3 Review(s)

Ramesh Balsekar’s teaching is simple to grasp. He shows us the way to peace and harmony in daily living, while facing life from moment to moment. Accepting the words of the Buddha that ”Events happen, deeds are done, but there is no individual doer of any deed,” is a gateway to this peace. All actions are happenings which could not have happened unless they were ordained by the Source, which some identify as God. In this book, Balsekar gives the essence of his teaching in short, simple passages that everyone can understand. Subjects covered range from ‘Free Will’ to ‘Meditation’. The book is a collection of individual quotes, some just a single sentence and others a few paragraphs long. Each quote, a sparkling jewel through which the teaching shines forth, is complete in itself. Ramesh Balsekar’s focus is on the `practical` aspect of spirituality. Something to be lived each day of our lives, and not pursued as a lofty ideal. He draws the essence of his teaching from the Indian philosophy of Advaita (non-duality) which affirms that there is only ‘One Source’. This book reflects the core concepts of the Advaita philosophy, placed in today’s context by Balsekar, for the benefit of the reader. About the Author Ramesh S. Balsekar, married to Sharda and a father of three, 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 Marathi by his Guru, Nisargadatta Maharaj. The teaching began in 1982 after Maharaj had twice directed him to talk, and since then he has written over twenty books on Advaita as well. Ramesh is widely regarded as undeniably unique and uncompromising in his presentation of the concepts, in keeping with an early premonitory remark by Maharaj that as a teacher Ramesh would not be ”parroting” the words of his Guru. In response to the appreciation frequently shared by visitors at his talks for the singular clarity and `purity` of the teaching, Ramesh himself has perhaps best expressed it with his view of the Master-disciple relationship: ”The purity of the teaching lies in the absence of an individual teacher and an individual learner - that is to say, in the absence of a subject-object relationship. The purity lies in the spontaneity of the happening.”