Enlightenment Series

Six first-hand accounts of Enlightenment Occurrences of disciples of Ramesh S. Balsekar. Enlightenment - what happens when it happens! Enlightenment Occurrences are documented by Madhukar Thompson "There was tremendous sense of oneness, not only between Maharaj and myself, but a oneness with the whole existence, with Totality. There was a tremendous sense of oneness which, quite frankly, made words seem so unnecessary. That's why there was certain amount of impatience to get done with the talk. Words seemed so unnecessary. It is there! At the same time, I had the reluctant wish that someone else was translating. For then I wouldn't have needed to do the translations, and I could have been exclusively in the experience, without doing a job at the same time." - Ramesh S. Balsekar "I was filled and overcome by the feeling of a very intense or dense presence. Along with that presence, the deepest possible intuitive knowing came into existence that there is nothing but That. At the same time, it was known that all phenomena, all things perceived, are just an illusion, and nothing other than That. I don't know what happened, or how the occurrence came about, or what this presence was. I don't even want to know. And I don't care. It was so simple and natural. There was no exalted feeling of ecstasy or joy. There were no tears, no thunder and lightning; there was just awareness and certitude, and the feeling of peace and love." - Marc Beuret "It was the moment in which the disciple came to the Master without any expectation or imagination. The mind was totally empty, and the heart was full of love. In this moment it happened that the Satguru showered his love on the disciple. And that was the extinction of the last minute tinge, the unveriling was complete. - Margarete Beuret

All conversations featured in this book were recorded, transcribed and edited by Madhukar Thompson. Brimming with earnestness and authenticity, they document Ramesh's unique ability to adapt ancient Advaita Vedanta teachings to suit the predicament of the modern-day seeker. The text is illustrated by a series of cartoons, full of enjoyment and liberally sprinkled with laughter. "I no longer care if I get enlightened or not. In fact, I don't care even if I do care!" Such is the seeker's attitude just prior to the occurrence of enlightenment, according to Ramesh S. Balsekar - a life-long devotee of Ramana Maharshi and disciple of Nisargadatta Maharaj. This book - the sequel to Enlightenment May or May not Happen - deals with a wide range of topics including karma, reincarnation, the nature of manifestation, the guru-disciple relationship and the contrast between enlightened and unenlightened experience. The central theme, however, is the spiritual search and what can or cannot be done to speed up its progress. All conversations featured in this book were recorded, transcribed and edited by Madhukar Thompson. Brimming with earnestness and authenticity, they document Ramesh's unique ability to adapt ancient Advaita Vedanta teachings to suit the predicament of the modern-day seeker . The text is illustrated by a series of cartoons which serve to remind us that even the serious business of spirituality has its funny side, and which ensure that the book, and the seeking itself, are lively experiences, full of enjoyment and liberally sprinkled with laughter.

 How can I tell if Im making progress in my spiritual search? Can I speed it up at all, and if so-- how? Answers to these and other crucial recurrent questions can be found in this book. But be warned: these answers are uncompromising and may shatter your misconceptions. Ramesh S. Balsekar-- life-long devotee of Ramana Maharshi, and disciple of Nisargadatta Maharaj-has been sharing his wisdom with seekers from all walks of life, for the past 20 years. Gently but insistently, he points to the fact that there is nothing anyone can do hasten his or her spiritual progress, because the individual seeker, the me-entity, just does not exist. The outcome of our spiritual search is not in our hands. Rather, it is in the hands of that power-- call it Consciousness or God-which turned us into seekers in the first place. All manifestation is a reflection of that same impersonal Consciousness, and it is That which is seeking and which does or does not become enlightened, according to Its own ineluctable functioning. Madhukar Thompson recorded, transcribed and edited all conversations featured in this book. Brimming with earnestness and authenticity, they stand as a vivid testimony to the modern-day seeker and provide invaluable insights into his/her predicament. The text is illustrated with a series of cartoons which underscore key aspects of Sri Balsekar s teaching. They ensure that the book, and the seeking itself, are lively experiences, full of enjoyment and liberally sprinkled with laughter.

