Friedrich Max Mรผller (1823ย1900), a German-born philologist and Orientalist, was one
of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the
discipline of comparative religion. Well versed in Sanskrit, the classical
language of India, and many other languages, Max Mรผller was instrumental in
translating into English some of the most revered religious and philosophical
texts of Asia. Especially noteworthy is his edition of the great collection of
Sanskrit hymns of the Rigveda.
Intrigued by the concept of religion, Mรผller initiated an important discipline
that he called the ยscience of religionย. He believed that a genuine study of
religion required the knowledge of its origins, and recognised that religion
had developed differently in different linguistic spheres. So, instead of using
the prevailing ethnographic approach, he pursued the science of religion by
studying words and texts.Mรผller was fascinated by the spiritual
teachings of the Indian mystic, Ramakrishna, because, he was of the opinion
that ยthe real presence of the Divineย in the human soul was nowhere felt so
strongly and so universally as in Indiaย, and that ยthe fervent love of Godย
has nowhere found a stronger and more eloquent expression than in the
utterances of Ramakrishnaย.
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