Swami Abhishiktananda – författare

Swami Abhishiktananda was a French Benedictine monk who lived in India for more than two decades and strove to understand and live his Christian faith through the enlightening teachings of Hindu Advaita Vedanta. Even as he remained a faithful Catholic monk, he increasingly longed to live his life from the depths of both Christian and Hindu understandings of the ultimate Real. In contrast to his many powerful prose works for which he is known, Swami Abhishiktananda also employs free verse to explore, exhort, and expound, reporting in poetry on his long journey of interreligious spiritual discovery with little desire to justify himself systematically. In these poems, a fervent and devoted Christian mystic plunges into the riches of the Hindu religious genius and brings forth ecstatic, colorful, and profound wisdom charged with an acute awareness of the non-duality between the innermost self of the human being and the Absolute Reality. These poems, collected together for the first time, search and hope with the dire honesty characteristic of the greatest of the world's mystics.

First published nearly forty years ago and having been translated into numerous languages, this classic text is written by a Benedictine monk whose Christianity was profoundly enriched by his encounter with Hindu spirituality.Described by its author as 'a little book to help Christians in their inner renewal, and to make them increasingly attentive to the call of the Spirit', it is a simple and practical manual for learning to live each moment in the presence of God. 10 short chapters provide a lifetime's agenda and are full of gems of wisdom. They focus on: the holy presence, the mystery of God, recognizing God in all things, listening for God's call, the prayer of silence, and contemplative reading of scripture. This deceptively simple text contains all the building blocks necessary for a mature life of prayer.