Swami Abhishiktananda: The Man and His Message

Overview

From December 2nd to 8th 1985, a small group of close friends of Swami Abhishiktananda (Dom Henri Le Saux, O.S.B.) met at Jeevandhara Ashram, Jaiharikhal, Himalayas. The purpose of this meeting was to share with each other and with some of a younger generation (who had not known him personally) their memories of Swamiji and so to revive the flame of inspiration that the encounter with him had kindled in their own hearts and also fulfil the responsibility each one felt to pass on that same flame to others, in the measure of human possibility and the gift of the Spirit. Some had written down their contributions in advance, others spoke ex tempore from brief notes or the inspiration of the moment. In this volume a necessarily incomplete record of those quiet days of anamnesis, insight, deep gratitude and hope for the future is offered to a wider circle, in the hope that those who are groping after "That from which speech turns back, together with the mind, being unable to reach it" (Taittiriya Upanishad II.4.1) may find here some echo of their own experience-a communication which, as at Jaiharikhal, may well take place chiefly through the silence between the words.