EPISTEMOLOGICAL FRAMEWORK OF HINDU THEOLOGY: A STUDY IN VEDIC HERMENEUTIC PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Numerous intellectuals got disconcerted to distinguish the study of theology and philosophy. In discussions concerning God, they assumed it as a study of theology. Oppositely, most people in the social environment termed it as philosophy. Yet, no one named it as theology. This truth occurred almost in each Hindu intellectual since they baffled to recognize the essence of Tattva and Darsana when comparing both words to Western Theology as well as Western Philosophy. Most of them grasped that Tattva and Darsana as philosophy. They addressed them less on theology. For them, it is pure as philosophy, for instance, the Philosophy of Divinity and the Theo-Philosophy. When talking about God, most Hindu scholars regarded it as a philosophy. This arose for they did not apprehend the epistemological framework of Hindu theology. This research must be carried out in order to acquaint and disseminate the epistemological framework of Hindu theology. This type of research was qualitative research for the data was obtained in the form of descriptions of words or writings. The method of data analysis was conducted through a descriptive qualitative way which was supplemented by interpretive methods. The theory used was Vedic Interpretative theory based on Vedanta theories. This research referred to library research. It is further based on self-experience life as a lecturer and a writer. I have been teaching for 32 years, wrote around 25 books, and be a speaker to deliver preach in several religious seminars more than hundreds of times. This research inferred that a framework should be published to reveal the precise field of research on theology.