Ramesh Balsekar

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Ramesh Balsekar (born May 25, 1917 in Mumbai ; † September 27, 2009 there ) was an Indian mystic . He was a student of the Advaita teacher Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj .

Life

After a Western upbringing, Balsekar pursued a managerial career until he retired from his post as President of the Bank of India at the age of 60. After his retirement, his search for enlightenment led him to Nisargadatta Maharaj. This became known in the West in the 1970s when an English translation of his dialogues entitled I Am That was published as a book. After less than a year of lessons with Nisargadatta and translation work for him, Balsekar came to his own statement to the "final knowledge" and was authorized by Nisargadatta as a teacher shortly before his death. Since then he has passed on the message of his teacher in a slightly different form.

Teaching

Balsekar emphasizes in his teaching that the individual is not free in his actions, but is conditioned by genetic predisposition and the influence of society. Man is free to act according to his thinking, but his thinking itself cannot be determined by himself, but corresponds to 'the will of God'. Balsekar draws on the teachings of the Bhagavad Gita on the authorship of human activity. His teaching that man is therefore incapable of guilt has been very controversial and is sometimes assigned to the Neo-Advaita , but Balsekar also comments on traditional works such as the Bhagavad Gita , the Ashtavakra Gita and Jnaneshvaras Amritanubhava to justify his teaching. Only those who recognize their own impersonal nature become free from both guilt and blame, which leads to perfect harmony with their surroundings. According to Balsekar, enlightenment alone means the knowledge of this fact, which, however, must be understood deeply and without a doubt. However, this knowledge cannot be forced, since the human being is not free and the identification with himself as the causative agent is the actual content of his ignorance.

Ramesh Balsekar's description of non-dualism

“First there is the source. Call it consciousness, call it the self as Ramana Maharshi called it, call it what you will, but understand that what is meant is one source, one without a second. Everything there is the source from which that which manifests itself comes, and the manifestation is the totality of objects. "

“The second fundamental concept is at the functional level of what is manifest: Nobody does anything. Nothing happens unless it is the will of the Source, the will of God. This means the following: The impression of one's own acting is an illusion . This is the ultimate knowledge. The ultimate insight is this: there is no ego in the form of something different from the source, which becomes one with the source. As long as you say 'I am this or that', the personal self is separate from the source […] The ego dissolves at the moment you accept unconditionally that there is never such a thing as an 'ego' at all has given."

“The source created the imaginary 'I' because interactive, interpersonal interaction would not be possible without this 'I'. For God's purple game to happen, interpersonal relationships must be able to take place, and interpersonal relationships simply need an ego. Ego simply means the feeling of being a doer, of being a separate being in control of its body. "

“The ultimate truth, according to Ramana Maharshi and Nisargadatta Maharaj and the wise men before them, is that nothing is created or destroyed, that there is no birth or death, no fate or free will, no path of knowledge or attainment. All there is is simply awareness . "

“In this pristine state, there is absolutely no need to be aware of anything. This means: Consciousness that has come to rest is not aware of its existence. It only becomes aware of it when this sudden feeling of 'I AM' appears, this impersonal feeling of being aware of itself. Consciousness manifests itself in consciousness: potential energy becomes actual energy. There are no two things. Nothing separate arises from the potential energy ... This moment, which science calls the Big Bang , is what the mystic calls the inadvertent awareness of consciousness ... "

Works

Books
  • Who cares? J. Kamphausen Verlag, April 2001, ISBN 3933496543 .
  • Pointers. Groundbreaking discussions with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. J. Kamphausen Verlag, July 1999, ISBN 3933496446 .
  • Ramesh S. Balsekar: Where there is nothing, nothing can be missing. Lotos Verlag, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7787-8205-7 .
DVD
  • Ramesh S. Balsekar: The Cosmic Secret. J. Kamphausen Verlag, January 2006, ISBN 3-89901-062-0 .

See also

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Balsekar, Ramesh
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Indian mystic, disciple of the Advaita teacher Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
DATE OF BIRTH May 25, 1917
PLACE OF BIRTH Mumbai
DATE OF DEATH September 27, 2009
Place of death Mumbai