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Peace Practices among the Iroquois Douglas George-Kanentiio Abstract: The author, a Mohawk scholar and roiiane, or representative, describes the founding of the Six-Nation Iroquois Confederacy according to the “Great Law of Peace“ and the associated rituals of atonement, condolence, and other peacemaintaining practices.

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The Bringing of Peace and the Establishment of the Iroquois Nation

laborate rituals to insure that peace and harmony are restored after the ebb of conflict constitute a critical part of Haudenosaunee culture—the culture of the Six-Nation Iroquois of northeastern North America. These acts and ceremonies, songs and customs can be traced to the formation of the confederacy in the twelfth century, when a prophet called Skennerahowi, “the Peacemaker” entered the homeland of the Iroquois. Skennerahowi was able to bring an end to war by creating an alliance system of nation-states based upon a common set of rules called Kaiienerekowa, or “the Great Law of Peace.”

Where chaos, violence, and warlords had reigned, Skennerahowi established procedures for resolving disputes. Working in concert with his principal disciples, Aiionwatha (Hiawatha of the Onondagas) and Jikonsawseh (Seneca), Skennerahowi persuaded the Iroquois to cease fighting among themselves and cede partial authority to a Grand Council of all the Iroquois nations: Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca, with the Tuscaroras joining after they fled North Carolina in 1715. This “league of the Iroquois” became the most formidable native organization in North America, with its influences felt far into the continental interior.

The confederacy was, and is, a democratic entity in which each representative to its Grand Council must be selected by his or her respective citizens in a series of public forums open to all regardless ISSUE

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of age or gender. These representatives are called roiiane in Mohawk, meaning “nice people.” Referred to as “chiefs,” they are held to strict codes of behavior and may be recalled for breach of duty. Each candidate is selected by a female leader called a kontiianehson, or clanmother. Her duties stem directly from Jikonsawseh, the first human being to embrace the teachings of Skennenrahowi and subsequently the first clanmother.

No male may assume a position of leadership without first securing the nomination of the clanmother and the endorsement of his clan.

Skennenrahowi instructed the Iroquois in the rituals they were to preserve in order to live in a state of peace. He created a system of fifty roiiane and an equal number of kontiianehson. To each of these he assigned an assistant, or sub-chief, called raterontanonha (“one who takes care of the tree”). He also appointed a female faithkeeper, called iakoterihonton, and a male faithkeeper, called roterihonton. These two were to advise the roiiane and kontiianehson on spiritual matters, in part by ensuring that the ceremonial activities were conducted at an appropriate time and in an appropriate manner. The result was that the governing council of the Mohawks, for example, consisted of forty-five individuals (roiiane, kontiianehson, iakoterihonton, and roterihonton). Each of the three Mohawk clans had three roiiane as titled male leaders.

There are, in general, nine clans within Iroquois society, which are divided into ecological realms: hawk, snipe, and heron from the sky; bear, wolf, and deer from the earth; and turtle, eel, and beaver from the water.

(The Mohawks and Oneidas have only three: bear, wolf ,and turtle.) Clans are essential to Iroquois life. Disputes, property disbursement, ceremonies, marriages, and political stature all are rooted in clan affiliation. Each citizen of the confederacy must have membership within a clan, which follows a maternal line. However, by a process of naturalization or adoption called rotishennakehte (“they carry the name”), a person born of another nation may be accorded all the rights and duties of all other Iroquois.

Adoptees are given a clan name, and they are free to take part in the activities of their respective communities, except that they may not hold elective office. In many instances in the past, the adoptions were made to replace someone who had died in warfare. The adoptee assumed the dead person’s identity, social standing, name, occupation, and family obligations. The adoptee’s former self was entirely obliterated. After decades of inclusion beginning in the seventeenth century, the Iroquois had become a complex mixture of dozens of native peoples such as Huron, Tutelo, Susquehanna, Mohican, and many others. Added to this in later years were captured Europeans and a few Africans who escaped slavery to find refuge within the confederacy.

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The Practice of Atonement In this tradition, when an offense has occurred, the clan leaders—the roiiane and kontiianeshon—serve as arbitrators and judges. The Iroquois justice system is based on reconciliation and atonement, as opposed to the Western system of adversaries and punishment. All efforts are made to have the offending party acknowledge his or her wrong and make amends to the injured person in order to make things whole and complete.

Removing the offender from the community is not an option except when a serious crime such as rape or murder has been committed. In such cases, capital punishment may be imposed. Under traditional law, a sentence of death is also considered when children are sexually abused. A person found guilty of a lesser crime must make amends through the issuing of a formal apology before a public assembly. The offender is then assigned a series of tasks designed to reinforce good behavior while satisfying the person who has been wronged. All victims have a right to determine the degree of punishment, but they must not remove the offender from his or her normal duties, and they are required to restore them to good standing.

