On Tuesday the
18th of August the Spiritual Reading Group read some of the work of
Dom Bede Griffiths in the Carmelite Library. The evening was presented by Jenny
Raper. Here is Jenny’s introductory paper.
What was he
thinking....?
Well, what was I
thinking when I said I thought I could trace his life backwards? It was just that, a good thought. However, it proved to be impossible for me. Maybe I should have taken the Oriental route – the
circular path. With my Western rational thought processes, this too proved
impossible. So, I am going to take the
usual route and move from the beginning to the end of his wondrous life.
He was born Alan
Griffith in 1906 in England, the fourth child of a middle-class couple who
became somewhat impoverished. The family
were Church of England and attended the local church each Sunday. The children
grew up in a village, living a rather simple and carefree existence. He was an
intelligent child and attended a secondary boarding school in London through a
scholarship scheme. He entered Oxford
also on a scholarship, reading the Classics.
In his second year, he transferred to Literature.
When he was in
his last year of school he had a seminal experience of the numinous.
He wrote:
'I walked out alone in the evening and heard the birds singing in
that full chorus of song, which can only be heard at that time of the year at
dawn or at sunset. …..As I walked on I came upon some hawthorn trees in full
bloom and ...I thought that I had never seen such a sight or experienced such
sweetness before....A lark rose suddenly from the ground … and poured out its
song over my head, and then sank still singing to rest. Everything then drew
still as the sunset faded and the veil of dusk began to cover the earth. I remember now the feeling of awe which came
over me. I felt inclined to kneel on the
ground, as though I had been standing in the presence of an angel; and I hardly
dared to look on the face of the sky, because it seemed as though it was but a
veil before the face of God.’ (The Golden String, p. 9)
This telling of
his experience has been retold by all his biographers; it was definitely the
start of his journey; it seems he was always seeking to have this experience
again.
He and two close
Oxford friends became enthralled with the ideas of living a simple rural life,
with few possessions and no technology.
This they achieved and during that time they also started to read the
Bible and the Book of Common Prayer.
Alan became more and more attracted to living a life of prayer and
meditation.
After he and his
friends went their own ways he tried living the life of a lone ascetic. He sought
the Church of England, even considered the Anglican priesthood. As a result, he
went to work in the slums of London where he had another agonising and life-changing
experience. He had sought more and more
to become a contemplative in the midst of the frenetic pace of London. He spent hours in church, in his rooms
praying, fasting and meditating and finally came to the point where he went
through his 'dark night of the soul' – when out of the darkness he felt a voice
saying: “You must go to a retreat.” This, his conversion to Christianity was
painful, yet it was also very intellectual.
During this
period he kept up his reading of the English writers and poets as well as the
Bible, which he was now reading more critically and questioningly. He was attracted especially to the so-called
Romantic poets, Wordsworth and Coleridge in particular. He was deeply moved by their experiences of
the numinous in nature. He also read
some theology, especially some of the ancient works of the church fathers.
It was his
reading of John Henry Newman which convinced him that the Roman Catholic Church
was the true church of the early fathers and Scriptures. Newman helped him
rationalise the foundation of Christianity with the ‘vast elaboration of dogma
and ritual and what looked like mythology in the Middle Ages with the original Gospel.’
‘Newman described the Church as a living organism , beginning like a seed in
the New Testament and gradually developing according to specific laws until it
reached its full stature.’ (The Golden String, p. 108)
Alan went on from
that new knowledge to convert to Roman Catholicism, joining a Benedictine Order
and becoming a priest in that order. He
was given the religious name of 'Bede', probably after the Venerable Bede, an
eighth century monk, whose Ecclesiastical History of the English people had
been read by Alan at Oxford. The monastic life suited him – the simplicity of
life, the rule, the physical labour, the hospitality and the regular liturgical
cycle of the day. As in the New Testament,
‘All things were held in common and no one presumed to call anything he
possessed his own....and distribution was made to each according as he had
need.’ He became devoted to Christ in
whom he believed all things came together.
Christ was his “Golden String”, as he called it, following the lines of
the poet William Blake:
I give you the end of a golden string;
Only wind it into a
ball,
It will lead you in at heaven's gate,
Built in Jerusalem's
wall.
When he was
priested he aspired to make the 'most symbolic gesture of all. He was offering himself as a living sacrifice
to God.’ (The Golden String, p.126) All
this he did in the name of love. Along
with Plato and many other philosophers and theologians, his question was 'How
can this ideal love be translated into human terms?'
