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    Guru Pournima
    Guru Pournima
    Guru Pournima
    Ebook177 pages3 hours

    Guru Pournima

    By Ramesh S. Balsekar

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    About this ebook

    This contemporary Guru Pournima tribute is a collection of favorite commentaries on the Guru-disciple relationship by Ramesh S. Balsekar - conversations, letters and poems, each a profound expression of gratitude shared between Guru and disciple in this most divine and mysterious of all relationships. Guru Pournima is a celebration honoring the Guru on the auspicious full moon in July-August in the Indian month of Ashada, dating back to the ancient Indian sage Vyasa, who was born on this day. Tradition has it that the disciples of Vyasa asked him for a way to thank him and honor him for all he had given; he suggested that they dedicate the fullest full moon of the year as the Guru's moon, hence Guru Pournima.

    This book is an offering of thankfulness to Ramesh for his modern, eloquent and simple Teachings of Advaita, non-duality. And, it is also yet another gift from Ramesh. His utterly clear Teachings, written and spoken, have touched thousands of seekers from around the world over the past 20 years. This book reflects the experience and outpouring of gratitude of so many seekers who have met and learned from Ramesh through books, letters and satsang. Each format is its own vehicle, and each equally masterful and effective in conveying Ramesh's timeless message, bringing relief from the suffering of the burden of shame and guilt, hatred and malice, jealousy and envy, which obstructs the peace that is right before us in ordinary daily living.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRamesh S. Balsekar
    Release dateJul 3, 2013
    ISBN9789382788591
    Guru Pournima
    Author

    Ramesh S. Balsekar

    Ramesh Balsekar, a teacher of pure Advaita, or non-duality, is an unearthly blend of the utterly human and utterly divine manifesting as a brilliant spiritual Master. His crystal-clear and profound teachings are backed by his complete understanding that “Nobody does anything” coupled with his life experience as a top executive of a major Indian bank, as a huband, father and grandfather – all lived knowing that it is all happening as God’s Will.For much of his full life Ramesh, whose Guru was Nisargadatta Maharaj, has been devoted to Ramana Maharshi, in whose spirit Ramesh welcomes seekers and asks “Who is seeking? Leave the seeking to Him who started the seeking.”

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      Guru Pournima - Ramesh S. Balsekar

      THE GRACE OF THE GURU

      There is a verse in the Bhagavad Gita where the Lord says:

      ‘Is it not astonishing that only a rare one will show any interest in this (great philosophy of Unicity). Is it not a matter of further astonishment that (among the few who have studied and deeply understood the philosophy) hardly anyone would speak on the subject and almost none to hear it, let alone someone who would not only apperceive it but actually experience it in practice? Is this not the greatest wonder in the world?’

      Nisargadatta Maharaj was one of those rare sages who, after enlightenment had happened, was easily accessible to those who felt the need of guidance to go very deeply into the meaning and purpose of existence in this manifested world. What kind of a person was the usual visitor who took the trouble to locate Maharaj’s humble residence in a humble locality, and thereafter attend his talks as often as he could? The average visitor was a seeker who had made many efforts and had ultimately landed at Maharaj’s feet. In fact, as is stated elsewhere:

      ‘Maharaj often says that very few of those who come to him are novices in spiritual knowledge. Generally they are those who have travelled far and wide in quest of knowledge, read many books, met many Gurus and have a certain idea of what it is all about, but rarely a clear vision of what they have been seeking.

      Many of them do not hesitate to acknowledge that all their efforts proved unrewarding and they felt frustrated and disappointed. And there are some who even wonder if they have been chasing a mere will-o-the-wisp. However, in spite of all their frustration and dejection, they do seem to know that life does have an ultimate meaning. Maharaj feels deeply concerned for such visitors and takes personal interest in them. But he totally ignores those who come to him out of an idle curiosity or with the object of talking about him at a weekend party with a holier- than-thou attitude or perhaps with condescension.’

      In many cases, the visitors concerned felt quite bewildered by the extraordinary combination of circumstances and events that led to their arriving not only at Maharaj’s residence but even landing in Bombay. It clearly seemed that the meeting between the Guru and the disciples could not possibly be chance events. And the situation becomes even easier to understand if we look at this relationship not as between one individual and another – as one would usually be inclined to do – but as part of the totality of functioning of manifestation as such. As Maharaj used to emphasize, the individual really does not exist as an independent entity, that when he talked to a disciple, it was Consciousness talking to Consciousness (and not one individual to another), and that unless this fact was clearly understood and constantly kept in mind nothing worthwhile would emerge from the talks.

      It was not denied that the Guru would be regarded in the beginning by the disciple as the embodiment of Truth in the form of a human being who has known and experienced Reality, who is able to remove the disciple’s doubts and difficulties; and in the process the disciple is bound to develop a personal feeling of love and respect towards the Guru. The point that Maharaj was at great pains to emphasize all the time was that the disciple should not let that love and reverence for the person of the Guru be an impediment to the clear understanding that the Guru is not an individual, that the Guru himself, being identified with Reality, sees others also, including the disciples, as pure Consciousness, and that, therefore, unless the disciple too is ready and prepared to see the falseness of his own individuality, the relationship between the Guru and the disciple in relativity would not fructify into Reality. In this fructification the knowledge that was perhaps not unknown intellectually to the disciple, but was still hazy in its application, suddenly comes into sharp focus, and into that focal point merges the disciple’s individuality.

      It is just as well that we have plunged ourselves right into the middle of the Guru-disciple relationship; but, broadly speaking, there would be four aspects of the matter: a) Why does one seek a Guru at all? b) Does every seeker find his Guru? c) What does the Guru actually do? and finally, d) Is a Guru really necessary? All these four aspects are in fact interrelated.

      a) Why does one seek a Guru at all?

      This aspect of the matter is really concerned with the question of what we expect out of life. Basically and essentially, what the average person in the world wants out of life is just one thing: happiness. The word ‘happiness’ may mean different things to different people at different times, but the fact remains that the common man has one basic aim in life, and that is to find happiness. It is in this quest for happiness that he goes through life, day after day, in the firm belief that he can find happiness in and through the material objects in the world. What does one mean by the word ‘happiness’? In this frantic search for happiness, what is one really interested in? The answer must necessarily be that what one wants is SATISFACTION, the fulfillment of what one at the moment considers as one’s need, whether the need be better living conditions or social service or whatever. Basically, therefore, what one is after is the satisfaction of a need or desire, whether it be in the form of food, shelter, sex, social service or power or status or whatever. There comes a time, however, when man gets utterly tired – physically and mentally – of this constant search because he finds that this search never ends! Either the very basic objects of this search are not obtainable, or more likely, as soon as one object has been achieved there is desire for another. He comes to the inescapable conclusion, perhaps the startling discovery, that no kind of pleasure can provide lasting happiness, that every kind of pleasure has within itself the roots of pain and torment. At this stage, man’s search takes a turn towards that kind of happiness that would be true, lasting. He knows that there does exist this kind of happiness because in certain lucid moments, during his frantic search for pleasure, he has had glimpses – brief glimpses – of a happiness that did not depend on any material object of sensual pleasure, and indeed was without any ostensible reason Pure Joy. It is in search of this deep, constant, lasting Pure Joy that man seeks the help of someone who is already immersed in such joy and happiness that has no relation to pleasure or pain. Such a ‘someone’ is the Self-realized Guru. And such a ‘someone’ was my Guru, Nisargadatta

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