Bede Griffiths: Essential Writings

Modern Spiritual Masters

by Bede Griffiths, Thomas Matus

Bede Griffiths (1906-1993) was an English Benedictine monk who settled in India in 1955 and went on to become one of the great mystical teachers of our time. In India he assumed the dress and ascetic discipline of a Hindu holy man, and established a Christian community following the customs of an ashram. Through his immersion in the life and scriptures of India he found wisdom and inspiration for his own Christian faith. This volume, which draws on his autobiographical volumes and his many other books, presents the ideal entry to the cosmic and mystical spirituality of a great spiritual guide.

Genres: Spirituality, Christianity, Religion, Nonfiction, Hinduism, Philosophy

128 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 2004

About the author

Bede Griffiths (1906-1993), born Alan Richard Griffiths and also known as Swami Dayananda (Bliss of Compassion), was a British-born Benedictine monk who lived in ashrams in South India. He was born at Walton-on-Thames, England and studied literature at Magdalen College, Oxford under professor and Christian apologist C. S. Lewis, who became a lifelong friend. Griffiths recounts the story of his conversion in 1931 to Roman Catholicism while a student at Oxford in his autobiography The Golden String.

Although he remained a Catholic monk he adopted the trappings of Hindu monastic life and entered into dialogue with Hinduism.

Griffiths was a proponent of integral thought, which attempts to harmonize scientific and spiritual world views. In a 1983 interview he stated,

"We're now being challenged to create a theology which would use the findings of modern science and eastern mysticism which, as you know, coincide so much, and to evolve from that a new theology which would be much more adequate."

Reviews

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Bede Griffiths was a Catholic Priest who lived in India for forty years and tried to create a bridge between the East and the West. Mankind’s conquest over nature comes from a disenchanted ego centered dualistic worldview. Western culture tends to be characterized by rationalism, masculinity, individualism, contractual relationships, capitalism, and science. According to Griffiths, it is an imbalance. Eastern culture (that has not been westernized) has been the counter balance to the west. It’s characteristics tend to be collective, passive, intuitive, feminine, and mystical.

Both eastern and western philosophy seems to represent two aspects of ourselves (perhaps corresponding to the two hemispheres of our brain). According to Griffiths, if consciousness and unity is to develop, the masculine and rational side of culture must not repress the feminine and mystical. This lopsided imbalance is the state we now find ourselves in western culture. “Yet it still remains possible”, says Father Bede Griffiths, “to conceive of a development of science and technology which would not seek to dominate nature in the style of the West, but to work with nature, building up from the basis of the village economy, as Mahatma Gandhi sought to do, and so create a new culture, in which humankind and nature, reason and intuition, the Yang and the Yin, would be brought into harmony.”

[Jill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Quite an amazing book that addresses the issue of how religions can be unitive rather than divisive.

[Philemon - · Rating 4 out of 5]

So many writers on spiritual matters have named Bede Griffiths as a key influence in their spiritual lives. As is typical of the highly evolved, he has little new to say about the spiritual path; but his gentle soul and intelligence always shine through. Perhaps best known as a voyager to India and an important mid-century catalyst in bringing the Hinduism to the West (it worked less well in reverse), he seems someone well worth getting to know.

[Moll · Rating 1 out of 5]

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