Arnaud Desjardins (; June 18, 1925 in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

– August 10, 2011 in

Grenoble lat, Gratianopolis , commune status = Prefecture and commune , image = Panorama grenoble.png , image size = , caption = From upper left: Panorama of the city, Grenoble’s cable cars, place Saint- ...

) was a French author. He was a producer at the

Office de Radiodiffusion Télévision Française L'Office de Radiodiffusion-Télévision Française (ORTF; ) was the national agency charged, between 1964 and 1975, with providing public radio and television in France. All programming, and especially news broadcasts, were under strict control ...

from 1952 to 1974, and was one of the first high-profile practitioners of

Eastern religion The Eastern religions are the religions which originated in East, South and Southeast Asia and thus have dissimilarities with Western, African and Iranian religions. This includes the East Asian religions such as Confucianism, Taoism, Chinese fol ...

in France. He worked on television documentaries with many spiritual traditions unknown to some Europeans at the time, including

Hinduism Hinduism () is an Indian religion or '' dharma'', a religious and universal order or way of life by which followers abide. As a religion, it is the world's third-largest, with over 1.2–1.35 billion followers, or 15–16% of the global p ...

Tibetan Buddhism Tibetan Buddhism (also referred to as Indo-Tibetan Buddhism, Lamaism, Lamaistic Buddhism, Himalayan Buddhism, and Northern Buddhism) is the form of Buddhism practiced in Tibet and Bhutan, where it is the dominant religion. It is also in majo ...

Zen Zen ( zh, t=禪, p=Chán; ja, text= 禅, translit=zen; ko, text=선, translit=Seon; vi, text=Thiền) is a school of Mahayana Buddhism that originated in China during the Tang dynasty, known as the Chan School (''Chánzong'' 禪宗), and ...

, and

Sufism Sufism ( ar, ''aṣ-ṣūfiyya''), also known as Tasawwuf ( ''at-taṣawwuf''), is a mystic body of religious practice, found mainly within Sunni Islam but also within Shia Islam, which is characterized by a focus on Islamic spirituality, r ...

from Afghanistan.

Life and work

Arnaud Desjardins was the son of

Jacques Guérin-Desjardins Jacques Guérin-Desjardins (; November 1894 – 1982) was the National Commissioner of Eclaireurs Unionistes de France from 1923 to 1936. He had been a Boy Scout in Britain where he was educated, attended the Birmingham Scout Rally in 1913, and ...

. He was part of the

George Gurdjieff George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (; rus, Гео́ргий Ива́нович Гурджи́ев, r=Geórgy Ivánovich Gurdzhíev, p=ɡʲɪˈorɡʲɪj ɪˈvanəvʲɪd͡ʑ ɡʊrd͡ʐˈʐɨ(j)ɪf; hy, Գեորգի Իվանովիչ Գյուրջիև; c. 1 ...

group, his first contact with

mysticism Mysticism is popularly known as becoming one with God or the Absolute, but may refer to any kind of ecstasy or altered state of consciousness which is given a religious or spiritual meaning. It may also refer to the attainment of insight in u ...

. Educated in a

Protestant Protestantism is a Christian denomination, branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Reformation, Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century agai ...

Christian Christians () are people who follow or adhere to Christianity, a monotheistic Abrahamic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. The words ''Christ'' and ''Christian'' derive from the Koine Greek title ''Christós'' (Χρι ...

environment, he was exposed to spiritual aspects of Christianity on a visit to a

trappist The Trappists, officially known as the Order of Cistercians of the Strict Observance ( la, Ordo Cisterciensis Strictioris Observantiae, abbreviated as OCSO) and originally named the Order of Reformed Cistercians of Our Lady of La Trappe, are a ...

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

monastery. He then became interested in

yoga Yoga (; sa, योग, lit=yoke' or 'union ) is a group of physical, mental, and spiritual practices or disciplines which originated in ancient India and aim to control (yoke) and still the mind, recognizing a detached witness-consciou ...

, and when asked to direct a film for French television, he chose to make a series of films on India, for which he gained attention for his first film, ''Ashrams''. He met a spiritual teacher, Swami Prajnanpad, whom he got to know after filming a number of mystics from various traditions. He became a practitioner of Adhyatma yoga, which is a branch of

Advaita Vedanta ''Advaita Vedanta'' (; sa, अद्वैत वेदान्त, ) is a Hinduism, Hindu sādhanā, a path of spiritual discipline and experience, and the oldest extant tradition of the Āstika and nāstika, orthodox Hindu school Ved ...

