Ishpriya with Bede Griffiths OSB

Ashram community

Sisters Vandana and Ishpriya

Thirty years in another temple

"His breath is the wind that blows and the whole universe is his heart"
(Mundaka Upanishad 2/1/4)

If you are an rscj a person as yet unfamiliar with Hindu sacred writing, reading this verse for the first time, you may have experienced a warm feeling of surprise and pleasure that another religious tradition could so touch the truth of the Mystery revealed, to us, in Christ. I can understand and sympathise with this reaction as it was once my own, but I know it to be dangerous. A far too facile, sentiment-stirring meeting, positive or negative, with different faith traditions has seriously detoured post Vatican II efforts at inter-religious dialogue and blighted recent global politics. I realise that I have been immensely blessed to have been lead from this position to one where I want to be a beggar in another temple.

Trough a small window of experimentation opened briefly by Concha Camacho, then Superior General of the Society, in 1971 I went to India, rather than to Rome, for my Probation. The International experience now linked with final profession had not yet appeared in our formation structures. I had asked to go to Peru but India was the only choice offered to me and was clearly the result of discernment. On Christmas morning 1971 I made my final Profession in Mumbai during the first fullscale Indian rite mass for the Province. Hymns based on Indian classical music had been composed for the occasion, the vase of flowers were gone from the altar and replaced by Jasmine garlands and flower patterns on the floor, where the priest was also sitting. The few Indian rscj still wearing white western habits changed into white Saris this morning. A wonderful sense of Freedom and Future prevailed. For me it seemed the beginning of a new era of our Society's inter-nationality and inculturation. But it was a premature blossoming. Although most of the external changes initiated at that time remained, the deeper issues and essential attitude change, would take many years of struggle and humility to work through.

My personal journey from 1971 to 2005 has been swift, abundantly varied, joy-filled but ... far from easy. In June 1972 I joined the Indian province permanently and began a ministry of exploration into inter-religious/cultural adaptation instead of lecturing in psychology for which I had been prepared. Blessed by  challenges at all levels, by criticism from within both the Christian and Hindu communities, by disappointments, humiliations and powerlessness as much as by encouragement and fidelity from companions and guides across traditions, this has been the way of inter-faith dialogue that I have travelled. When each day was important, there is simply far too much of equal significance to reduce to the limits of a web-page. The best seems to be just to select a few of the characteristics of the ministry during those 30 years.

The initial motivation was the exploration of the Ashram tradition of Hinduism with the objective of learning how to bring about an authentic "inculturation" of the Society into the mainstream religious culture of India. For me, the concentration was on that aspect of the Ashram tradition which had flourished as an "open Monasticism". We seemed at a critical point in the Society's history. No longer a semi-monastic congregation, we were trying to find ways to live authentically our call to a contemplative prayer life, in the tumult of the modern market place, no longer protected by "Enclosure". I looked, as did thousands of western youth, to the Eastern spiritual traditions for guidance.

.....In 1972 the province re-opened a old Ashram in Pune with an eccumenical community of rscj, Anglican Sisters of St. Mary the Virgin and a Hindu woman (who gave me my Indian name). When two years later Sr. Vandana and I asked to leave Pune to explore the Hindu heartland of North India, living for 6 month of each year in Hindu Ashrams, risk and trust were both needed. Concha gave us her permission saying: I do not understand what you are doing, but I trust you. Risk and trust continued to be hallmarks of the ministry.

Our community of two reflected elements of the Society international. We differed in culture, nationality, life-experience, differed greatly in temperament, theologies, and each with distinct emphasis in ministry itself. What made community possible, was our strong conviction of being called to this exploration, our ability to think and stand alone, to be honest with each other and to laugh easily. We often needed the laughter.

.....When we arrived in Muni-ki-Reti on the bank of the river Ganges, we entered a totally unfamiliar world. Christianity did not exist here, neither in concrete presence (for years we were the only Christians known to live in this ancient "holy" place), nor in relevance, for the thousands of Hindus who came each year as pilgrims. Living with believers of another tradition soon removes from within us, any last traces of Christian triumphalism. What we all have to die to is the illusion that we alone are right, just and holy. Living with Sanyasis and Sanyasinis (the monastics), in open "community" with a larger number of men and woman of all ages, married or singe, enriched and widened my concept of Community, challenging our norms of only single sex, celibate groupings of religious.

.....An Ashram is the place where spiritual wisdom is transmitted from the Guru to the disciple. No place should be called an Ashram where this depth of spiritual relating does not take place. In the Hindu tradition the Guru does not need to be physically present for spiritual guidance to be given. Much misunderstanding of the Guru / disciple relationship has prevented Christians from accepting this part of our Universal spiritual inheritance. Personal guidance for years from a truly hioly Guru, and with much wise teaching and help from other Hindu masters, matured my Christian vocation and living of the Society's charism.

.....With the practical help and protection of these same Gurus, the Society was eventually able to by a small plot of land and we built a few rooms for our own spiritual practice and where we could have two others to share life with us. The context of Dialogue changed from Sanyasa Ashram to basic village life. Anything to philosophical in our understanding of Hindu life and practice was corrected by life with the village where little more than mere survival was the lot of the majority. What became abundantly clear was that one meets God within the "Cave of one's own heart". The Indwelling Presence was no theological theory but the reason for living. Realising this means, that respect for each single person as the dwelling place of God, opens a path to global peace.

.....During these years the riches of the spiritual traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism had been offered to us most generously. Guidance in Zen and Dhyana Meditation, into the depth of other Scriptures, the 7 main branches of Yoga etc. all made a contribution to the Society's response to the call for renewal. As increasing numbers were coming to share our life for awhile and to learn the ways of dialogue and spiritual practice, in 1984 the Society opened an Ashram in the foothills of the Himalaya. Here the context of dialogue changed again. While maintaining the contacts we had with several Ashrams and their Gurus elsewhere and the daily life interactions with the people of the surrounding area, we now had a continuous flow of people from all parts of India and abroad. The numbers of rscj living in the Ashram community varies from 3-5 but up to 30 people could be forming community at any one time, Risking and trusting, learning and sharing, making mistakes and letting go of plans, stretched our courage and expanded the charism. One cannot enter into dialogue as an observer nor while sitting on a higher chair.

.....Looking back on some aspects of this ministry and its development I know that it is not what was done that is essential. What is important is where we will go from here. The conflict in our human family is at a crisis point. We have learned how to celebrate the differences in that most sacred part of any human life, the way one knows and lives with God. We have a key to global peace.