Compensation is also ordered; the offender either gives wampum to the victims, restores stolen goods, or renders physical labor until the victim can return to his or her former condition. In all instances, the Iroquois strive to return to a state of mental, emotional, and spiritual clarity called kanikenriio (the good mind). This can only occur when a person is free of guilt and the compulsions of hatred and revenge.

At the time of Skennenrahowi, the Iroquois were consumed by wars, which were particularly harsh given the Iroquois’ common heritage. After great effort, Skennerahowi convinced many Iroquois that there was an alternative to conflict using the principles of the Great Law of Peace, but he had yet to find a way to alleviate the personal anguish felt by those who had suffered the loss of family and friends. It was Aiionwatha who came up with a solution in which atonement without revenge and forgiveness without sacrifice were possible.

Aiionwatha became, along with Jikonsawseh, the most effective advocate for the establishment of the confederacy. But he was confronted by the Onondaga warlord and sorcerer Atotaho, who was said to have the power to command the winds. Atotaho was thoroughly evil, his appearance marked by snakes entangled in his hair and seven crooks in his twisted body. Deformed and suspicious, he was given to the consumption of human flesh. He responded to Skennenrahowi’s peacemaking and Aiionwatha’s advocacy by keeping the Onondagas in a state of terror by threatening to murder anyone who embraced the ISSUE 9, OCTOBER 2009

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Great Law. His rage against his kinsman Aiionwatha was so great as to cause him to kill all seven of Aiionwatha’s daughters.

Aiionwatha went insane with grief, stumbling about for many days until he reached a small lake south of the main Onondaga towns. There he sat, with the intensity of his sadness so great as to cause the water birds to flee from his presence, taking the lake’s waters with them. Aiionwatha had sufficient awareness to notice this strange event. He saw clusters of snail shells on the lake bottom. He gathered the snail shells into a string and held them in his hand, uncertain if his suffering would ever be relieved.

At that time Skennenrahowi approached, singing a chant that restored Aiionwatha’s reason and brought him to kanikenriio.

The words of healing, first spoken by Skennerahowi 800 years ago, were used when the Iroquois as a group approached the evil sorcerer Atotaho, who used every tactic and power he had to defeat them, only to be subdued by the power of Skennenrahowi’s songs. He was the last to accept the Great Law of Peace, and in recognition of his conversion, he was given the role of chairperson of the new confederacy. Atotaho had to acknowledge his past before his mind and body were healed. He grasped the string of shells brought by Aiionwatha and accepted his fate. Rather than have the sorcerer executed, Skennenrahowi converted his power from evil into a force which propelled the confederacy into being.

The Condolence Ritual and the Transfer of Power All roiiane had to have a title name that was decided upon at the time of the formation of the confederacy. The names are permanent and clanspecific. They are transferred to a roiiane at the time of his installation in a ceremony called a “condolence,” which commemorates the death of the roiiane whom the new roiiane is to replace.

Skennenrahowi created the procedures by which a condolence takes place. Upon the death of a roiiane, the mourning nation will send out strings of wampum to each of the other nations. The person carrying the strings, known as a “runner,” calls the nations to gather to replace the former roiiane with another. Once the confederate representatives have assembled, the words of Skennenrahowi are spoken in a long chant in a sort of eulogy. The singers begin, symbolically, at “the edge of the woods,” just as Skennenrahowi emerged from the forest to the clearing before Atotaho. These songs cite the grief felt by all the people at the loss of a clan leader and then cite the formation of the confederacy. These “Hai Hai” songs may take hours to complete. They express not only sadness but also the joy at the knowledge that the Great Law of Peace endures.

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For this event the confederacy divides into two sections: the “younger brothers (or nephews),” meaning the Oneidas, Cayugas, and Tuscaroras, who speak and sing the words of condolence to the “elder brothers (or uncles),” the Mohawks, Onondagas, and Senecas. A restoration of the mind is called for, along with an alleviation of sorrow. If the older brothers have suffered the death of a roiiane, then the younger ones will conduct the grieving rituals, a situation which is reversed if the younger ones have experienced a death.

The speakers in a condolence ceremony will make use of symbols, such as the skin of a fawn, which is used to wipe the eyes clear of tears; a feather, to open the ear channels; and pure spring water, to remove the blockage in the throat. The speakers recite how the confederacy came to be and call off the title names of each of the fifty roiiane. Tobacco is placed into an open fire as part of the ritual as an offering meant to carry the words of the people to the universe.

Some Examples of Ritual Symbology The purple and white colors of beads drilled from quahog clam shells were deemed sacred by the Iroquois, and these beads would in time replace the shells. The colors represented the transition from the blood, which pools beneath the surface of the skin (purple), to the clarity of healing (white). Called anonkoha in Mohawk, the beads would be woven in belts and strands, the alignment and patterns having specific meaning. These wampum beads were vital to the culture of the Iroquois and would, during the American colonial period, be used as currency, a practice quite distinct from its original intent.

