Swami Shilananda

Shilananda was born in the Catalan village of Gelida, where he witnessed the ravages his homeland went through during the Spanish Civil War. He entered the Society of Jesus as a novice in August 1945, the month the first atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, Japan. He later said that both experiences strongly marked his outlook and goals in life, determining him to work for peace.[1]

He went to India in 1948, at the age of 23, still a seminarian, with Swami Shubhananda (Angelo Benedetti). He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1960. After some years in Nashik, in 1962 he adopted the dress of an Indian sannyasi, and began to live outside the Jesuit community in a rented space at Panchavati on the banks of the Godavari. He has made the traditional Hindu pilgrimage to the four Hindu holy places - Kedarnath, Dwarka, Kanyakumari, Puri - on cycle; as such he was highly regarded by the sannyasis who gather in Nashik for the Kumbha Mela. After 14 years at Panchavati, in 1987 he moved to the outskirts of Sinnar, some 20 km out of Nashik, where he purchased a one-acre plot of land with help from friends and constructed a small church in the style of the small traditional Hindu temples that abound in the area, and two small houses to serve as residence, etc. Eventually he also constructed another small space to serve as a dormitory for guests.[2]

In 1988, Shilananda built a chapel in the form of a temple to Shiva, where he chants his prayers to the accompaniment of an ektara. He teaches the local villagers about Christ but takes no converts, as he insists that conversion must be a total change of one's life to the values taught by Jesus.[1]

An interesting aspect of Shilananda's activity is his ecological concern: since the one acre plot is fenced off, the native grasses and plants have had the chance to flourish. Shilananda also personally dug out a little tank at one end of the compound, and dug the rocky soil in other places in order to plant trees. The place today is a little oasis of greenery amidst the barren surroundings. Unfortunately, with the new Sinnar-Ghoti bypass nearby, the price of land has gone up and plots around the ashram are being bought up rapidly.