Ramesh S. Balsekar

En este libro Ramesh se descubre como un maestro espiritual de la edad moderna. Sus revelaciones comentarios desvelan la belleza y el misterio ocultos en este antiguo texto y nos llevan a la Comprension, que es nuestra verdadera naturaleza.

La mente sólo es capaz de recibir lo que es eterno, imperecedero, inconmensurable, cuando está tranquila, en calma, sin buscar solución ni respuesta, sin resitirse ni rechazar. No puedes ir a ello, viene a ti; lo que te libera es la verdad, no el esfuerzo por ser libre.

Linspiration initiale de ce livre est venue de trois entretiens que Balsekar a menés avec un Swami australien, moine bouddhiste pratiquant. Deux points de vue ont pu ainsi être confrontés : lenseigne

Spiritual Master Ramesh Balsekar used to speak about a concept called Reversing into the future. We usually believe in a linear time sequence: because A happened so B happened and because B happened C happened and so on. But according to his concept, it worked exactly the other way around. Because C had to happen, B had to happen and because B had to happen A had to happen. Anybody who happened to meet Ramesh would aver that the proof of this concept lay in the way they were mysteriously led to meet him...a stranger mentioning his name; chancing upon a flyer nailed to a telegraph pole; reading a book authored by him which was left face down by a co-passenger on a flight; a bookshop owner recommending to a random shopper that he should meet this Guru from India; accompanying a friend and staying on to becoming a fan; and so on and so forth. In one particular case, someone actually made a checklist of attributes he was looking for in a Guru - if and when he found him - and he was miraculously led to Ramesh who just happened to tick off every single criterion! These stories of how spiritual seekers happened to meet Ramesh - no, how Consciousness was led to meet Consciousness - are fascinating not just because they reveal the mysterious ways of Existence but also because they often denote the culmination of a long journey for many of them. In Hanuman Chalisa, there is a line that so wonderfully encapsulates Hanumans love and devotion to Ram: Prabhucharitrasunibaykorasiya - Ever eager to hear stories about Him. Yes, the stories themselves are so deeply satiating.

RAMESH BALSEKAR was one of the most profound spiritual Masters of this Age. He was both a brilliant writer and a captivating speaker. Shortly after retiring as the President of the Bank of India, he met the sage Nisargadatta Maharaj and began translating for Maharajs daily morning talks. It was not long before Ramesh too experienced the Ultimate Understanding. He was therefore a wonderful blend of East and West, spiritual and material. His compassion and gentle humour infused the Teaching with an energy that can only be described as being uniquely Ramesh.

It is everyones experience that the basis of daily living is facing life from moment to moment, necessarily accepting whatever the moment brings - sometimes pain, sometimes pleasure. The interconnected opposites of pain and pleasure, along with the opposites of every conceivable kind, beginning with male and female, form the very basis of life and living; and, therefore, it is impossible to separate one from the other. What the human being wants is one and not the other - pleasure and not the pain. And this pursuit of one as against the other is the main cause of why religion flourishes, various god-men flourish, promising the impossible and leading to frustration.

Can Spiritual Understandingbe imparted through letters?Its a long-distance love affair.The Master is in Mumbai, most of his disciples thousands of miles away.The Teaching deals with Advaita, or non-duality. And as the Teaching gently seeps deeper, doubts and questions sprout; and often, the only way the disciple can seek guidance from the Master is through mail.The correspondence that flows is truly remarkable since it is both subjective and objective, unique and universal, personal and impersonal.To the disciple the correspondence may denote letters from one individual to another. For the Master, they are merely words emanating from Consciousness to Consciousness.Consciousness Writes offers you the fragrance of Advaitic teaching and a rare glimpse into the Master-disciple relationship enveloped in the warmth of intimacy and the sparkle of Rameshs wit.

This contemporary Guru Pournima tribute is a collection of favorite commentaries on the Guru-disciple relationship by Ramesh S. Balsekar - conversations, letters and poems, each a profound expression of gratitude shared between Guru and disciple in this most divine and mysterious of all relationships. Guru Pournima is a celebration honoring the Guru on the auspicious full moon in July-August in the Indian month of Ashada, dating back to the ancient Indian sage Vyasa, who was born on this day. Tradition has it that the disciples of Vyasa asked him for a way to thank him and honor him for all he had given; he suggested that they dedicate the fullest full moon of the year as the Gurus moon, hence Guru Pournima.This book is an offering of thankfulness to Ramesh for his modern, eloquent and simple Teachings of Advaita, non-duality. And, it is also yet another gift from Ramesh. His utterly clear Teachings, written and spoken, have touched thousands of seekers from around the world over the past 20 years. This book reflects the experience and outpouring of gratitude of so many seekers who have met and learned from Ramesh through books, letters and satsang. Each format is its own vehicle, and each equally masterful and effective in conveying Rameshs timeless message, bringing relief from the suffering of the burden of shame and guilt, hatred and malice, jealousy and envy, which obstructs the peace that is right before us in ordinary daily living.

Every you are not THAT. THAT is every you.THAT will always be there without you, but you cannot be there without THAT.Unless this is very clearly understood, every seeker will want to be one with THAT and will, therefore, be frustrated. What is to be very clearly understood is that every individual entity is connected to THAT Source. And the highest understanding is that every human being, in his daily living, must continuously remain connected to THAT Source and never be disconnected from it.The individual entity the Ego gets disconnected from the Source whenever he considers himself or the other as the doer of some action, and blames and condemns him for some action. The connection finally ends when the body dies and the Ego no longer exists as a separate entity.In A Buddhas Babble, Ramesh Balsekar uses pithy writing, telling parables and large doses of humour to get this point across. Such is the magic of his writing that no reader can remain untouched by its inherent wisdom.RAMESH S. BALSEKAR was one of the most profound spiritual Masters of this Age. He was both a brilliant writer and a captivating speaker. Shortly after retiring as the President of the Bank of India, he met the sage Nisargadatta Maharaj and began translating for Maharajs daily morning talks. It was not long before Ramesh too experienced the Ultimate Understanding. He is therefore a wonderful blend of East and West, spiritual and material. His compassion and gentle humour infuse the Teaching with an energy that can only be described as being uniquely Ramesh.

You cannot have an ego because you are the ego: Consciousness identified with a name and form as a separate entity. The sage responds to his name being called; therefore, the sage has an ego. The ordinary man also responds to his name being called. What is the difference between the ego of the sage and the ego of the ordinary man? That is the core question. The answer is that in the ego of the sage the sense of personal doership has been totally annihilated: he knows that he is only a psychosomatic apparatus through which the Primal Energy functions and brings about whatever is supposed to happen according to the Cosmic Law. The ego of the ordinary man is impregnated with the sense of personal doership. The ego of the sage is totally free from the burden of pride and arrogance for his good actions and guilt and shame for his bad actions, whereas the ego of the ordinary man carries the burden of guilt and shame for his own actions and a heavier burden of hatred for the others for their actions which have hurt him. In the words of Ramana Maharshi, the ego of the sage is like "the remnants of a burnt rope."

RAMESH S. BALSEKAR is one of the most profound spiritual Masters of this Age. He is both a brilliant writer and a captivating speaker. Shortly after retiring as the President of the Bank of India, he met the sage Nisargadatta Maharaj and began translating for Maharajs daily morning talks. It was not long before Ramesh too experienced the Ultimate Understanding. He is therefore a wonderful blend of East and West, Spiritual and material. His compassion and gentle humor infuse the Teaching with an energy that can only be described as being uniquely Ramesh.

Ashtavakra says:You are not the body which is composed of the five elements. You are that Consciousness which has provided the inert body with the sentience that makes the senses function I regard to their objects. It is sentience which makes the psychosomatic apparatus work as a unit.Anticipating the query from his intelligent disciple, the guru tells him further, "You" are not the physical organism but Consciousness which works not as someone in charge of the operations of the physical organism but merely as the witness of the operations.You have wrongly identified yourself as the individual, as the doer of all actions that take place through the physical organism, and thereby unnecessarily assume the responsibility for the actions which take place, and thus assume the bondage from which you are seeking liberation.The witness cannot be the doer, and you are therefore not the doer. With this understanding, you can detach yourself from the wrong identification with the body. And when you do this, you will automatically assume your true position as the witness and remain relaxed (because there is not the tension of responsibility for the actions) in consciousness, as consciousness.The state of being disidentified from the body is the state of witnessing (when the individual "me" is not present). And this state of detached witnessing is indeed the state of liberation. This is what the Self-realized guru means when he says that when you remain relaxed in Consciousness (without identification with the body), the state of liberation is sudden and immediate.The words "remain relaxed in Consciousness" form the very basis of the Ashtavakra teaching.

Ramana Maharshi composed The Essence of Spiritual Instruction in response to the supplications of the devoted Muruganar. The poet-devotee was writing in Tamil the story of the wayward rishis of Daruka forest who were practicing special rites for attaining powers they desired. Their egos deflated by Siva, and perceiving the error of their approach, they humbly sought spiritual instruction from Siva. Siva graciously bestowed the instruction, and it is these teachings that Muruganar requested Sri Bhagavan, Siva himself, to reveal in verse form. So, the Maharshi composed thirty verses in Tamil. Later, Sri Bhagavan translated them into Sanskrit. The Tamil version is titled Upadesa Undiyar, and the Sanskrit version is entitled Upadesa Sarah and is also referred to as Upadesa Saram.This work is the English translation and interpretation of the Sanskrit Upadesa Saram. It presents the quintessence of spiritual instruction.

Ramesh S. Balsekar was one of the most profound spiritual Master of this Age. He was both a brilliant writer and a captivating speaker. Shortly after retiring as the President of the Bank of India, he met the sage Nisargadatta Maharaj and being translating for Maharajs daily morning talks. It was not long before Ramesh too experienced the ultimate Understanding. He was therefore a wonderful blend of East and West, spiritual and material. His compassion and gentle humor infuse the Teaching with an energy that can only be describe as being uniquely Ramesh.

Ramesh S. Balsekar has authored more than 45 well-known books over two decades.He has always had a uniquely individualistic approach to spiritual seeking and, in the course of his teaching, he has developed several unique concepts. For instance, what is the ego? He has clarified that you cannot have an ego, from which you seek freedom. You are the ego, the separate entity, the seeker who seeks the freedom of enlightenment, and finally arrives at the successful conclusion that what he is actually seeking is freedom from his own sense of personal doership.Similarly, his concepts like the working mind and the thinking mind, free will and predetermination being not opposites but complementaries, the difference between witnessing, observing and non-witnessing, biological reaction and egoic reaction among others have been found most useful by seekers and teachers alike, all over the world.

In nearly every talk happening daily in Bombay, Ramesh Balsekar reminds visitors that anything any sage has ever said, anything any religion or scripture has ever said is a concept. In a delightful and unique manner he shatters commonly held fantasies about Truth, about seeking, about how life happens. A teacher of pure Advaita, or non-duality, Ramesh is an unearthly blend of the utterly human and utterly divine manifesting as a brilliant spiritual Master. His crystal- clear and profound teachings are backed by his complete understanding that "Nobody does anything" coupled with his life experience as a top executive of a major Indian bank, as a huSoft Coverand, father and grandfather -- all lived knowing that it is all happening as Gods Will. For much of his full life Ramesh, whose Guru was Nisargadatta Maharaj, has been devoted to Ramana Maharshi, in whose spirit Ramesh welcomes seekers and asks "who is seeking? Leave the seeking to Him who started the seeking."

Most spiritual seekers have no real idea of what exactly it is that they are seeking even after having spent years chasing the chimera of Enlightenment.It stands to reason that if you want something desperately you would take great pains to find out what it did for those who have got it. So if you desire Enlightenment, it would make abundant sense to at least check out what the Enlightened ones have to say about the state of self-realization. That is what Enlightened Living does for you.In this book Ramesh Balsekar, arguably the most renowned exponent of the ancient philosophy of Advaita today and the author of 30 well-known books, presents you a clear perspective on the self-realized state, in his hallmark lucid style.If you have believed the sage to be a glorified vegetable, passionless and neutered to all pleasure and all pain, if you have believed that he is in a never-ending state of cocooned bliss or if you have believed that there is some-one out there to enjoy that blissful state, this book shows you just how mistaken you are.To make its point, Enlightened Living presents an impressive array of Masters from Adi Shankara to Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, from Ashtavakra to Ramana Maharshi, from Jnaneshwara to Nisargadatta Maharaj and Sengtsan to share with you, in the simplest terms possible, the reality of the state of self-realization. Pointers are used, insights are bestowed and cobwebs vigorously dusted away till what you are left with is a deeply satisfying clarity which may or may not be intellectual.