Mouni Sadhu

Mouni Sadhu (17 August 1897 – 24 December 1971) was the nom de plume of Mieczyslaw Demetriusz Sudowski, an author of spiritual, mystical and esoteric subjects. Although born in Poland and living there until the outbreak World War II, he eventually settled in Australia and became a naturalised Australian citizen in the early 1950s. As a writer his subject matter concerned Western and Eastern spirituality firstly, and also occultism both Western and Eastern, including Hermeticism, and the Yoga tradition of India. His greatest personal influence was Ramana Maharshi. The name "Mouni Sadhu" means "Silent" (Mouni) Holy man (Sadhu) or monk in Sanskrit.

His literary estate was left to the Australian Society of Authors, of which he was a member. The royalties that have accrued from the estate now provide for services to Australian authors.

Hard and fast information about Mouni Sadhu's early life is hampered by the fact that the author was often reluctant to speak about his background. Dr. M. Hafiz Syed expressed it clearly and concisely in his Foreword to 'In Days of Great Peace' saying of Mouni Sadhu, "As an earnest seeker he pursued several methods of God realization as taught by various schools of Yoga, occultism and mysticism and finally came to his supreme Master and Guru, Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi who finding him well equipped with the necessary qualifications..., granted him His Grace, eradicated his ego-sense (as reported by the author himself) and finally helped and guided him to discover his own eternal and ever-abiding Self."

The pseudonym 'Mouni Sadhu' (Silent Monk), indicates the fact that Mouni Sadhu's books are about the practical teachings embodied therein and the purpose and message entrusted him, and on a number of occasions he indicates that he felt that it was his spiritual Master who was directing the authors pen, certainly as far as the spiritual message contained in his works. Also, different commentators have furnished conflicting accounts of his early life often based on alleged hearsay, both unsupported and unreferenced, whilst furnishing very little in the way of evidence.

Be that as it may, there is a certain amount of biographical information contained within his books that can be relied upon as being authentic and factual. We know, for example, that Mouni Sadhu studied Hermeticism exclusively between 1926-1933, based to a large degree on the lectures of G.O. Mebes, which were obtained 'from a Russian refugee who brought the book with him in 1919, when fleeing his country which had just fallen into Communist hands.'

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