There had been, for two years, a retreat of all the energy commonly used in becoming,sothatwhensomeflyingbirdscrossedmyhorizon,insteadofbecoming
lost in them, they were lost in me and I found myself in awareness free from all objects.ThistimewhatIadmired,thebirds,dissolvedinmyadmiring,inpresence.
And admiring dissolved in the Admired. Before the birds appeared, I had been in a profoundandprolongedstateofbeingopentoopenness.NowIfoundmyselfasthe
openness, identical with openness. Openness was my being. There was no more
duality.
Was there any other difference between this time and other times when you had lookedatbirds?
Before,therewasstillalookerlookingatsomething.Thiswasamomentwhenthere
wassimplylookingwithoutalooker.Previously,ithadbecomemynaturetolivein
pure perception with objects, not living in the divided mind. I had for a long time ignoredthearisingofallqualifications.
Ignored?
It belongs to the traditional approach, and so that of my teacher, never to refuse or indulgethecomingupofqualifications,butsimplytoignore,andeventuallyforget
them.Neithertolookforfreedomnoravoidnon-freedom.Themindsimplyceasedto
playaroleexceptinapurelyfunctionalway.
Soinacertainwayyouwereripeforthemoment?
Inotherwordsthemomentwaswaitingforme!
Howislifedifferentnow?
There is no more identification with time and space, body, senses and mind. All eventshappeninawareness.
Didyourrelationshipschange?
Therewasnomorerelationship.Asthere'snolongeran“I,”thereisnotanother.
Canthisnon-statebedescribedatall?
Itislovewherethemindisdissolvedinlove.[longpause]
166
WereyouinahurrytoreturntoBangaloretoseePandiji?
No.Ienjoyedmytotalfreedom,freedomfromalldoing.Ipostponedallprojectsand
stayedinBombayanotherweekorso.
HowwasyournextmeetingwithPandiji?Wasitfulloftearsofjoyandgratitude?
He was never absent, so there was no hurry to see him. He never acknowledged or mentioned anything, though he recognized a change. I could tell from his way of speaking. He would never talk about it and risk making a state of it. Quite frankly, tearsandemotionafteraninsightshowthatitisastate.Asforgratitude,therewas
from the beginning gratitude to him. There was no emotivity in our meeting, only joyful togetherness, and an unvoiced laughter that the seeker is the sought and is alwayssovery,verynear.
Fromtheintroductionto TransmissionoftheFlamebyJeanKlein.
167
RAMESHBALSEKAR
168
TWENTY-FOUR
RAMESHBALSEKAR
1919-PRESENT,INDIA
RAMESHISanythingbutflashy.Kind,intellectual,patient,perhapsgrandfatherly,and
even ordinary are the words that you may use when you first sit with him. In fact, what Ramesh offers is anything but ordinary and, at the same time, he has nothing whatsoevernewtosay.Yetheisapproachable,hasaverykeenmind,andisalways
ripe for a lively discussion about the nature of consciousness, quantum physics, or whateverelsemaybeonyourmind.
Eighty-one years old, radiant and remarkably relaxed, Ramesh was no sadhu
(wanderingasceticmonk).AhighlysuccessfulIndianbusinessmanandavidgolfer,
he worked his way up from clerk to C.E.O. of the Bank of India. Married in 1940, Rameshisthefatherofthreechildren,oneofwhomdiedinthelate1980s.Duringthe
tenyearsinwhichRameshheadedIndia'smostinfluentialbank,heguideditthrough
a period of tremendous expansion. He demonstrated the entrepreneurial and
interpersonalskillstooverseethehiringofthousandsofemployeesandtheopening
ofseveralhundrednewbranchesofthebankwithinIndiaandabroad.
Uponhismandatoryretirementin1977attheageofsixty,Rameshhappenedupon
amagazinearticleaboutamasternamedNisargadattaMaharaj,ateacherofAdvaita
(nondualism).Recognizinghisguruimmediately,Rameshsoonbegantranslatingfor
Nisargadatta, and continued to sit with his teacher for a number of years. Ramesh attainedthestateofnondualconsciousnessdescribedbyMaharajand,uponhisguru's
death,foundhimself,somewhatreluctantly,intheroleoftheteacher.
