Bhaktivinoda Thakura’s Theistic Inclusivism: Journal of Vaishnava Studies

Abstract

As a practical matter, Hinduism is a pluralistic religion. The great variety of deities, rituals, beliefs and practices associated with the
tradition attest to the plurality of phenomena that can comfortably fit under the umbrella of the ‘Hindu’ rubric. Anyone with even a passing familiarity with the history of the tradition will be struck by the great facility with which Hindus have been able to negotiate difference and diversity over several millennia. Nevertheless, the phenomenological pluralism that characterizes Hinduism writ large is something quite different from the sort of easy-going philosophical pluralism that is often attributed to it.