He served in the
Benedictine order for about 22 years in two monasteries, taking on many roles,
including a stint as Prior. This did not
work out well and he was relieved of this position after quite a short period. He kept up with his reading of Literature and
Theology – and although he lived a deeply spiritual monastic life, he was still
searching, intellectually for deeper understanding of how to live as authentic a
Christian life as possible. He was becoming critical of the Church of Rome and
its belief that it alone held all the truths of religion.
I think it is
vital to remember that Bede Griffiths was a child during World War I and grew
up in an England that had had its traditional faith challenged. Then, as the country endured the economic
depression, industrial strife of the 1920s and 1930s and the horrors of World War
II people were less and less inclined towards blind belief, as required by the
Church of England, the Protestant Churches and the Roman Catholic Church.
It was during
this period that he wrote his autobiography, which was an immediate success, The Golden String. (Published 1954) His quest, however, was not
over. He started to read about Buddhism,
Hinduism and Lao-Tse, finding in them great wisdom. He questioned whether or not it was not
'urgent' that Judaism and Christianity sought to understand them better. He also came across a translation done by the
poet William Yeats, with the help of an Indian Swami, of the Upanishads. He
thought these Eastern religions ‘to have seen that beneath all the flux of
phenomena there is one infinite, unchanging reality.” (Letter to a friend,
1946)
So, given the
scientific and technological advances in the Western world during the 40s and
50s, and his aversion to the effects of this on daily life in England, it is
not surprising that his mind turned towards the East, as were many other Western
people. It appeared to him that the
peoples of the East, Buddhist and Hindu in particular, could live more simply
and thus a split between living the rational life and living a spiritual life
was not so pronounced. The relationship between rational thought and spiritual
contemplation was to remain a struggle for him almost to the end of his life.
In 1954, a
wonderful opportunity arose for Dom Bede. A fellow Benedictine, Father Benedict
Alapatt, who felt called to India to establish a monastery, invited Dom Bede to
travel with him. This opportunity came
at the right time for him, ‘.... a new vision of how if we can see the Hindu
Atman (Hindi – to breathe , so soul or self) in Christ, uniting
God with Man.’
Vedantic
philosophy can be seen to provide a basis for a Christian way of life. Again,
he observed how the Chinese idea of the Tao means simply the way – meaning
the Way of Heaven. Dom Bede saw this as a possible translation for the
Greek The Word. He wanted to go
to India for his own spiritual development and felt any sacrifice was worth
it. Even so, his vow of obedience meant,
for him, that he had to await the decision of his superiors. This came eventually and he sailed to India
in 1955.
Dom Bede was
enchanted by all he saw in India and immediately began travelling and studying
Sanskrit. The Hindu idea of the cosmic
relationship and sacredness of all things was fulfilled for him in all he saw
and experienced. He drew the parallel with the old Celtic Christianity which
held to this belief, where prayers were offered for all their daily events and
work, even to prayers before milking their cow.
In his initial enthusiasm he had only one criticism of Hinduism and that
was the idea that the material world is an illusion. Guided by educated Hindus
he had found in their scriptures that all of creation is both transcendent and
immanent.
The two monks
finally found a home for their monastery – which was not a mission – but rather
an ashram where he hoped the two faiths could learn from each other at a
profound level. He contended:
“....the perception of reality revealed in mystical experience is
the same for all human beings; that through the symbols of different religions
it is one reality that is perceived, independent of culture and faith.” ( de
Boulay, p. 115)
He also wrote on
the key issue of how Christian ritual could be performed within a Hindu
culture; for example, a Mass containing parts common to all religions yet
maintaining parts, such as the offertory, the consecration and the communion in
the Roman Catholic tradition.
For reasons of Church
bureaucracy, Dom Bede found himself invited to a Cistercian foundation in
Kerala – perhaps the most ancient site of Christianity in India – where it is
believed St Thomas of the Gospels travelled, bringing the Gospel. The rites used there were the ancient Syrian
Rite. Dom Bede and a Belgian Cistercian,
Father Francis were finally given permission to build an ashram on a hundred
acres of land on a holy mountain. Was this to be the place where his dreams
could come true?
Here they crossed
several boundaries – living the Cistercian style of the Benedictine rule, using
the liturgy of the Syrian Rite and honouring the ancient tradition of the sannyasi.
(The name for a holy man who has renounced the world). True to their vision, they took on the kavi
the saffron robe of the sannyasi (given to them by the Syrian
Metropolitan) went barefoot, sat and slept on mats, took vegetarian meals using
their hands.
The centre of
their lives was the prayer of the Church, the celebration of the feasts and
mysteries. They were not looking for a dilution of any one faith, rather they
were seeking a new synthesis (du Bourlay, p. 127). This exploration actually began in the seventeenth-century with a Jesuit missionary,
Robert de Nobili. Now they had to find a way to help the poor of India, which
was 'missionary' work. Their dairy farm
helped with employment and training .
