Anthony de Mello was a Jesuit priest who founded the 'Sadhana Institute of Pastoral Counselling' at Pune. After having worked as as 'retreat master and spiritual director' for Christian retreats, he published his book: Sadhana – A Way to God with the subtitle: 'Christian Exercises in Eastern Form in 1978.
The book, though mainly meant for the Christian clergy, became immensely popular with all seekers of the '80s cutting across religions.
At the outset, given the constant appropriation attempts and strategies designed by the Church, the book may look suspiciously like another similar attempt. But it was not so.
De Mello openly acknowledged the sources and their distinct spiritual greatness with gratitude. In the introduction to the book, he wrote:
A Jesuit friend once told me that he approached a Hindu guru for initiation in the art of prayer. The guru said to him, "Concentrate on your breathing." My friend proceeded to do just that for about five minutes. Then the guru said, "The air you breathe is God. You are breathing God in and out. Become aware of that, and stay with that awareness." ... The exercises I propose in this book are very much in line with the approach of that Hindu guru, whom I have never met or heard of since.
Sadhana: A way to God: Christian Exercises in Eastern Form: Complete and Unabridged, Image: Doubleday 1984, pp.7-8
Inside the book we find this:
To silence the mind is an extremely difficult task. ... Our Hindu masters in India have a saying: one thorn is removed by another. By this they mean that you will be wise to use one thought to rid yourself of all the other thoughts that crowd into your mind. One thought, one image, one phrase or sentence or word that your mind can be made to fasten on. ... The mind must have something to occupy it. Well, then, give it something with which to occupy itself but just one thing. An image of the Saviour that you gaze on lovingly and to which you return each time you are distracted; an ejaculation that you keep repeating ceaselessly to prevent the mind from wandering. A time will come, hopefully, when the image will disappear from consciousness, when the word will be taken out of your mouth and your discursive mind will be perfectly stilled and your Heart will be given free scope to gaze, unimpeded, into the Darkness!
Ibid. pp.32-3
In his book The Song of the Bird (1984) de Mello wrote about the Dancing God:
Hindu India developed a magnificent image to describe God’s relationship with Creation. God ‘dances’ Creation. He is the Dancer, Creation is his Dance. The dance is different from the dancer, yet it has no existence apart from him. You cannot take it home in a box, if it pleases you. The moment the dancer stops, the dance ceases to be.
Anthony De Mello SJ, The Song of the Bird, The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition: p. 10
Two years later he would elaborate and make both Jesus and Judas complementary movements of this vast cosmic dance of the Divine.
… I see Jesus Christ and Judas, I see victims and persecutors, the killers and the crucified; one melody in the contrasting notes. I think of the people who dislike me and attack me and I see them and me as different, yet not-two, engaged in one task, one dance, one work of art. ... Finally, I stand before the Lord. I see him as the dancer and all of this maddening, senseless, exhilarating, agonizing, splendorous thing that we call life as his dance. (Wellsprings: A Book of Spiritual Exercises, Image: Doubleday 1986, pp.152-3)
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