Logos and Purusha: A Comparative Study of Eastern Orthodox Christianity and Hinduism(s) through the Transcendental Argument for God

Abstract

In a series of papers I seek to draw a comparison between Hinduism and Eastern Orthodox Christianity. Inspired by the Anthropic Principle, I have selected to ground the linked comparative principle of the Purusha, (the immobile cosmic principle of pure consciousness, unattached and unrelated to anything, which is nonactive, unchanging, eternal) central to many of the differing traditions of Hinduism, and liken this to the Logos of Christianity. In order to navigate through the differing paradigms I use the Transcendental Argument for God as the filter by which we can analyse these models. In analysing the necessary presuppositions and to see which tradition best coheres with the web of embodied beliefs, I also aim to unite Philosophical terminology and principles with that of Theology. In order to circumvent the problem of circularity, I want to avoid Saṃsāra (a Sanskrit word that connotes ‘wandering’ and also ‘world’, wherein the term connotes ‘cyclic change’) through the correct Pramana (Knowledge-Epistemology). This is taken to be found in the Purusha and also grasped within the Logos (a concept word symbolic of the nature and purpose of Jesus Christ). We appreciate in this paper that both Hinduism(s) and Christianity accept Divine Revelation and the Universal Mind as the basis for Knowledge.

Keywords

• : pramana
• purusha
• logos
• christianity
• hinduism