Isherwood

Swami Prabhavananda & Christopher Isherwood's Bhagavad Gita is easy to read and absorb.

“Christopher Isherwood was multifaceted… celebrated writer… “connoisseur of people” who, as host, mixed disparate people with the skill of a master chemist… college drop-out who became a distinguished lecturer and teacher of literature and writing and generously mentored aspiring writers. 

Less (well known) is his role as an early practitioner of Vedanta in America… Jeffery Paine writes, “Only little by little did he (Isherwood) realize he was in fact participating in one of the larger religious reinterpretations in history. Something unprecedented was being given birth to, and he was, so to speak, part of the labor pains.” And within Vedanta circles, his tremendous guru-bhakti; his life as one of the original Vedanta Society of Southern California monks; and his reverence for the shrine, the ritual worship, and the relics may come as a complete surprise… The autobiographical My Guru and His Disciple, “To live this synthesis of East and West is the most valuable kind of pioneer work I can imagine.”

Christopher Isherwood was born in 1904… grandson and heir of an English squire… Moreover, his father took an interest in Buddhism; and his mother, Kathleen, was enthusiastic about Indian culture and had attended lectures by Jiddu Krishnamurti long before Chris encountered Vedanta… Isherwood wanted to explore life, including coming to terms with his homosexuality, in a more socially liberal environment than England’s, which he found constraining.  

As Germany was preparing for World War II, Isherwood’s anti-war feelings grew stronger… The election of Adolph Hitler as Chancellor made the war inevitable… Heard and Huxley left England for America; and Isherwood and his companion, W.H. Auden, left Germany for the Far East… Auden stayed on the East Coast and Isherwood eventually drifted to Hollywood, where he found that both Heard and Huxley had shifted their focus from politics to religion, specifically Vedanta, under the guidance of Swami Prabhavananda. 

In 1939, at Huxley’s but especially Heard’s urging, Isherwood met and then made an appointment with Swami Prabhavananda. Isherwood was, however, determined to reveal his homosexuality from the start. If Swami’s reaction was unsatisfactory, there would be no need to ever see him again, but if Chris felt good about the response, he would give it a chance. He writes of that first appointment, “I wasn’t at all discouraged by the Swami’s reply…What reassured me—what convinced me that I could become his pupil—was that he hadn’t shown the least shadow of distaste on hearing me admit to my homosexuality.” He goes on to write that Swami’s position was that it is lust itself of any kind, regardless of the object, that is the spiritual impediment.  

In July of 1940, Isherwood’s uncle died, making him the recipient of the ancestral home, Marple Hall, and the family fortune. Isherwood renounced the inheritance in favor of his younger brother, Richard. Isherwood was by no means financially set at that time; his fortunes were to vacillate throughout his life.  

Isherwood was initiated by Swami Prabhavananda on Holy Mother’s birthday in the winter of 1940. Years later, he wrote  of the initiation: “I had just entered into a relationship with this little Bengali and his establishment which was far more binding and serious than a marriage–I who always had an instinctive horror of the marriage bond! Would I have involved myself in this way if I had clearly understood what I was doing? Not at that time, I think… the tie between the guru and his initiated disciple cannot be broken… until the disciple realizes the Atman within himself and is thus set free…”

Isherwood’s approach was dedicated and from the heart. He writes, “…the guru-disciple relationship is at the center of everything that religion means to me. It is the one reality of which I am never in doubt, the one guarantee that I shall ultimately surmount my own weakness and find knowledge of eternal peace and joy.” 

In My Guru and His Disciple, Isherwood frequently writes of the co-existence of the divine power and the human within the being of the guru, speculating on when one appeared over the other and noting that as Swami aged, the balance increasingly tilted toward the divine. However, Isherwood loved both aspects, relishing his guru’s humanity, enjoying the man himself. Isherwood writes: “…Gerald offered me discipline, method, intellectual conviction. But the Swami offered me love.” When Heard died, Isherwood wrote, “[the world] has lost one of its few great magic mythmakers and revealer of life’s wonder.”   

