Bede Griffiths

Bede Griffiths OSB Cam (17 December 1906 – 13 May 1993), born Alan Richard Griffiths and also known by the end of his life as Swami Dayananda ("bliss of compassion"), was a British-born Catholic priest and Benedictine monk who lived in ashrams in South India and became a noted missionary.

Griffiths was a part of the Christian Ashram Movement.

Griffiths was born in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England, at the end of 1906, the youngest of three children of a middle-class family.

Shortly after Griffiths' birth, his father was betrayed by a business partner and was left penniless.

His mother took the children and established residence in a smaller home which she maintained, though she had to find work to support herself and the children.

At age 12, Griffiths was sent to Christ's Hospital, a private charity school for children from families of modest means.

He excelled in his studies and earned a scholarship to the University of Oxford where, in 1925, he began his studies in English literature and philosophy at Magdalen College.

In his third year at university he came under the tutelage of C. S. Lewis, who became a lifelong friend.

Griffiths graduated from Oxford in 1929 with a degree in journalism.

Shortly after graduation Griffiths, with fellow Oxford alumni Martyn Skinner and Hugh Waterman, settled in a cottage in the Cotswolds and began what they called an "experiment in common living".

They followed a lifestyle attuned to nature, milking cows and selling the milk to support themselves.

They would read the Bible together as a form of literature.

Griffiths noted a strong connection between the teachings of scripture and the rhythm of the nature around them.

The experiment lasted less than a year, as one of the friends found the life too demanding.

Nevertheless, the experience had a strong effect on Griffiths.

As a result of this experience, Griffiths decided to seek ordination in the Church of England.

He was advised, however, to gain some experience in the slums of London.

This advice was so contrary to what Griffiths felt to be his vocation that it drove him to a crisis of faith, which nearly drove him to an emotional breakdown.

Guided by the writings of Cardinal Newman, he reached a point in this struggle where he had a spiritual breakthrough.

He recounts the story of his conversion in his autobiography The Golden String.

In November 1931, Griffiths went to stay at the Benedictine monastery of Prinknash Abbey where he was impressed by the life.

Despite the strong anti-Roman Catholic sentiments of his mother, he was received into the Roman Catholic Church and made his First Communion at Christmas Eve Mass at the abbey.

Griffiths was received by the abbey as a postulant a month after his reception into the Catholic Church.

On 29 December 1932, he entered the novitiate and was given the monastic name of "Bede".

He made his solemn profession in 1937 (a year before the death of his mother in a car accident) and was ordained to the Catholic priesthood in 1940.

In 1947 the abbey sent a group of 25 monks to give support to two monasteries in the United Kingdom which had been founded by monks from France.

Griffiths was chosen to be the obedientiary prior for the monastery at Farnborough in Hampshire.

He led that house for four years, but was unable to generate sufficient financial support to keep the community going.

The abbot then sent him to the other monastery, Pluscarden Abbey in Scotland.

It was there that he wrote his autobiography.

During Griffiths' time at Farnborough, he had come to know Father Benedict Alapatt, a European-born monk of Indian descent who was greatly interested in establishing a monastery in his homeland.

Griffiths had already been introduced to Eastern thought, yoga and the Vedas and took interest in this proposed project.

The abbot at first refused permission, but later changed his mind and authorised Griffiths to go to India with the Indian member of the community.

There was one condition, though: Griffiths was not to be there as a member of the abbey, but as a priest subject to a local bishop, which meant that he would be giving up his vows.

After some painful inner debate, Griffiths agreed to this and, in 1955, he embarked for India with Alapatt.

At the time, he wrote to a friend: "I am going to discover the other half of my soul."

After arriving and visiting some spiritual centres in the country, they settled in Kengeri in Bangalore with the goal of building a monastery there.

That project was eventually unsuccessful as Griffiths left the location in 1958, saying that he found it "too Western".

Griffiths then joined with a Belgian monk, Father Francis Acharya, OCSO, to establish Kristiya Sanyasa Samaj, Kurisumala Ashram ("Mountain of the Cross"), a Syriac Rite monastery of the Syro-Malankara Catholic Church in Kerala.

They sought to develop a form of monastic life based in the Indian tradition, adopting the saffron garments of an Indian sannyasi (an ascetic or monk).