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QUOTATION
"Until you reach the source, there is no peace"
(Sri Ramana Maharshi)
TEXT 1 BENARES
On a small boat coming alongside a ghat
Dear
friend,
I'm writing you from Benares,
the Jerusalem of Hinduism,
a great holy city on the Ganges
river that is as ancient as Thebes or Babylon
TEXT 2 BENARES
Going up the ghat's steps
It has been two months since I left Montreal.
Two months of traveling through the south
of India, two months of asking myself
questions about who I really am, who lies
behind these thoughts, emotions and sensations.
TEXT 3 BENARES
Looking to Kali statuette
I am intrigue by the sadhus, the ascetics who renounce
material possessions and wander through India to holy
places.
TEXT 4 BENARES
In a hotel room
I would like to get to know them and learn the discipline of
spiritual development called Sadhana.
I know that path will not be an easy one
to follow and I am hesitating before taking the first step.
But let me explain to you how I made this
choice.
TEXT 5 SHANTIVANAM
Along the path leading to Shantivanam ashram
I decided to see Bede Griffiths, a
Benedictine monk who is the head of a Hindu-Christian
community where they are exploring the unity of Eastern and
Western religions
TEXT 6 SHANTIVANAM
The ashram
The Shantivanam ashram is a king of
bridge between the words of Christ and the ancient wisdom of
Vedas.
It was founded 30 years ago by two French
Benedictines, Jules Monchanin and Henri Le Saux.
Perhaps this unique synthesis of East and
West will lead the way to our common future.
TEXT 7 SHANTIVANAM
Meeting with Bede Griffiths
At eighty years old, Bede Griffiths
has been leaving in India for half a century. He is a man of
great warmth and humility.
For me, he was a valuable introduction to
India and the spirit of Hinduism:
 BEDE
GRIFFITHS
We try to rethink our Christian faith in the context of
Indian philosophy, Vedanta particularly. You see, Vedanta is
one of the great philosophical systems of the world, one of
the three or four greatest.
And our catholic theology is base on
the divine revelation in this Bible, interpreted in the
light of Plato and Aristotle, then of the modern European
philosophers.
And that's good as far as it goes, but
it's very Western.
And we have this immense treasury of
oriental wisdom, Vedanta and also Mahayana Buddhism. And we
feel the call of the Church today is to express Christian
mystery not simply in the language of the Greek philosophy
but in the language of Vedanta and Mahayana Buddhism...
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