"If you want to pursue in a
Western way the path that we follow here at Mirtola, you need to study and work
with the Gurdjieffian teaching." Thus did the guru Madhava Ashish, at
their first meeting, invite American businessman Sy Ginsburg on a spiritual
journey that would last 19 years (until the guru’s death) and include both
annual visits to Sri Madhava Ashish’s Mirtola ashram, near Almora, in
India’s Himalayan foothills, and a lengthy correspondence. Along the way, the
entrepreneur/author would be caught up not only in the teachings of G.I.
Gurdjieff, but also in the search for the elusive unitive vision—the world
viewed from the perspective of the greater self and not the personality. In this remarkable
spiritual document, the reader shares the search, increasingly catching glimpses
of the unitive vision as the book draws toward a close that is also an opening
out, into the vaster dimensions of the human mind.
Sri Madhava Ashish was born Alexander Phipps,
in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1920, graduating from Chelsea’s College
of Aeronautical Engineering. He served in India during World War Two
as a Spitfire engine repairman, meeting the guru Krishna Prem during
a visit to Almora in 1946. He immediately adopted Sri Krishna Prem
as his teacher, and, at the death of the guru in 1965, took over the
direction of the Mirtola ashram. At his death in 1997, he had
written extensively on spiritual subjects and on farming reforms in
northern India.
Seymour B. Ginsburg was born in Chicago, IL,
in 1934, and graduated from Northwestern University with degrees in
accountancy and law. A founder of the predecessor business and the
first president of Toys R Us, he was for many years involved
in commodities trading. He met Sri Madhava Ashish while on a private
visit to India in 1978. A co-founder of the Gurdjieff
Institute of Florida, he is also the author of Gurdjieff Unveiled
(Lighthouse). He currently divides his time between South
Florida and Chicago.
From The Times of London, April 14, 1997
SRI MADHAVA ASHISH
Sri Madhava Ashish, British-born Hindu monk and Himalayan Hill
farmer, died at Mirtola, near Almora, Uttar Pradesh, on April 13,
aged 77. He was born in Edinburgh on February 23, 1920.
BORN Alexander Phipps into a
British Army family and educated in England, Madhava Ashish devoted
his life to Indian esoteric thought, and to farming and conservation
in the Himalayans.
His methods eventually began to be copied by other hill dwellers
and, in some areas at least, erosion of the terrain began to be
halted. He and his team were honoured by the President of India in
1952 with the Padma Shri Award.
Alexander Phipps was the son of Lieutenant-Colonel H. R. Phipps,
Royal Artillery. He was educated at Sherborne, after which he
trained as an engineer at the Chelsea Aeronautical Engineering
College. He initially worked on testing aircraft in England before
transferring to aircraft production at Dum Dum in India.
After the war he toured India and was captivated by the life of the
ashram at Uttara Brindaban, in the corner of Nepal between the
borders of Tibet and Nepal.
The ashram, close to the 24,000 ft. Mt. Nanda Devi peak, was run by
Sri Krishna Prem, and after his death in 1965, by Ashish, the name
Alexander had taken when he became a monk.
As a hill farmer he had become a pioneer of conservation in the
Himalayas. The tragedy of the Himalayas is over-cropping by domestic
animals which wander unchecked, making it impossible for younger
plants to replace older trees when they are felled, leading to
erosion on a catastrophic scale. Because of the relationship between
the ashram and the village Ashish was able to enclose the village
land on the mountain so that hungry domestic animals could not
browse, destructively, at will.
He then built a zoo in reverse, with the wild animals on the outside
of the cages (sometimes asleep on top of them) and the domestic
animals restrained inside, with their food being harvested and
brought to them to feed. The cages, tiger and leopard proof, were
protected by Bhutin dogs which he acquired from the nomadic
herdsmen.
Through this enclosure he created a green mountain which, when seen
from the air, stands out like an oasis in the desert. This
experiment in hill farming is successfully being copied by others.
The subject of agriculture, for which he wrote much of the
curriculum, is now taught in the mountain schools.
Nominally a Hindu, he saw all religions as having a common goal. He
spent much time meditating and helping others to find their path to
God. He became interested in Indian esoteric thought after he first
visited the ashram of Ramana Maharshi, and continued his studies
with Sri Krishna Prem with whom he was co-author of Man, the
Measure of All Things.