Besides the strings and belts of shells, Skennenrahowi used universal symbols to represent the events of the day. He said the eastern white pine, the tallest of the northeastern trees, would represent the confederacy, with its roots deep into the ground and its top touching the clouds, connecting earth and sky while visible to all human beings. The four roots of the great tree of peace were white and gleamed in the sun, extending in the four sacred directions. They were meant to be followed to the tree itself. All nations and individuals were free to walk alongside the roots and secure physical, spiritual, and moral shelter beneath the branches of the tree. On top of the tree Skennenrahowi placed an eagle to watch for anyone approaching and to call to the people below to be alert to possible dangers. Before the confederacy was formally established, Skennenrahowi caused the tree to be uprooted from the ground, and in the resulting large cavity he pointed out a fast-flowing underground ISSUE 9, OCTOBER 2009

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stream. He had all the former warlords and warriors throw their weapons into the hole, where the waters carried the weapons away. He replanted the tree and said that the casting away of the weapons meant warfare was forever outlawed among the nations of the confederacy and their allies.

Besides being thrown onto a fire during the condolence process, tobacco is smoked by the roiiane from white clay pipes during the installation of ceremonies. It is said that the tobacco plant was brought to earth from the sky-world and is the means by which human prayers are most effectively carried, not only to the world of humans but also to the spiritual beings that monitor human activity. When tobacco is placed into fire and becomes smoke, words become power and thoughts have physical substance. It is considered evil to misuse this power, and there are severe repercussions for those who employ it for purposes other than prayer, thanksgiving, or clarity of mind. Due to its close association with humans, tobacco is called oionkwa'onwe, a word that has the same root as the word for “human beings.”

Peace-Seeking during the Colonial Period The removal of sorrow and anger is a necessary function of all Iroquois social, ceremonial, and political activities. No important session can begin without the recitation of the ohenten kariwahtekwen, the “words which come before all else.” This recitation speaks directly to the different elements of the planet, beginning with the earth and proceeding to water, fishes, insect, plants, animals, birds, winds, thunder, moon, stars, spiritual beings, and the creator. Gratitude is expressed to all of these entities and then is carried over to the actual communal function. The recitation is also meant to remove any feelings of hostility by placing the human experience within a broader natural and spiritual cycle. Once the emotions of the moment are swept away and clarity of mind is restored, the matters at hand may be addressed free from the encumbrance of spite.

The Iroquois have used these methods of peace-thinking and peace-acting for generations. The historical record lists hundreds of events marked by the “cleansing of the mind” and the “raising of the tree” between the Iroquois and their European neighbors. Beginning with the encounter with the French explorer Jacques Cartier in 1534, the Iroquois have used the power of imagery, ritual, and music to effect peace. Wampum diplomacy was initiated with the Dutch in the second decade of the seventeenth century, followed by the use of the “silver covenant chain” between England and the confederacy in 1677. Earlier, in

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1653, a formal treaty of peace and friendship was made with the French; it was marked by the planting of a “maypole tree” in Quebec. Although this compact was not to last, a permanent treaty guaranteeing peace with the French was signed in 1701. That agreement is still held to be in effect by the confederacy.

As part of the formal negotiations with the European nations, the confederacy performed acts of atonement prior to discussions of what the terms of a given treaty would be. Speakers would rise, express their sorrow, appeal for healing, and then give belts of wampum as compensation for any losses. The European delegation would reciprocate. The language and rituals of Native-European treatymaking took root with the Iroquois. The employment of phrases such as “as long as the grass grows” began in the northeast, as was the smoking of tobacco in “peace pipes.” The requirement that no Native lands could be transferred without the consent of national governments stemmed from the Iroquois complaining to the British concerning avaricious land speculators trespassing on Native territory, entering into fraudulent sales agreements with individuals, and then using force to remove the natives.

This insistence on a formal set of rules led to the enactment of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, outlawing intrusions into Indian lands west of the Allegheny Mountains. This agreement proved to be one of the primary causes of the American Revolution.

The Revolutionary War and Its Aftermath The Revolutionary War, which the confederacy perceived as a family fight among the Europeans, drove a deep wedge among the Iroquois as factions within the league elected to fight for or against the rebellious Americans.

As brutal as the conflict was on the frontier, it was equally destructive to the Iroquois. Dozens of Iroquois towns were destroyed, hundreds died of starvation, and entire populations were relocated to Upper Canada (now Ontario). Yet the Haudenosaunee Confederacy endured, and a sufficient number of representatives were summoned to meet with the Americans in western New York in the fall of 1794. The result, after the rituals of condolence, was the one and only treaty between the Iroquois as a collective and the United States.

