and were fascinated by the tropical beauty of its nature, there was a decomposition of monotheism, the remnants of which are found in the Rig Veda. Fr.Alexander interprets it as "a miraculously preserved legacy of the distant primitive past. In the Rig Veda, most of the most exalted ideas go back to prehistoric times, to those times when the original faith in the One still lived in humanity" [Men, 2005(1), p.307]. At the same time, the "mighty soil sources of the Indian spirit and culture" belong to the same period [Men, 2005(1), p. 309], which no conquerors were able to destroy. Nature became a source of inspiration, mystical joy, spiritual enjoyment, and at the same time a source of temptation for the Aryans, who moved from the worship of the Creator God, the One (even if called by different names

page 120
(PB I. 164, 10, 82)) to the veneration of the mother goddess Aditi and her children, then Indra and the numerous pantheon of Vedic gods. The perception of the beliefs of the local population of India (Dravidians) began a magical stage in the history of the Aryan worldview, in which rituals, ceremonies, sacrifices and the associated growth of the authority of the priestly class enslave a person, shackling his consciousness and extinguishing religious thought. O. Alexander also saw in magism the roots of the caste system, which regulates the social hierarchy, but asserts the inviolability of the social order, since it is magism that does not recognize dynamics in development [Men, 2005(1), pp. 316-317]. However, the search for a Higher and Unified Principle among the host of gods, the search for the meaning of the universe, began to break through magism. Overcoming the crisis was due to the emergence of Indian theology, which makes its way through philosophical thinking to the temple of the eternal and unconditional Absolute [Men, 2005(1), pp. 317-320].

II. During the "axial time" period (800-600 BC), the ancient "ritual philosophy" of magism turned out to be at the level of "lower" knowledge as a result of the spiritual searches of forest sages (munis); the knowledge of the immortal universal Spirit (Brahman) and its identity with the spirit of man (atman) was declared the highest. The Indian mystics of the Upanishads, like the mystics of other religious traditions, discovered the reality of Existence, the Absolute, which they describe apophatically (na iti, na iti-Brihad. 3, 9, 26; 4, 4, 22) [Men, 2005 (1), p. 81; Men, 2005 (5), p.79-82]; this is the beginning of apophatic theology, which found its completion in Christianity. However, in the Upanishad teachings, only the primary reality is declared to be true, and the visible world, metaphysically consubstantial with Brahman, loses all value for a person, since the only way to free him from the bonds of maya (illusory world) and karma (the law of retribution) is asceticism, leading to the realization of his identity with the Absolute. A number of the teachings of this period make efforts to overcome the world-negation and other difficulties of the Upanishads in dealing with the question of God's relation to man. The Bhagavad Gita anticipates the completion of God's interview with man - God appears in the form of Krishna (the ancient prototype of Christ) [Men, 2005(5), pp. 99-101], which reveals to the warrior Arjuna a personal Creator God, to whom bhakti (love, reverence, faith) leads, as well as action - selfless service in accordance with duty. "This is indeed the voice of God! A person's love is not in vain, his prayer is not meaningless, and his hope is not false, " Father Alexander emphasizes....For the Sky, there are no earthly distinctions and conventions. Members of different castes, men and women, are all called to the hall of supreme love "[Men, 2005(5), p. 109].

Jainism suggests that a person should rely on his own strength for liberation, feel spiritual unity with nature, strictly follow ahimsa(nonviolence) and strict ethics, but at the same time denies the concept of God/Absolute [Men, 2005 (5), pp. 121-125]. Some schools of philosophy are teetering on the edge of atheism, either like the sankhya, which considers non-existence to be bliss, or like the charvaka lokayata, which preaches enjoyment of earthly life.