He was the author of Man, Son of Man, a Cosmology and
published papers on The Secret Doctrine as a Contribution to
World Thought and The Guru as Exemplar and Guide to the Term
of Human Evolution.
Reviews in full of IN SEARCH OF THE
UNITIVE VISION:
From The Journal of Religion and Psychical Research, Vol. 29, No. 2,
April 2006. For those who are interested in
theosophy in general, and specifically in Gurdjieff's philosophy and his
methods, this is the book for you:
...Generally, the entire book consists of questions by Ginsburg on
all kinds of topics (e.g. synchronicity, theosophy, reincarnation, mediumship,
Indian philosophy, etc.) with guidance and opinions by Ashish. Ginsburg
comments regarding his own progress and related matters. There is one
unusual chapter dealing with a spirit communication through mediumship.
Four of the chapters in the book are strictly essays by Ashish with the titles
The Guru as Exemplar of and Guide to the Terms of Human Evolution,
The
Value of Uncertainty, A Return to Intelligent Inquiry, and What
Can Be Taught. I found these to be very thought provoking.
Ashish definitely emphasizes that the answers on life's meaning lie within
ourselves and he expresses concern for the predominant materialistic views that
modern society has embraced. Half the chapters have to do with information
about Gurdjieff himself, his teachings and Ginsburg's exploration and his
practice of them. For those who are interested in theosophy in general,
and specifically in Gurdjieff's philosophy and his methods, this is the book for
you. - Yvonne Limoges
From The Mountain Path, Journal of
the Bhagavan Ramana Maharshi Ashram, India, Summer 2003.
The value of this book over and above any detail is that
it carries an esoteric sense of that legominism which is characteristic of
Gurdjieff's own writing and often missing in other G literature:
The book
In Search of the Unitive Vision is the meeting point of two
teachers from opposite parts of the globe, throwing light on complimentary
aspects of work on oneself: Gurdjieff, a Western teacher of Eastern origin; and
Sri Madhava Ashish, an Eastern teacher of Western origin. It is a record of the
efforts of the author, Seymour Ginsburg—at whom these two forces are directed—at
rising above the superficial conflict of these very contrary forms of teaching
by using that very friction to reconcile them into a whole which he terms "unitive
vision."
The author's meeting with Ashish at
Mirtola brings Gurdjieff into his life as a teacher and Ashish becomes his guide
during the subsequent years. The book is largely structured around their
correspondences, in the form of questions and a deluge of doubts that flood
Seymour's mind which are dispelled by Ashish with precise psychological pointers
back to himself. Often, these answers take the form of instructions and methods
to practise. The very questions indicate the struggles and constant efforts of
the author at assimilating his group work in the context of a constant scrutiny
and analysis by Ashish.
And it is precisely this aspect that
constitutes the highlight of this book: it is as much about methods of serious
practice as an expression of the underlying philosophy that forms its basis.
Unlike most books classified as "spiritual/religious literature" that
are either too emotive or disproportionately intellectual in expression, this
book strikes the right balance between both these components which are an
inseparable part of any real seeking.
Although there are a couple of flowing
essays written by Ashish in his impeccable English style, they do not carry the
immediacy of the letters; they talk abstract philosophy "to one"
rather than "to me." This leaves one wondering whether Seymour gets
more from Ashish than Ashish gives... And yet, on the other hand, the author
probably receives more of Gurdjieff, because he sees him through the eyes of
Ashish, a vaishnavite Indian monk who classes Gurdjieff with Krishna and other
sacred individuals like Buddha and Christ. Gurdjieff was a profoundly religious
man, and replacing the religion with mere psychological exercises on oneself, as
is the fashion in many G groups in the West, is like throwing out the juice and
chewing the bagasse. Therefore, Seymour, "an American
businessman" as he keeps reminding us, seems, due to the rich influence of
Ashish's being, to sense the magic and mystery of Gurdjieff's religion—the rasa
that is the consequence of the faith, love and hope that emanate from hard inner
work. And in that there is also a complimentary message for the Easterner: the
need for a group-oriented rigorous "work" cannot be substituted by
mere philosophy or formal religion.
At a first glance, G evidently left
behind varied bits and pieces: the theoretical part of his teachings; the sacred
dances; music; groups; Beelzebub's tales... But, at a deeper level, the purpose
of his life was to create a "legominism"—something created by the
genuine efforts of sacred individuals which includes and transcends art,
science, religion, and remains in our collective consciousness.
