Balsekar at the end of his life offers
even less than Robert or I offer.
even less than Robert or I offer.
Actually, to "me" there is much more than "just" peace of mind and harmony with the other. The peace deepens and becomes unrecognizable to most in its depth and subtly. As Jesus says, it is a peace incomprehensible to the mind. For me, it just keeps getting deeper and better.
Yes, the bliss and ecstasies are experiential states which come and go. Some people want to be in them too long, some want to escape them too early as did I, and they returned so I could experience them once again in their fullness.
I was in too much hurry to awaken, so I shook them off in 1995.
This time, I will let them die off of their own accord when they are ready to leave me. I do not decide. If consciousness gives them to me, sobeit, they are for me to enjoy until consciousness takes them away when it wants.
Besides that, there is a certainty that at every moment, all is well with me, even when that me is acting through the body/mind trying to effect change in the world, such as saving feral cats, or promoting veganism, or I lose someone close to me, a cat or a person.
As to life and death, the fear of death goes, for I feel untouched by the body and world. I know I am not the body and the body dies, not me. Even now, life, the manifestation, does not touch me, for I am sentience itself, the principle of knowing and loving.
Love has expanded in me ten-fold. Will this too leave of its own accord when it is ready? I do not know. In the meantime, I will enjoy it.
Then too, because I practiced meditation many years, while Ramesh did not, the Void, with its profound resting, comforts me. I watch from my separateness in the Void and all seems funny. The drama appears funny. I may die laughing. Then at other times, I am the totality of the Void, manifestation and my sense of presence, just resting.
I move through the 100 room mansion of changing experiences, joys and sorrows, with a sense of ownership at one time, then having nothing at all at another.
The only constancy is that everything changes and I am happy.
I may be wrong but I understand that for Ramesh, there never was a "Prior to Consciousness." He denied that Nisargadatta ever took that position or taught a PTC viewpoint. He stated the translators got it wrong, that Jean Dunn was wrong. Therefore, his conclusions and experience are different from mine.
yeah, ramesh and his student wayne liquorman teach that the only change in enlightenment is the loss of the illusion of doership.
ReplyDeletei've loved to read ramesh over the years, but unfortunately it leaves me with the same temporary satisfaction 'twinkie' meal of the neo-advaitan teachers.
you point to a depth that i identify with. there's so much more.
thank you for the glimpse inside your inner workings.
you bring us closer when you share yourself so tenderly edji.
we're falling hard for you.
joan said it, YOU ARE GRACE.
you give a shot of power far greater than any puny efforts to abide in the 'i am' or chanting can bring.
thank you master.
I too was rather impressed with Ramesh when reading an interview with him in the "What is Enlightenment" magazine(what resonated most was this notion that God controls it all, it's all destiny, lack of personal doership as John points out). But that intellectual/conceptual notion(which Ramesh acknowledged as such)was like reading the ingredients on a box for making a great cake. It might get one to salivate and imagine how great the cake'll taste once it's made but what about the taste of the final product itself? Hence, the value in Edji's repeated stress on the importance of the self inquiry, exploration of the "I am" and the value in chanting.
ReplyDeleteMark
i like that, 'like reading the ingredients on a box for making great cake'.
ReplyDeletelet's get really filled! let's praise God!
'God of Wonders beyond our galaxy, you are HOLY!!!'
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1CBNE25rtnE
generate energy through devotional singing then use that for the inquiry Who Am I?
ReplyDeleteI think Ramesh missed the point...
ReplyDeletewe don't know though if he truly missed it and never will :D
ReplyDeleteso i would say it is meaningless to discuss.
here's another good 'chant'.
ReplyDeletei know, i know, it's not as
exotic as the indian stuff we don't even know the words to.
it's all God.
who is that blend of humility and majesty?
who is the 'God of the broken'?
surely it's Jesus, surely it's edji.
let's really listen and cry together, please.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2EKfy3ABMZI
I´ve read dozens of phrases in which Ramesh expresses exactly the same points of view Nisargadatta had.
ReplyDeleteI mean, Balsekar has always talked about us being the Noumenon, the Unmanifest out of time and space,and prior to consciouness, that allows time and space to exist.
So I suppose what he says in this clip is just an answer to a particular question, not the resume of his teachings, which I think were identical to Nisargadatta´s.
Damn it John, I haven't cried since...well, almost an hour ago while listening to a Krishna Das chant. I almost made it to the end of this song without a tear, almost.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this link.
Joan
I don't know much about Ramesh outside of some quotes here and there, but I liked some of the things that he shared in the clip.
ReplyDeleteHe stated that 'happiness' is total harmonious relationship with the other. He spoke of 'other' in regard to people. To me 'other' is inclusive of not only people, but circumstances, events, places, things, moods, feelings, states of mind, happenings, etc. We are always 'relating' to something. To be human is to be in relationship with.
Ed spoke of how he was too much in a hurry to awaken so he shunned his relationship with states of bliss and ecstasy; also stating, "This time I will let them die off of their own accord when they are ready to leave me." and "The only constancy is that everything changes and I am happy."
This is an attitude of surrender and humility that results in the happiness that Ramesh is speaking about.
Ed, I see this surrender and humility in you in regard to everything you experience and those you relate to. I am awed and challenged by your example.
You are my real live Jesus. I wonder if he would have shocked the hell out of me the way you do many times?
At Your Feet,
Joan
yeah, i've been a weepy, sloppy mess ever since i met edji. he's so unassuming, regular guy. don't be fooled. he's got a lot of tricks in his bag. i'm learning that there's an unseen edji, doing all kinds of underground work on me.
ReplyDeletewhat can i say edji? it's a miracle!