THE PILGRIM SOUL

Some years ago I first heard Ravi use the phrase 'inter-pilgrim dialogue' when talking about interfaith matters. The phrase and his explanation of it struck me at the time. It characterises people as seekers and questioners rather than already knowing the answer so that one has a fixed position from which to relate to others. In the course of this brilliant and visionary book, Ravi argues that this exclusivism has its roots in monotheism, and has been imported into modern science. His path to the sacred is one that transcends particular religious expressions and is based on experience and practice. As pilgrims, we are all on a path or journey.

Our starting point is the culturally conditioned ego and the tension between matter and spirit, where we are and where we would like to be. The great traditions all insist that humans need to wake up and transform themselves from within. Nor is this a one-off process, but rather a continuing and ever renewed striving and letting go. We are called to penetrate into finer and more subtle levels of consciousness and reality with our full being - this requires a discipline of mind, heart and body to move beyond the personal to a more universal perspective and understanding: dying to the smaller self and awakening to the Self within and gradually unfolding a deeper level of insight, freedom, love and compassion.

The present is where time and eternity intersect and where we can also engage deeply with the world, literally being in time and living as consciously as we can. It is in daily life that this practice occurs involving 'attention, quiet mindfulness and constant vigilance.' Throughout the book, Ravi quotes apposite sayings from many traditions that he himself has internalised, moving effortlessly from 1 Corinthians to the Bhagavad-Gita. The spiritual quest is one of asking who I am, not at the level of the ego, but rather in truth and spirit. We all recognise the narrowness of our self-will and self-interest, and the great sages surrender to the bidding of a higher will: 'not I, but Christ in me', not fear and separation, but love and union, seeing and hearing more deeply, in short, metanoia, being transformed and reborn.

There is a very good chapter on the divergence of religions, beginning with the key patterns in the Indian tradition. The fundamental question is 'who am I?', which draws the pilgrim inwards to meditation and contemplation, to the knowledge of Atman and its oneness with Brahman. In his discussion of Buddhism, Ravi quotes TRV Murti as saying that Buddhism is Hinduism for export - and indeed it has enormously popular over the last generation. I liked his translation of sunyata as luminosity. The Judaeo-Christian tradition begins from God rather than the individual, with an emphasis on His transcendence and the need for faith. Only a few mystics have spoken about union with God, while the mainstream is more concerned with the hope for salvation through grace. As Ravi puts it, 'God is the active agent, who calls human beings to respond to the challenge of his revelation', become aware of our sinful nature and surrender ourselves to his will and grace. The contrast is nicely encapsulated in the differences between the Indian sage and the biblical prophet. While the language of Christianity uses words such as sin, faith, prayer, revelation, grace and salvation, Indians are more at home with the awakening from ignorance and illusion towards knowledge and liberation. This corresponds more closely with the Neoplatonic tradition where the fall is not due to disobedience, but rather to ignorance.

Pilgrims on the path are seeking human-to-human dialogue rather than an exchange of interfaith views. Sometimes, as in the case of Bede Griffiths, the dialogue can even take place within one person. We still have a long way to go to overcome intolerance and fanaticism based on the certainty that I am right and you are wrong - as Montaigne observed even in the 16th century, it is putting a very high value on your opinions to roast people on account of them - we need greater humility and openness. Sages simultaneously experience 'the oneness of all and the uniqueness of each creature.' Beyond form is vibration and we can attune to more subtle and sacred levels of reality through silence and contemplation, allowing our sense of self to expand as we gradually grow in love and wisdom. Ravi quotes a nice equation from Gandhi that God = Truth = Love. In this understanding love is required to know truth and knowledge of truth is expressed in love. This is a wise book of living wisdom, the fruit of many years of reading and spiritual practice, which will speak to the condition of the pilgrim reader.