ENLIGHTENMENT: May or May Not Happen: Enlightenment Series, #2

ENLIGHTENMENT

MAY OR MAY NOT HAPPEN

Other Books by Madhukar Thompson:

Books

• Enlightenment: An Outbreak

• Enlightenment May Or May Not Happen

• Enlightenment? Who Cares!

• Teachings en Route to Freedom

• Odyssey of Enlightenment

• Gentle Hamme, Friendly Sword, Silent Arrow

Postcard Books

(Sets of cards taking a light-hearted look at different

aspects of spirituality and the search for Truth)

• Enlightenment by Airmail

• Enlightenment à la Carte

• Satsang

• The Path of Celebration

• The Seeker and His Search

• Meditation

• Enlightenment

• Master!

2

ENLIGHTENMENT

MAY OR MAY NOT HAPPEN

Talks on Enlightenment with

Ramesh S. Balsekar

Edited by

Madhukar Thompson

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or

transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage

and retrieval system without prior written permission from the

publisher or his agents, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Copyright © 2000 by (Madhukar Thompson)

Copyright © 2014 by Dr. Joji Valli

Published by

CreatiVentures

C-22, Karan Gharonda

Sainikwadi, Pune – 411014,

Maharashtra, India

Mb. 9689257575 | 9881843756

E-mail: [email protected]

www.creativentures.in

Printed by:

Mudra PRESS

ISBN-10: 8188360384

ISBN-13: 9788188360383

(NetiNeti ISBN: 0966524519)

Dedicated to Ramesh S. Balsekar,

and to every seeker of Truth

The Neti Neti Press Logo

The logo of Neti Neti Press symbolizes the non-duality of subject and object. All objective phenomena — including all forms and concepts — arise from, and dissolve back into, pure Subjectivity. The words Neti Neti (literally not this, not this) remind us that this Subjectivity is indescribable.

The scarecrow — a silent and ever-vigilant guardian — wards off all attempts to define It by landing concepts in Its immaculate, ineffable purity.

Drawing its life from mud and water, the lotus blooms untouched by both.

It represents the flowering of objective, phenomenal appearance that is ultimately identical with the pure Subjectivity from which it comes.

The full moon's witnessing serenity symbolizes the one pure Subject, im-partially illuminating and permeating all phenomenal appearances. In Its rays, the duality behind all conflicts and differences is dissolved; they are shown to be nothing but Its own expressions, and are therefore not other than It. The moon's cool light thus evokes the peace, fulfilment and contentment of enlightenment —

the simple realization of one's own Self.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

This book appears as part of the impersonal functioning of Totality or Consciousness or God. For a book to be published, and brought to the world at large, Totality brings about interactions and cooperation between many different human instruments which prompt and assist each other according to their destinies. As part of this impersonal process, the body-mind organism called

Madhukar has been made to feel deeply indebted to all those whose concerted reactions to outside (i.e. God’s) impulses have culminated in the object which you, dear reader, hold in your hands at this present moment. Madhukar hopes that he may be forgiven if he mentions only a few of them by name.

Top of the list come Ramesh S. Balsekar — the guru and preceptor — and all the seekers whose incessant inquiries drew answers from him and thus occasioned the conversations contained herein.

Next comes Mohan, a true brother, who was so unstinting in his help and generosity; his organizational advice and unwavering support are deeply appreciated.

Especially heartfelt thanks go to Dominic Harbinson (a.k.a. Guruta) who carefully pointed out numerous mistakes, made many excellent editorial suggestions and offered honest and invaluable advice about all aspects of the work in progress. Madhukar feels very fortunate to have a sub-editor who is not only skillful and understanding but who also feels.

Madhukar would also like to thank Harish, Sushila and Unclekoteji for refining the cartoons and lending them touches of artistry.

Special thanks go to Munish for his indomitable willingness to lend a helping hand in times of computer-generated distress at almost any hour of the day or night, seven days a week.

In addition, Madhukar would like to express his gratitude to Joji, Biji and Sudhir for their patient and painstaking help in shaping the text, graphics and cartoons into form.

Last but not least, Madhukar extends his love and gratitude to Sushila whose steadfast friendship, love, inspiration and enduring encouragement were inestimable.