Buddha 1 in his teaching, rejecting the Vedic tradition, and in fact bringing to the logical end the teachings of the Upanishads, declared the earthly life to be suffering and indicated the way to get rid of it in the extinction of the thirst for life, following the ethics of dharma and the negative happiness of sinking into Nothing (nirvana) and the disappearance of personality. Nirvana is something similar to what the Upanishad thinkers understood as Brahman [Men, 2005(5), pp. 194-197]. Buddhism has become "a strange religion without God", a message of "salvation without true salvation", "a doctrine of reincarnation and retribution without a soul", "a system of the universe without Love, Reason and Meaning", "a morality that wants to free itself not only from evil, but ultimately from good" [Men, 2005(5), p. 201]. Development,

1 Fr Alexander devoted most of his book "At the Gates of Silence" to the teachings of Gautama Buddha; his analysis of Buddhism deserves a separate methodological consideration.

page 121
The triumph and crisis of Buddhism in India (IV-II centuries BC) showed that the pessimism and world-negation of the Buddha "did not meet the spiritual needs of its peoples", and Buddhism was pushed out of its borders [Men, 2005(2), p.452]. Due to the fact that all these creeds, despite the high ups of the spirit and insights, did not overcome the concepts of karma and samsara (the cycle of rebirth), in which a person is involved, they did not manage to open the path to Freedom, because in them "there is no place for a free spirit and there is no truly personal responsibility" and, most importantly,, there is no knowledge "about the heavenly gaze turned to the earth" [Men, 2005(5), p. 92, 243]. But the greatness of the Buddhist teachers of faith lies in the fact that they proclaimed salvation as the main goal of religion [Men, 2005(5), p. 244].

III. In India, from the second century to the beginning of the new era, the search for moksha - true liberation and true good-continues [Men, 2005(2), p. 457]. Brahmanism recovers its position, which was shaken during the period of Buddhist domination, in two directions: in the systematization of yoga as a way to comprehend the divine Essence and gain immortality and freedom through it [Men, 2005(2), pp. 460-461] and, secondly, in the development of a life-affirming faith in a personal "Savior God Who gives life and blesses it, freeing the world from evil" [Men, 2005(2), p. 473]. And if yoga is the path of the chosen ones who are specially prepared and carry out higher spiritual knowledge, passing through special stages, then for the majority of believers, the main path has become the veneration of a personal Deity, which distinguishes most of the cults that make up Hinduism. The strength of Hinduism lies in the fact that it is attractive to everyone, without exception, because it accepts life:"...Hinduism captivated the people with its festive attire, its openness to multicolored existence, illuminated by the rays of a loving Deity, " writes O. Alexander [Men, 2005(2), p. 489].

Despite the fact that Hinduism is burdened with its own "omnivorous nature", which unites almost all stages of spiritual history, as a world religion, it stands high in the hierarchy of religions, since it reveals the personal aspect of the Deity and the two-sided attitude to love expressed in prayer [Men, 2005(2), pp. 477-478]. The virtues of Hinduism include, according to O. Alexander, the ability to respond to a deep religious need of a person, the idea of the diffuse nature of truth that is everywhere [Men, 2005(2), p. 475], a sense of closeness to the Sacred (thanks to a pantheistic worldview that ignores the distance between man and the Supreme), intuition, the concept of the Triune Absolute (Trimurti) and, finally, the possibility of meeting the soul with God-a trait inherent in a living religion, most pronounced in Vishnuism - the possibility of salvation [Men, 2005(2), pp. 475-486]. The doctrine of avatars, according to Father Alexander's research, can be regarded as a prophetic insight that spread in India before the coming of Christ. It is with these traits that Hinduism becomes a truly folk faith and nurtures the culture of the subcontinent.

Accordingly, in the works of O. Alexander, the Hindu spiritual tradition appears as a special way of knowing God in a variety of religious experiences. In it, the aspiration to the One God is preserved, despite multiple polytheistic tendencies, and the idea of the unity of Truth, its all-pervading character, remains the most important intuition of this tradition. Hinduism has gone from the complexity and elitism of an apophatic understanding of God to the cataphaticism of Vishnuism and various cults. Through love and ethics, Hinduism has managed to overcome the tendency to reject the world. The idea of duty, responsibility is elevated by Hinduism to the rank of a leading value, while freedom is taken out of the limits of human existence on earth.

Now we will briefly discuss the possibilities of applying the concept and methodology of O. Alexander in indology.

