Notes (2) Abhishiktananda Essential Writings

I finished the first two chapters yesterday. They are intense and Abhishiktananda was an intense fellow.

The first chapter is "Benedictine Monk" and gives some excerpts of A's writings before he went to India in 1948. The short snippits under vocation made me pause and think about my own vocation. A seemed to hear God's call clearly and to follow it without hesitation. His one desire was to give himself completely to God. I admire his clarity and simplicity.

In his letter to Fr. Jules Monchanin who was already living in India, A lays out his plans for his mission. His primary idea was to inculturate the Rule of Benedict in India, especially by founding monasteries. He wanted to maintain the "non-clerical" character of Benedict's rule and incorporate Hindu chants into the prayer of the monastery. Adapting the Western monastic lifestyle to that of a Hindu sannyasi while also maintaining the focus on the interior life of the monk was A's vision for a new asceticism. The monks' work was to be both physical and intellectual. A admits that he is primarily attracted to the intellectual work of beginning "a rethinking of Christian dogma in Hindu terms, and a Christian reinterpretation of Hindu thought" (51). This is a task which he seems to embody as well as articulate. A also spells out his desire that any usefulness to the work of the monk or the monastery is simply a fruit of the love of God, and not a goal to be sought for its own sake.

This chapter contains A's thoughts, after living in India for 11 years, on the relationship to Christianity to Hinduism and reflects a "fulfillment theology" where Christ fulfills all the aspirations of Hinduism. The editor notes that this view would soon change,

"However, he was soon to change and to become one of those most sensitive to the realization that there is one inexpressible mystery beyond all names and forms... " (52).

The second chapter "Advaita" presents a profound mystical theology born from the dialogue of Hindu and Christian thought. Advaita or non-duality, has much in common with the via negativa, or negative way within the Christian tradition. I also saw close connections with the theological concept of "communio."

The chapter begins by recounting A's encounter with Ramana Maharshi who taught mainly through silence.

"The way that the Maharshi recommended is essentially positive. It consists in trying to find out at every instant, in every act, who in truth it is that lives, thinks, and acts, and in being attentive to the see-er in the act of seeing, the hearer in the act of hearing, and so forth. It is a matter of constantly, relentlessly pursuing this consciousness of oneself which hides behind the phenomena and the events of the psychic life, of discovering it, seizing it in its original purity before anything else has covered it over or adulturated it" (59).

Ramana Maharshi only recommends one practice which is "to fix the attention on the act of breathing and consciously to follow the process of inhaling and exhaling" (60).

Reading this I was starkly reminded of Merton's teaching on the true self and even of Lonergan's emphasis on attending to experience. This section goes into deep water very quickly. Levels of being, or experience are discussed (69), liberation and detachment are discussed (67-68). The Paschal Mystery of Jesus and the Mystery of the Trinity provide the Christian concepts that are put in dialogue with adviatic thought. At the heart of this experiential teaching is an understanding of eternity and the present moment. "Eternity is not in the time that lasts but in the indivisible moment" (71). The quest for that which is unchanging and eternal finds its fruit in the present moment, the self which discovers itself in God.

I'll conclude these notes with a prayer of "eternal offering" found on p. 71 and excerpted from A's diary.

"Make the offering of this moment and receive the gift of this moment. The gift of this moment to me is the reality no other than the gift to the Son of the eternity springing up from the heart of the Father.

To accept it is to offer it.

To know it is to rejoice with the Bliss of the Spirit.

To accept it: faith;

To know it, rejoice in it, is to love with the Spirit's love.

It is to be fulfilled, to let oneself be fulfilled in the inbreathing of the Spirit,

and to be fulfilled in the Spirit is to fulfill God,

who without fulfillment through us at this moment in the Spirit

could not be fulfilled in himself in eternity, in his Spirit.

For my moment is God's eternity."

The idea of my fulfillment in some way fulfilling God is a challenging concept to understand. It is disturbing to my sensibilities of God's sovereignty and freedom. However, I am not quite ready to dismiss it. I think it does point to God's love for us and desire for our completion in Him. For true communion to be complete, both parties must be fulfilled. Hmmm. He gives me much to think about.