Ramesh's teaching, based on the tradition of Advaita, is plain and simple.
Consciousness is all that exists. All the events in this choiceless universe occur naturally and inevitably due to prior programming. Analyzing, conceptualizing, and introspecting are a waste of time because events will unfold as they will. All that happensmusthappenduetoourconditioning.Period.Enlightenmentisnothingmore
orlessthananemptymind.Itwilloccurintimeandthereisnothingwecandoto
speedtheprocess,excepttodowhatweareguidedbyournaturestodoandtowake
uptothetruththatwejustare.Thenwefindthatwehavealreadyreachedwherewe
are trying to go. This may explain why Ramesh, both in pictures and in the flesh, appears so uncannily relaxed. For he has reached an understanding that self-realizationrequiresnoeffort,thatseekingisunnecessary,thatwearebotheverything and nothing, and that problems, in and of themselves, do not actually exist. The notionofourselvesasindividualswilldissolvewhenwearereadyand,atthattime
andatthattimeonly,wewillsimplysurrender.
If you hold the conviction that realization is attained only through years or lifetimes of disciplined sadhana (spiritual practice), you may find yourself in 169
cognitivedissonancewiththeteachingsofRamesh.Oryoumayfindyourpreviously held notions and concepts shattered, left only with the inevitable reality of consciousnessitself.
The account of Ramesh Balsekar's enlightement is from a book entitled
ConsciousnessSpeaks,acollectionoftranscribedtalkstohisstudents.
170
ITHADTOHAPPEN
Ramesh'sEnlightenment
PERHAPSYOU could tell us something about your enlightenment and how it came to you.
Well,yousee,enlightenmentisanextremelyobtuseword.Thewordenlightenment
somehow seems to suggest a sort of occurrence where there are lights blazing and blisscomingoutoftheears,yousee.Butitisn't,atleastnotinmycase.
I've heard that it can be a very mild but distinctive occurrence and particularly when I read a story about Lao Tzu and his disciple, it struck me that that was so.
Someofyouperhapsknowit,butIdon'tsupposethereisanyharminrepeatingit.
OneofLaoTzu'sdiscipleswenttohimonemorningwithhiseyesblazingandhis
faceglowingwithasenseofachievement,andhesaid,“Master,Ihavearrived.”And
Lao Tzu with great compassion put his hands on his shoulders and said, “Son, you have not arrived anywhere.” So the disciple went away. He came back after some timeandthen,withgreatquietcomposure,said,“Master,ithashappened.”SoLao
Tzulookedinhiseyes,embracedhimandsaid,“Nowtellmewhathappened.”
Hesaid,“Iacceptedyourwordthatnothinghadhappened.ButIalsoknewthatI
could not have possibly put in any more effo
rt. So I gave up thinking of
enlightenment,Igaveupallefforttowardsenlightenmentandwentaboutmynormal
business. Then it suddenly occurred to me that there was nothing to be achieved. It wasthereallthetime!”
The understanding had dawned that there is no individual to want anything. The stateisalreadythere.Theultimatestate,beforeitcanhappen,istheabsenceofthe
“me”wantingsomethingtohappen.
Whatyouaresayingthenis,thearrivalatthatplacewillhappenwhenitistimeto happen.
Yes!WhenitisHisWill.Whenitistimeforittohappen,iscorrect.
Inthemeantimethereisnothingwecandotoencourageit?
Correctagain.[laughter]So,inmycaseIknowthespecificdatewhenithappened.
There is one day in the year which is called the Divali Day, the festival of light, which is a common festival throughout India. This festival of light is supposed to signifythevictoryofrightoverwrong,ofgoodoverevil,thevictoryofRamaover
Ravana.
