James Stuart

Guru and Disciple James Stuart

Swami Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux, 1910-1973) was one of the most fascinating spiritual figures of the 20th century and a bridge-builder between East and West. In his extraordinary book Guru and Disciple, Swami Abhishiktananda gives a vivid and magnificent account of his meeting with Sri Gnanananda Giri, an Advaitic sage whom he met at his ashram in Tamil Nadu. He regarded this encounter as one of the high points of his life in India, for it was at that time that he recognized him as his guru. Through the intense upadesha (teaching) and unreserved grace of Sri Gnanananda, Swami Abhishiktananda was led closer to the heart of Advaita. He spoke of his retreat with him as days of grace, "days of peace and fulfilment... when one was conscious of living at a spiritual depth in which the whole world of outward appearance has been left behind and one has come close to what is Real." Indeed, he received from his guru the purest teaching of a jnani (realized sage)-which was none other than the timeless message of the Upanishads: Behind the appearance of the phenomenal ego is the Ultimate Reality, the eternal Self of All, which can be directly realized. Guru and Disciple has been praised by many as a classic and as being one of the most remarkable introductions in recent times to the importance of meditation (dhyana) and the essential nature of the spiritual master-the guru tattva-of which Sri Gnanananda Giri was the perfect embodiment.