And all that he left behind are indeed
part of that legominism. The value of this book over and above any detail is
that it carries an esoteric sense of that legominism which is characteristic of
Gurdjieff's own writing and often missing in other G literature.
The heart of esotericism is the heart. Those who have got the Gurdjieff cult
from the "groups" imagine that being secretive is being esoteric. We
who have known Bhagavan know that the echo of the heart is not verbalisable. And
yet, within the limited means at his disposal, Seymour Ginsburg in writing this
book disregards any requirements for secrecy imposed by the "groups."
By wandering and searching in the spirit of Gurdjieff's own life, he reaches out
to the essence of Gurdjieff: "Take the understanding of the East and the
knowledge of the West, and then seek." - Anuradha
From QUEST, Journal of The American Theosophical Society,
Spring/Summer, 2003. We need to be grateful to Ginsburg for persisting in his
questioning....These responses, always full of insight and sometimes wry humor, throw an impartial light on Theosophy, the Gurdjieff Work and Indian
spirituality:
This book should engage anyone interested in the spirituality of Advaita or the Gurdjieff Work or Theosophy; and if one is interested in more than one of these, then the book is a required reading.
Seymour Ginsburg is a successful businessman who in 1978 went on a private visit to India, a visit which became a spiritual journey for him. There he met Sri Madhava Ashish who had been born as Alexander Phipps in Scotland and who had taken over the direction of the Mirtola ashram near Almora in 1965, after the death of Sri Krishna Prem (born as Ronald Nixon in England) whom he had adopted as his guru in 1946. Madhava Ashish was a very wise man, often speaking from the level of consciousness established in a unitive vision. “In the unitive vision the identity of the individual with the universal is experienced, and it is perceived that this identity encompasses all beings as an eternally valid fact. It has not come into being with the seer’s attainment to the vision, but simply is. What comes into being, or, more truly, is developed in the seer, is the seer’s capacity to perceive the identity. In this context it seems meaningless to say that any individual man ever attains anything.” (p. v and 165).
He told Ginsburg that “If you want to pursue in a Western way the path that we follow here at Mirtola, you need to study and work with the Gurdjieffian teaching” (pp. 13-14). Ginsburg did exactly that and co-founded the Gurdjieff Institute of Florida.
Ginsburg visited Madhava Ashish regularly until the latter’s death in 1997. It was the persistence and tenacity of Ginsburg which elicited a lot of letters from Madhava Ashish in response to his questions. These are the letters which are presented here, along with a few splendid and wonderful articles written by Madhava Ashish, two of them published in the
American Theosophist.
Since both the authors—Madhava Ashish in particular and Seymour Ginsburg to some extent—are culturally and psychologically attuned to an integration of both the Eastern and the Western sensibilities in spiritual matters, it is a good to recall a relevant aphorism of Gurdjieff: “Take the understanding of the East and the knowledge of the West—and then seek.” This advice seems simple on the surface, but I wonder how would the pupils of the Gurdjieff Work, who are almost exclusively Westerners, ‘take’ the understanding of the East? From books? By apprenticeship with Eastern gurus? By imbibing the Eastern attitude by living in the East? Madhava Ashish certainly represents a striking example of a person who combined the understanding of the East and knowledge of the West. We need to be grateful to Ginsburg for persisting in his questioning, for gathering and sorting through the responses of Madhava Ashish and for publishing them. These responses, always full of insight and sometimes wry humour, throw an impartial light on Theosophy, the Gurdjieff Work and Indian spirituality.
- Ravi Ravindra, Ph.D., Chair, Dept. of Comparative Religion, Dalhousie
University, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada.
From STOPINDER: A Gurdjieff Journal for
Our Time, No. 11, Winter 2003. [Ginsburg's...]
very resistance to “unsanctioned” ideas provides one of the major points of interest for me, as a long-time student of the Gurdjieff work, and I would imagine for many readers who have encountered similar
problems:
Two very strong stories emerge from Seymour Ginsburg’s
In Search of the Unitive Vision.