Madhukar Thompson

Pune, January 1999

Contents

Biographical Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

15

Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

17

Questioning and Answering: a Non-dual Event . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

23

Chapter 1

1.1 Of Thyself Thou Cans’t Do Nothing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

25

1.2 Enlightenment by Airmail . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

27

Chapter 2

2.1 The Two Levels of Understanding: Level One, Total Personal

Responsibility for One’s Actions — a Healthy Ego;

Level Two, Thy Will Be Done — No Ego Exists . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

31

2.2 Spiritual Experience: Stop it! You Haven’t Felt Your Pain Yet! . . .

34

Chapter 3

3.1 The State of No-Thought ( manolaya): a Must for Enlightenment; The Destruction of Personal Doership ( manonasha): Enlightenment 36

3.2 Self-Inquiry is not a Trick or a Bomb . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

39

3.3 Does God Evolve? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

41

Chapter 4

4.1 If Concepts are not the Truth, are Lord Krishna’s Concepts

the Best Half-Truth? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

43

Chapter 5

5.1 The Acceptance of Life as it Comes Results in a Mysterious

Spiritual Alchemy: Tolerance and Generosity . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

45

Chapter 6

6.1 Come unto Me, and I Will Give you Enlightenment: The Fake Guru 56

6.2 Silence is the Highest Teaching: The Ten Commandments

versus Thy Will Be Done . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

57

Chapter 7

7.1 The Talks Hammer the Same Teaching Repeatedly . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

61

7.2 A Name of Christian or Sanskrit Origin — Attachment just the Same 66

Chapter 8

8.1 Prior to Consciousness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

67

Chapter 9

9.1 The Suitability of the Guru: Keep trying on rings

until you find the one that fits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

74

9.2 You Cannot use the Understanding as a Tool . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

77

9.3 Spiritual Powers: Impediments to Spiritual Progress . . . . . . . . . . . . .

78

9.4 Soham: The True Meditation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

80

Chapter 10

10.1 Rajneesh, Krishnamurti, Poonjaji, Gangaji, Andrew Cohen —

They All Ramble Along . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

86

10.2 In the Presence of the Guru, Something is Being Done

for the Spiritual Progress of the Seeker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

91

10.3 To Give Sermons, Buddha Built Monasteries —

His Disciples Misused them for Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

92

10.4 Pseudo-Gurus: They are Part of What-Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

94

Chapter 11

11.1 The Large-Sum Gratitude . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

96

11.2 The I-Am-ness is Also a Concept: Nirvana in Action is Samsara 97

11.3 In the Case of the Sage, Consciousness Identifies Itself —

But Not as a Personal Doer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 101

Chapter 12

12.1 Enlightenment is not Permanent Happiness; It is the Absence

of Involvement in Happiness and Unhappiness —

Happiness and Unhappiness will Continue after Enlightenment . . . 105

Chapter 13

13.1 In the Personal Dream, in the Living Dream, and in a

Past-Life Experience: The same Me. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107

13.2 Everybody Dead or Asleep: No Manifestation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 108

13.3 The More You Want, The Less You Get . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 110

Chapter 14

14.1 Money And Enlightenment Don’t Go Together . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 112

Chapter 15

15.1 Identification is Part of the Mechanism of Phenomenality . . . . . . . . . 114

15.2 The Beginning and the End of the World: For the Individual,

Instantaneously Every Day; For Manifestations, Billions of Years

116

Chapter 16

16.1 Practice and Meditation: You Cannot Produce States

of Less or No Thought, or of More Witnessing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 119

16.2 Physical and Mental Health: A Must for the Successful Seeker. . . . . 122

16.3 The Human Being: Master of Life and Death? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123

Chapter 17

17.1 If Everyone were Enlightened.... (Speculations Welcome) . . . . . . . . 126

Chapter 18

18.1 There is no Who to Die . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 128

18.2 Spiritual Philanthropy According to the Sage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 130

18.3 The Big Amount: Ramesh as a Seeker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 133

18.4 Acceptance of What-is: Life Will Not Change . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 136

Chapter 19

19.1 The Guru Asks: Why do you come to me?

The Seeker Answers: I want Enlightenment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 137