In subsequent years, the Iroquois lost most of their lands. The greater part of the population moved into Canada, north of the Great Lakes, or even further west to Wisconsin. A group of Senecas and Cayugas settled in northeastern Oklahoma, while a small band of Mohawks secured land in north-central Alberta. Under this stress of displacement and reduced ISSUE 9, OCTOBER 2009

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political influence, the Iroquois degenerated into a period of chaos marked by widespread alcohol abuse. This destructive behavior was brought under control as a result of the religious teachings of Skaniateriio (Handsome Lake), a Seneca prophet. He had a series of visions beginning in 1799, in which he was shown how the Iroquois might survive in a distinctly different world.

Skaniateriio stressed the need for the public admission of transgressions. He introduced the practice of holding a string of sacred wampum while making a confession during one of the thirteen ceremonies that mark the Iroquois lunar year. He taught that without a purging of guilt there would be severe repercussions in the spirit-world.

Prior to this, the Iroquois perception of the afterlife was one of release and awareness: the spirit was liberated from the body to return along a star path to a place of living light, an actual planet in the Pleiades cluster.

While on this journey, the spirit would come to know the mysteries of the universe and would be thereby enlightened. Punishment for acts of evil beyond the clan sanctions was meted out at the time of death; the offending spirit was denied enlightenment. Skaniateriio expanded upon this, describing in vivid detail a version of hellfire and damnation radical enough to counter the moral anarchy threatening to overwhelm ancestral customs.

Skaniateriio succeeded in part because he did not try to suppress Skennenrahowi’s principles but to strengthen them by emphasizing the need to maintain the traditional rituals. The result was a body of ethics called “The Code of Handsome Lake.” It is recited entirely by memory each year among the Iroquois, with each community sponsoring the recital on a rotating basis.

The fundamental elements of Iroquois society have endured into the twenty-first century. Clan affiliation is stable even as the Iroquois language endures great stress. The ceremonial cycle is followed in most territories, but as for the ancient practices of atonement as witnessed by the community, these are only a whisper of what once was, and they are no longer central to resolving disputes. An Iroquois citizen who breaches the law is more likely to be imprisoned than reconciled. Compensation is made difficult because crimes against property have become commonplace. The roiiane and kontiianehson no longer serve as arbitrators. As in many other areas of life, Canadian and American justice methods have supplanted the ancient customs. 

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A Hindu Monk’s Appreciation of Eastern Orthodoxy’s Jesus Prayer The “Inner Senses” of Hearing, Seeing, and Feeling in Comparative Perspective Joseph Molleur Abstract: One of the most influential monks of the (Hindu) Ramakrishna Order to have come to the West is Swami Prabhavananda, who led the Vedanta Society of Southern California from 1923 until his death in 1976. In three of his published commentaries, Prabhavananda quotes extensively from The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, Russian Orthodoxy’s classic texts on the practice of the frequent (ideally, unceasing) repetition of the Jesus Prayer: “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.” The aim of this article is to analyze Prabhavananda’s treatment of Eastern Orthodoxy’s Jesus Prayer tradition, with special attention to the issue of the “inner senses” of spiritual hearing, seeing, and feeling.

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ord Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy on me, a sinner.” This prayer formula, sometimes with slight variations (such as the omission of either “Son of God” or “a sinner” or both), is referred to in Eastern Orthodox Christianity as the “Jesus Prayer” or the “Prayer of the Heart.” Two of Eastern Orthodoxy’s most prominent commentators on the Jesus Prayer tradition, Kallistos Ware1 and Lev Gillet,2 have rightly pointed out that the appeal of the Jesus Prayer in recent decades has spread beyond the confines of Eastern Orthodoxy, with many Roman Catholic and Protestant Christians now repeating the prayer as a regular component of their spiritual practice. Appreciation of the Jesus Prayer has spread even beyond the borders of Christianity. For example, in an article called “Jesus Prayer and the Nembutsu,” Taitetsu Unno, a Shin Buddhist of the Pure Land tradition, explores with great appreciation the affinities between the Orthodox practice of repeating the Jesus Prayer and ISSUE

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the Japanese Pure Land Buddhist practice of repeating as its normative prayer Namo Amida Butsu, “I take refuge in Amitabha, the Buddha of Immeasurable Light and Life.”3 Another example is Swami Prabhavananda, the main subject of this article. Prabhavananda, who led the Vedanta Society of Southern California from 1923 until his death in 1976, is one of the most influential monks of the (Hindu) Ramakrishna Order to have “come to the West.” In three of his published commentaries (two on Hindu sacred texts and one on the Sermon on the Mount), Prabhavananda quotes extensively from The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, Russian Orthodoxy’s anonymously authored classic texts on the practice of the Jesus Prayer. The aim of this article is to analyze Prabhavananda’s treatment of Eastern Orthodoxy’s Jesus Prayer tradition, with special attention to the issue of the “inner senses” of “spiritual hearing,” “spiritual seeing,” and “spiritual feeling.”