As the war went on, Isherwood writes: “… the Swami was urging me to apply to the draft board for re-classification as theological student, 4-D…The Swami had a frankly admitted motive for keeping me out of the forestry camp. He wanted me to come and live as a monk at the Vedanta Center, as soon as he could make arrangements to accommodate men there. This might take several months. But he also had an occupation for me which I could begin work on immediately. He had just finished a rough translation of the Bhagavad-Gita and needed me to help him polish it.” I told him I doubted very much that the [draft] board would agree to reclassify me when I was already good as drafted. Why should they take the trouble to do the extra paperwork? The Swami giggled and said, “Try.” To my ears, there was a slightly uncanny quality in this giggle; it sounded as if he knew something about the situation which I didn’t.  

Isherwood moved into the monastery in 1942… went to work on his the translation of the Bhagavad Gita.  Swami Prabhavananda wrote, “I translated and Chris edited… Aldous said, “No, that is not right yet. Forget that Krishna is speaking to the Hindus in Sanskrit. Forget that this is a translation. Think that Krishna is speaking to an American audience in English… Chris rewrote the whole eleventh chapter of the Gita following Tennyson, I think. He produced the book in a week. He was inspired." Isherwood was not a Sanskrit scholar... “every moment of it was worthwhile… the slow, thorough-going process… considering all the significance of each word and often spending a day on three or four verses—is the ideal way to study, if you have a teacher like Prabhavananda”

The Prabhavananda Gita introduced many Sanskrit terms into the American vocabulary. Isherwood writes “My prejudices [against religion] were largely semantic. I could only approach the subject of mystical religion with the aid of a brand new vocabulary. Sanskrit supplied it. Here were a lot of new words, exact, antiseptic, uncontaminated…Every idea could be made over.” From the Preface we read: “Extremely literal translations of the Gita already exist. We have aimed, rather at an interpretation. Here is one of the greatest religious documents of the world… It has something to say, urgently, to every one of us...” ~ American Vedantist

How Swami Prabhavananda's translation came about:
"Once I was away for a rest in Palm Springs I had a Gita translation with me. When I read the twelfth chapter, I felt that the meaning had not been brought out; I saw deeper meaning in it. So I started to translate, and then Chris helped me.
"I translated and Chris edited. When Peggy Kiskadden came, she read what we had done and could not understand it. Then we went to Aldous. Chris read aloud, and Aldous listened. Aldous said, 'No, that is not right yet. Forget that Krishna is speaking to the Hindus in Sanskrit. Forget that this is a translation. Think that Krishna is speaking to an American audience in English.'
"Then Aldous told Chris which style  to use for verse. Chris rewrote the whole eleventh chapter of the Gita following Tennyson, I think. He produced the book in a week He was inspired."

Excerpts from The Bhagavad Gita: The Song of God

Let him who would climb
In meditation
To heights of the highest
Union with Brahman
Take for his path
The yoga of action.
Then when he nears that path of oneness,
His acts will fall from him,
His path will be tranquil.
...
When goodness grows weak
When evil increases
I make myself a body.
In every age I come back
To deliver the holy,
To destroy the sin of the sinner,
To establish righteousness.
....
Whatever wish men bring me in worship
That wish I grant them.
Whatever path men travel
It is my path:
No matter where they walk
It leads to me.
It is my path:

Photos  ~ Christopher Isherwood & Swami Prabhavananda
~ Prabhavananda, Aldous Huxley & Christopher Isherwood
~ Swami Prabhavananda at the Hollywood Temple
~ Monastic women and men, whom Isherwood referred to as “The Family” in front of the Hollywood Temple.

The Community, many are monastic women and men, whom Isherwood referred to as “The Family” in front of the Hollywood Temple, c. 1952-53. Left to right, Top: Richard Liebow, Lee Bailey, Dell Grover, Christopher Isherwood, Henry Dennison, John Yale (Prema, Sw. Vidyatmananda), John Schenkel, Swami Yogeshananda, Ramdas, Michael Barrie. Middle Row, seated: Ujjvala (Ida Ansell), Swami Aseshananda, Swam...i Prabhavananda, and Gerald Heard. Steps (upper row): Baradaprana, possibly Jnanada or possibly Maria, Prabhaprana, Amiya (Countess of Sandwich), Sarada, Anandaprana, Khunki. Bottom Step: Yogini (Yogaprana), Pagli.

Copyright Vedanta Society of Southern California All rights reserved, Collection of The Vedanta Archives