One is the manifest story, declared in the subtitle, of the 19-year relationship between the author, a very successful American businessman, and Sri Madhava Ashish, leader of the Mirtola ashram located in the foothills of the Himalayas, and a deeply spiritual teacher of a seemingly hybrid religion made up of equal parts of Hinduism and Theosophy. Sri Ashish, it turns out, was a bit of a mixture himself, having started life as a Scot named Alexander Phipps but living most of his life in India after a life-changing encounter with Sri Krishna Prem, who in his turn had started life as an Englishman named Ronald Nixon. The author’s contact with Ashish, brought about by a newly aroused search for meaning in life, initiates a lifelong relationship between the two, carried on by Ginsburg’s yearly visits to the ashram in India and by the correspondence which resulted in the letters excerpted for this book.
The letters themselves are at the same time wonderful and ordinary. They are wonderful in the sense that they are gentle, sincere, and even insightful, giving evidence of the open and well-read man who was Ashish. He answers questions from the author on a wide range of subjects, from meditation to diet, from using dreams as a way of self-knowledge, to speculations on spirit communication. Ashish refuses to pose, expressing doubt when he feels doubt, certainty when he feels certainty. These letters are certainly worth reading for their quiet intelligence and for the astonishing range of subjects they cover.
However, they are ordinary in the sense that there is very little new in them for the dedicated student of the mystical traditions. Too often, I think, we come across passages like the following: “You see, the trouble is, Sy, that one is so habitually centered in the life here that when you first begin to see things of a different order, they seem strange and one doubts their reality. The mind throws up all the doubts about, is it fantasy, is it sort of hallucination? Because it is strange, because it is outside the ordinary range of one’s experience, that doesn’t affect their validity as such” (p. 64).
The second story that emerges from this book, however—and I think by far the strongest—is the story of the author’s discovery and practice of Gurdjieff’s Fourth Way teaching. It is Sri Ashish himself who directs Ginsburg toward the Gurdjieff work. “If you want to pursue in a western way the path that we follow here at Mirtola, you need to study and work with the Gurdjieffian teaching” (pp. 13-14). Further, the author states, “Ashish spoke in glowing terms of Gurdjieff, comparing him with beings such as the Buddha and Jesus” (p. 14). This is high praise indeed. Surprised, perhaps even astonished, Ginsburg takes him at his word and finds a connection with an established Gurdjieff Foundation group in South Florida.
And so begins the not-so-subtle subtext, one not mentioned in the title, that distinguishes this book from so many others of its kind. What follows, woven throughout the test, is the narrative of the author’s fascination with, and practice of, the ideas of George Gurdjieff.
What complicates the story is the resistance Ginsburg encounters as he tries to combine work in a Gurdjieff group, officially sanctioned by the Gurdjieff Foundation, with his own curiosity about such things as dream psychology and the possibility of communication with entities from other dimensions through channeling.
This very resistance to “unsanctioned” ideas provides one of the major points of interest for me, as a long-time student of the Gurdjieff work, and I would imagine for many readers who have encountered similar problems. In truth, the closed minds and the orthodoxy of the Foundation people are the making of Ginsburg, as his telling the story of it is the making of this book. Ginsburg is asked to leave the group, and he does what any sane man would do: he starts his own group and institute based on the ideas of Gurdjieff, one where he can explore any idea he finds interesting and use any method or practice that seems useful to him in his striving for self-development.
Perhaps, predictably, there is a reconciliation of sorts when the Foundation people come to Ginsburg’s, quite successful, Gurdjieff Institute of South Florida to demonstrate Movements from the sacred dances Gurdjieff taught in his own groups. But this is, one might say, beside the point. It is clear that Ginsburg is taking the Gurdjieff work in the only direction it can go and still survive as a viable “way” of self-development, a way that is open, experimental, inclusive, and very unlike a church.
The two strands of this narrative weave together to make a fine book, one I recommend to a beginning seeker and to a more seasoned searcher after truth, who has suffered a bit from the inevitable periods of disillusionment. Sri Ashish is a constant presence throughout, guiding the author, certainly, but guiding us, too, through his answers to the constant stream of questions. George Gurdjieff is a second presence, guiding the author and us in similar ways, through the books he left behind and through the writings of his students. A final possibility, one certainly suggested by the author, is that both men survive in another dimension or plane of existence and could guide us even now, if only we had the presence of mind to
ask. - DeWayne Rail
From The Theosophist magazine
of India, August, 2002. "Particularly recommendable is Chapter 5, which appeared in
The American Theosophist of January 1979, entitled 'The Value of
Uncertainty'.... The book contains a very useful index."
