G. I. Gurdjieff

George Ivanovich Gurdjieff (31 March 31st, 1866 – 29 October 1949) was a Russian philosopher, mystic, spiritual teacher, and composer of Armenian and Greek descent, born in Alexandropol, Russian Empire (now Gyumri, Armenia). Gurdjieff taught that most humans do not possess a unified consciousness and thus live their lives in a state of hypnotic "waking sleep", but that it is possible to awaken to a higher state of consciousness and achieve full human potential. Gurdjieff described a method attempting to do so, calling the discipline "The Work" (i.e. work on oneself") or "the System". According to his principles and instructions, Gurdjieff's method for awakening one's consciousness unites the methods of the fakir, monk and yogi, and thus came to be referred to as the "Fourth Way".

Gurdjieff taught that a person must expend considerable effort to effect the transformation that leads to awakening. The effort that is put into practice Gurdjieff referred to as "The Work on oneself". According to Gurdjieff, "...Working on oneself is not so difficult as wishing to work, taking the decision." Gurdjieff's teaching addressed the question of humanity's place in the universe and the importance of developing latent potentialities—regarded as our natural endowment as human beings but rarely brought to fruition. He taught that higher levels of consciousness, higher bodies, inner growth and development are real possibilities that nonetheless require conscious work to achieve.

Gurdjieff also taught his pupils "sacred dances" or "movements", later known as the Gurdjieff Movements, which they performed together as a group. He also left a body of music, inspired by what he heard in visits to remote monasteries and other places, written for piano in collaboration with one of his pupils, Thomas de Hartmann.

His book, The Herald of Coming Good (first published in 1933) contains an outline of his ideas and of all his other writings. It consists of "ten books in three series".

Sri Ramakrishna and Sri Sri Maa Sarada Devi

Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (February 1836 – August 16th, 1886), born Gadadhar Chattopadhyaya, was an Indian Hindu mystic, saint, and religious leader in 19th century Bengal. Sri Ramakrishna experienced spiritual ecstasies from a young age, and was influenced by several religious traditions, including devotion toward the Goddess Kali, Tantra, Bhakti and Advaita Vedanta.

As a priest at the Dakshineshwar Kali Temple, his mystical temperament and ecstasies gradually gained him widespread acknowledgement, attracting to him various spiritual teachers, social leaders, and lay followers; he eventually taught disciples, who would later form the monastic Ramakrishna Order. He was generally revered by Bengali elites and within religious circles, which led to his chief disciple Swami Vivekananda founding the Ramakrishna Math, which provides spiritual training for monastics and householder devotees and the Ramakrishna Mission to provide charity, social work and education.

The Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna was first published in 1934. Ramakrishna was both generous and open-minded in outlook, seeking the common links between all major world religions. The main commonality being love Generally terms relating to Hindu practice find their own explanation quite clearly in the context of the text.

The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna as translated by Swami Nikhilananda, is also a collection of conversations with Sri Ramakrishna. Profound spiritual truths are described in simple words and vivid stories, revealing the divinity of man and the spiritual foundation of the universe.

Sri Sri Maa Sarada Devi (December 22nd, 1853 –July 20th, 1920), born Saradamani

Mukhopadhyay, was the wife and spiritual consort of Sri Ramakrishna. Sarada Devi is also reverentially addressed as the Holy Mother Sri Sri Maa by the followers of the Sri Ramakrishna monastic order. The followers of the order and devotees across the world worship Sri Sri Maa Sarada Devi as an incarnation of the Adi Parashakti or the Divine Mother. Sarada Devi spent her final years moving back and forth between communities in Jayrambati and Calcutta. Sarada Devi did not write any books but her talks and reminiscences were recorded by her disciples. In 1954, Sri Sarada Math and Ramakrishna Sarada Mission, a monastic order for women, were founded in the honor of Sarada Devi.

Baba Ram Dass

Ram Dass (April 6, 1931, born Richard Alpert – December 22, 2019), also known as Baba

Ram Dass, was an American spiritual teacher, psychologist, and author. His best known book, Be Here Now (1971), has been described as "seminal", and helped popularize Eastern spirituality and yoga with the baby boomer generation in the West. He authored or co-authored twelve other books on spirituality including Grist for the Mill (1977) and Polishing the Mirror (2013).

In 1967, Richard Alpert traveled to India and became a disciple of Hindu guru Neem Karoli Baba who gave him the name Ram Dass, meaning "Servant of Ram". In the coming years, he founded the charitable organizations Seva Foundation and Hanuman Foundation. The Hanuman Foundation, a nonprofit educational and service organization initiated the Prison-Ashram Project (now known as the Human Kindness Foundation), in 1974. The Hanuman Foundation is actively focused on the spiritual well-being of society through education, media and community service programs. He co-founded the Seva Foundation by joining with health-care workers to treat the blind in India, Nepal, and developing countries.

He traveled extensively giving talks and retreats and holding fundraisers for charitable causes in India. In 1997, Ram Dass had a stroke which left him with paralysis and expressive aphasia. He grew to interpret this event as an act of grace, learning to speak again and continuing to teach and author more books. After becoming seriously ill during a trip to India in 2004, he gave up traveling and moved to Maui, Hawaii, where he hosted annual retreats with other spiritual teachers until his death in 2019.

When Be Here Now was first published in 1971, it filled a deep spiritual emptiness, launched the ongoing mindfulness revolution, and established Ram Dass as perhaps the preeminent seeker of the twentieth century. In the book Ram Dass peels away each layer of his identity, disassociating from himself as a professor, a social cosmopolite, and lastly, as a physical being. Fear turns into exaltation upon the realization that at his truest, he was just his inner-self: a luminous being that he could trust indefinitely and love infinitely. His book was a critical element of 1970s spiritual enlightenment in the U.S.

His book from 2013, Polishing the Mirror: How to Live from Your Spiritual Heart is his auto-biography. In the book he discusses his Jewish routes and his reconciliation with the tradition and his bisexuality. For five decades, Ram Dass explored the depths of consciousness and love and brought them to life as service to others. He gathers together his essential teachings for living in the eternal present, here and now.

He includes a combination of perennial wisdom, humor, teaching stories, and detailed guidance on his own spiritual practices, including:

· Bhakti Yoga―opening our hearts to unconditional love

• Practices for living, aging, dying, and embracing the natural flow of life

• Karma Yoga―how selfless service can profoundly transform us

• Working with fear and suffering as a path to grace and freedom

• Step-by-step guidance in devotional chant, meditation and mantra practice, and much more

This book presents Ram Dass’s life journey and example of how to become a beacon of unconditional love.