Sri Madhava Ashish

Sri Madhava Ashish (1920–1997), who was for many years the head of a remote ashram, Mirtola, in the Kumaon hills of northern India, was a spiritual teacher whose teachings transcend conventional religious categories.
Born in Edinburgh, Sri Madhva Ashish was trained as an aircraft engineer in London and came to India during the Second World War. While travelling in India after the war, he met the great sage Ramana Maharshi at Tiruvannamalai and realized the supreme importance of the inner quest. His search led him to Mirtola ashram and to his guru, Sri Krishna Prem, an English professor who had become a Vaishnava monk.
At Sri Krishna Prem’s death, nearly twenty years later, Sri Madhava Ashish became the head of the ashram and with his successor, Dev Ashish, he transformed the ashram farm and forest, making it a model for environmentally sound rural development. He served on several Planning Commission committees for hill development, and was awarded the Padma Shri by the Government of India in 1992 for his work on environmental education.
In his teachings, Sri Madhava Ashish integrated tradition and modern thought, eastern wisdom and western analysis. He wrote a number of articles and books for international publications.