Many theosophists are familiar with two books of commentaries on the
Stanzas of Dzyan on which H.P. Blavatsky's masterpiece The Secret Doctrine
is based: Man, the Measure of all Things and Man, Son of Man, the first by Sri Krishna Prem and Sri Madhava Ashish (both British in origin but settled in India) and the second by Sri Madhava Ashish, following the death of Sri Krishna Prem, whose pupil he had been and whom he succeeded as the head of the Mirtola ashram in the Himalayan foothills.
Seymour B. Ginsburg, a successful American businessman, visited Sri Madhava Ashish in his ashram and they became good friends, the latter not formally accepting the former as his pupil but answering his numerous questions, responding to his remarks and generally guiding him in various ways between 1978 and 1997, when Ashish died.
His first main recommendations to Seymour B. Ginsburg were to pay attention to his dreams and to study the philosophy of G.I. Gurdjieff. Seymour Ginsburg subsequently worked in various Gurdjieff groups, in which he experienced relationship problems which were interpreted for him by Madhava Ashish in the first place as valuable aids to self-knowledge, particularly the
realization of his own egocentricity.
The compiler shares with us much of the advice given him by Sri Madhava Ashish. The latter pointed out, again and again, the deeper implications of the many questions raised by his
correspondent. His 'often-repeated statement' was: 'Seek for the things where it is-within' (p. 110). He conveyed his views on various teachings and schools of thought in which the American became involved or about which he asked, such as channelling, the teachings and personalities of Sai Baba and
Alice Bailey, the psychology of C.G. Jung, etc., and also Theosophy and the Theosophical Society. His remarks are often critical and mostly sensible. He admits that his first (negative) opinions about Krishnamurti had been wrong. In reply to a question, Ashish writes: 'I don't see
The Tibetan Book of the Dead as being the slightest use to you. You are supposed to be putting your efforts into finding the thing here and now, and not fussing about what is going to happen. What will happen at your death will be determined by how much you have done towards integration and self- awareness.... Worry about what will happen to you at the death of the body is worry about your ego integration, and that is what you hope will
disappear' (p. 235).
Some of the chapters in the book are reprints of articles by Sri Madhava Ashish. Particularly recommendable is Chapter 5, which appeared in
The American Theosophist of January 1979, entitled 'The Value of Uncertainty'.
The book contains a very useful index.
- Mary Anderson
From AMAZON.COM. Aug. 25, 2002: East
Becomes West.
Sy Ginsburg went East in his search and found a
teacher who came from West. Sy quotes Sri Madhava Ashish from his letters
and lectures, which have a remarkable clarity, both in vision and
expression. Ashish has the ability to put deep thoughts in a simple and
understandable form and he does it with authority. The book is certainly
of interest for those who study Gurdjieff's ideas. The picture that Sy
Ginsburg paints of himself is that of a rebel, who does not always agree with
the Work authorities, but will pursue his own way. He has a good solution
to the matter to be solved--he builds his own Work activity. To put it in
business terms: he makes a product that satisfies the demand, which in his
case is his own. -
reijoelsner@gurdjieff-internet.com
(see more about me) from Ikast, Denmark.
From AMAZON.COM. Aug. 18, 2002:
A Clear
Window to a Remarkable Man.
This book is a compilation of
letters and other interactions between the author and Sri Madhava Ashish over
many years. Sri Madhava Ashish, born English, lived most of his adult life in a
small ashram in the middle Himalayas, Mirtola. His approach to inner and
spiritual questions was comprehensive, modern, and clear. As such it attracted a
diverse community to him and to Mirtola. Ginsburg's book shows through their
communications over many years the subtle, complex, yet harmonious nature of Sri
Madhava Ashish's teaching, if that word can be applied here. For, rather than
systematized teaching, which he abhorred, he represented a living, organic,
clear yet intelligent medium between the few basic principles and their
translation into spiritual practice, what he would call wisdom. Ginsburg's book
is written with a light touch so that no more than is necessary of personality
impinges on the always original and fresh insights going back and forth in their
dialogue. There is a dialectic in the book between constant themes, both in
terms of specific issues of a real life, lived, and the one source that
establishes a firm foundation for their resolution. The other part of the
dialectic is the original and fresh way in which these were always interpreted.
- SUJATA
JAGOTA (see more about me) from Wilmington, DE.