While the events described in The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way probably took place sometime between 1853 and 1861, the first Russian edition of the texts was not published until 1884.4 It is unknown how long they may have existed in manuscript form prior to their initial publication. The books have since become enormously important, because they have popularized the spiritual approach of another—and considerably less accessible—classic of Eastern Orthodox spirituality, The Philokalia.5 Indeed, it is largely due to the widespread popularity and appeal of The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way that the Jesus Prayer tradition is no longer limited to Eastern Orthodox Christians but has come to make a strong impression on nonChristians such as Swami Prabhavananda.

Together with the novelist Christopher Isherwood, one of his most famous Western disciples, Prabhavananda coauthored a translation of and commentary on the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali—Hinduism’s premier how-to guide for the practice of meditation. (How to Know God is the rather unconventional title of their Yoga Sutras translation and commentary.)

In their translation, verses 27–29 of part one of the Yoga Sutras read as follows: The word which expresses Him [Ishwara/God] is OM. This word must be repeated with meditation upon its meaning. Hence comes knowledge of the Atman [indwelling divinity] and destruction of the obstacles to that knowledge.6 In commenting on these verses, Prabhavananda and Isherwood emphasize the power of the word in the spiritual life and how the constant repetition (a practice known as japa in the Hindu tradition) of a spiritu-

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ally charged word or phrase (called a mantra) can greatly conduce to spiritual progress. In the course of their commentary, the authors quote at length three paragraphs—all of which will subsequently come under consideration in this article—from The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way.7 Prabhavananda also draws directly on the two books in his commentary on Narada’s Bhakti Sutras, titled Narada’s Way of Divine Love. One of the Hindu tradition’s most important sacred texts on the “path of devotion,” Narada’s Bhakti Sutras articulates the various ways by which a spiritual aspirant can experience the love of God. According to verses 36 and 37 of Prabhavananda’s translation of the Bhakti Sutras, “Supreme love is attained by uninterrupted and constant worship of God, by hearing of and singing the glory of the Lord, even while engaged in the ordinary activities of life.”8 In his explication of these verses, Prabhavananda—with the help of The Way of a Pilgrim and the Pilgrim Continues His Way—urges the devotee to keep heart and mind in God unceasingly, by means of mantra repetition and meditation.9 Finally, in his boundary-crossing commentary titled The Sermon on the Mount according to Recitation of God’s Vedanta, Prabhavananda once again quotes at length from The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His name can be viewed as a Way, this time in the process of analyzing the phase “hallowed be thy name” from the Lord’s Prayer (Matt. mantra practice.

6:9). Prabhavananda argues that God’s name can be viewed as a mantra mantra, the repetition of which both confers spiritual power and purifies the aspirant’s heart and mind. By means of this practice, God’s “name is experienced as living and conscious, as one with God—and illumination is attained.”10 Prabhavananda quotes the same two paragraphs—one from The Way of a Pilgrim and the other from its sequel, The Pilgrim Continues His Way—in all three of his books just mentioned. (Prabhavananda makes use of R. M. French’s translation, in which The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way are included together in a single volume.11) The first quotation is taken from a point early on in The Way of a Pilgrim, when the anonymous pilgrim who authored the book receives instruction from a starets, a monk who acted as the pilgrim’s spiritual director. The instructions Prabhavananda quotes were as follows: The continuous interior Prayer of Jesus is a constant uninterrupted calling upon the divine Name of Jesus with the lips, in the spirit, in the heart, while forming a mental picture of his constant presence, and imploring his grace, during every occupation, at all times, in all places, ISSUE 9, OCTOBER 2009

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even during sleep. The appeal is couched in these terms, “Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me.”12 One who accustoms himself to this appeal experiences as a result so deep a consolation and so great a need to offer the prayer always, that he can no longer live without it, and it will continue to voice itself within him of its own accord.13 The spiritual senses of “inner hearing” and “inner seeing” seem to feature prominently here. Concerning inner hearing, the practitioner voices, first “with the lips” and then “in the spirit” and “in the heart,” the words of the Jesus Prayer until eventually, after long practice, the prayer voices itself within the heart and mind. Prabhavananda comments: “You can make japam [repeat the divine name] aloud if you are alone, or silently if you are among other people.”14 And on the prayer’s voicing itself within us of its own accord, Prabhavananda notes: “Through constant practice, the repetition becomes automatic. It no longer has to be consciously willed.”15 In other words, eventually we reach the stage where we hear the Jesus Prayer repeating itself within us, nearly all the time.

