INDIA | Tuesday, 22 December 2009 | Views [1547] | Comments [1]
We began our time in South India with a nine day retreat at Shantivanam Ashram where there is a long tradition of Benedictine Catholics seeking to further their Christian path by learning from the wisdom of India's historically deep traditions. Most famous among them is the late English monk, Father Bede Griffiths. Some of the intentional Christian-Hindu integration is external, such as the extreme poverty, here the monks wear robes resembling the clothing of India's centuries of Hindu holy men who shed material possessions so as not to obstruct them from their spiritual path.