The Quintesssence/Universal Independent Ashram is made up of a group of friends and families who are devotees of Swami Ambikananda (1934-1997).

Divine love was Swami Ambikananda’s message and also his inspiration, ‘Drown me deep in the sea of Thy love’, he would sing. Through Sri Ramakrishna, the Bengali saint and avatar, he taught love of God as Mother. Through Jesus Christ, the Incarnation for the Western world, he taught love of God as Father.

Through an abundance of music, wonderful songs, chanting, and the singing of the names and glories of God, as well as through meditation, prayer, service and sacrifice, he showed his folowers many ways of experiencing the divine.

Direct spiritual experience was his touchstone; joy his gift; suffering his secret wisdom.

During a span of almost thirty years, spent in deliberate obscurity, he familiarised his followers with the essence of many great saints. Not only Indian ascetics and holy men but also Western mystics and visionaries. Their experience became his, and his experience was transmuted into joy for his devotees. ‘God is love, and the quickest way to approach love is through love’