As for the spiritual sense of “inner seeing,” this concerns the instruction to form and maintain a clear mental picture of Jesus while meditating on the words of the prayer. Very significantly, Prabhavananda does not launch into a discussion of a practice that is common in Hindu spirituality, the meditative practice of visualizing every aspect of the appearance of one’s beloved deity, from head to toe. Instead, he makes comments such as the following: “If we persevere in our repetition, it will inevitably lead us . . . to think about the reality which it represents.”16 And, “You then live always in the awareness of the presence of God.”17 Also, “The aspirant must feel the presence of God within himself as he chants the name.”18 This approach shows that Prabhavananda has an appreciative insight into Orthodoxy’s nervousness about attempting to picture Jesus’ physical appearance in one’s imagination. In contrast to the teaching in The Way of a Pilgrim concerning the practice of “forming a mental picture of [Jesus’] constant presence,” a hermit whom our pilgrim encounters in the sequel, The Pilgrim Continues His Way, warns against “using the imagination and . . . accepting any sort of vision [spiritual seeing] during contemplation,” including visions of Christ.19 On this subject, Eastern Orthodox theologian Kallistos Ware writes: “As we invoke the Name, we should not deliberately shape in our minds any visual image of the Savior.” Preferable to “forming pictures of the Savior” is “simply feeling his presence.”20 Ware cites many examples of Orthodox authors who have strongly expressed this preference.21 So what seems at first glance in The Way of a Pilgrim to be encouragement to exercise one’s spiritual sense of “inner seeing” is really under-

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stood in the Orthodox teaching on the Jesus Prayer to concern “inner feeling,” and Prabhavananda understood this. His comments emphasize “feeling” the beloved deity’s presence during japa rather than seeing the deity’s physical form in the mind’s eye. (Picturing Jesus in one’s imagination must not be confused, however, with a practice highly prized in Eastern Orthodox spirituality, the practice of viewing actual icons of Jesus with one’s physical eyes.)

The second passage that Prabhavananda reproduces in all three of his books under discussion was taken from The Pilgrim Continues His Way. The speaker is a skhimnik, a monk who has attained the highest of the three grades of Russian Orthodox monasticism.22 This skhimnik is portrayed as conveying the teaching of an unidentified “spiritual writer,” as follows: Many so-called enlightened people regard this frequent offering of one and the same prayer as useless and even trifling, calling it mechanical and a thoughtless occupation of simple people. But unfortunately they do not know the secret which is revealed as a result of this mechanical exercise; they do not know how this frequent service of the lips imperceptibly becomes a genuine appeal of the heart, sinks down into the inward life, becomes a delight, becomes, as it were, natural to the soul, bringing it light and nourishment and leading it on to union with God.23 On the notion that repetition of the Jesus Prayer can bring the soul light, we read earlier on in The Way of a Pilgrim an even stronger assertion: Everyone who . . . sink[s] down in silence into the depths of one’s heart and call[s] more and more upon the radiant name of Jesus . . . feels at once the inward light, everything becomes understandable to him, he even catches sight in this light of some of the mysteries of the Kingdom of God.24 Swami Prabhavananda has much to say on this topic of seeing an inner light during japa and on the process of illumination more generally. For example, he writes: “Through repetition of the mantra, mind and heart are purified. Eventually the name is experienced as living and conscious, as one with God—and illumination is attained.”25 And commenting on Jesus’ teaching that “The light of the body is the eye: if, therefore, thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light” (Matt.

6:22, KJV), Prabhavananda says: “Concentration of the mind on the chosen ideal of God is the way to uncover . . . the divine light within.”26 Further, commenting on the teaching of the Yoga Sutras that “concentration may ISSUE 9, OCTOBER 2009

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also be attained by fixing the mind upon the Inner Light, which is beyond sorrow” (I:36), Prabhavananda writes: The ancient yogis believed that there was an actual center of spiritual consciousness, called “the lotus of the heart,” . . . which could be revealed in deep meditation . . . and that it shone with an inner light. . . . [T]hose who saw it were filled with an extraordinary sense of peace and joy.27 It is worth noting that, both here and in the passage from The Way of a Pilgrim referred just above, the locus of this inner light is said to be the heart.28 We may well ask: Is this process of illumination, of perceiving light within oneself, properly understood as an inner feeling? Or as inner seeing? Or merely as intellectual illumination? Eastern Orthodox theologian Lev Gillet offers the following interpretation: “[T]he invocation of the Name . . . is very often accompanied by an inner feeling of joy, warmth, and light. One has an impression of moving and walking in the light.29 Elsewhere Gillet greatly expands and deepens his analysis: Concerning the luminous vision to which the Jesus Prayer leads, let us distinguish four possibilities. There is in the first place the perception, by the natural organs, of a light produced supernaturally; this has happened to both saints and sinners. Next, far above the first as a limiting case, there is the supernatural perception of a supernatural light, a perception that is not sensible or physical, and that consequently transcends normal psychology.

