Editorial Board
The Abhishiktananda Centre for Interreligious Dialogue was created in 2008 with the aim of promoting Swami Abhishiktananda’s vision and writings in India, as well as abroad (in English). Being a section of one of the prominent NGOs in India, the Delhi Brotherhood Society (DBS), it inherited the English (world-wide) and Indian copyrights for Swamiji’s titles from the former Abhishiktananda Society, which since 1978 till its official closure in 2008, had carried out the task of promoting Swami Abhishiktananda’s message through the publication of his books. After thirty years of contribution to Hindu-Christian dialogue, the Abhishiktananda Society came to a successful conclusion. Read the Open Letter of the President here.
Currently, the books of Swami Abhishiktananda are now in the process of being re-edited and republished in India. From this perspective, an Editorial Board has been formed to republish and update the existing titles. The Editorial Board consists of knowledgeable persons who belong to different traditions and who are deeply involved in interreligious dialogue. Presently, this Board comprises the following members:
Editorial Board Members
Swami Atmananda Udasin (Chief Editor)
A native of Belgium, Swami Atmananda Udasin studied Theology, Indian Philosophy and Comparative Religion in Louvain, Paris, and Jerusalem. He has been deeply inspired, since the early 1980’s, by the lives and spiritual journeys of Swami Abhishiktananda (Henri Le Saux) and his realized disciple, Swami Ajatananda Saraswati (Marc Chaduc). He has served as President of the Abhishiktananda Society (2007-2008), of which he was an Associate Member since 1983.
He is the Director of the Abhishiktananda Centre for Interreligious Dialogue and the Spiritual Head of Ajatananda Ashram, an interreligious monastic ashram on the Ganges, in Rishikesh (North India). Website: www.ajatananda.org
Swami Atmananda Udasin has been living in India for the last 20 years and teaches about the Oneness of Truth and the direct path of Non-Duality in the tradition of Advaita Vedanta. He offers satsangs and retreats in India and internationally.
Rev. Dr. Monodeep Daniel
Rev. Dr. Monodeep Daniel is Chairman of the Delhi Brotherhood Society, a Delhi based NGO with programmes for self-empowerment. A leading theologian in India, he is also deeply committed to justice and social action for India's underprivileged classes. He is the author of a doctoral thesis presented at the Free University of Amsterdam (2013) on the great Indian visionary B. R. Ambedkar, the main architect of the Indian Constitution.
Rev. Dr. Monodeep Daniel is Dean of St.Stephen's College (Delhi) and has been involved in interreligious dialogue in many ways, especially with diverse religious groups among the Dalits.
He has personally known Swami Abhishiktananda and has served as Secretary of the Abhishiktananda Society (2005-2008).
Swami Nityananda Giri
Swami Nityananda Giri came to Sri Sadguru Gnanananda Giri, the spiritual master of Swami Abhishiktananda, in 1971, after a period of intense spiritual training. Under His close guidance, he studied Advaita Vedanta in depth, and was directed to compile His teachings. The collection of these teachings was published in Tamil in 1974 under the title Gnana Inba Veli. Later, Swami Nityananda Giri was central to the English publication on his master: Sadguru Gnanananda (1979). Besides several articles on the sage’s life and teachings, he wrote in Tamil the popular work, Sri Gnanananda Darshanam (1996).
Swami Nityananda has travelled widely in Europe, Canada and the United States, lecturing on Vedanta philosophy and the path of Yoga. He is keenly interested in mysticism and is well known in interreligious dialogue. Since 1986, he is Head of Sri Gnanananda Niketan (Thapovanam,Tirukoyilur, Tamil Nadu), an ashram dedicated to the teaching of Vedanta and the tradition of sannyasa. Website: www.gnanananda-niketan.org
Dr. Maxim Demchenko
Dr. Maxim Demchenko is an Associate Professor at the Moscow State Linguistic University. He has authored: Aspects of Hindu-Christian Dialogue in the Mid-Twentieth Century (According to Jules Monchanin’s and Henri Le Saux’ Experience), doctoral thesis, Russian State University of Humanities, Moscow, 2011; and The Path of Saccidananda, Moscow (Ganga), 2008 (in Russian). He has also published the first Russian translation of Swami Abhishiktananda’s Guru and Disciple, Moscow (Ganga), 2013, and is currently working on the translation of Swami Abhishiktananda’s other titles into Russian.
In Memoriam
Dr. Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajajé
Dr. Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajajé was a scholar of Sufism and an intellectual genius. He served as Provost and Professor of Cultural Studies and Islamic Studies at the Starr King School for the Ministry in Berkeley, California. Dr. Farajajé was also Director of the Starr King Luce Project for Multi-religious Theological Education and served on the GTU Core Doctoral Faculty in the area of Cultural and Historical Studies of Religions. He was a Senior Research Analyst at the GTU's Center for Islamic Studies.
A renowned and respected Sufi spiritual master in the Chishti Tradition, Dr. Farajajé was fondly known by his followers and students as “Ibrahim Baba”.
Dr. Farajajé’s deep admiration of the life and message of Sri Swami Abhishiktananda led him to join the Abhishiktananda Centre for Interreligious Dialogue in Delhi in 2011 and serve on the Editorial Board for 5 years.
Dr. Ibrahim Abdurrahman Farajajé suffered a massive heart attack on 15 January 2016, and though there were signs that he could recover, he passed away on 9 February 2016.
The Abhishiktananda Centre will always remember Ibrahim Baba’s profound openness, great love and vision of universal spiritual oneness.