{"id":8246,"date":"2023-05-12T09:27:09","date_gmt":"2023-05-12T16:27:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/?p=8246"},"modified":"2023-05-12T09:27:09","modified_gmt":"2023-05-12T16:27:09","slug":"abhishiktananda-swami-henri-le-saux-return-within","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/2023\/05\/12\/abhishiktananda-swami-henri-le-saux-return-within\/","title":{"rendered":"Abhishiktananda, Swami (Henri Le Saux) – Return within"},"content":{"rendered":"

Return within
\nby Abhishiktananda, Swami (Henri Le Saux)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

English version by H. Sandeman (?)<\/font><\/p>\n

Return within,
\nto the place where there is nothing,
\nand take care that nothing comes in.
\nPenetrate to the depths of yourself,
\nto the place where thought no longer exists,
\nand take care that no thought arises there!
\nThere where nothing exists,
\nFullness!
\nThere where nothing is seen,
\nthe Vision of Being!
\nThere where nothing appears any longer,
\nthe sudden appearing of the Self!
\nDhyana<\/i> is this!<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/a> \u2014 from Guru and Disciple: An Encounter with Sri Gnanananda, a Contemporary Spiritual Master<\/a>, by Swami Abhishiktananda \/ Translated by H. Sandeman<\/font><\/p>\n


\/ Image by MikkoLagerstedt<\/a> \/<\/em><\/font><\/p>\n

Return within\u2026<\/i><\/p>\n

A powerful description of deep meditation. (The word dhyana<\/i> in the last line means meditation.)<\/p>\n

There where nothing exists,
\nFullness!<\/i><\/p>\n

Abhishiktananda keeps mentioning nothing and nothingness, but each time that nothingness is entered into, we are greeted with fullness, the vision of Being, and ultimately, the appearance of the Self.<\/p>\n

In the practice of Advaita Vedanta, everything is recognized as the Self \u2014 which a Catholic might recognize as the purified sense of being that is utterly identified with God until only God remains. When the thinking mind is brought to deep silence (\u201cthe place where thought no longer exists\u201d), and we get so quiet that we allow the spacious stillness to wash over us, clearing away everything, including the small, grasping ego-self, that is the place \u201cwhere nothing exists.\u201d<\/p>\n

But, in that place \u201cwhere there is nothing,\u201d that is, nothing that feels like a thing or an object, not even the personal self-thing, we then discover an unexpected flood of life and fullness and bliss. <\/p>\n

There where nothing is seen,
\nthe Vision of Being!<\/i><\/p>\n

Perception shifts and everything is seen as a radiant Unity, the Vision of Being<\/p>\n

There where nothing appears any longer,
\nthe sudden appearing of the Self!<\/i><\/p>\n

One\u2019s very identity changes. What one was has ceased to exist, swept away in the vision of vastness. One\u2019s sense of self is no longer a collection of qualities and habits and social projections. Instead, everything is found within and that Self has no boundaries!<\/p>\n

Dhyana is this!<\/i><\/p>\n

That is dhyana<\/i>, true meditation.<\/p>\n


\n

<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

<\/a>Recommended Books: Abhishiktananda, Swami (Henri Le Saux)<\/font><\/b><\/p>\n\n

<\/p>\n

\n\n\n
<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/a><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Guru and Disciple: An Encounter with Sri Gnanananda, a Contemporary Spiritual Master<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Secret of Arunachala: A Christian Hermit on Shiva\u2019s Holy Mountain<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nThe Further Shore<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nSwami Abhishiktananda: Essential Writings<\/a><\/small><\/td>\nPrayer<\/a><\/small><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
More Books >><\/a><\/i><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/center>
\n<\/p>\n\n\n
\n\"Abhishiktananda,<\/a>\n<\/td>\n\nAbhishiktananda, Swami (Henri Le Saux)<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

France, India (1910 \u2013 1973) Timeline<\/a>
\nChristian<\/a> : Catholic<\/a>
\nYoga \/ Hindu<\/a> : Advaita \/ Non-Dualist<\/a><\/em>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n

<\/p>\n

Abhishiktananda is a fascinating mixture of Eastern and Western spirituality. He was born as Henri Le Saux into a Catholic family in Brittany, France. He was highly devout from childhood and in his youth determined to be a monk. In 1931, he made his profession as a Benedictine monk and, in 1935, was ordained a priest.<\/p>\n

At the beginning of World War II, in 1939, he was called up for mandatory military service. His unit was captured by German soldiers, Le Saux managed to escape and, with the help of a sympathetic farmer, made his way back to French territory and, eventually, to his monastery, where he resumed his monastic activities.<\/p>\n

Early on Fr. Le Saux felt a call to travel to India, and in 1948 he received his chance, leaving France, never to return. For the rest of his life, Fr. Le Saux would seek to combine the Catholic ideal with the purest essence of Hindu spirituality. He adopted the dress and lifestyle of a sanyasin, a Hindu renunciate, and took the name Abhishiktananda which can be translated as \u201cBliss of the Anointed One (Christ)\u201d.<\/p>\n

Abhishiktananda helped to found Shantivanam, a Christian ashram in India that sought to embody Christian spiritual ideals of service, community, and simplicity, without forcing converts and the curious to abandon the richness of their native culture. The stable life of a community administrator was not for him, however, and Abhishiktananda soon took up an itinerant life of pilgrimage to many of the great holy sites of India, proclaiming that it was entirely appropriate for a follower of Christ to bring his worship to such places.<\/p>\n

One of his most profound early encounters was his meeting with Ramana Maharshi, the famous sage who taught the nondualist path of realizing the Self. Ramana Maharshi was near the end of his life and their few meetings were brief, but transformative for Abhishiktananda. Abhishiktananda would go on extended meditation retreats in the caves near Arunachala Mountain, where Ramana Maharshi lived and taught. Later, Abhishiktananda met another nondualist (Advaita) master, Swami Gnananada, to whom he became deeply devoted.<\/p>\n

Outwardly, Abhishiktananda lived as a sincere, humble Hindu sanyasin; inwardly, he continuously sought to reconcile and integrate the two great spiritual traditions of Catholicism and Advaita Vedanta (nondualist Hinduism).<\/p>\n

More poetry by Abhishiktananda, Swami (Henri Le Saux)<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Return within by Abhishiktananda, Swami (Henri Le Saux) English version by H. Sandeman (?) Return within, to the place where there is nothing, and take care that nothing comes in. Penetrate to the depths of yourself, to the place where thought no longer exists, and take care that no thought arises there! There where nothing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1950,328,53,2041,1951,14,329],"class_list":["post-8246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-poetry","tag-abhishiktananda","tag-advaita-vedanta","tag-catholic-poetry","tag-dhyana","tag-henri-le-saux","tag-hindu-poetry","tag-nondualism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8246","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8246"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8246\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8247,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8246\/revisions\/8247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8246"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8246"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.poetry-chaikhana.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8246"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}