Ray Randall Ward

It has come to my attention that Ray Ward, a former student of Desani's at the University of Texas was described as Desani's editor here. This is snatching at straws, I know, but absent any other information it is possible that The Rissala manuscript ended up in his possession. Further, it is possible that Ward or his heirs or assigns might have knowledge of its disposition.

Ray Ward was married to Mary Ann (Anne?). We met once in Austin at the Pemberton Parkway residence of Desani's. The Wards had been students of Desani's but moved away before I came on the scene. So I didn't know them. Professor would mention them occasionally. They divorced sometime in the 1990's. That's my vague recollection. I saw Mary Ann post divorce while visiting Professor at his residence after he moved from Blossom Burn's home (Pemberton Parkway, Austin, Texas). This was also after he had a stroke. At some point in the 1990s Stephen Greenberg, another former student, and attorney for Desani, informed me that Desani had moved to Ward's home in Dallas.

Ray remarried Martha Elizabeth (Nee Hudson) in Dallas. They had a son. She passed away in 2014.

According to the above mentioned domain's whois record the registrant is private and expires October, 2019. (enter the domain, hit enter)

While Todd Katz mentions this he doesn't go into detail.

Perhaps this will assist those who come later that might be interested in the fate of Professor Desani's magnum opus.

Iamdying.net is in the wayback machine.

As stated elsewhere I have pretty much withdrawn from pursuing the disposition of The Rissala ms. Desani used to say try something difficult three times. If you meet repeatedly with failure then conclude its just not supposed to happen. Its not willed. That's me and Rissala. Except I exceeded the three several times over. As stated elsewhere here I reached out to he who would have been most likely to know of the disposition of the ms. I was rebuffed. No reply. I asked the University of Texas, Harry Ransom Center, repository for many of Desani's papers whether they knew of the Rissala. They replied in the negative. I've talked to Todd Katz extensively about this. He states that anyone with knowledge of the fate of Rissala would undoubtedly know of his/our interest and efforts and could easily have come forward so something is holding them back.

In Todd's most recent update of Desani.org he writes quite a bit about the atmosphere and disposition of Desani's dozen followers, "disciples", in Austin. I found it very helpful and insightful. You can read it on the home tab under the heading Texas Years at Desani.org. It helped me get beyond the feelings of rejection by my formerly close associates and reminded me that things often are not what they seem. I don't know but maybe fate is teaching me that I am an impediment rather than a facilitator. I won't trouble you with the unsettling effects I've endured because of these doubts except to say that my specific instruction is simply "to yield". Therefore, I'm pretty much off the case unless something falls in my lap as this information about Mr. Ward did.

No Reason No Rhyme

“Nothing heroic ever happens at all!
No peacock with sapphire fire upon’t ever dances,
As one danced once, with the rose of daybreak around, about, upon and on all sides of it
(as a sapphire set against a glowing sphere)
And the marble (upon which the peacock alighted for a dance) was splendored too by the winter sun
And the glittering river flowed past (coursing towards the sea)
And I had in my palm then the romance of all of Hindustan, in the span of an instant!”

From “Come, or Correspond, Ezra Pound!” an essay by G.V. Desani

One cannot read, for instance, James Joyce’s Ulysses without coming away with the impression that he knew everything about everything. Literally. The student of G.V. Desani will have a likewise impression. Desani’s knowledge and understanding of the world in which he lived is universal. He was without a doubt, as far as literature is concerned, the James Joyce of his time. There won’t be another like him for generations, I imagine. He was a Jagatguru. I would, without hesitation, go so far as to say he was in a constant state of Hypostasis.

Professor Desani kept copies of everything he published. This included articles on news print and various periodicals. These he would copy again and give them to his close associates, friends, devotees. I recall visiting a local company, Ginny’s copying service, on 19th Street in Austin, making hundreds of copies on their “xerox” machines, collating, and stapling these articles with him. Todd Katz was one of those with whom he shared these. Todd was diligent enough to maintain these records.

In today’s mail I received some of these now very old and faded documents. They are copies of work originally published in the 1960s in The Illustrated Weekly of India under the heading of “No Rhyme No Reason”. Now the paper is wrinkled, the staples rusted and the type obscured.

Todd has laboriously transcribed these pieces along with their margin notes and you will find links to them in .pdf format at Desani.org. All of the documents there have gone through this process. He types them up and I proof read them.

It is worth noting that of all the people attracted to Professor during his years in the U.S. Mr. Katz is the only one who has worked diligently to bring these now obscure efforts of Professor Desani to light. Aside from the youtube interview(s) – posted anonymously – no one has done more in this regard.

It is worth noting that Desani had, and instilled in us, an abiding intention to publish his remaining works. Its why we were attracted to him in large part. We wanted to be involved in bringing his writing to as large an audience as possible. Professor never asked directly for help – not in so many words. He repeatedly shared his dream with those close to him and we merely picked it up via osmosis. Its only natural that those seeds he planted would take root in some of us and eventually come to some limited fruition, at least. We wanted to be a part of something larger than ourselves, frankly. Todd is to be commended for nurturing Desani’s dream and somewhat making it his life mission.

There was to have been the Rissala, which exists somewhere in manuscript form. Todd typed it up himself. But there was also to be a book based on Desani’s diaries which would contain – of particular interest to this writer – voluminous information about his experiences with Nadi texts directed to him personally. The Nadi texts he bequeathed to Boston University, I am given to understand. The diaries are at the University of Texas along with the remainder of Desani’s papers.

The University of Texas at Austin, Harry Ransom Center, has communicated to me that they do not have the Rissala manuscript.

You will find a link to the pdf file here.