Christmas in the depth of the heart of Arunachala

[Guest guest]

Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux) was a french Benedictine monk. He felt

strongly drawn to Advaita and left for India in the late forties. His

ideal was to live as a Christian monk as well as a Hindu-Sannyasin.

He met Sri Ramana and spend several months in the caves of Arunachala

for meditation.

In his diary he wrote on Dez. 25. 1953:

 

"Christmas in the depth of the heart, at the heart of Arunachala. But

can an advaitin Christmas be felt? Whatever is felt is not of the

truth. Whatever is thought is not of the truth, neti, neti. To dream

of the eternal coming forth of the Son from the bosom of the Father -

even that is not within the rights of one who has been led to the

mystery of the kevala, to the depth of the heart of Arunachala.

Nothing, nothing any more can be savoured. ... "

 

Some days earlier he made this poem:

 

"In the depth of the heart,

in the deepest darkness

a solitary flame has blazed up.

Who will tell the secret of the flame

the mystery of the One

the mystery of the Three?

He alone will know it

who will never again be able to tell it

having fallen into the flame

and in it been consumed,

having passed into the flame

and become the Unique.

....

 

Beyond the Depth

at the heart of the Darkness

beyond the Om

within the "heart of Arunachala",

beyond all that is manifest,

the silence of the Unmanifest (avyakta).

Who will tell the secret of the silence

the mystery of the One

the mystery of the Three

the mystery of the Word

the mystery of the aham

the mystery of the Om?

The one who knows it

will never again be able to tell it,

plunged into silence,

having become silence itself.

 

 

 

(Abhishiktananda: Ascent to the Depth of the Heart: spiritual Diary, p. 82)