This book encapsulates the Advaita Vedanta teachings of Ramesh S. Balsekar. The first part - Gentle Hammer - features a series of aphorisms, each of which sums up one element of his teaching. Once the seeker's ego has been weakened by this gentle but persistent hammering, the Friendly Sword is ready to finish the job. This second part consists of Ramesh's answers to 24 key questions about the spiritual search. The third part- Silent Arrow- is a reprint of an article that Ramesh contributed to The Mountain Path, a biannual magazine published by the Sri Ramanashram. In this article, Ramesh manages to condense his entire teaching into a few pages. It is written with such precision and profound insight that, while reading it, the reader is led to experience silence - the highest form of teaching. The pithy aphorisms, the brevity of the question-and-answer extracts and the zen-like clarity of the article make this book an ideal introduction to Ramesh's teaching.

Pathways to Enlightenment -- from Masters of Nondual Spirituality   Osho  •  Papaji  •  Harish Madhukar • Gangaji  •  Annamalai Swami  •  Lakshmana Swami • Ramesh S. Balsekar  •  Dadaji  •  Kiran • UG Krishnamurti  •  Andrew Cohen  •  Gangolli This book chronicles one man's burning quest as he searches for, and tirelessly questions, a total of twelve spiritual teachers who are widely recognized as enlightened. Spurred on by a passionate yearning for truth, Thompson's odyssey takes him to remote parts of India where he engages in dialogues of a quality and depth rarely found in the annals of religion.

Throughout history, India has produced an extraordinary range of religious traditions and, even today, innumerable spiritual teachers can be found there. This book documents Madhukar Thompson's encounters with a wide range of gurus whom he sought out in his quest for enlightenment. It presents a compilation of remarkably diverse spiritual teachings as expressed in conversations which he had with them over a period of 16 years. This book features the following spiritual gurus - Osho, Papaji, Harish Madhukar, Gangaji, Annamalai Swami, Lakshmana Swami, Ramesh S. Balsekar, Ranjit Maharaj, Giridhar, Dadaji, Kiran, U.G. Krishnamurti, Choekyi Nyima Rinpoche, Tulku Urgyen Rinpoche, Andrew Cohen etc...

Disciple: I’m seeking the Truth, the ultimate Reality. Guru: Yes. My definition of enlightenment is what colour is for the blind man. We can describe colour to him and he will understand and know it intellectually, as a mental concept. But what it really is as an experiential experience, he will only know after eyesight has been given to him. Or, say we have a glass of water in front of us. The water exists as it is; waterness is its nature. Speaking of it, is water in terms of the mind. Such water is a concept. The word water is not water. No matter how detailed we describe it—even if it is described by 100 Einsteins—such a description will never be what water really is. We have the triad: the subject (the seer), the object (water) and the process of perceiving water. We can know water only when we drink it, shower with it, etc. That knowing then is a direct existential experience. That knowing is drinking is quenching thirst, therefore, is blissful. The three-fold aspects knowing, drinking and being blissful are one in the event called drinking. It is an impersonal event that occurs as part of the functioning of Totality. It is not an act of an individual "me" embodied in a body-mind organism with the sense of personal volitiona and doership. While drinking, the triad drinker, water, and the process of drinking is dissolved. Drinking occurs as one impersonal event, comprising the drinker, the water and the process of drinking. In this case drinking is the impersonal "What-is." The actual drinking of water is not a concept. At the moment of drinking there is no individual, separate "me"-entity, a drinker drinking water. The "me" comes in afterwards as a further, additional "me"-thought as in "’I’—drank water. ‘I’ experienced drinking water." The fact is, while drinking water happened there was no "me." A body-mind organism was drinking water as part of the functioning of Totality. When we inquire closely, we find that such a "me"-entity does not exist, except as a thought, as a notion, as a concept.