Discovering Mysticism and Modernity in India
Most people already know India is a land of contrasts – and uncompromising heroes like Ghandi and Mother Teresa. But I went to India with an unusual companion: a book entitled The Marriage of East and West, by the late Bede Griffiths, a gentle English Benedictine monk who established an ashram (meditation center) in India.
One of my goals was to spend time at the ashram, to reflect how the integration of Eastern and Western ideas would enrich my own thinking about dialogue.
My hosts in much of my India travel were two men named Joseph: Jose Palakeel and Joseph Vallikatt. Both are members of the Missionary Society of St. Thomas the Apostle (MST), established in 1968 in Kerala.
I concluded my trip with three days at an educational institution near Bangalore. This facility is run by native Indian Sisters of Notre Dame, the same religious congregation that established the college where I’ve taught.
I did some teaching with the MST seminarians and then, later, with the teacher training candidates at the Notre Dame facility in Bangalore. It was a joy to experience their enthusiasm and love.
An Overview
With my hosts I drove hundreds of miles in southern India, thus experiencing many remote Indian villages. My eyes hungrily surveyed everything: women walking barefoot with huge bundles on their heads; male and female youth heading off to school; a huge road building operation vying with oxcarts, buses, bicyclists, and barefoot pedestrians. (I didn’t see a pair of sneakers until I reached Bangalore.)
I saw a majestic palace in Mysore which contrasted with the simple, caring MST missions providing medical help, sewing lessons and computer instruction. I experienced rich prayer services in the Syro Malabar rite. I enjoyed a trip on a river and was welcomed into the family homes of both Father Jose and Father Joseph, enjoying Indian meals where women provided both wonderful sauces and beautiful smiles.
At the Ashram
At the Saccidananda Ashram I spent time with Bede’s book, visited his grave, and shared Mass with the monks. Armed with a ceiling fan and mosquito netting over my bed, I tried to rest and absorb his challenging ideas.
The book explores the Vedic Revelation (of India), the Judaic Revelation, and the Christian Revelation and how each enriches the others. Living among the MST clergy and the ashram monks I came to value a simplicity we have lost in the West and to value a cosmic unity we yearn for as we struggle with ethnic clashes and ecological damage.
How can we blend the strengths of East and West? How can India herself do it as her ancient culture now clashes with the ‘Silicon Valley’ atmosphere of Bangalore with its huge new high-tech companies that are absorbing US outsourced jobs?
What gave me hope were children going to school each day and the incredible media education MST provides for their seminarians. (I haven’t seen this anywhere in the U.S.!)
India is both mystery and modernity. I will return.