Tribute to Bede Griffiths

In Memoriam
THE memorial service of thanksgiving for the life and teaching of Dom Bede Griffiths OSB took place at Westminster Cathedral on 15 June.
I am sure he would have approved of the ecumenical mix of the service: traditional Latin Vespers. led by the monks of Prinknash Abbey, were followed by readings from, among others.
the Bhagavad Cita, Dhammapada, Koran and Upanishads.
The chanting of the Gayatri Mantra from the Rgvada brought back memories of the time I had spent at Shantivanaam, Fr Beck's ashram on the banks of the sacred river Cauvery, where every service had included chanting from the Vedas.
I first went to visit Fr Bede in 1990 on the strength of reading his book The Marriage of East and West and discovered that he had indeed achieved a marriage of
both traditions without compromising either.
In his youth Fr Bede attempted to form a community near Oxford where he had been a friend of CS Lewis; he entered Prinknash Abbey in 1933 shortly after becoming a Catholic and first went to India in 1955 where he assisted in the foundation of Kurisumala Ashram, a monastery of the West Syrian Malankara rite in Kerala. In 1968 he joined Jules Monchan'in and Henri le Saux at the Saccidananda Ashram. Shantiyarnam; these two Frenchmen were pioneers in trying to form a Christian community following the rules of a Hindu ashram; this was where he stayed for the rest of his life.
Fr Bede said that he went to India to "find the other half of his soul" and in the homily, Dom Laurence Freeman OSB made it very clear that this process of discovery had continued. and indeed accelerated towards the end of his life, when he became increasingly compassionate and sensitive to the needs of others, Contemplation should be central to monastic life and meditation became increasingly an integral part of Fr Bede's teachings and life. Fr Laurence had last visited Fr Bede in March of this year in Kerala: he described what a privilege it had been to have been with him in his few last weeks.
After the homily. the Liturgy of the Eucharist had readings from the Old and New Testaments and ended with four testimonies from people who had all been touched by Fr Bede in differing ways. Although Cardinal Hume was not present, a message from him said: "I have always held Dom Bede Griffiths in the highest respect.
"As we pray for him, and in thanksgiving for his life, we can only stand in admiration for the way in which. throughout his life and holding us all in his prayer, he explored the origins of all religions." The service was a true meeting of East and West and an inspiration for all of us to learn from others.
Sarah Anderson