Recommended podcast: a Vedantist comments on Evagrius of Pontus

Swami Sarvapriyananda unpacks the Christian classic, "Chapters on Prayer"

I have a few podcasts that are favorites of mine (for example, Jason E. Smith’s “Digital Jung” — his Substack page is among the recommendations on my own page — is always worthwhile; “Pathways with Joseph Campbell” is another, and I find it unfailingly superb; as a lover of ghost stories (and an occasional writer of the same — see my recent Christmas post), I’m hooked on Danny Robins’s “Uncanny” and his other ghost-related series on BBC radio; and because I’m a life-long Marx Brothers aficionado, “The Marx Brothers Council Podcast” is unmissable for me each month). To this eclectic list, I’ve now added “Vedanta Talks” from the Vedanta Society of New York. The episode I’ve embedded below was especially of interest to me — to hear Swami Sarvapriyananda wisely comment on the spiritual classic, “Chapters on Prayer,” by the great fourth-century Christian desert monk, Evagrius of Pontus (345 - 399) was a delight. (I wish that most Christian homilies were so nourishing for the psyche. Perhaps in a time when Christians’ appreciation for their own rich spiritual tradition is languishing or cause for dull disquisitions and deadly debate, it takes a Vedantist to excavate it and hold it up so that its true beauty can be displayed.) Evagrius has long been a revered voice in my own pilgrimage.

One can find “Chapters on Prayer” in three fine English translations (see below the embedded podcast; all three can be found at Amazon or any other book outlet).

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"Do not pray for the fulfillment of your wishes, for they may not accord with the will of God. But pray as you have been taught, saying: Thy will be done in me (cf. Luke 22:42). Always entreat Him in this way - that His will be done. For He desires what is good and profitable for you, whereas you do not always ask for this." - Evagrius Ponticus.

Swami Sarvapriyananda speaks on Evagrius's teachings on prayer.

Or you can click here for the link to the podcast.

And it is also available (with the miracle of moving pictures!) on YouTube:

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Editions of (or containing) “Chapters on Prayer”:

The Philokalia, Volume 1 (Farrar, Straus and Giroux; Revised edition; January 1, 1983)

(Cistercian Publications, 4; 2nd edition; November 1, 1972)

(Evagrius of Pontus: The Greek Ascetic Corpus; Oxford University Press, June 22, 2006)