NormallyinMaharaj'splacethatusedtobethedayofcleaninguphisloft,sortofa
“spring cleaning,” and no talks were held on that day. This happened on the year I firstwenttovisithim.Thatwasin1978.Thefollowingyear,onthedaypreviousto
Divali, when the announcement was being made that there would be no talks the followingdayforthisreason,acolleagueofminesuggestedthatifMaharajagreedhe
could hold the talks at his own place which was very close to Maharaj's place, and knowntomostpeoplewhousedtoattend.Theresultwasthatthenextdaywehadthe
talkatthisresidenceofthecolleague.Thiscolleagueusedtobeoneofthetranslators.
171
Soonthatdayhesaidhewouldlookafterthepeoplecomingin,wouldItranslate?I agreed.
ThemomentMaharajstartedtotalk,somethingpeculiarhappened.Maharaj'svoice
seemedtocometomefromadistance,very,veryclear.Infact,clearerthanitusedto benormally.Maharajdidn'thaveanyteeth,soIneededsometimetogetusedtohis
words.Butthatmorninghisvoiceseemedtocomefromadistance,yetmuchmuch
clearerthaniteverwasbefore,needingnoconcentrationonmypart.Ifoundthatthe
translationbegantocomesospontaneouslythatinactualfactIwasnottranslating,I
was merely witnessing the translation taking place. It was as if Maharaj was translatingintoEnglishandIwasmerelysittingthere,awitness.
AttheendofthetranslationIfeltquiteill.Ididn'tknowwhatwashappeningand
thebodyhadreactedinacertainwayforthesimplereasonthatitwasnotusedtothat experience.Mycolleaguelatersaid,“Ramesh,youwereingreatformtoday!”
“Howso?”
He said, “You were talking louder than you normally do, you spoke with great authorityandyouweremakinggesturesthatyouneverdidbefore.”SoIjustaccepted
that. It was confirmation that something had happened. But the something that had happenedwasinternallyacompletechange,atotalchange.Outside,theonlychange
thatIcouldfindwasthatmybodyfeltapeculiarkindofweightlessness.Icouldn't
nameitandIthinkthatwasnoticedforadayortwobeforeitsettleddown.Butifyou askmewhenithappened,thisishowandwhenithappened.AsIsay,itwasavery
quietevent,suddenofcourse,assuddenasanythingcouldbe…totallyunexpected
…totallyspontaneous.
After that, the translations were always that way and Maharaj noticed it, too.
Maharajdidn'tunderstandEnglish,buthecouldsensewhenthetranslationwasnot
strictlyaccurate. When thetranslations were taking place,Maharaj would oftenask whoeverwastranslating,“Whatdidyoutellthem?”Hewouldmakehimrepeatand
thenhewouldconfirmitorhewouldsay,“No,thatisnotwhatImeant.Youseeyou
havegotitwrong.Youoftengetitwrong.”[laughter]ButafterthatdayInoticedI
wasnolongerpayingattentiontowhatwasbeingsaid,sothetranslationscameout
smoothlyandspontaneously.
OnemorningwhenIwaswaitingforMaharajtogetreadyformetotakehimout
fortheusualcarride,hewasinaparticularlycalmmoodandhesaid,“I'mgladit's
happened.”Healsoknewatthattimethebook, Pointerswascomingout,sohesaid,
“I'mgladit'shappened.It'snotjustonebook.Severalbookswillcomeout.Andwhat
thebookswillsaywillnotbeaparrotingofwhatIhavesaid.Howitwillcomeabout,
Iwon'tknow.Evenyouwon'tknow.”
Ramesh,youhadsaidwhentheawakeninghappenedthattherewasapeculiarsense
of the body, some sense of discomfort and disorientation. Is that because Consciousnessisnolongeridentifiedwiththebody?
Yes.
When you were talking about the experience of enlightenment, you spoke about Maharajandthatparticularmomentwhenhesaid,“Soit'shappened.”Wastherea
particularmomentwhenyoumadethatcommenttoyourself,“Soit'shappened”?
172
After a day or two, when I came back to normal, physically, then I knew it had happened, and there was no doubt at all. Quite frankly I did not feel any need for certificationfromMaharaj,butwhenitdidcomeitwaswelcome.Butthebasicfactis
thatIdidnotneedanycertificatefromanybody.