Chapter 20

20.1 The Arising of Gratitude in the Seeker, And his Urge to Give . . . . 145

20.2 Guru-Hopping: Ramesh as a Seeker . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147

20.3 Consciousness is One: There is Nothing for Consciousness

to Experience . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 149

20.4 The Experience of Oneness is not a Necessary Condition

for Enlightenment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 151

20.5 Be Still and Free of Thoughts: Be Free of the Thinking Mind. . . . . . 153

20.6 Manifestation Exists Only in the Instant that It is Observed. . . . . . . 154

20.7 The Fear of Death and the Fear of the Process of Dying . . . . . . . . . . 157

Chapter 21

21.1 Ramana Maharshi did not Build the Ashram,

He Supervised its Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 160

21.2 The Seeker’s Only Remaining Hopes: The Presence of the Guru,

and Pleasing the Guru. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 161

Chapter 22

22.1 What Was Wrong With Helga? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 164

22.2 Does Enlightenment Happen to Everyone at the Moment of Death? 165

Chapter 23

23.1 Isn’t it God, Disguised as a Seeker, Who is Concerned

with Enlightenment? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 168

23.2 When Questioning Stops, Silence Happens;

When Silence Happens, Seeking Stops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 170

Chapter 24

24.1 Is Daniela Seeking God? God is Seeking God through Daniela . . . . 172

24.2 The Fake Guru: Judging him is to Judge God . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 173

24.3 Life Means Choosing: Choosing As If You Have Free Will . . . . . . . . 177

24.4 Is Ten Miles Ten Thousand Years Or Eternity? — Manifestation 179

Chapter 25

25.1 The Sage: Neither Accepting nor Rejecting; Although there is

Choice and Decision, there is no Concern with the Consequences

183

25.2 The Three Types Of Guru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 184

25.3 Mozart and Ramana Maharshi: The Fruition of a Process

of Many Lives . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 185

Chapter 26

26.1 Advice Given by the Guru May Turn out Good or Bad:

That too is Destined . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 190

Chapter 27

27.1 Seeking Truth and Learning Golf: Practice is a Must . . . . . . . . . . . . . 194

27.2 Darshan with Various Gurus — Let Us See what is to Come; Will there be an After Ramesh S. Balsekar? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 197

27.3 From No Free Will to Total Free Will: A U-turn

in the Teachings of Rajneesh . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 206

27.4 Slaves of the Functioning of Totality: Both the Sage

and the Ordinary Person . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 209

27.5 The Teaching is Useless unless It has some Relevance to your Life: The Credit Card Path to Enlightenment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 211

Chapter 28

28.1 The Open Secret: Acceptance of What-Is. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 222

28.2 A Banker, But An Honest Man . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 224

Chapter 29

29.1 When Somebody Is Judging Somebody, Isn’t It God Judging God? 225

29.2 Total Awareness and Total Action at the Same Time:

An Impossibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 228

29.3 Addiction: When it Comes it Comes, When it Goes it Goes . . . . . . . 233

Chapter 30

30.1 Buddha Teaches: "Events Happen, Deeds are being Done, But

there is no Doer Thereof." And Yet He has Tens of Thousands

of Disciples in Monasteries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 235

30.2 Does the Teaching Make Life Easier for the Seeker?

Easier — Yes; Simpler — Yes and No . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 237

30.3 Therapist to Client: "You are Responsible for your Life,

Therefore You can Change it."

Guru to Seeker: Your Life will Change if it is so Destined . . . . . . . . 239

Chapter 31

31.1 The Seeker’s Motivation To Meet The Guru: Entertainment,

Curiosity, or Total Earnestness . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 242

31.2 You will be Enlightened. Is the Sage Just Saying it?

Or Does He Know for Sure? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 243

31.3 I Am That or All There is, is Consciousness or

Everything that Happens is God’s Will —

Choose Whichever Concept Suits You Best! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 246

31.4 Free Will and No Free Will: Contradictory Concepts

Taught by a Confusing Guru . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 248

Chapter 32

32.1 Sitting in Silence with the Guru: Is it Passing Time,

Meditation Practice, or a Teaching? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 251

32.2 The Most Powerful Methods: Self-Inquiry and Surrender . . . . . . . . 254

32.3 For God and Man, There is no Present and no Future —

Only the Past Happens . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259

32.4 Your Output isn’t your Action — It’s God’s Action . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

Chapter 33

33.1 On Any Path, No Path, or the Wrong Path — Enlightenment

Can Happen at Anytime to Anyone . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 262

33.2 How Should I Make Decisions and Lead my Life? Two Valid

Questions Arising from the Teaching Thy Will Be Done . . . . . . . . 265

Chapter 34

34.1 Consciousness Cannot Understand An Object:

Consciousness Is All There Is . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 271

34.2 Memory and Mind — Different Faculties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 273

34.3 Staying in the I-Am, at Work and in Daily Life —

Acting without the Sense of Personal Doership . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 276

