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#1976 - Thursday, November 12, 2004 - Editor: Jerry
A new book...
The Wisdom of Balsekar: The Essence of Enlightenment
from the World's Leading Teacher of Advaita.
Edited by Alan Jacobs. Foreward by Wayne Liquorman.
From the back cover: "This anthology of the writings of Ramesh Balsekar gives thematic extracts from all of his written works to date and is approved by the sage himself, as well as by his leading disciple, Wayne Liquorman. It will serve to stimulate its readers to study more of his books an edited talks -- and perhaps indeed to meet him in Mumbai."
From the book's front papers: "Ramesh S. Balsekar is known and loved by seekers from around the world as an eloquent Master of Advaita, or non-duality. After retiring as President of the Bank of India, Ramesh translated many of the daily talks given in the Marathi language by his Guru, Nisargadatta Maharaj. Ramesh's teaching began in 1982 after Maharaj had twice directed him to talk, and since then has written over twenty books on Advaita."
You may read a couple reviews and purchase the book at Amazon: http://tinyurl.com/6fbus
In this and then next couple of Highlights, I'll present excerpts from the book's various themes. The source of each fragment is given as well.
Action
We seem to have arrived at a working formula on the subject. What is the individual to do? The only thing one can do is always to keep in mind the fact that an independent entity cannot exist, and also the fact that the entire manifestation is the functioning of consciousness in which each one of us has one's allotted role to play and, finally, to accept whatever happens within that total functioning with a sense of wondrous admiration. The one thing that remains thereafter is not any 'practicing' as a deliberate effort, but merely to let our true understanding deeply impregnate our very being, passively and patiently, so that all illusions and obstructions gradually fall off by themselves.
Pointers from Nisargadatta Maharaj p.211
Apperception
The master key to all doors of ignorance and confusion is the apperception ('mind's perception of itself' - The Concise Oxford Dictionary) that nothing in relativity exists, not even knowledge. There is no creation, no dissolution.
The Ultimate Understanding p. 8
Consciousness
Consciousness is the fragrance in the flower! Just as a forest conflagration, though itself a single body of flame, assumes many forms, so does the formless, non-dual Consciousness assume various forms as objects in the universe. Consciousness is the subtle solution of continuity in the innumerable universes which are forever potentially present in it, precisely as the flavor of the foodstuffs is potentially present in the ingredients but is made manifest by cooking them. All universes would instantly collapse like a house of cards if Consciousness were not. All concepts of pleasure and misery collapse in the presence of Consciousness, precisely like darkness collapses in the presence of light.
The totality of creation is in the heart of the infinite Consciousness, just as one's personal dream is in one's mind, both as the cause adn the effect. I-am-ness is itself conceptual 'creation'. The interdependent opposites like virtue and sin, good and evil, posititve and negative, subject and object, which create the separation that is the source of all suffering, are mere notions without any basis of reality. They have no independent existence. It is only the one pure infinite Consciousness which appears as diverse objects in a dream. These dream-objects disappear in deep sleep, precisely as this apparently real dream-world, which appears in our apparent waking-state, disappears in the cosmic dissolution which is the equivalent of the deep sleep state.
The Final Truth pp. 25-27
Death
When a man witnesses the death of another, what he sees is that the organism stops functioning, and because his intellect
tells him -- and his deep-rooted intuition convinces him -- he knows that it is the body that is dead and that he himself -- the one who was there a hundred years ago and who will be there a hundred years hence -- cannot die. He also knows that this one who survives the physical death does not have the form that he had when he lived. But he cannot envisage the possibility that THAT which has always been eternally present does not need a form in order to be present -- visible or invisible, material or immaterial -- because he cannot give up the idea of a separate entity as a 'me'.
Man finds it extraordinarily difficult to accept the total ahhihilation of the phenomenal object with which there is identification as a separate entity.
Explorations into the Eternal
Effort
All positive efforts are as futile as trying to see one's face in a mirror that is behind one's back. It is only direct Self-knowledge, resulting from enquiry into the movements arising in one's consciousness, which acts as the sadguru, the supreme preceptor. All efforts made by a supposed entity can only lead to frustration. It is only the effortless effort (passive witnessing) along the pathless path (pure understanding without a 'me' as the comprehender) which can lead to the goalless goal ('That' which has always been here and now.)
The Final Truth p. 204