Abhishiktananda (Sanskrit: अभिषिक्तानन्द, romanized: Abhiṣiktānanda; 30 August 1910, in Saint Briac, Brittany–7 December 1973, in Indore, Madhya Pradesh, India), born Henri Le Saux, was a French-born Indian monk.

He moved to India in 1948 in search of a more radical form of spiritual life, adopted sannyasa in accordance with Indian tradition, and became one of the pioneers of Hindu-Christian dialogue.

From his boyhood he had felt a monastic vocation: "What has drawn me from the beginning and what still leads me on is the hope of finding there the presence of God more immediately than anywhere else ..."[2] At the age of 19 he was admitted as a postulant to the Benedictine monastery at Sainte-Anne de Kergonan where he spent another nineteen years (with a short break between the years 1939 and 1941 when he was required to participate in World War II as a sergeant of the French Army).

"[3] In May 1947 he wrote to the Bishop of Tiruchirappalli, asking his help in "settling somewhere in the neighborhood of Tiruchi so that, living in some hermitage, he might there lead the contemplative life ... in the closest possible conformity with the traditions of Indian sannyasa.

You will need unshakable courage, complete detachment from the things of the West, and a profound love for India ..."[5] Le Saux arrived in Colombo on 15 August 1948, and a few days later joined Jules Monchanin in Kulittalai (Tamil Nadu).

In January 1949 the two seekers visited the ashram of one of the greatest sages of modern India, Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879 – 1950), at the foot of Arunachala mountain in Tiruvannamalai (Tamil Nadu).

"[7] In 1950 Le Saux and Monchanin following their monastic vocation and emerging spiritual ideal, established the Saccidananda Ashram (Shantivanam) on the banks of the holy river Kaveri (Cauvery), with the aim of allowing monks of different traditions to live together in contemplation, sharing the "silent communion in the quest of the Unique".

The daily routine in the ashram was based on the three sandhyavandanam-s (prayers at the meeting points of day and night and at midday), enriched with Sanskrit and Tamil texts and hymns.

In 1955 in Tirukoilur, his first meeting with the contemporary sage Swami Sri Gnanananda Giri took place: "I could not resist making the great prostration of our Hindu tradition, and to whom I believe I might give myself over completely ...

In him I have felt the truth of advaita ..."[14] Later in the 1960s, Abhishiktananda commenced regular pilgrimages to Northern India and in 1968 he left Shantivanam forever having passed it to Bede Griffiths OSB Cam (1906–1993) for the ongoing development of the ashram.

Once inside the temple he refused to take part in Hindu rituals, as he stated in a letter: the priest took up a tray containing camphor(...), set it alight, recounted the glories of Sri Rangam Nathar [i.e., Vishnu], and began to offer a puja in my honour...I have never had such good treatment but, all the same it was nothing doing, for I should have had to make the anjali, prostrate spread my hands over the flame and bring them to my eyes, put the ashes on my forehead etc.

I protested - horror indignation!In October 1968, Abhishiktananda settled in a small kutiya at Gyansu (a kilometre away from Uttarkashi), where he would spend six to eight months in solitude during the years 1969 to 1971.

His main purpose was to lead a contemplative life, of which he wrote to a close friend, Odette Baumer-Despeigne: "... To be living here as a rule is going to be a new experience.

The first ten days spent together in Delhi led to an unparalleled guru-disciple relationship between the two which brought about a revolutionary change in Abhishiktananda's life: "I have found in him (Chaduc) a truly total disciple.

How I should like to lead you round from cave to cave ..."[18] During the last twenty months of his life Abhishiktananda's advaitic experience deepened and he realizes the truth of the Upanishads with utter clarity: "The mantra Om Tat Sat sings all day long ... That madhu (honey) which everything is to everything else, that constant take-off into the Beyond, the golden Purusha full of glory – you know it so well ..."[19] On 30 June 1973, Abhishiktananda, along with the then President of the Divine Life Society, Swami Chidananda Saraswati, arranged on the banks of the Ganga in Rishikesh, a very simple rite of sannyasa-diksha (initiation into sannyasa) for Chaduc, after which he became known as Swami Ajatananda Saraswati.

He had a clearer vision of the fact that the truth is not conditioned by any concepts, myths or symbols and lies beyond them all: "We have to descend into the ultimate depths to recognize that there is no common denominator at the level of namarupa (name and form).