Also, they opened an ashram. An ashram is not a monastery rather it is a
hermitage (I think it goes back to ancient times when much of India was
forested and men would take on the life of sannyasi in the winter.)
Today's ashrams offer a place of peace and beauty with yoga, music, study and
religious rituals. Each Ashram has a
guru.
Residents and
visitors lived in small huts situated around the grounds, usually eating and
performing rituals in community, especially meditation and contemplation. Visitors were often expected to work at
building, gardening, teaching, etc. In
many ways it is similar to a present-day Christian centre of spirituality. Mass was celebrated in the traditional way,
but Bede would use readings from both Christian and Hindu scriptures, prayers
and hymns from both traditions. However,
the core elements of the Mass were retained.
People started to
visit the Ashram, both locals and visitors.
The success of his book, The Golden String meant Dom Bede had worldwide
recognition. He accepted an invitation
to America to receive an award for his work on an ecumenical approach to
non-Christian cultures. His response to
the American way of life was mixed – he perceived an emptiness and meaningless
in the people, and yet saw how technology benefitted their lives. It was efficient, yet the society was, he
felt, unstable.
Due to
personality conflicts, Bede was given the chance to take over a Catholic ashram
in Tamil Nadu called Shantivanam – meaning Forest of Peace. This place delighted him, but attracting
brothers and keeping them was difficult.
He experienced loneliness even though he was busy organising ways for
the Ashram to pay for itself and building a library and a meditation centre. However, when in England, he confessed he had
learnt to 'surrender' - 'that is the
secret'. So, after two lonely years, he finally attracted some young monks who
shared his vision and he was able to respond to the growing number of people,
many of them young and from the West, who were genuinely seeking God. They were attracted to Indian spirituality
and its interiority and to the Christian life and liturgy. Whilst the Benedictine Rule was followed,
there was more time for private prayer and meditation. Lives were balanced
between community and privacy; monks living in separate huts in the forest;
communal meals in the refectory.
The ways of doing
the liturgy changed – sitting on the floor, shoes at the door, no
vestments. Prayers and the Bible were
read in English, but readings came from the Indian classic scriptures and
chanting from Sanskrit and Tamil verses.
Bede was always sure that symbols were vital in worship, so to help
create his Indian way of being Christian he used Hindu symbols such as the
Cross resting on a lotus,
The Hindu Godhead
– Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva – The Creator, Preserver and Destroyer – the Cross of
Christ enclosed in a circle symbolising the wheel of the law of Buddhist and
Hindu traditions, at the centre of the Cross is the word om – the word
from which all creation comes; a fitting symbol for Christ, the Word of God.
All of this was
vital to Bede's understanding of the commonality of the two traditions. And
within the Mass he used the offertory to bring the four elements of the Hindu
tradition – earth, air, fire and water - as sign that the whole creation is
offered to God through Christ. The priest purifies himself with water and then
offers the fruits of the earth – bread and wine and eight flowers to symbolise
the centre at the heart of the universe.
In this way, Bede sought to offer a cosmic sacrifice offered through
Christ to God. Some found these symbolic
acts took away from Christianity, others found this way drew them deeper into
the mystery. This caused some difficulty
for the Catholic Church and for the laity.
Bede Griffiths
and his ideas became more and more famous during the 1960s, especially
following the Second Vatican Council in 1963 when it seems the whole Christian
world was seeking new ways of being the Church.
Various arms of the Catholic Church came out with matters of law and
structure that he was challenging. Yet
he continued to make his work known worldwide.
His book Return to the Centre was published in 1976, again
expressing his idea that we must seek the Truth in all religions and find
recognition of this truth in all religion.
The Church did not denounce it, but Catholic reviewers in Catholic
papers gave it 'shattering reviews'. The
Times in London, however, described it as a 'modern classic'
About this time,
he became interested in Transcendental Meditation of the Maharishi Mehesh Yogi;
he also came in contact with John Main, founder of the World Community of
Christian Meditation. In many ways, he
was always searching for the experience he had had as a young man and he
concentrated on meditation as a way to attain this.
“All meditation should lead into silence, into the world of
'non-duality', when all the differences and conflicts in this world are
transcended – not that they are simply annulled, but that they are taken up
into a deeper unity of being in which all conflicts are resolved.....” (de Bourlay, p. 175)
During the 1970s
and 1980s his life at Shantivanam was busy – he was the prior, the guest
master, giving daily talks, preaching, attending to a worldwide correspondence
and speaking individually with visitors who came to him for spiritual
counselling. He still led an ascetic
life, eating lightly, owning nothing and no luxuries, such as a fan! However, someone divulged he liked an
occasional glass of sherry. His staff
reported that he could be irritable, especially if things were out of place or
untidy, but mostly he was calm and radiated simplicity and gentleness. He kept
up his lifetime love of reading covering literature, theology, philosophy, and
publishing his own writings.