34.4 With the Appearance of the Manifestation, the I-I Becomes

the I-Am; the I-I and the I-Am are not Two . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 280

34.5 The Only Question: Am I Seeking, or is God Seeking? . . . . . . . . . 282

Why Enlightenment May Or May Not Happen . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 285

Epilogue . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 287

Glossary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 291

Ramesh S. Balsekar (r.) with Madhukar Thompson in Bombay

Biographical Notes

Ramesh S. Balsekar was born into a devout Hindu Brahmin family in Bombay, on May 25, 1917. After his studies at the London School of Economics, he joined the Bank of India in 1940. He rose to become the bank’s General Manager, and retired after thirty-seven years of service. Sri Balsekar married Sharda in 1940, and they raised three children.

Although Sri Ramana Maharshi (whom he never met in person) was one of his most important spiritual mentors, his personal guru for more than twenty years was Sri Vithal Rao Joshi who lived in Pune, a city some 180 kms south-east of Bombay. Sri Balsekar met his second and final guru — Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj — in Bombay in 1978. One year later, during Diwali (the Hindu festi-val of lights), Sri Balsekar attained enlightenment in Maharaj’s presence. On September 6, 1981, Maharaj passed away, and Sri Balsekar began teaching in his own right. Since 1987 he has taught at public seminars held in Europe, the USA and India. He has also written ten books on the teachings of Advaita Vedanta.

Sri Balsekar meets seekers and answers their questions every morning from 10:00 a.m. to 11.30 a.m. at his residence in Bombay (Mumbai). During the last half-hour of these sessions, devotional songs ( bhajans) are sung in his presence. Sri Balsekar’s address is: Gamadia Road — Sindhula Bldg. (off Warden Road, near the French Consulate), Mumbai - 400026 (tel. 0091-22-4927725). Sri Balsekar is affectionately known as Ramesh, and is addressed thus by his devotees and other visiting seekers.

Madhukar Thompson’s first-hand experience of Eastern spirituality began in the early seventies while travelling in India and South East Asia from 1971 through 1973. Eventually, in 1980, he devoted himself whole-heartedly to the search for enlightenment, and was initiated into neo- sannyas by Sri Osho Rajneesh. He spent the next twelve years in his guru’s communes in Pune, India and in Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, USA, but when his master died in January 1990, Madhukar had still not found enlightenment.

In 1991 he travelled to Lucknow, India, to meet Sri H.W.L. Poonja and, soon after, became one of his close disciples and personal assistant. On several occasions, Sri Poonjaji declared that Madhukar was enlightened but eventually, in 1993, feeling that his search was still incomplete, he left Sri Poonjaji and spent the next three years travelling all over India in search of a guru who could help him to realize final and total enlightenment. It was during this period that he met Ramesh S. Balsekar, moved to Bombay and stayed with him until 1996.

Madhukar has lived in India for the past 10 years, and during this time he has compiled extensive audio and video recordings of his conversations and interviews with Sri Poonjaji, Sri Balsekar, and several other Eastern spiritual masters and teachers whom he met in the course of his search for enlightenment. This material is currently being prepared for publication by Neti Neti Press, a publishing company he founded in 1998, in the hope that the interviews and the close personal exchanges it contains will assist other seekers in their search for truth, peace, enlightenment, and understanding.

Introduction

I met Ramesh S. Balsekar for the first time in July, 1993. I rang the doorbell of his apartment in the Warden Road district of Bombay, and Ramesh himself opened the door. He greeted me and led me into his study, offering me a seat on a small bench facing his armchair. After we had made ourselves comfortable, I introduced myself and he asked, What can I do for you? Why have you come? I am seeking enlightenment, I replied. I am ready to do anything to reach this goal. I will do whatever it takes. I am ready to steal or even to kill my own mother — if I can only attain enlightenment. Can it be done? Can I do it? Just tell me how! How did you do it? He answered, "Who is seeking what?

When you understand the ‘who’ and the ‘what’ in your question, your search will come to an end."

This book is about the who, what, when, where and how of the spiritual search and its fulfillment in final enlightenment, and about the protagonists in this process: the guru, and the disciple or seeker. When I first met Ramesh, I had been seeking spiritual liberation or enlightenment wholeheartedly for fourteen years. Throughout this time, I was driven by the conviction that I would be able to make enlightenment happen, provided I put enough dedication into the endeavor and followed the instructions of my guru totally in every point.

I had