“Abhishiktananda stands beside Thomas Merton, Tony de Mello, and Bede Griffiths as one of the architects of a new mystical Christianity.”— William Johnston, S.J.
Swami Abhishiktananda (Henri le Saux, 1910-1973) is one of the most intriguing spiritual figures of the twentieth century. A Breton-born monk who moved to India in 1948, he initially hoped to Christianize India along Benedictine lines. Instead his deep encounter with Hindu spirituality, particularly the experience of “non-duality,” led him on an even more challenging and adventurous path, adopting the appearance and life of an Indian holy man. His last years were spent living as a hermit in the Himalayas.
Abhishiktananda’s writings reflect an extraordinary search for God in the story of a man prepared to risk everything, caught in the tension between two traditions, but ultimately finding reconciliation in the truth beyond opposites.
Shirley du Boulay, who lives in Oxford, England, has written biographies of Bede Griffiths, Desmond Tutu, and St. Teresa of Avila, as well as The Cave of the Heart, her award-winning biography of Swami Abhishiktananda.