He continued to
travel widely and in Milan he addressed 100,000 at a Catholic vigil for young
people and met with Pope John Paul. He travelled widely in America and
Australia where he spoke to 'packed audiences' in the major cities. He was interviewed in the press and on radio
and television and found that generally the Australians were drawn to his
conviction that all faiths are manifestations of one fundamental truth. It was said he loved the Australians, but not
their technology. ‘No-one is really
happy – there is a tension everywhere and a feeling of insecurity.’
After this last
long trip he decided not to travel again.
He became more outspoken about the Catholic Church, which he loved. He argued that the Papacy was a medieval
concept – 'fatally flawed’. He singled out Cardinal Ratzinger for special
criticism as being 'scandalously optimistic' when he was observing the collapse
of the old system. He chided the Church,
publicly, for its acceptance of the nuclear deterrent, for its sexist language
in the liturgy and the universal catechism, which he thought denied the mystery
at the heart of Christianity. He was not
silenced or even warned by Rome. His
critics came from many sources but because he was not a theologian or a
philosopher they found his synthesis difficult to criticize under Church law.
Indian critics
were more hurtful to him. Some said he
had allowed the Hindu influence too deeply; others that he was elitist,
preferring the Brahamic tradition of the elite to the local and tribal
expressions. His work with the poor in
his neighbourhood was not mentioned. He
was aware of the tension between the Brahmans and the village traditions but
saw it rather as a balance between social activity and interiority – 'a
question of balance'. (du Bourlay, p. 210) He also disagreed that village culture was
untouched by the Sanskrit culture, in that millions visit their temple daily.
After a serious
stroke in 1990 he found himself physically vulnerable – he had to be cared for
in every way. Bede described this period
as his Dark Night of the Soul. He said ‘The ego has collapsed.’ He also found himself drawn to the image of
the Black Madonna and the Christ crucified. He said the Madonna was not the Our
Lady but the feminine in all creation. “She is cruel and destructive, but also
deeply loving and, nourishing and protecting.”
The crucified Christ was the Christ on the Cross, surrendering
everything, entering the abyss “Only then could He be one with the darkness,
the void, the dark Mother, who is love itself.” (du Bourlay, p. 228)
He had another
mystical experience which he described in detail. He heard words: “Surrender to
the Mother” - then a feeling of overwhelming love. He also felt a blow to the
left side of his head which he interpreted as the rational (masculine) side of
his brain being knocked down and the right side (the feminine) being opened
up. This was quite different to his
early experience of God in nature. He
said the process went on for months – his masculine mind dissolving and uniting
with his feminine intuitive mind. He became more aware of Mary and prayed the
Hail Mary constantly.
He knew he had
had a stroke, he knew he had a psychological experience, but the spiritual impression
left a feeling of transcendence and true knowledge of non-duality.
Following his
recovery, he retired as Prior and he undertook a long, international journey to
all parts of the world. In America, staying with dearly loved friends, he even
joined in an embryonic community they were trying to establish in Vermont. Again he visited Australia where he addressed
very many large groups of people anxious to hear his words and be in his
presence. His main message was that we, the human race, are evolving: ‘The
divisions have never been greater and the desire for unity has never been
stronger, so now we are striving for a conscious unity of creation, of
humanity.’ (du Bourlay, p. 253) On his
return to Shantivanum an Australian film crew arrived to make a film of his
life A Human Search, which is available in video and print versions.
When he died at
86 years of age in 1993, following several strokes, the images of him remind me
of an icon. He looks ethereal – not of
this earth. He suffered greatly and
allowed himself to be cared for with great peace and gratitude. He stayed in his hut at his Ashram –
Shantivarnum – his last words were: “God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy
Spirit, I surrender unto you.” At
the same time his friends were chanting in Sanskrit.
His final
teaching for the world was:
‘I have tried to show how all the main traditions …..all converge
on advaita, on non-duality, as the ultimate truth and reality. ….in other words the end of all Christians
and of all human existence is to participate in the divine life, which Jesus
shares with the Father and communicates to us in the spirit. Everything has to be seen in this context.’
Texts used:
Beyond the
Darkness, a biography of Bede Griffiths, by Shirley Du Boulay
The Golden
String, by Bede Griffiths
Bede Griffiths,
Essential Writings, selected by Thomas Matus
Bede Griffiths: a
life in dialogue, by Judson B. Trapnell
A Human Search: Bede
Griffiths reflects on his life. Edited by John Swindells