Gillet likens this experience of “supernatural perception of a supernatural light” to Christ’s transfiguration. He continues: At the bottom of the ladder, there is the purely symbolic use of the word light, when the name of Jesus is regarded in a figurative sense as the sun of the soul. Between this case and the first one considered, there is room for an intermediate possibility: the constant or frequent practice of the Jesus Prayer can place the one who prays in an habitual inner state of “luminosity.” Even if he closes his eyes, he has the impression of being penetrated by radiance and of moving in light. This is more than a symbol; it is less than a sensible perception, and is certainly not an ecstasy; but it is something real, although indescribable.30 I have referred to Gillet’s analysis of the experience of inner light at some length here because he goes into greater detail about the possible meaning of the experience than does Prabhavananda. What is important to note about the Swami’s analysis is that he agrees with the author(s)

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of both The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way that the practice of repeating the divine name leads to a real and palpable sense of “seeing an inner light.”

In addition to the two passages discussed thus far, quoted by Prabhavananda in all three of his books under discussion, there is a further quotation from The Pilgrim Continues His Way that appears only in Prabhavananda’s work on Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras. Here, the same skhimnik who was previously mentioned is drawing on the writings of the early church father John Chrysostom: St. John Chrysostom, in his teaching about prayer, speaks as follows: “No one should give the answer that it is impossible for a man occupied with worldly cares, and who is unable to go to church, to pray always.

Everywhere, wherever you may find yourself, you can set up an altar to God in your mind by means of prayer. And so it is fitting to pray at your trade, on a journey, standing at the counter or sitting at your handicraft. . . . In such an order of life all his actions, by the power of the invocation of the Name of God, would be signalized by success, and finally he would train himself to the uninterrupted prayerful invocation of the Name of Jesus Christ. He would come to know from experience that frequency of prayer, this sole means of salvation, is a possibility for the will of man, that it is possible to pray at all times, in all circumstances, and in every place, and easily to rise from frequent vocal prayer to prayer of the mind and from that to prayer of the heart, which opens up the Kingdom of God within us.”31 Commenting specifically on the notion of the “power of the invocation of the name of God,” Prabhavananda writes: “The power of the Word, for good and for evil, has been recognized by mankind since the dawn of history.”32 A bit further along in his analysis, he adds: [W]e should appreciate the power of the Word in our spiritual life; and this appreciation can only come through practical experience. People who have never tried the practice of repeating the name of God are apt to scoff at it: it seems to them so empty, so mechanical.33 Here Prabhavananda is also answering those who have criticized the practice of repeating the same prayer over and over again. The Swami comments further, in what I hold to be a very significant statement: Try saying “war,” or “cancer,” or “money” ten thousand times, and you will find that your whole mood has been changed and colored by the associations connected with that word. Similarly, the name of God will change the climate of your mind. It cannot do otherwise.34 ISSUE 9, OCTOBER 2009

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Often in Asian thought, the mind is considered to be a sixth senseorgan in addition to the usual five. Viewed in this way, “changing the climate of your mind” through the practice of japa (repetition of one’s mantra) is yet another example of “inner sense experience.”

It is understandable why Swami Prabhavananda would want to draw on the Jesus Prayer tradition, as articulated in The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way, in his commentary on a Christian sacred text, Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount. But why cite these Eastern Orthodox texts, and their underlying tradition, in his commentaries on two Hindu sacred texts—Patanjali’s Yoga Sutras and Narada’s Bhakti Sutras—as well? One can only speculate; my own response begins with the recognition that the Hindu practice of japa (that is, repeating one’s mantra mantra, which contains the name of one’s beloved deity) and the Eastern Orthodox practice of repeating the Jesus Prayer are phenomenologically very similar. That is to say, in both cases the actual practice involves repeating, many hundreds or even thousands of times a day, a short prayer formula that includes the name of one’s beloved deity, resulting in the descent of the prayer into the heart, the eventual automaticity of the prayer, and the experience of inner light. This phenomenological similarity has been recognized not only by Prabhavananda but by the author of The Way of a Pilgrim and by Kallistos Ware as well. We read in The Way of a Pilgrim (unbeknownst to these nineteenth-century Russians, the Hindu practice clearly predated the Christian one): It was from [the great and very holy men of olden times . . . such as Anthony the Great, Macarius the Great, Mark the spiritual athlete, John Chrysostom] that the monks of India . . . took over the “heart method” of interior prayer, only they quite spoiled and garbled it in doing so, as my starets explained to me.”35 And according to Kallistos Ware, The frame of the Jesus Prayer certainly resembles various non-Christian frames [he mentions Sufi as well as Hindu parallels], but this should not make us insensitive to the uniqueness of the picture within, to the distinctively Christian content of the Prayer.36 In other words, as religious phenomena, the Orthodox Jesus Prayer tradition and the Hindu practice of japa japa, or mantra repetition, are very similar, but when it comes to the specific divine name invoked by the practitioners of the two traditions, for Ware (and, one suspects, for the great majority of Christians) it makes all the difference in the world that the name is Jesus, rather than Vishnu, or Krishna, or Shiva, or Kali, or

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Durga, or whatever name a Hindu may use to address the presence of the divine. And the reverse is undoubtedly true as well: most Hindus would not feel right reciting the name of Jesus.

