Bede Griffiths was an English monk, and the guru at the Shanitvanam ashram, where he taught until his death in 1993. Thomas Matus was one of his students, and here he recounts his remarkable experiences he had in India, at the ashram and with Bede Griffiths.

Manu Gandhi, M.K. Gandhi’s grand-niece, joined him in 1943 at the age of fifteen. An aide to Gandhi’s ailing wife Kasturba in the Aga Khan Palace prison in Pune, Manu remained with him until his assassination. She was a partner in his final yajna, an experiment in Brahmacharya, and his invocation of Rama at the moment of his death. Spanning two volumes, The Diary of Manu Gandhi is a record of her life and times with M.K. Gandhi between 1943 and 1948. Authenticated by Gandhi himself, the meticulous and intimate entries in the diary throw light on Gandhi’s life as a prisoner and his endeavour to establish the possibility of collective non-violence. They also offer a glimpse into his ideological conflicts, his efforts to find his voice, and his lonely pilgrimage to Noakhali during the riots of 1946. The first volume (1943–44) chronicles the spiritual and educational pursuits of an adolescent woman who takes up writing as a mode of self-examination. The author shares a moving portrait of Kasturba Gandhi’s illness and death and also unravels the deep emotional bond she develops with Gandhi, whom she calls her ‘mother’.

In the summer of 1989 Eric Bullard took a month off from his job as Vice-President in charge of sales and marketing for the family publishing company and returned to the Hindu ashram where he had lived and studied for three years. It was supposed to be a vacation, a sort of rest before the heavy Christmas season's workload. But what he found there and the resulting years of uncertainty, mystery, and finally great magic will leave readers on the edge of their seats, questioning their own perceptions of reality. Sometimes shocking, sometimes humorous, always on the edge, "The Ashram" is a true story and unforgettable adventure: the unfolding of one man's unconscious mind and his travels through the wilds of Central America as he comes to grips with what he has found. Synopsis: Destined to leave readers on the edge of their seats, questioning their own perceptions of reality, "The Ashram" is one of the most unique, original, true, spiritual adventure stories of all time. Beginning in 1983, the story chronicles Eric Bullard's personal search which begins at the end of a six month odyssey through the South Pacific when he begins to question all that he has seen and lived in life up to that point. Now, desperate and preparing to return to the exact same world that he left six months earlier, he retreats up to the remote summit of Mount Solitaire in the Blue Mountains of Australia for a final week of fasting and contemplation in the hope that the answers he so desperately needs will come. Once there he reads a book on meditation, becomes fascinated with the subject, learns to meditate, and achieves great results. Two yeas later he enters into a Hindu ashram where he spends he majority of he next seven years studying deep meditation techniques. The real heart of the story begins to unfold in 1989 when, after four years in the ashram, he participates in a thirty day intensive meditation course during which he experiences a set of deep spiritual experiences that irrevocably change his life forever. Totally unprepared for what he has seen and experienced on the course, he spends the next three years in the ashram trying to come to grips with what he has found and now knows lies deep within each and every other human being. This main story line is further expanded and articulated upon by the second story line of the book which occurs nine years later as Eric, after drinking his way through Mexico and Guatemala for four years, decides to hike across the remote, war-torn Cuchamatane Mountains of Guatemala with a couple of hiking companions that he has just met. Not sure what they might find, if it is safe, or even the way, they end up becoming lost in the perilous mountains then helped by the humble yet courageous Highland Mayan Indians that they meet along the way. Arriving to the other side of the mountain range the trio enters into a mysterious, ancient Mayan kingdom known as the Ixil Triangle where they are confronted by the incredible devastation left over by the recently ended Guatemalan Civil War. Venturing deeper into the Triangle and the tragedy that lies within, Eric is finally forced to confront the personal demons, fears and doubts that have been plaguing him since the course of nine years earlier and discover something far greater then he could have ever imagined.

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THE SPIRITUAL DIARY: Dr. Baker has maintained a spiritual diary for fifty years, and using examples from his own entries demonstrates how it is possible, through the language of symbols, to establish a dialogue with one's own Higher Self. This is a perfect companion text book to The Diary of an Alchemist by the same author. The diary lays down a channel for the transmission of advice and direction from the higher Self that can bring about a transformation of the personality, its attachments and limitations. It is a textbook for esoteric students seeking to express themselves more fully about subjective matters as a preliminary to their acting subjectively in the inner planes before and after their initiations. The diary is meant to highlight those difficulties that arise from the adjustments which the disciple must make in the outer world if he is to live the philosophical and meditative way of life. Once posited, the higher Self can make suggestions through meditation and the dream life as to how these adjustments can be effected. An absolutely essential guide to those of you wanting answers to questions like: Who am I? Where do I come from? Why am I here? Where do I go to from here? Why do I have to suffer pain? This volume also contains the full text of “The Voice of the Silence” as translated by H. P. Blavatsky

In late 20th-century India, Christian-Hindu dialogue was forever transformed following the opening of Shantivanam, the first Christian ashram in the country. Mario I. Aguilar brings together the histories of the five pioneers of Christian-Hindu dialogue and their involvement with the ashram, to explore what they learnt and taught about communion between the two religions, and the wide ranging consequences of their work. The author expertly threads together the lives and friendships between these men, while uncovering the Hindu texts they used and were influenced by, and considers how far some of them became, in their personal practice, Hindu. Ultimately, this book demonstrates the impact of this history on contemporary dialogue between Christians and Hindus, and how both faiths can continue to learn and grow together.

Epistolary biography of a bridge-building 20th century Christian-Hindu spiritual leader This fascinating biography of Swāmī Abhishiktānanda is based on a vast collection of letters written to friends and family over his twenty-five years in India. Swāmī Abhishiktānanda (1910-1973)—a French Catholic monk, who came to India in 1948 and settled there till the end of his life in 1973—was one of the most fascinating spiritual figures of the twentieth century and a bridge-builder between Christian and Hindu traditions. After nineteen years of living in a Benedictine monastery in France, his passionate longing to realize the Truth brought him face-to-face with Indian spirituality and paved the way for him to meet one of the greatest contemporary sages of India, Shri Ramana Maharshi. This book illustrates the spiritual trajectory of an extraordinary pioneer of interreligious dialogue and a bridge-builder between Christian and Hindu traditions, from his first arrival in South India in 1948 towards his spiritual Awakening in Rishikesh on July 14, 1973.