Maitreya Ishwara

Maitreya Ishwara, born Wayne Anthony Unsworth in 1949, is a British spiritual teacher and author.

Biography
Maitreya was born to a middle-class English family in Widnes, Cheshire. In his autobiography, he describes his young self as a shy and sensitive boy who was shocked by violence. Later, like so many teenagers in the 1960s, he became heavily caught up in rock music and turned rebellious. In 1964 his family migrated to New Zealand where he joined a rock band as a drummer, wore long hair and became popular with girls. At age 16 he left school and became a full-time musician, touring the country with his band. Under the influence of the band's leader, he was drawn into committing petty crimes for the thrill of it and ended up in borstal. Several troubled years followed during which he was in and out of prisons and experimented with LSD. While life behind bars brought some shocks, it also provided a sanctuary and gave him the opportunity to read spiritual books by such authors as J. Krishnamurti.

As Maitreya grew into his twenties he was drawn to India and, after a long journey through Australia and Southeast Asia, arrived in Calcutta in 1975. He saw this as a pilgrimage, a search for spiritual sustenance and teaching. After casting around in some other directions, he came across a book by Osho and made his way to Osho's ashram in Poona. He was to remain a close follower of this guru for many years spending much of his time at the ashram but also making trips to Europe and other places, often with his girlfriend of the moment.

Philosophy
Maitreya's basic philosophy is Advaita, a system of thought to which he was introduced by Ramesh Balsekar. God is everything and everything is God, with two aspects to God: God the manifest, that is the universe, and God the unmanifest, the eternal omnipotent being ("God the beyond") that creates universes. He extends this with the idea that the universe is pre-ordained (or "scripted") such that everything in creation is planned by God in advance down to the minutest detail. In such a world, there is no such thing as free will although the powerful illusion of free will is carefully crafted to add spice to the mix. Maitreya also speaks of reincarnation, saying that everyone lives exactly 108 lives and becomes enlightened at the finale of the cycle.

Teaching and practice
While promoting the philosophy that is outlined above (and delineated in great detail in his book Unity), Maitreya is also careful to suggest that, while one might find some cause for comfort in the light of predestination, no one should take on any belief about any aspect of his philosophy; rather he encourages people to become "inner scientists" and discover this same truth for themselves. As a spiritual practice, Maitreya encourages the use of both self-enquiry and meditation. His primary mode of personal engagement with people is by satsang, sitting with small groups in meditation and also answering questions. He currently holds satsangs in various locations around Europe and occasionally in New Zealand where he maintains a retreat center.

Bibliography
*God's Vision: The New Dawn of Consciousness (1999)
*Biography of a Buddha (2000), ISBN 978-0953666126
*UNITY (2002), ISBN 0-9536661-5-8. Unity is a compilation of the previous two books with additional material.
*UNITY (2006), PDF Download'

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