BRĀHMA SAMĀJ. - The name means "congregation of Brahman," that is, "of God." From the attempt to reconcile Christianity with Hinduism, this B. S. was born, founded by Ram Mohan Ray in Calcutta in 1828. But the frequent schisms and the reforms to which it was subject demonstrate the failure of the dreamed-of syncretism. After the founder's death, Brahmanic orthodoxy seemed to gain the upper hand with the new spiritual head, Debendra Nath Tagore, who proclaimed the Vedas the sole authority in matters of faith. But already in 1850, Vedic theology was being abandoned with the recognition that "nature and intuition are the sources of the knowledge of God. No text has authority." This did not suffice to avoid a schism. In 1865 Keshab Chandra Sen left the B. S. in order to give greater impetus to social action, and founded the "Bharatvarsiya B." or "B. S. of India," while the ancient Congregation called itself "Adi (that is, original) B. S." A second schism led to the founding of the "Sadharan (general) B. S.," democratic in character, decidedly opposed to the caste system and to idolatrous practices. The new profession of faith begins by recognizing that "God is the father of men, and all men are brothers."

Bibliography

BIBL.: J. N. Farquhar, s. v. in Encyclopaedia of Rel. and Ethics, II, pp. 813-24.

Ferdinando Belloni Filippi

@incollection{ec3_brahma_samaj, author = {Belloni, Filippi Ferdinando}, title = {BrĀHma SamĀJ}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {III}, pages = {11--12}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1949}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/brahma-samaj} }

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Brāhma Samāj

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