Torkom Saraydarian was an extraordinary human being. He was known worldwide as a renowned scholar of comparative religions. He was a great teacher, writer, lecturer, and composer of sacred music. His works represent a synthesis of the best and most beautiful in the sacred culture of the world by creating a truly universal approach to spirituality. These works enrich the foundational thinking on which we can construct our future of true global living.
The remarkable achievement in his writings was to synthesize and make comprehensible the huge body of knowledge known as the Ageless Wisdom.
At the age of nine, Torkom began to receive education in the Ageless Wisdom under the guidance of his father. At that time, people did not discuss these things in the open, but would disappear to attend meetings - in caves, under the stars - where they would hold ceremonies and dramatizations to reveal the mysteries of the subtle worlds.
This early training kindled Torkoms inner questioning and yearning for truth. He entered a monastery at the age of eighteen.
In 1959 he left Jordan to come to the U.S.A. with his family. He saw people in danger of losing themselves; in need of direction, of guidance. In response to this need, he began inviting them into his home in Van Nuys, California to study and to learn how to lead themselves into more productive, healthy, right living via the principles of the Ageless Wisdom. This was the inception of The Aquarian Educational Group.
For the first ten years, he taught classes and lectured in a one-room garage - to hippies, doctors, lawyers, philosophers - without a salary except for the small donations left by students. He took in strangers who came to him in crises and helped them to gain real independence. He asked for nothing in return.
Despite his total dedication, compassion, and sacrificial nature, he was not soft with people. His straight words and honesty, grounded in clear observation, were given freely.
Torkom Saraydarians books are grounded in the seven principles of right living: Beauty, Goodness, Righteousness, Joy, Freedom, Striving, and Sacrificial Service.
These seven principles are richly colored threads woven throughout all of his works, and they are the vehicle through which ones inner divinity can bloom.
We are an international group in which everyone can take part because it is the principles that give life - not religions.
We didnt build a religion. We didnt build hatred between people. We emphasized great principles and these great principles worked. (From The AEG 35th Anniversary lecture, 7/21/96)
Through the practice of these principles and others, Torkom taught people how to be successful, to have a good self-image, to have healthy, happy relationships; how to be cooperative, to have a lifes purpose, to be more creative; how to be healthy, joyful, responsible, and loving:
Love each other is nothing. Love each other is now obsolete. Love others more than yourself is the new commandment! (From Healing Through Love, lecture by Torkom, 1/13/93)