1. In religious studies analysis, the concept allows for a deeper interpretation of the viability of Hinduism. Because of its omnivorous nature, Hinduism was able to respond to the spiritual needs of people of various levels of religious experience-from the primitive, prone to magism, to the highest, able to rise to the idea of God.-

page 122
a personal God. Hindu theology, which includes a wide variety of teachings, is extremely flexible; orthodoxy and unorthodoxy coexist in it, simultaneously interacting and opposing each other, and it is able to respond both to the requests of elites (higher castes) - religious and philosophical schools, and to the requests of ordinary people, explaining the meaning of local deity cults if necessary. The constant appeal to the Vedic tradition, which can justify the most diverse current needs of the current period, allowed the Brahmans to constantly maintain and, if necessary, restore the social, religious and cultural order, including their own high status and caste system. This happened after the Buddhist period, and it also happened during the" Brahmin revival " of the late 18th and 19th centuries in colonial India. All spiritual movements that did not recognize the authority of the Vedas, even formally, invariably found themselves on the periphery of the Hindu civilizational order. Most reform movements and unorthodox critics of Hindu institutions (for example, medieval Bhakti) most often use the arguments of tradition, interpreting them in their own way.

2. In cultural analysis, O. Alexander's methodology helps to identify ideas, values and motives that are missing from the Indian tradition. Let us first note that its contradictions from within, without comparison with other religious traditions, are not visible. Indians who are capable of such comparisons do not make a special impression on the majority of Hindu adherents with their reflections - because of the elitism of their arguments (M. K. Gandhi managed to overcome this elitism) and the extreme complexity of breaking the traditional consciousness, caste ideology and attitude to the Other. Thanks to O. Alexander's approach, it can be seen that the Indian ahimsa (nonviolence) - not causing harm to living beings-does not provide for active compassion for people and animals: the reverse side of ahimsa is indifference to the suffering of another being. The reason for this is the concept of ritual purity / impurity, which is embedded in the religious and social order. The alienation of the lower castes from the higher castes when they are inextricably linked into a single social whole by ritual and social duties in Hinduism is postulated as a karmic order that cannot be changed-accordingly, the idea of improving the social system is alien to both Orthodox and unorthodox Hinduism. Similarly, social service for the sake of any other person, out of pure love for one's neighbor, is unknown to Hinduism - only service within the framework of caste duty (jati-dharma) and personal religious duty (svadharma).

3. In the historical and philosophical analysis, O. Alexander's methodology can be effectively used in the study of classical Indian philosophical schools, unorthodox trends of religious thought, and the history of religious, philosophical, and social thought of the New Age. Using the latter as an example, I will illustrate its interpretive capabilities.

The reform movement in nineteenth-century Bengal constantly turned to the Vedas and especially the Upanishads for confirmation of its ideas and intuitions, to find there a primordial monotheism, the absence of polytheistic idolatry, the idea of a Creator God, and corresponding ethical concepts. At the same time, all reform thinkers have experience in understanding Christianity as Another religion. O. Alexander's methodological approach to Hinduism shows how deep was the intuition of the philosopher and reformer, the founder of the Rammohan Rai era, who, based on his idea of the universality/primacy of monotheism among all the peoples of the earth and the secondary nature of polytheism, speaks about the original monotheism of the Vedas (although he is well aware of their multi-layered and contradictory content), and the current state of Hinduism is considered as a degradation to polytheism, which caused a large-scale social decline. The reformer harshly criticizes the magical elements in the cult and Hindu idolatry for seeing the statue as a real incarnation of the Deity, and not as a symbol of God.

page 123
he also appeals to social compassion, calling for the abolition of cruel customs, especially sati (self-immolation of widows). And for Rammohan Rai, God is a Creator who is filled with love for his creation and appeals to the love of man. In this light, he strongly condemned the greed of the Brahmins, who established a monopoly on communion with God (see [Skorokhodova, 2008(1)]). Then the spiritual heir of R. Rai, who headed the Brahmo Samaj society founded by him, Debendronath Tagore, having discovered many gods in the Vedas, refuses to believe in their infallibility and recognizes the source of true knowledge about God as a Revelation given in religious experience. Debendronath was extremely confused by the identity of the Absolute and the human soul, and he stated that the relationship of a person to God is the relationship of a believer to the revered (see [Skorokhodova, 2007]).

