Pilgrim’s Newsletter, Aylesford

The Pilgrims' Newsletter of Aylesford, is one of the few western publication which had the honour of introducing Shri Nathji to the world in its issue No. 72 on April 1964. Father Malachy Lynch who published this newsletter introduced Shri Nathji with the following words: - 

“To the open door last Sunday came His Holiness Bhola Nathji with his Maharani and their son. His Holiness wore a simple robe with a scarlet turban, which is the sign of a holy man in India. He is a mystic and writer and well-known all over India, and a Religious Philosopher, and has addressed mass meetings everywhere.

When he speaks of God, he lights up, and is most eloquent, and his language sheer poetry. He speaks for hours and his audience is never tired. "Where God is," he says, "time does not exist."

He is emptied of self and possessed of God. He uses Christian words like Grace and knows that the life of God is in him to be given endlessly. He must be baptised by his great desire for God and his great love. He spoke of God’s providence and of His great kindness, and gave many examples. The friend who introduced him said that his outlook was exactly like mine! This was his introduction: "I want to deliver a man to you. And what a man! The Maharaja has powerful ‘desinturbulating’ powers; meaning giving people back their souls, which they have lost in the rat race. He has a spiritual power of breaking up atheists.”

The Pilgrims' Newsletter is published from Aylesford(which means a "crossing place for all peoples") which is a small village in the English county of Kent, where in 1242 a group of hermits from Mount Carmel were given land to establish a community by a crusader returning from the Holy Land. An aerial photograph of their caste is given.

For many years the Aylesford community has given priority to helping foster ecumenical dialogue between the Christian churches. It is also a site of encounter between people of different faiths, and of no faith at all. It has a very open environment where All are welcome.

The Pilgrims' Newsletter was started by Father Malachy Lynch and continues to be a popular publication which can now also be subscribed online in PDF format. The Carmelite community at Aylesford keeps in touch with its many friends and supporters through this quarterly Pilgrims' Newsletter. A photograph of the heading of old Pilgrims’ Newsletter is given here.