From AMAZON.COM. March 3, 2002: A Piece of
Truth
During the past decade, a host of books that
concern man’s spiritual quest have appeared. Unfortunately, most of them focus
the reader’s attention on conclusions, convictions and pronouncements on 'the'
way to come to spiritual fulfillment. Not so, thankfully, with Sy Ginsburg’s In
Search of the Unitive Vision: Letters of Sri Madhava Ashish to an American
Businessman, 1978-1997. In this compact [280 pages], highly readable
collection lie innumerable pearls of practical and critical advice, focusing
throughout on the uniqueness of man’s capacity to stand in the 'awareness that
he is aware.' Refreshingly, Ginsburg does not spare himself in his
selection of answers given by Ashish to his [Sy’s] questions. When an author
is able and willing to expose his own superficialities and recurrent inability
to stay on track, a taste of reality and the wish for truth in the spiritual
pursuit is evident. Ginsburg
intersperses his lively correspondence with a selection of four essays by Ashish
that highlight his ability to be succinct and practical in his exploration of
spiritual questions.
This
book is a significant contribution to the reconciliation of the inner and outer
life of man. Ginsburg’s growth in Being, growth in his own pursuit of
this inner-outer reconciliation, is ably reflected in the consistency of his
search and in the perceptive help given him by this quite remarkable
'Englishman-become-guide.'
The
book is a gift worth sharing with all of your
co-searchers. - Keith A. Buzzell, D.O.
From AMAZON.COM. Feb. 21, 2002:
A
Review.
Books about
spirituality are so common in the market these days that it becomes difficult
for even a serious seeker to sort writings dealing with the real from fantasy or
downright fraud. The plethora of consciously or unconsciously written mixture of
truths, half-truths and lies about man’s spiritual quest, nevertheless, does
keep on throwing up gems about reality, even if to remind us that there IS a
reality far greater and stranger than anything that the human mind can invent or
discover. Seymour Ginsburg’s In Search of the Unitive Vision is one
such gem and is the story of an honest seeker after the mysteries of life and
death who was lucky enough to come in contact with a remarkable man who through
sheer hard work and unwavering dedication had resolved that mystery for himself
and was willing to help others who wanted to do the same.
In
our 'global village' today, it is of significance to note that the author of the
book is a successful American businessman while his mentor, Sri Madhava Ashish,
was a Hindu Vaishnava monk of mixed English and Scottish descent who spent 55 of
the 77 years of his life in the Himalayan foothills of India. It is the identity
of the individual with the universal that needs to be experienced, Sri Madhava
Ashish argues, before we can see life in its full glory through what he called
the "UnitiveVision."
This
excellent book can be described as the inner autobiography of Ginsburg that
truly reflects the aspirations, doubts, trials and tribulations of a seeker of
truth. It also asserts that the inner path is a path of self-improvement, not in
the sense of acquiring any material benefits (such as name, fame, power or
wealth) but improvement aimed at reaching that state of 'perfection' which
is the birthright of every man and woman merely because one is a human being.
The search for this perfection has nothing to do with one’s nationality,
religion, profession, gender or cultural bias. It has very much to do with
recognizing one’s inevitable biases and gradually getting rid of them so that
one can look at oneself in a reasonably dispassionate manner. Ginsburg brings
out a very natural unfolding of the issues faced by a spiritual aspirant and
does not hesitate to point out where he found that his preconceived ideas had to
be abandoned when they failed the test of objective reasoning. Any
book on spirituality gets its life not only from the story of the writer but the
living contact it is able to engender with a real knower of truth. Sri Madhava
Ashish was such a knower and Ginsburg is able to create an atmosphere of the
palpable presence of the master by providing quotations from his letters and
articles. This
excellent book is a 'must read' for all old and young seekers after truth all
over the world.
There are a few repetitions but they seem
necessary to reinforce some information which may otherwise go unregistered in
the mind of the reader; and I could find only ONE typographical error in the
entire book! - Jagdish C. Nautiyal, Ph.D., Emeritus Professor,
Dept. of Forestry, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
From AMAZON.COM. Feb. 7, 2002:
A Spiritual
Journey...
