authors/russill-paul

Russill Paul

A native of Chennai, South India, Russill Paul began playing stringed instruments from the age of four. In his teens, he was already playing music professionally. Although he was born and brought up in a Christian family, from childhood he developed a keen interest in Indian spirituality. In 1984, Russill underwent a powerful spiritual transition due to his meeting Dom Bede Griffiths, the pioneering Benedictine monk and revered sage who directed Shantivanam, a Christian monastery that expressed itself through the spiritual and yogic culture of India.

Russill trained simultaneously as a monk and yogi under the direction of Bede Griffiths. During the five years he spent as a monk, Russill immersed himself in the sacred culture and spirituality of India's esteemed heritage, studying traditional Sanskrit chanting and South Indian classical music as well as yoga, meditation, philosophy, and cosmology. In addition to his training at the monastery, Russill was initiated into the sacred learning of Sanskrit and Indian music in several ancient temple cities of South India.

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