Biography Arnaud Desjardins

Born on June 18, 1925, and raised in a Protestant Christian environment, Arnaud Desjardins was one of the first Westerners to discover, and to have them discover through televised documents, thanks to his extensive travels and his passion for spirituality, great traditions unknown to Europeans:

hinduism, Buddhism and Sufism (Islamic mysticism) in particular. He also spent time in a Christian Trappist monastery.
His philosophy, far removed from any sectarian spirit, is inspired by the thought of Swâmi Prâjnanpad, while remaining very close to Zen Buddhism and open to all great religious traditions, whether Eastern or Western

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This philosophy is embodied in the authentic practical wisdom he teaches his disciples. It is in the light of this daily and constant practice that he has reread the Gospels and can call himself a Christian. Indeed, if wisdom is universal, he believes it is important to be part of a religious tradition, preferably the one in which one was born, in order to build on it and avoid the trap of syncretism, to which our age readily succumbs. (...)

In reality, no one decides or does anything. Everything just happens. To succeed in doing, you must first succeed in being. You have to start by distancing yourself from yourself and seeing yourself living. You have to look at yourself contemplating a landscape, listen to yourself talking, perhaps ranting, in a circle of friends, feel yourself reacting to a situation.

Understanding this idea of necessary vigilance is not enough to tame it. You have to apply yourself to it for a long time, through exercises such as prayer, meditation or yoga. Self-awareness, which becomes self-mastery, is acquired slowly. Most specialists in philosophy and religion never leave their study. They reflect on texts, analyzing and comparing them. It is not part of the Western conception of the intellectual to choose a master and follow him blindly.

On the contrary, he believes that man poses himself in opposition. The notion of the master, natural and respected in the East, is not only unknown in the West, but despised. It runs counter to the democratic ideal of all being free and equal. Arnaud Desjardins didn't just study. He went to Asia to observe other cultural and spiritual traditions. He watched, questioned, lived among those who welcomed him. His inner blossoming was closely interwoven with his outer adventures, those of traveling to faraway lands, unfamiliar with the comforts to which our society is accustomed.

This book retraces the two aspects of a life - the adventure of the mind and the adventures of everyday life - dedicated to philosophical and spiritual research over several decades, the story of a man who committed not only his mind, but his very person to it. For half a century, Arnaud Desjardins has been walking against the tide of his times. Today's world is dominated by economics. His values stem from it or lead back to it. Political discourse itself has gradually been reduced to dissertations and arguments about the best way to manage the economy.

Money has become the benchmark. It measures the success of individuals and companies alike. This economy-based society exalts and multiplies desires, the driving force behind consumption, which in turn drives production. The wise man who, conversely, tends to reduce his needs is a living reproach to the dominant system, a threat to the values he embodies. Arnaud Desjardins' life can be divided into three parts of roughly equal length.

First, the formative years of his youth, from 1925 to 1949. Then the quest for wisdom for another twenty-five years, from 1949 to 1974, with an essential break in 1965, the year he met his master, Swâmi Prajnânpad, and followed in his footsteps. Over the years, he sowed the seeds of books that awakened vocations.

Without claiming that this quest is complete and that he is a "living liberationist", since 1974 - another quarter-century - he has passed on and continues to pass on, in three successive places, what he has received to those who have come and are coming to him. Whether the appellation pleases or repels, he has become a guru in his ashram.

Extract from Jacques Mousseau's biography: Arnaud Desjardins, l'ami spirituel , Perrin, 2002 .
Some books by Arnaud DESJARDINS to consult or download from éditions la table ronde
http://www.editionslatableronde.fr
Approaches to meditation
In search of the Self
In search of Self 2
In search of Self 3

In Search of Self 4