Itsoundslikethatmomentforyoucameattheendofthistwoorthreedayperiod.
Thefeelingthatsomethinghadhappened,yes.Theawarenessofwhathadhappened,
theconsciousnessofwhathadhappened.
From ConsciousnessSpeaksbyRameshS.Balsekar.
173
TWENTY-FIVE
ROBERTADAMS
1928-1997,UNITEDSTATES
ROBERT ADAMS is known to only a few fortunate souls, yet his realizations and teachingsareamongthehighestexpressionsofspiritualliberationwehaveheardof
orread.Hisearliestmemorieswereofatwo-foottall,whitebeardedmanstandingat
the end of his crib, who would talk “gibberish” to him. The little man stayed with
[Robert] until he was seven. Then [he] developed a Siddhi (spiritual power).
Whenever he wanted anything—a candy bar, a musical instrument, answers to test questionsatschool,hewouldrepeatGod'snamethreetimes,andwhateverhewished
forwouldcometohim.Oneday,whilepreparingforamathtest,whenhewas14,he
repeated God's name as usual. Instead of the test answers, he had a complete enlightenmentexperience,agreatSatori,whichlefthimstunnedandtransformed….
(FromtheIntroductionto SilenceoftheHeart)
After this experience, Robert lost all interest in worldly life. He left home at sixteen and became a disciple of Paramahansa Yogananda, who, despite Robert's
requests, refused to allow him to join his order of monks. Instead, Yogananda sent himontofindhisguruinthelittleknown(atthattime)villageofTiruvannamalai,at thebaseoftheholymountainArunachala,inSouthernIndia.WhenRobertfirstsaw
hisgurudescendingthepathfromthemountain,afraillookingmanwithafringeof
whitebeardandaremarkablycompassionateface,herecognizedthatthiswastheone
whohadspokennonsensetohimforyearsasachild.Herealizedthathewashomeat
last.ThiswasRamanaMaharshi,latertobeknownasoneofthegreatestsagesofthe
twentiethcentury.IngivingcredittotheMaharshi's
clarifyinginfluence,Robertsaid,
“ItwaswithRamanathatmyeyeswereopenedtothemeaningofmyexperience.”
(SilenceoftheHeart,Introduction)
After Ramana's death, Robert continued to travel for seventeen years, meeting
many masters and teachers, verifying his enlightenment, and completing his
understanding. Robert was a Jnani (knower of Truth), and he openly shared his wisdomwithseekerswhocametohim.Neverdesiringtobeaguruinthetraditional
sense, he nonetheless attracted students wherever he briefly settled. His last years were spent in Sedona, Arizona. He never sought publicity or a large following. In fact,hehasneverevenallowedhispicturetobepublished.
Robert's teachings, simple, direct, clear and profound, are from the tradition of Advaita,ornondualism.Likehisguru,Ramana,heemphasizedthetranscendenceof
the individual “I” through the process of self-enquiry, realizing the one Self in all.
TheessenceofRobert'sphilosophywas,“Youareneitherthebodynorthedoer.All
isconsciousness.Alliswell.“
From the recorded satsangs (gatherings of seekers of truth) held in Sedona, 174
Arizona—publishedinhisonlybook, SilenceoftheHeart—hisstorycomestous.
175
THESILENCEOFTHEHEART
THERE IS the Pure Awareness that is with you all the time, just awaiting your recognition, awaiting your understanding that you are not the body, that you are a spirit,calledtheAtman,Brahman,AbsoluteReality.Thisiswhoyoureallyare.This
isyourrealnature.
You'veheardmetalkonmanyoccasionsonthesubjectoflove,compassion,and
humility. These three things are very important to understand. They have to be nurturedanddeveloped.Whenyouunderstandwhatlove,compassion,andhumility
reallyare,atthattime,youbecomealivingembodimentofthetruth,andtheSelfwill pullyouregointotheheartcenter,andyouwillbecomeliberatedandfree.
When I speak to you of all these things, I'm referring to my own experiences.
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