Works

Filmography

Hinduism: * ''Ashrams'', 1959 Tibetan Buddhism: * ''Le Message des Tibétains: Le Bouddhisme (première partie)'', 196

** ''The Message of the Tibetans: First Part, Buddhism'' (VHS), Alize Diffusion (1994) * ''Le Message des Tibétains: Le Tantrisme (deuxième partie)'', 196

** ''The Message of the Tibetans: Second Part, Tantrism'' (VHS), Alize Diffusion (1994) In this two-part documentary, Arnaud Desjardins documents the practices and rites of Tibetans, and meets the

Dalai Lama Dalai Lama (, ; ) is a title given by the Tibetan people to the foremost spiritual leader of the Gelug or "Yellow Hat" school of Tibetan Buddhism, the newest and most dominant of the four major schools of Tibetan Buddhism. The 14th and current Dal ...

and spiritual teachers of

and

Tantra Tantra (; sa, तन्त्र, lit=loom, weave, warp) are the esoteric traditions of Hinduism and Buddhism that developed on the Indian subcontinent from the middle of the 1st millennium CE onwards. The term ''tantra'', in the Indian ...

. * ''Himalaya, Terre de Sérénité: Le Lac des Yogis (première partie)'', 1968 * ''Himalaya, Terre de Sérénité: Les Enfants de la Sagesse (deuxième partie)'', 1968 Zen Buddhism: * ''Zen: Ici et Maintenant (première partie)'', 1971 * ''Zen: Partout et Toujours (deuxième partie)'', 1971 Soufism: * ''Soufis D'Afghanistan: Maître et Disciple (première partie)'', 1974 * ''Soufis D'Afghanistan: Au Cœur des Confréries (deuxième partie)'', 1974

Bibliography

* ''Ashrams, Grands Maîtres de l'Inde'', Paris, La Palatine, 1962 * ''Yoga et Spiritualité, L'Hindouisme et Nous'', Paris, La Palatine, 1964 * ''Le Message des Tibétains'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1966 (The message of the Tibetans, Stuart & Watkins, 1969) * ''Les Chemins de la Sagesse (Tomes I,II,III)'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1968, 1970 and 1972 * ''Monde Moderne et Sagesse Ancienne'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1973 * ''Adhyatma Yoga, À la Recherche du Soi I'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1977 * ''Le Védanta et l'Inconscient, À la Recherche du Soi II'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1979 * ''Au-Delà du moi, À la Recherche du Soi III'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1979 * ''Tu Es Cela, À la Recherche du Soi IV'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1979 * ''Un Grain de Sagesse'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1983 * ''Pour une Mort sans Peur'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1983 * ''Rencontre avec Arnaud & Denise Desjardins'', Actes du colloque Institut Karma-Ling 16, 17, 18 July 1984, Prajna * ''Pour une Vie Réussie, un Amour Réussi'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1985 / ''Towards the Fullness of Life'', Threshold Books, 1989, Kathleen Kennedy (Translator) * ''Filigrane'' Vol. 1 - Entretiens avec Arnaud Desjardins et Christian Charrière, Argel, 1986 * ''La Voie du Cœur'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1987 * ''L'Audace de Vivre'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1989 / ''The Jump Into Life: Moving Beyond Fear'', Hohm Press, 1994, Kathleen Kennedy (Translator) * ''Approaches de la Méditation'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1989 * ''La Voie et ses Pièges'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1992 * ''Confidences Impersonnelles (Entretiens avec Gilles Farcet)'', Paris, Critérion, 1991 * ''Zen et Védanta'', Paris, La Table Ronde, 1995 * ''Dialogue à Deux Voies (avec Lama Denis Teundroup)'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1995 * ''L'Ami Spirituel (avec Véronique Loiseleur)'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1996 * ''Regards Sages sur un Monde Fou (Entretiens avec Gilles Farcet)'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1997 * ''Arnaud Desjardins - Textes recueillis par Marc de Smedt'', Question de N°111, Albin Michel, 1998 * ''En Relisant les Évangiles (avec Véronique Loiseleur)'', Paris, La Table ronde, 1999 * ''La conversion intime'', Alice, 2000 * ''Arnaud Desjardins au Québec'', Montréal, Stanke, 2002 * ''Retour à l'Essentiel'', Paris, La Table ronde, 2002 * ''La transmission spirituelle – Textes recueillis par Yvan Amar'', Du Relié, 2003 * ''Bienvenue sur la Voie'', Paris, La Table ronde, 2004 * ''Premiers pas vers la Sagesse'', Collection Librio-Spiritualité N°661, Librio, 2004 * ''Lettre à une jeune disciple'', Paris, La Table ronde, 2006

Sources

* ''Arnaud Desjardins, ou l'Aventure de la Sagesse'', Gilles Farcet, Paris, La Table Ronde, 1990 * ''Arnaud Desjardins, l'Ami Spirituel'', Jacques Mousseau, Paris, Perrin, 2002

External links