By Subhasis Chattopadhyay –
Hindu sages declared that the Truth is One, though perceived as many. Jesus is that Truth. He is the Light that illumines our dark hearts. St. Benedict of Nursia (480 A.D.- 547 A.D.) searched for Jesus in solitude and framed a Rule for others to search God in solitude. St. Benedict’s Holy Rule hinges on prayerful silence, personal study and physical labour. All these are tempered by moderation and Love. The Benedictine Way is not a way of don’ts but is a Way for experiencing God’s infinite Mercy and Love in the here and the now. Syro Malabar and Syro Malankara Rites through their affinities with the Maronite Church have much Benedictine elements in them. But we are concerned here with how St. Benedict’s Rule is useful for us in samsara. It is another thing that St. Benedict’s Rule is the cornerstone of the Camaldoli, the Carthusian and Trappist paths.
If a married couple know each other completely, then their romance is gone. We all need our personal spaces to preserve a sense of mystery in our lives. St. Benedict’s Rule insists on each of us having that personal space where we can consider means to deepen our relationship with God. And God cannot be found in noise for God is the still small voice which speaks directly to us in our hearts. If we are talking continually or are restless within, then how can we hear God? Thus St. Benedict insists on both exterior and interior silence. But often silence can be deceptive; for an idle brain is the devil’s workshop. So, St. Benedict wants us to also put in hard physical labour.
Yet St. Benedict wants us to interrupt this silence every three hours singing praises to God. This is the origin of the famous Gregorian Chant. Who has not been moved by the Gregorian Chant? Benedictine silence is not a command to a grumpy and resentful turning away from others; but it is a silence where we perfect ourselves in love for both God and our neighbour. In this silence we are exhorted to praise God and bring the sorrows of others to God. What cannot be done by human effort can be done by God. St. Benedict’s silence is not an empty silence. Only that silence needed to hear God in the here and the now is St. Benedict’s prescribed silence.
The Light of Truth is being put off throughout the world. Deep study is a thing of the past. FaceBook posts determine our maximum attention spans.
In desperate loneliness we want to be connected 24*7. From WhatsApp to Tinder, we seek continuous solace from others as desperately lonely as us. We forget that deep relationships like the sacrament of marriage are exclusive relationships, till God takes us back to Him. The overuse of electronic media has made extra-marital affairs commonplace. At the slightest provocation we reach out to others instead of God and our spouses for short-term consolation. Instead of pouring our hearts out to God we pour out our hearts online.
From this springs much sorrow. St. Benedict’s Rule slows us down, removes the anxiety that comes with extraversion through the misuse of social media. St. Benedict would have us bring our grouses and resentments to God. If we begin following St. Benedict of Nursia we will certainly have less heartbreaks in our lives. Prayer heals us as nothing else. It is important to have an interior life based on communion with God if we are to be happy within the sacrament of marriage. Marriage is a sacrament within Hinduism too.
St. Benedict wants us to turn inward instead of gossiping online, allocating specific times each day for spiritual development. In contemporary terms, instead of being idly busy, we can take free massive open online courses (MOOCs). Instead of reading pulp-fiction one can choose to study sacred literature (lectio Divina). Instead of watching YouTube, Netflix or a continuous stream of useless and repetitive news, we can do chores at home. St. Benedict’s Rule is very practical; we now know that incremental work at home adds up to burning a lot of calories over time. Therefore, following this Rule we can be both physically and spiritually healthy. And learn new life-skills.
The beauty of the Rule is that while other spiritualities like the mystical Way of Carmel is more suited to monks and nuns and to specifically Christians, this Rule is flexible and suited to both Christians and non-Christians in any walk of life. St. Benedict’s insistence on fraternal love, his concern for the sick and the aged and introspection are universally appreciated. Remember, the Truth is not many but One. Therefore, whatever is good and holy in creation comes from Almighty God. St. Benedict’s Rule is a primer to experience God through the boredom called life.
Swami Vivekananda loved the Hindu Scriptures being a Hindu monk. But he also respected two other books and when he framed the rules of his Order, The Ramakrishna Mission, the Swami borrowed from the Rule of St. Benedict and another book which is based on this Rule. An Augustinian canon, Thomas à Kempis had written a handbook for monks, The Imitation of Christ, which elaborates on St. Benedict’s Rule. Swami Vivekananda was impressed by both St. Benedict and Thomas à Kempis. Therefore, it is wise to read St. Benedict and Thomas à Kempis together.
The Rule of St. Benedict is freely available online and so is The Imitation of Christ. The busiest people in the world will do well to take time off to study these two books. If nothing else, they will be happier and have less lifestyle diseases.
Subhasis Chattopadhyay is a blogger and an Assistant Professor in English (UG & PG Departments of English) at Narasinha Dutt College affiliated to the University of Calcutta. He has additional qualifications in Biblical Studies and separately, Spiritual Psychology. He also studied the Minor Upanishads separately. He remains a staunch Hindu. He had written extensively for the Catholic Herald published from Calcutta. From 2010 he reviews books for the Ramakrishna Mission and his reviews have been showcased in Ivy League Press-websites.