- Mouni Sadhu
-
Mouni Sadhu (17 August 1897 – 24 December 1971) was the nom de plume of Mieczyslaw Demetriusz Sudowski, an author of mystical and esoteric subjects. Although born in Poland, he eventually became an Australian citizen. As a writer his subject matter concerned Western Hermeticism, and the Yoga tradition of India. In these his two greatest personal influences were the Russian esotericist G.O. Mebes and Ramana Maharshi, respectively. The name "Mouni Sadhu" means "silent (mouni) holy man (sadhu)" in Sanskrit.[1]
His literary estate was left to the Australian Society of Authors, of which he was a member.[2] The royalties that have accrued from the estate now provide for services to Australian Authors.
Contents
Biographical details
Hard and fast information about Sadhu's early life is hampered by the fact that the author was often reluctant to speak about his background. Also, different commentators have furnished conflicting accounts of his early life, whilst furnishing very little in the way of evidence.
According to Sadhu's own application for Australian citizenship, he claimed to have being born in Warsaw, Poland. He married, in 1933, a Catherine Gunt, who died six years later in a bomb-attack coinciding with the outbreak of World War Two. Between September and November 1939, he was a prisoner of war in the USSR. From then until 1945 he was a prisoner of war in Germany. He was released in 1945 and served with the US Army in France until November 1946.
Between 1946 and 1948 he lived for two years in Brazil, before emigrating to Australia. In 1949, he spent five months in India (see below). Sadhu gave his occupation as "electrical mechanic," and "part-time writer."[3][4]
Esoteric involvement
As a young man in Europe, from 1926 to 1933[5], Sadhu belonged to an order of Rosicrucian Hermetists and published a number of books on Tarot and the occult.[6]
In 1949, Sadhu spent several months at the ashram of Ramana Maharshi in Arunachala, India, where he studied Advaita Vedanta. He described this experience in his book "In Days Of Great Peace." Sadhu claimed that his contact with Ramana caused him to attain nirvikalpa samadhi. In almost all of Sadhu's subsequent books, he paid tribute to Ramani Maharshi as the "last of the Great Indian sages."[7] After he moved to Australia, he established a group of Maharshi devotees, but his abiding interest in occultism led the Australian group to part ways with the Indian ashram.[8]
Bibliography
- Quem Sou Eu? - 1947
- In Days of Great Peace - The Highest Yoga As Lived - 1953
- Concentration - A Guide to Mental Mastery - 1959
- Ways to Self-Realization - A Modern Evaluation of Occultism and Spiritual Paths - 1962
- Samadhi - The Superconsciousness of the Future - 1962
- The Tarot - A Contemporary Course on the Quintessence of Hermetic Occultism - 1962
- Theurgy - The Art of Effective Worship - 1965
- Meditation - An Outline for Practical Study - 1967
- Initiations by Paul Sedir; translated from the French by Mouni Sadhu (currently out of print).
References
- ^ Merton, below.
- ^ http://www.asauthors.org/scripts/cgiip.exe/WService=ASP0016/ccms.r?PageId=10133
- ^ Sadhu, M, [n.d], Declaration for Australian Citizenship, accessed 2009-05-01
- ^ Sadhu, M, [n.d], Declaration for Australian Citizenship, accessed 2009-05-01
- ^ Bonnie Cehovet, review of Sadhu's The Tarot: A Contemporary Course of the Quintessence of Hermetic Occultism (Wilshire, 1963)
- ^ Thomas Merton, Patrick Hart, Naomi B. Stone, The Asian journal of Thomas Merton, p. 190, n 113 (New Directions, 1975; ISB 0811205703)
- ^ See, for example, Concentration, The Tarot, Theurgy, Samadhi, etc.
- ^ Merton, loc. cit.
External links
- http://www.mounisadhu.com/
- What Is Meditation by Mouni Sadhu
Categories: 1897 births | 1971 deaths | Australian people of Polish descent | Australian spiritual writers | Australian writer stubs
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.