IN SEARCH OF THE UNITIVE VISION
by
Seymour B. Ginsburg is the account of the author's encounter and subsequent
relationship with an extrordinarily wise teacher, Sri Madhava Ashish, who in the
Western esoteric tradition would be known as an Initiate. Ashish, the
teacher, had spent virtually his entire adult life in India engaged in the
Spiritual pursuit of the ultimate Transcendent state of Consciousness or, as the
title of the book states, The Unitive Vision where the identity of Self, the
root of consciousness, with the Highest Reality is experienced. The
author, who conveys his point of departure by presenting himself unpretentiously
as a businessman, is initially skeptical and generally a logical positivist in
his philosophical approach to life; however, following a family tragedy he
sought something more than the ephemeral rewards of personal achievement.
With the same great vigor and enthusiasm that had brought him worldly success,
the author now began an adventure in unknown territory sparing no effort to
satisfy his persistent curiosity.
The book charts the author's relationship with Ashish and his
developing familiarity with esotericism, through books, contacts with important
figures, channeling and membership in schools of spiritual development. This
relationship was conducted over a nineteen year period through letters and
yearly visits; the corpus of letters captures the thrust and depth of Ashish's
teaching and documents his generosity and guidance in response to Mr. Ginsburg's
probing questions about mediums, the collective unconsciousness, personal
dreams, and inner experience. Gems of knowledge are conveyed throughout the
letters i.e.Ashish's observations on the relationship of movements to the
alterations in consciousness.
Ashish is a master therapist as well as a Spiritual Master and guides
the author through the territory of his personal issues, psychological defenses
and identifications to achieve an integration of heart and mind. Ashish
repeatedly stresses the importance of first hand experience which cannot be
gotten from books or personal contact with those who have experienced something
of a higher nature even though they might provide inspiration and
motivation. He directs the author to relax his logical mind which has
served him so well, bringing him to the quest, but now would hinder him from
opening to That Reality which is beyond his security net. The author
joined and later became a facilitator in a Gurdjieff group, a leader of a
Theosophical study group, and organized yearly conferences where the key ideas
of Gurdjieff were discussed and eminent Gurdjieff scholars participated and
submitted manuscripts that were later published. The letters document
Ashish's observations on these activities but also document Ashish's unrelenting
message that the path is inward even if group activity might enhance the
integration of the personality and generate motivation.
I would highly recommend this book which in a wonderfully accessible
and articulate manner brings to us the teaching of an exemplary Man as well as
the record of a seeker's developing awareness. The message will greatly
contribute to the understanding of the well-seasoned seeker as well as someone
who is embarking on the spiritual journey with skepticism and diffidence.
The approach, façade and substance of Ashish's teaching is utterly
nondenominational and the message does not violate the tenets of any religion
because of the respect shown to the essential undergirding of all approaches to
spirituality which is Love, the most direct means to transcendence. -
Patricia
M. Finkle, Ann Arbor, Michigan
From AMAZON.COM. Jan. 30, 2002:
"And Some Have Gurdjieff Thrust Upon
Them...
Sri Madhava Ashish was quoted as saying, ‘If Sy hadn’t asked all of
these questions I would not have written any of it.’
Sy Ginsburg writes simply and honestly about his early skepticism, his
later disillusionment with worldly success and the re-kindled essential
questions that initiate these nineteen years of search and active
experimentation. He meets Sri Madhava Ashish and is instructed to follow the
teachings of Gurdjieff. This American businessman is no slouch and here he
chronicles the rigors and perplexities of his encounter with Gurdjieff’s
written works, his impressions of meetings with major figures and his
participation in active group work both as student and as teacher. All the
while, Sy is embarked upon long correspondence with Sri Madhava Ashish whose
rootedness in Unitive Vision towers above the rich, and recognisable, landscape
of Sy’s quest.
Questions arise on the meanings of dreams, on the significance of the
insights of psychoanalysis to the seeker, on the reliability of channeled
information and on many more topics. To all of these Ashish responds with
pointed guidance and profound insight into the difficulty experienced by the
western seeker when obliged to surrender adherence to the limitations of the
merely rational approach in the quest to know their true place and identity as
mortals in the cosmos. The stark challenge of Ashish’s insistence upon the
development of an inner life and to seek within, primarily and ultimately, will
strike every reader. This book’s message will remain in the mind. -
A Reader from Philadelphia
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to go to Table of Contents.
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HERE
for an excerpt from IN SEARCH OF THE UNITIVE VISION ("Channeling Mr.
Gurdjieff").
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HERE
for an INTERVIEW with Seymour Ginsburg.
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