I want to understand India’s religious diversity, both within major religious communities as well as between religious communities. Becoming familiar with Bede Griffiths and his Christian ashram accomplishes one of these goals.

Spending a full day and night at the Saccidananda Ashram allow me to talk with Father George, with several monks, with other visitors. I even snatch some time to read about Griffiths.

Who is he? Alan Richard Griffiths lived from December 17, 1906 until May 13, 1993. His young adult years suggested that he might “be a bit different.” Born in England, he is raised in the Church of England, he attends Oxford. At Oxford, he meets and becomes a life-long friend of C.S. Lewis. Upon graduation in 1930, Griffiths and two other friends move to the village of Eastington in the Cotswolds and begin an “”experiment in common living.” They support themselves through farm work and reading the Bible together. Not your typical Oxford graduate actions!

Although the “experiment” lasted only a year, Griffiths decides to seek ordination in the Church of England. Asked to work in London’s slums, the work precipitates a crisis. On the one hand, the needs are so great that the work is never-ending, constant meeting of others in need or helping those in need. On the other hand, Griffiths realizes that he is contemplative, quiet. His own sense of a “call” crystalizes. It is the contemplative life. After residing at a Benedictine monastery, Griffiths converts to Roman Catholicism. Becoming a Benedictine novitiate, he is given the name “Bede.” He becomes a Roman Catholic priest in 1940.

But England is not India. While he is aware of Indian religious, spiritual literature, his meeting an Indian Roman Catholic priest intensifies an interest in Indian religious spirituality. The priest encourages him to start a monastery in India. He finds the idea attractive. Reluctant at first, Griffith’s superiors finally give him permission. In 1955, along with the other Indian priest, he moves to southern India. Griffiths writes “”I am going to discover the other half of my soul.”

From 1955-1968, Griffiths and a Belgian priest have an ashram in Kerala. When the Saccidananda Ashram in Tamil Nadu faces a turning point, one of the ashram’s founders dies and the other desires to live as a hermit, Griffiths and two other priests are asked to lead the ashram.

He stays at the ashram until he dies in 1986. He writes. He lectures in Europe and the United States. He converses with other spiritual leaders. Quite a journey!

Griffiths wanted to “bring into the Christian life the riches of Indian spirituality, to share in the profound presence of God.” Despite considerable resistance, Griffith’s work  resonates with the documents of Vatican II, especially the documents on “Other Religions.” Members of the Indian Council of Roman Catholic Bishops even write about the “beauty of Indian spirituality.”

I talk with Father George about some of the basic ashram practices. When Griffiths comes to the ashram, he finds that the original founders had already incorporated aspects of Hinduism into their daily life. Griffiths continues and expands this tradition. He wears a saffron robe; he vows to be vegetarian; he sits on the floor to eat; he eats with his hands; and he embraces poverty. All of these are traits of a Hindu sadhu. Furthermore, each ashram monk lives in an individual thatch hut, but they gather together in common worship. The communal gathering and the individual quarters allow a combination of prayer and meditation.

When I join others for the common worship in the round worship center there are probably twenty people. We gather in silence. Facing the front in a semi-circle, ten or so who are more flexible sit on cushions in the middle; another ten of us, also facing the front, sit on seats along the outer walls.

With the ringing of a bell, the service begins with the slow chanting of OM. We join together in responsive prayer, a reading from the Psalms, a reading from the Upanishads, and then the Lord’s Prayer. Rather than spoken words in a homily, these words of prayer and Holy Scriptures, we sit in silence.

Father George explains that  worship also combines features of both Christianity and Hinduism. In the ashram’s rural setting, they especially value worship at sunrise and sunset. When the service begins with the verbalizing of OM, understood as the primordial sound of creation, Father George likens the sound to the Christian words of John 1 “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God.” In addition, while not occurring during the service I attend, there is also the practice of Aarti, the gentle, circular moving of a lit candle in front of a person and that person placing their hands over the candle. Such an act symbolizes welcoming the other person and holding that other person in respect  and love. So many ways in which Griffiths and the ashram join Christian practices and Hindu practices.

I thoroughly enjoy my day at the ashram. This form of Christian community certainly challenges the exclusionary views of so many Christians. “Be like us or you go to Hell.” “Accept my version of the Christian faith. It is the only true version.” Griffiths challenges those attitudes as he experimented with his life, as he journeyed all the way to India to find the presence of God already there.

For one who loves to travel and take slow-walks, I love the quote: “Theology is like a map. Merely possessing it does not make us travelers; we must take the journey ourselves.”