The reformers ' dialogue with Christianity allowed them to bring the idea of the Creator and creation, ethical monotheism, to the fore in Hinduism, and present it as a religion of love (see: [Skorokhodova, 2008(2)]); allowed him to criticize the caste system from the point of view of equality of all before God and fight for its abolition (albeit unsuccessfully - like Keshobchondro Sen). Writer Bonkimchondro Chottopadhyay compared the mission of Christ to that of Krishna, but gave priority to the latter. Swami Vivekananda, comprehensively analyzing the stages of knowledge of God present in Hinduism, speaks about the importance in the modern era of karma yoga, understood as social service and creating good for the whole world.

Finally, the educator and public figure Krishnomohan Banerjee, who broke with Hinduism in his youth, converted to Christianity and became a priest and theologian, undertakes a large-scale comparison of Hinduism with Christianity based on the analysis of Vedic texts and the Bible and comes to the conclusion that people of these religions are able to understand each other, because in the Vedas, the sacrifice of the first man Purusha contains a foresight of the redemptive victims of Christ [Skorokhodova, 2009, pp. 172-174].

These directions, as well as examples, do not exhaust the whole variety of aspects of applying the methodological principles and approach of O. Alexander in Indology, and even more so in the Oriental study of religious traditions. The christocentrism of his concept contributes in a special way to the analysis of Indian spiritual traditions and culture, identifying its ups and downs, as well as ways of interreligious dialogue. Alexander's approach opens up an opportunity to move away from the extremes of the former "accusatory" approach of Christian theologians to Hinduism, from ethnocentrism as a research position, and at the same time - from the extremes of cultural relativism, which elevates national features of the spiritual tradition to the absolute. In addition, the theoretical propositions used by O. Alexander protect us from the extremes of the postmodern methodology, which in the declarations of "cultural polymorphism" essentially denies the right to exist to the ideas of humanism, the unity of humanity and the dialogue of religions and civilizations.

list of literature

Men A.V. Magizm i monobozhie [Magism and Monotheism]. Moscow: Eksmo, 2005 (1).

Men A.V. On the threshold of the New Testament. Moscow: Eksmo Publ., 2005(2).

Men A.V. Why is it difficult for us to believe in God? Conversation at the round table, 1979-1980(7) / / Vyshgorod. Tallinn. 2005(3). N 3-4.

Men A.V. Schastye vnutren [Happiness inside]. Tallinn. 2005(4). N 3-4.

Men A.V. The Difficult Path to Dialogue, Moscow: Raduga Publ., 1992.

Men A.V. At the gates of silence, Moscow: Eksmo, 2005(5).

Rashkovsky E. B. Istoriya i svoboda (O. Alexander Men i kul'turnye gorizonty Rossii kontsa XX veka) [History and Freedom (O. Alexander Men and Cultural Horizons of Russia in the late XX century)]. Materials on the history of Russian thought and culture of the XX century. Novosibirsk: Siberian Chronograph Publ., 2001.

page 124
Skorokhodova T. G. Tagore Family: A living history of Bengali Renaissance // Tagore Debendronath. Autobiography / Translated from English, introductory article, note by T. G. Skorokhodova, Moscow: Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Center for Indian Studies, 2007.

Skorokhodova T. G. Rammohan Rai, the founder of the Bengali Renaissance (experience of analytical biography). and author's afterword by E. B. Rashkovsky, St. Petersburg: Aleteya Publ., 2008 (1).

Skorokhodova T. G. Christologiya epokhi Bengalskogo Vozrozhdeniya [Christology of the Bengal Renaissance Era]... Collection of articles dedicated to the 70th anniversary of Rostislav Borisovich Rybakov, Moscow: Vostochnaya Literatura RAS, 2008 (2).

Skorokhodova T. G. Interpretation of the traditional Indian text by liberal thinkers of the Bengali Renaissance / / Asiatica: Works on the philosophy and cultures of the East. Issue 3 / Ed. by S. V. Pakhomov, St. Petersburg: St. Petersburg University Press, 2009.

Toporov V. N. Prostranstvo kul'tury i metschi v nem [Cultural space and meetings in it]. Research, translations, publications, Moscow, 1989.
page 125

Permanent link to this publication: