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    Ramesh Balsekar Quotes

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    sun1986
    Ramesh S. Balsekar teaches Advaita Vedanta nondualism, which holds that there is an ultimate source (Brahman) from which creation arises, and that once creation occurs, the world operates according to divine and natural laws, with no free will or individual doers. He says enlightenment is the annihilation of the individual 'one' who wants enlightenment, so no one can achieve it. A story is told of a disciple who wrote monthly letters about his spiritual progress to his guru for 4 months, which the guru discarded, until the 5th month when the disciple wrote just "Enlightenment - Who cares?".

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    Ramesh Balsekar Quotes

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    sun1986
    606 views3 pages
    Ramesh S. Balsekar teaches Advaita Vedanta nondualism, which holds that there is an ultimate source (Brahman) from which creation arises, and that once creation occurs, the world operates according to divine and natural laws, with no free will or individual doers. He says enlightenment is the annihilation of the individual 'one' who wants enlightenment, so no one can achieve it. A story is told of a disciple who wrote monthly letters about his spiritual progress to his guru for 4 months, which the guru discarded, until the 5th month when the disciple wrote just "Enlightenment - Who cares?".

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    15717237 Ramesh Balsekar Quotes

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    Ramesh S. Balsekar teaches Advaita Vedanta nondualism, which holds that there is an ultimate source (Brahman) from which creation arises, and that once creation occurs, the world operates according to divine and natural laws, with no free will or individual doers. He says enlightenment is the annihilation of the individual 'one' who wants enlightenment, so no one can achieve it. A story is told of a disciple who wrote monthly letters about his spiritual progress to his guru for 4 months, which the guru discarded, until the 5th month when the disciple wrote just "Enlightenment - Who cares?".

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    606 views3 pages

    Ramesh Balsekar Quotes

    Uploaded by

    sun1986
    Ramesh S. Balsekar teaches Advaita Vedanta nondualism, which holds that there is an ultimate source (Brahman) from which creation arises, and that once creation occurs, the world operates according to divine and natural laws, with no free will or individual doers. He says enlightenment is the annihilation of the individual 'one' who wants enlightenment, so no one can achieve it. A story is told of a disciple who wrote monthly letters about his spiritual progress to his guru for 4 months, which the guru discarded, until the 5th month when the disciple wrote just "Enlightenment - Who cares?".

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
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    Ramesh S.

    Balsekar's Quotes
    Ramesh S.Baleskar teaches from the tradition of Advaita Vedanta nondualism. His
    teaching begins with the idea of an ultimate Source, Brahman, from which creation
    arises. nce creation has arisen, the world and life o!erate mechanisticall"
    according to both #ivine and natural laws. $hile !eo!le believe that the" are
    actuall" doing things and making choices, free will is in fact an illusion. All
    that ha!!ens is caused b" this one source, and the actual identit" of this source
    is !ure %onsciousness, which is inca!able of choosing or doing.

    &his false identit" which revolves around the idea that '( am the bod"' or '( am
    the doer' kee!s one from seeing that one's actual identit" is free %onsciousness.
    )ike other Vedanta teachers, he sa"s that while creation and creator a!!ear to be
    different and se!arate, that the" are actuall" two sides of the same coin.

    Balsekar teaches that life is a ha!!ening but there is no individual doer of life.
    '&he final truth, as Ramana *aharshi and +isargadatta *ahara, and all the sages
    before them have clearl" stated, is that there is neither creation nor
    destruction, neither birth nor death, neither destin" nor free will, neither an"
    !ath nor an" achievement. All there is is %onsciousness.' '$hat is the
    significance of the statement '+o one can get enlightenment'- &his is the ver"
    root of the teaching. (t means that it's stu!id for an" so.called master to ask
    an"one to do an"thing to achieve or get enlightenment. &he core of this sim!le
    statement means, according to m" conce!t, that enlightenment is the annihilation
    of the 'one' who 'wants' enlightenment. (f there is enlightenment . which can onl"
    ha!!en because it is the will of /od . then it means the 'one' who had earlier
    wanted enlightenment has been annihilated. So no 'one' can achieve enlightenment
    and therefore no 'one' can en,o" enlightenment.' '&he ,oke is even the
    surrendering is not in "our control. $h"- Because so long as there is an
    individual who sa"s '( surrender' there is a surrenderer, an individual ego...
    $hat ('m sa"ing is that even the surrendering is not in 0"our1 hands.'
    &he desire for enlightenment once drove an earnest and highl".determined
    individual to s!end several "ears in the com!an" of a s!iritual teacher. #uring
    these "ears he !roved himself a devoted disci!le who was totall" committed to the
    attainment of s!iritual reali2ation. $hen the time came for him to leave and
    return to his native !lace, his guru made him !romise that he would write ever"
    month, re!orting on his s!iritual !rogress. &he disci!le gave his !romise and
    received his guru's blessing. &he" said their farewells and !arted.
    &he disci!le had been gone ,ust over a month when his first letter arrived. '( am
    e3!eriencing the neness with the 4niverse,' he wrote. &he master said nothing,
    but crum!led u! the letter and dro!!ed it in the bin.
    &he ne3t month's re!ort came !rom!tl" and stated5 '&he #ivinit" !resent in all
    things has been revealed to me. ( behold (t in a flower, in a stone, in the ver"
    air, ever"where.' Again the master read the letter, crum!led it u! and tossed it
    into the bin without a word.
    6or four months the letters arrived regularl". (n his third message the disci!le
    declared5 '&he m"ster" of the ne and the *an" has been revealed to me. ( now know
    and trul" com!rehend there is no difference between "ou and me or an"thing else.'
    nce read, this missive also ended u! in the guru's waste.!a!er basket. (n the
    fourth letter the disci!le said, '+o one is born, lives or dies, because there is
    no one who e3ists.' &his letter too was read without comment and followed its
    !redecessors, sli!!ing with a rustle into the trash.
    After the fourth month, however, no further letters arrived. +o letter in the
    fifth month, no letter in the si3th month, no letter for a whole "ear7 As the time
    !assed and brought no news, the master became increasingl" curious as to what had
    ha!!ened with his beloved disci!le. 8ventuall", he wrote to him in9uiring about
    his s!iritual !rogress, and reminding the disci!le of his !romise to kee! him
    informed.
    Some time later, the guru was handed a letter addressed in a familiar hand. (t was
    from his distant disci!le. &he guru o!ened it and read, and laughed out loud with
    obvious delight. His attendant disci!les were !u22led as to what had !rom!ted this
    outburst of ,o". Beaming gladl", the guru !assed them the letter. &he" saw that it
    contained ,ust three words, and the three words were5 '8nlightenment- $ho cares7'
    '%onsciousness is all there is.'

    '&o be enlightened is to be able to acce!t with e9uanimit" an"thing in life at an"
    moment as /od's will.'

    '(t is not an action. (t is a ha!!ening. (t will ha!!en if it is su!!osed to
    ha!!en.'

    '(f "ou sto! fearing /od it is more than likel" that "ou will start loving /od.
    &he greatest freedom to find is freedom from the fear of /od5 ( do nothing: he
    does ever"thing.'

    ')ove is wanting to do something for the other
    without the slightest e3!ectation of an"thing in return.'

    '&he seeing is the onl" doing necessar".'

    'Self.reali2ation is the total reali2ation that there is no one to reali2e ;or
    achieve< an"thing.'

    'All action is a divine ha!!ening through a human ob,ect . it is not something
    done b" someone.'

    '=eace and harmon" can !revail onl" when the individual is able, in the !resent
    moment, not to be uncomfortable with others.'

    8nlightenment has to be found in the ver" living, and not considered an ideal or
    !rinci!le of !erfection, which as such can onl" be an esca!e from life. &he real
    9uestion, therefore, is whether it is !ossible to live dail" life in a state of
    enlightenment with a sense of greater ease, a sense of fulfillment, which the
    ordinar" !erson does not have.

    $hat the ordinar" seeker e3!ects is something !ositive5 ananda . ,o", bliss. And
    this is what has been held out to him, all these "ears, as the carrot before the
    donke". $hich doctrine, which s"stem offers more, is the usual choice before the
    seeker.

    6rom m" e3!erience, ( would ver" clearl" tell the seeker that ( do not know of an"
    !ositive ,o" or bliss which does not ver" soon give wa" to miser" and !ain. All (
    would hold out before "ou is negative gain5 if "ou are able to acce!t totall",
    without the slightest doubt, that all action, without e3ce!tion, ha!!ens as an
    event which has to ha!!en at that time and !lace, through a !articular bod".mind
    organism, according to /od's $ill . %osmic )aw, and is not an action done b" an"
    individual human entit", then that is enlightenment. $hat is the benefit of this
    enlightenment to the individual entit" for whom this has ha!!ened- Ver" sim!l",
    since he is not doing an"thing at all, nor does an"one else either, he goes
    through the rest of his life without the slightest load of shame and guilt for his
    own actions and without an" hatred and malice towards an" other entit". A state of
    negation . that is all. And "et this state of negation is the ver" basis for !eace
    and harmon"5 to be anchored in tran9uilit" while necessaril" facing life from
    moment to moment.

    &here is a fundamental difference between being lonel" and being alone. &hroughout
    the histor" of mankind, what we find is that e3cessive self.concern, self.
    occu!ation, is the outstanding feature of human behavior. Human life is an"thing
    but a matter of certaint", fulfillment, !lent". n the contrar", life is like an
    obstacle race.

    $e can see that our whole activit" is self.centered. $e kee! thinking about
    ourselves endlessl"5 we must im!rove ourselves: we want a better ,ob: we must
    fulfill ourselves: we want a better relationshi!: we want to achieve
    enlightenment. ur self.concern motivates all our activities. (t is this !re.
    occu!ation with the self and rivalr" with the 'other', which brings about
    isolation and loneliness. $e tr" to esca!e from it in various wa"s, but such
    strategies cannot succeed.
    $hen one is conforming to a !attern . religious, !s"chological or even self.
    im!osed . there is bound to be a contradiction between 'what.is' and the !attern.
    &he self becomes su!remel" im!ortant with the idea of self.im!rovement. ne needs
    tremendous energ" to see this situation in its truth and entiret". (t demands
    utter honest" to recogni2e that 'what.should.be' is an avoidance from the
    actualit" of 'what.is'.
    (t is onl" the urgenc" to see the truth that can make us acce!t the 'what.is' in
    the !resent moment. ne needs to be com!letel" alone in this investigation. &he
    accumulation of conce!tual knowledge must be totall" set aside. And such aloneness
    certainl" does not mean isolation5 it does not mean building a wall around
    oneself. n the contrar", this means one is not alone but re!resents all humanit",
    a universal brotherhood, regarding all se!arate selves as merel" instruments
    through which the =rimal 8nerg" . %onsciousness . functions and brings about, at
    an" moment, !recisel" that which is su!!osed to ha!!en according to a %osmic )aw.

    (t is onl" such an awakening of #ivine (ntelligence, which ends selfishness . the
    cause of loneliness of the self.

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