Mary Ellen Korman speaks on her new book, A Woman’s Work with Gurdjieff, Ramana Maharshi, Krishnamurti, Anandamayi Ma & Pak Subuh: The Spiritual Life Journey of Ethel Merston, published by Arete Communications.
The spiritual life story of Ethel Merston based on her diaries and recollections is an important historical work, as well as a keen insight into many of the seminal teachers of her times. Merston was one of Gurdjieff’s first English pupils and lived at the Prieuré from 1922 until 1927. Her seriousness and organizational abilities led Gurdjieff to put her in charge in his absences. Fritz Peters gives a wonderful account of what she had to put up with (he gives her the name Miss Madison) in his Boyhood with Gurdjieff. In India, she lived at Ramana Maharshi’s ashram for many years. She gives a first-person account of his death and also the meeting between The Mother and Sri Aurobindo and Anandamayi Ma (with whom she often traveled). She also attended many of Krishnamurti’s talks and seminars in the 1930s, was a friend of Sunyata, Alain Daniélou, Krishna Prem and Swami Omananda. In the 1950s she was initiated into Subud by Pak Subuh at J. G. Bennett’s Coombe Springs study house. At Mendham, she met again her friends from her Gurdjieff days—Mme de Salzmann, Mme Ouspensky, Olga de Hartmann and Peggy Flinsch—and was introduced to Lord John Pentland.
Thursday, April 29, 2010, 7:30 p.m.
Towson, Maryland
Location:
Ukazoo Books
730 Dulaney Valley Road (in Dulaney Plaza across from Towson Town Center)
21204
Thursday, May 13, 2010, 7:00 p.m.
Washington, D.C.
Location:
The Musical Source
1409 15th St. NW (lower level), corner of P Street
20005
Metro: Red Line, Dupont Circle stop;
or Blue & Orange Line, MacPherson Square stop
See Gurdjieff Legacy
