BEDE GRIFFITHS - QUOTES - EXTRACTS FROM RECORDED TALKS ETC.
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"Anything we can say about God or the Infinite is limited, is symbolic, is a kind of analogy. It points to something that cannot be expressed and every religion points towards this inexpressible mystery."
"Behind all the differences of religion which are infinite in the scale of multiplicity we find a common tradition a common wisdom which we all share and that’s the hope of the future – religions will discover their own depth. As long as they remain on their surface they will always be divided in conflict."
above extracts transcribed from A Human Search.
About the mantra in prayer by Fr. Bede Griffiths
(transcribed from a recorded short talk given by Fr. Bede in 1991 in his hut at Shantivanam)
I would like to say a word about the mantra in prayer.
We follow John Main’s method of prayer with a mantra. “ Maranatha” is his
mantra “Lord come”. But the interesting thing is, he learnt it from a Hindu
swami whom he met in Malaya before he became a monk. So it’s brought into the Christian tradition:
the Indian custom and tradition of the mantra: the sacred word. It goes back to the Vedas and apparently
there are three aspects of the mantra.
The first is the sound and they feel that this vibration of sound has a tremendous impact on the body and on the mind. Obviously we know music has that effect. Some music is very violent and upsetting and some music is very peaceful and some is very profound. So the mantra is a sound which vibrates and that’s why sometimes they give you a mantra which suits your own psyche; it’s attuned to you. That is the first stage: the physical aspect of the mantra; listening to the sound.
The next one is interesting and that is visualisation namely sound and light. The mantra awakens you and you get a light in the mind through the mantra. So the mind becomes illumined; that is the idea. So as we meditate we let the vibrations build up in us and our mind begins to be focused on “Lord Come” or “Jesus” or whatever it is we are meditating on and a light should come and it can lead to vision actually. In the Vedas they have a vision of the gods and some people have a vision of Christ or Our Lady or something. But it’s not the physical vision that counts, it’s the inner vision, the awareness, the growth in the consciousness of Christ, you could say.
That’s the second stage and in the third stage, which is the most important, you go beyond the sound and the light, beyond the word and the image and the concept and you focus on the Transcendent One, the Lord, the Supreme within. That is contemplation proper. Then the mantra may still continue. Some people don’t continue with it but many continue with the mantra, which leads you into the depths of consciousness, to the inner centre and you become aware of the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit.
That is how we understand it. So the mantra takes you through all those stages: the vibration of sound, then the illumination of the mind and then the entrance into the inner sanctuary and experience of God in the heart.
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…We are born into this world of division of disintegration and that is the world of sin...
...beyond it all is this undivided wholeness and it is that wholeness which we are all seeking. We are all fragmented but we have this longing for the whole, for the One...
...religions today have come to the point when they cannot stand alone anymore...
...we have to go through the signs through the symbols of all different religions to the reality the Divine Mystery which is manifesting in all these different traditions...
...We need laws, doctrines and sacraments and so on but they are means and not ends. We have to use them to go beyond them all the time...
...Jesus always pointed to the Father - the Origin - the Source - through him to the Father. The son can do nothing of himself only what he sees the Father doing. Jesus was totally surrendered to the One, the Beyond...
...The word of God, the divine light is present in every human being...
...John interprets the whole teaching of Jesus in the light of that universal wisdom...
...At the culmination of St Johns gospel Jesus prays for his disciples that they may be one as thou Father in me and I in thee - that they may be one in us...
...I am in the Father and the Father is in me. Who sees me sees the Father. Its a non-dual relationship - a mystical relationship - Jesus and the Father. And he wants to share that relationship with his disciples...
...And I think that's the call of humanity - to enter into the divine mystery, to share in Jesus' knowledge of the Father, and Jesus' love of the Father and the Holy Spirit is that love, that knowledge communicated to us...
…And that’s where we're really being led today and unless we do, let go and allow Him to lead us, we're going to destroy one another and destroy this planet…
...The Trinity is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, Interpersonal relationship in love - Communion in love. That is the end of human existence, the end for each one of us. So that's where I feel we have to move today. All of us of a particular faith or church or whatever, are being called to go beyond all these limitations and awake to the one Reality that can unite humanity today and nothing else can! ...
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"Jesus Christ in our Christian understanding is one in whom this capacity for God was totally fulfilled ("in him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead bodily") and the image of God was realized in its perfection.
Each of us as we grow in grace can come to share more and more in the gift of the Holy spirit and so grow in the likeness of Christ so that we share in his Sonship and are able to know God as our Father. "God has sent the Spirit of his Son in our hearts crying Abba, Father". (Galatians 4.6) In this way we come to share, as you say, in the inner life of the Trinity."
extract from a letter from Fr. Bede Griffiths