Inspirations

George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff (1877-1949)

George Ivanovitch Gurdjieff was born at Alexandropol, Armenia. He synthesized the Islamic and Christian teachings, as did Kabir before him in a different way.

Gurdjieff has given Western man a method of self-perfection, contained in four books:
The Herald of Coming Good
All and Everything or Beelzebub’s Tale to his Grandson
Meetings with Remarkable Men
Third Series or Life is Real only then, when “I am”

His hope was that this system would help people perfect themselves as rapidly as possible.
All and Everything contains everything necessary to follow his teachings, except instructions for the movements. Many people find this book obscure and it is interpreted in a diverse range of ways.

While he lived he was a bright star shining on the Earth.

Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927)Hazrat Inayat Khan (1882-1927) was born into a Muslim family of famous musicians in Baroda, India. In his early years he was educated in Islam but later widened his understanding of different teachings, in particular Hinduism and Yogic traditions. Although he was a Christi Sufi, whose teaching emphasises music or silence he was familiar with, and had studied with the other three Sufi schools. At the instruction of his teacher he left India to bring the Sufi Message to the West.

Inayat Khan dedicated his life to the aim of breaking down the barriers that divide man. He had a tremendous vision of a united humanity, the ‘Brotherhood of Man in the Fatherhood of God’, and of the oneness of religions. He believed that the Spirit of Guidance is in all religions and that it changes its name and form, but not its essence, in each religion.

To demonstrate these ideals he established a church, which he called the Church of All, and a simple service, the Universal Worship. In the service seven candles are lit, one for each of the major religions and for the teacher who inspired it. Passages on a common theme, such as service, brotherhood, discipleship are read from the books of each religious tradition, and also from Hazrat Inayat Khan’s Gayan. This is followed by a discourse on the theme.

His message focused on the ideals of love, harmony and beauty. He attempted to show the path to self-annihilation, the destruction of the ego, a goal that is contained in all Sufi teachings, and which Abdullah Dougan believed can only be achieved when one has become a balanced human being.

Shri Ramdas (1884-1963)
Shri Ramdas was born in Kerala, India and was named Vithal Rao. As a young adult he became a textile engineer, married and he and his wife had a daughter. After some years of being a householder he became disillusioned with ordinary life and began repeating the holy name, Ram. His father then gave him a mantram, Shri Ram, Jai Ram, Jai Jai Ram, which he repeated continuously.

In 1922 Ramdas left his family to become a sannyasi. He wandered around India and met many of the great teachers of that time. Eventually he set up an ashram near Kanhangad in Kerala.

Shri Ramdas taught that the best and easiest way of achieving concentration and bringing silence to the mind is to ceaselessly chant God’s Name. He believed the devotee must have God-Realisation as his main goal, and that only when he has gained perfect stillness of mind will he know he Is.