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Swami Abhishiktananda

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Henri Le Saux, Swami Abhishiktananda
God is too close to us. That is why we constantly fail to find him. We turn God into an object — and God escapes our grasp. We turn him into an idea — but ideas pass him by.
The present moment is all that matters; tomorrow is God’s business.
To pray without ceasing is not so much consciously to think of God, as to act continuously under the guidance of the Spirit
Fr. Henri Le Saux, OSB, came to India in 1949 to seek God both as a Christian and as a devotee of Lord Shiva. His pilgrimage bore fruit, leading to spiritual awakening. His importance in the context of this site is not that he was a great devotee of Our Divine Mother, Dea, although many Catholics are devotees of the Mother of God just as many Shaivites are devotees of Sri Parvati, the indwelling Shakti of Lord Shiva, rather, Swami Abishiktananda was an important exponent of the transcendental unity of religion. Swami Abhishiktananda was both Christian and Shaivite in his deep religious practice, just as Sri Ramakrishna before him was an enlightened Christian, Muslim and devotee of Mahashakti Sri Kali.

Fr. Le Saux, born in 1910, grew up in Brittany and showed a deep piety from an early age. He made an early vow to live a religious life. He joined the Benedictine order and was ordained in 1935. He was particularly drawn to the writings of the early monastic Desert Fathers and also in this period began to study the spiritual literature of the Sanatana Dharma. The Hymn to God Beyond All Names of the fourth century Doctor of the Church St. Gregory Nazianzus was of particular significance to Fr. Le Saux throughout his life.

Swami Abhishiktananda(1910-1973) is the Indian name of Dom Henri Le Saux, a Benedictine monk. He co-founded in 1950, with Father Jules Monchanin, Saccidananda Ashram, a monastic institution dedicated to integrating the monastic values of the Benedictine tradition with the values of the Indian monastic tradition.

Abhishiktananda Society website

By Swami Abhishiktananda

The Call from Within

Bulletin 34, January 1989

“You Have Sensed the Abyss—Now Enter It!”

Bulletin 16, January 1983

The Depth-Dimension of Religious Dialogue

Bulletin 13, January 1982

About Swami Abhishiktananda

Book Review: A Celebration and Critique of Swami Abhishiktananda’s Contribution

Bulletin 85, July 2010

Abhishiktananda Centenary Symposium at Shantivanam