Fr. Bede Griffiths, who took the name of Dayananda (the Bliss of Compassion)

Fr Bede Griffiths was born in Walton-on-Thames in England on the 17th December 1906.

On Christmas Eve of 1932 he was received into the Catholic Church and less than a month later he entered Prinknash Abbey, a Benedictine Monastery.

He made his solemn profession on the 21st December 1937.

He was ordained priest on the 10th March 1940.

Went to India in 1955 at the invitation of Fr. Benedict Alapatt, an Indian Benedictine.

He was at Nirmala Ashram Bangalore from 1955 - 1957

He joined Fr. Francis Mahieu in establishing Kurisumala Ashram in Kerala in 1958.

He took over Shantivanam from Swami Abhishiktananda in 1968.

Fr. Bede (Swamy Dayananda) died on 13th May 1993 at his ashram Shantivanam in South India.

 

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"It is no longer possible today for one religion to live in isolation from other religions. In almost every country people of different religions are meeting with one another and being compelled to face their differences.

More and more the necessity for contact is being realized. Those who attempt to do so are feeling that dialogue when properly understood is not a compromise but a process of enrichment by which each religion opens itself to the truth to be found in the other religion, and the two parties grow together in a common desire for truth.

Each religion has to hold to its own tradition, yet to allow that tradition to grow as it opens itself to other aspects of truth. So we realize that truth is one, but that it has many faces and each religion is an aspect of that face. The one truth is perceived to be manifesting itself under different signs and symbols." 

Taken from "The Universal Christ, Daily Readings with Bede Griffiths Page 18

 

"All our conflicts arise because we stop at a certain level. Christians stop at the Christian religion, Muslims at Islam, and if you are a Hindu you stop at your own symbolism. Each one feels himself separate from the others. Only when you go beyond these distinctions and are open to the reality beyond, can you overcome these conflicts.

The ultimate reality includes all the differences in the world. It does not abolish them. You and I are all contained in the Absolute.

We see everything separated, but if you have the vision of reality you perceive all the differences in that total unity.

We have to get beyond limited mental perceptions and even parapsychological perceptions to a pure spiritual wisdom, a vision where the whole universe is seen as a total unity in the Absolute Godhead, and we ourselves as one in this Absolute, each a unique manifestation of the one eternal reality."

Taken from "The Universal Christ, Daily Readings with Bede Griffiths Page 50

 

"To pray is to enter consciously into communion with God or the Source.

At its highest peak prayer becomes contemplation. Here it is wordless. It is a merging of human consciousness with the Divine.

At the centre of the prayerful state is the stilling of the mind, 'Be still, and know that I am God', says the psalmist (Psalm 46:10).

Prayerfulness opens up a channel between the soul and God. So there is intercommunion between the human and the Divine.

Prayer stems from meditation, for the latter is preparing the ground for the former.

Prayer may be conceived of as a descent into the depths of the heart and as a rising towards the Godhead. In the opened heart is the prayer that does not cease."

Taken from "The Universal Christ, Daily Readings with Bede Griffiths Page 54

 

 

 

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