The Masters Speak: An American Businessman Encounters Ashish and Gurdjieff Seymour B. Ginsburg 320 pages 6 x 9 $18.95 paper 978-0-8356-0882-4

I had been given the keys to inner self-initiation. And with that I would have to remain content…Was the American businessman in me behind my longings in this long and earnest quest of mine in search of the unitive vision?
—Seymour B. Ginsburg

The Masters Speak: An American Businessman Encounters Ashish and Gurdjieff is the detailed account of Semour Ginsburg’s remarkable quest for life’s deeper meaning. As co-founder of mega-retail giant Toys"R"Us, Seymour, better known as Sy, knew worldly success, and the shrewd ambition it takes to get there. But with the tragic, untimely death of his young wife, Sy was suddenly left to raise a grieving family alone. For the first time, he found no comfort in his prosperity.

Like so many "seekers," Sy was wary and anxious for direct spiritual experience. Armed with a mission to prove higher consciousness, Sy travels the world over to study, firsthand, the "spiritual greats" of his time. The Masters Speak recounts Sy’s curious meetings with enigmatic, controversial public figures such as Sathya Sai Baba, Jiddu Krishnamurti, and Madame de Salzman. This book also chronicles Sy’s extensive experience with Gurdjieff’s famous "work."

In his search for the ultimate truth, Sy meets a monk who would quickly become his most endearing teacher and friend, Sri Madhava Ashish. Sy and Ashish’s decades-long correspondence lays the intimate foundation for this book. Sy’s raw honesty, doubts, criticisms, and even occasional hostility, makes for a spiritual discussion that the western seeker can truly relate to. Ashish, a Scottish engineer turned Hindu master, responds with wisdom that is both sober and incredibly non-dogmatic. With beautiful intricacy, The Masters Speak conveys Ashish’s steadfast declaration of an intrinsic unity of all being, a "Unitive Vision."

This compilation of intimate letters, discourse, and previously published essays, provides readers of all traditions with solid food for spiritual thought. Embark with Sy on his extensive exploration of the root of consciousness through Gurdjieffian teachings, dream analysis, "life energy", and beyond.

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READ SAMPLES

Table of Contents | Chapter 1 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 12

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ENDORSEMENTS

In this highly readable collection lie innumerable pearls of practical and critical advice. A significant contribution to the reconciliation of the inner and outer life.
— Keith A. Buzzell, D.O., author of Man: A Three-brained Being, and Perspectives on Beelzebub's Tales and Other of Gurdjieff's Writings

A "must read" for all old and young seekers of truth all over the world.
—Jagdish C. Nautiyal, Professor Emeritus, University of Toronto

Seymour B. (Sy) Ginsburg, J.D. was born in Chicago, Illinois, in 1934, and graduated from Northwestern University with degrees in accountancy and law. He was a founder of a predecessor business and the first president of Toys R Us, and afterward a member of the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. On a private visit to India in 1978, he met the guru, Sri Madhava Ashish, who advised him: "If you want to study in a Western way the path that we follow here at Mirtola, you need to study and work with the Gurdjieff teaching."

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