SRI GNANANANDA GIRI PEETAM

It was at Thapovanam in December 1955 that Swami Abhishiktananda met Sri Gnanananda. The former was Fr. Henri Le Saux, a Benedictine monk from the monastery of Kergonan in France. He, together with Fr. Jules Monchanin, founded a Christian ashram at Shantivanam, Kulitalai, near Trichy in Tamil Nadu. He was already acquainted with the teachings of Bhagawan Sri Ramana Maharshi, the Sage of Arunachala and of the Upanishads, and was attracted to the caves of Arunachala at Tiruvannamalai. Sathguru Gnanananda Giri Swamigal made a very deep impression on him. As advised by Swamigal, he came again to Thapovanam in February 1956 for two weeks of retreat in silence and meditation. In his book, Guru and Disciple, he describes his encounter with the Master. He speaks of the retreat with Swamigal as "Days of Grace, days of peace and fullness, when one knows one exists in the depth of oneself where all appearances are left behind and one is on the level of the True ". Swami Abhishiktananda gives a vivid and moving account of his first meeting with Sri Gnanananda, whom he recognised as his guru and reflects on the mystery of the guru: "The Guru is one who has himself first attained the Real and who knows from personal experience the way that leads there; He is capable of initiating the disciple and of making well up from within the heart of his disciple the immediate, ineffable experience which is his own, the utterly transparent knowledge, so limpid and pure, that quite simply 'he is' …When the vibrations of the Master's voice reach the disciple's ear and the Master's eyes look deep into his, then from the very depths of his being, from the newly discovered cave of his heart, thoughts well up which reveal him to himself. "When all is said and done, the true guru is he who, without the help of words, can enable the attentive soul to hear the 'Thou Art That', 'Tat-Tvam-Asi', of the Vedic Rishis.

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Abhishiktananda speaks about guru darshana with great feeling:

Meeting in depth is darshana. Darshana is, etymologically speaking, vision. It is coming face to face with the Real. In a way, this is possible for us in spite of our human frailty. There are philosophical darshanas, the systems of the thinkers which aim at making contact with the Real in the form of ideas. There is also the darshana of the sacred places or kshetra, of the Temples and holy images or murti, where the Divinity who transcends all forms is willing to don the numerous forms invented by man's imagination when set on fire by faith. Above all there is the Darshana of holy men, the most meaningful of all for the man who is on the right wavelength. The Darshana of the Guru is the last step on the path to the ultimate Darshana, when the final veil is lifted and all duality is transcended.

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He writes: "Sri Gnanananda refused all cheap spirituality. His teaching is fundamentally the way of total renunciation so that finally there is no ego left to manifest itself. May the sceptic try the way of Dhyana, which he taught!" His teachings are the same as that of the Upanishads. Behind the appearance of the veil of the empirical and phenomenal ego is the Ultimate Reality, which could also be called the Immortal Self of All, which is the same as God in the absolute transcendence as Godhead. The Ultimate cannot be an object of knowledge or experience. One has to be It and that is the only way of knowing It. Being is Knowing. So, the Knower of Brahman, the Godhead, is the Brahman Itself, proclaim the scriptures. The external guru with the form is gurumurti, who, having realized Atman, the Self, shows the way. He makes the disciple take the high dive and reveals his true form as the inner guru, the Atman, 'I AM', who is akhanda, undivided, and advaitic, nondual. Sathguru Gnanananda Giri Swamigal again and again tells Abhishiktananda that guru darshana is the direct and immediate realization of Atman, the Self, 'I AM'.