Returning to the possible reasons for Prabhavananda’s repeated references to an Eastern Orthodox practice, first, it is clear from the tone of his discussions of the Jesus Prayer that he held the prayer in great respect and considered it to be a valid spiritual practice. This is not surprising when we recall that the Ramakrishna Order, of which Prabhavananda was a member, views Jesus as a bona fide avatara, or divine incarnation, and has therefore always shown great respect and reverence for Jesus. Second, the sort of spiritual path that is advocated in The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way is familiar to many Hindus and can perhaps be viewed as giving evidence that the practice of mantra recitation may be universal. A third possible reason is that Prabhavananda might have felt that Western readers would understand what he had to say about prayer more easily if he referred to a Christian prayer practice that was in many ways similar to his own. And finally, having shown knowledge of and respect and sympathy for a Christian practice, Prabhavananda undoubtedly hoped that this would inspire Westerners to view his religion with the same generosity and understanding.  Notes

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

An earlier version of this study was presented on November 3, 2008, at a joint session of the Mysticism Group and Eastern Orthodox Studies Group at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Religion in Chicago, Illinois. The session was on the theme of “Eastern Orthodoxy and the Spiritual Senses.” I wish to express my gratitude to the attendees of the session, whose questions and comments led to the strengthening of this article. I also wish to thank David Rounds for invaluable editorial assistance in preparing the final draft.

“The Power of the Name: The Function of the Jesus Prayer,” Cross Currents 24:2–3 (Summer–Fall, 1974): 187.

On the Invocation of the Name of Jesus (Springfield, IL: Templegate, 1985), 7; The Jesus Prayer (Crestwood, NY: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 1987), 86–7.

Buddhist-Christian Studies 22 (2002): 93.

R. M. French, in his “Translator’s Note” to The Way of a Pilgrim and The Pilgrim Continues His Way (San Francisco: Harper Collins, 1965), xi–xii. Hereafter cited as WP&PCW. Published in five volumes as The Philokalia: The Complete Text, trans. and ed. G. E. H. Palmer, Philip Sherrard, and Kallistos Ware (London: Faber and Faber, 1979–2007).

For a very useful abridgement, see Allyne Smith, ed., Philokalia: The Eastern Christian Spiritual Texts (Woodstock, VT: SkyLight Paths, 2006).

How to Know God: The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali (Hollywood: Vedanta Press, 1953), 56. Hereafter cited as HKG.

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8. Narada’s Way of Divine Love: The Bhakti Sutras (Hollywood: Vedanta Press, 1971), 85.

Hereafter cited as NWDL. 9. NWDL, 85–90.

10. The Sermon on the Mount according to Vedanta (Hollywood: Vedanta Press, 1963), 87–91. Hereafter cited as SMV. 11. Some scholars contend that The Pilgrim Continues His Way has a different author than The Way of a Pilgrim, but that debate lies outside the scope of the present study. See, e.g., Gillet, Jesus Prayer, 83.

12. In the Russian original, the Jesus prayer reads as follows: “Господи, Иисусе Христе, помилуй мя!”

13. WP&PCW, 9–10; HKG, 62–3; NWDL, 89; SMV, 89.

14. HKG, 61–62.

15. HKG, 60.

16. HKG, 61.

17. NWDL, 85.

18. NWDL, 87.

19. WP&PCW, 196.

20. “Power of the Name,” 194.

21. In his introduction to Igumen Chariton’s The Art of Prayer: An Orthodox Anthology, trans. E. Kadloubovsky and E. M. Palmer (London: Faber and Faber, 1966), 24–6, 33, 100–1.

22. WP&PCW, 209.

23. WP&PCW, 178–9; HKG, 63; NWDL, 89; SMV, 89–90.

24. WP&PCW, 78.

25. SMV, 90.

26. SMV, 104.

27. HKG, 71; cf. Chandogya Upanishad 8.1.1: “Within the city of Brahman, which is the body, there is the heart, and within the heart there is a little house. This house has the shape of a lotus, and within it dwells that which is to be sought after, inquired about, and realized” (quoted in HKG, 72).

28. It is interesting to note that in Buddhism, also, practitioners are commonly instructed to focus their meditation within the heart chakra.

29. Invocation of the Name of Jesus, 24.

30. Jesus Prayer, 109; cf. a similar but less complex analysis by Ware, Art of Prayer, 26.

31. WP&PCW, 174–5; HKG, 63–4.

32. HKG, 57.

33. HKG, 58.

34. HKG 59–60.

35. WP&PCW, 55.

36. “Power of the Name,” 199.

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