Ramesh Balsekar

Ranjit Maharaj and Nisargadatta Maharaj were students of Siddharameshwar Maharaj. Eventually both men began to themselves conduct satsangs. The former is not well known outside India, but the latter -  Nisagardatta has become well known thanks in no small part to the the writings of his student, the businessman, Ramesh Balsekar. Ramesh started attending Nisagardatta's discussions as a relatively young man and later came act as translator for English speaking visitors. After Nisagardatta’s death, Ramesh began himself to teach, claiming to have 'awoken' and inherited Nisagardatta’s mantle.

Ramesh, like several others in the ever growing crowd of neo-Advaita teachers, is well regarded by some, but very poorly regarded by others. These latter for example, have accused him of some rather improper financial and ethical dealings. However rather than deal with these directly, I felt it might be of more use to view Ramesh Balsekar not through those who are pro- or con- his activities but rather through the eyes of one of his long time students:

Let’s call this student ‘Allan’. Every two or three years for about 30 years Allan has traveled to India to sit with Ramesh over a period of time ranging from days to many weeks. He was deeply impressed with Ramesh, and taken Ramesh’s teachings to heart.

A little about Allan first. Allan was a yoga teacher. Before meeting Ramesh he studied hatha yoga in India under the tutelage of a traditional teacher. After many years he became quite adept at hatha yoga, and with the blessing of his teacher returned to the west were he began teaching. He had many students. But Allan was unhappy. He did not like his life. He became an alcoholic, lied as a matter of course, stole, smuggled, sold drugs, and in general failed to live up to his own expectations of himself as a yoga teacher, and as a person. His one source of pleasure was travel. And so he toured the world and teaching yoga. He met various teachers, always seeking help in turning his life around. He tried Vipassana, but gravitated to the discipline of sitting regardless of pain (as he had learned to do in yoga) and so never understood what Vipassana was trying to point toward. He tried a little Zen. He tried tantra (which he liked). Generally however, Allan found that he felt good during his visits with teachers or groups, but the effects never lasted when he returned home, to the real world of earning a living and being, as he said, ordinary.

Some years passed. Even as Allan's yoga practice grew and he had more and more students, he also became more and more unhappy. Then one day he heard about Ramesh Balsekar. Within a few months he went to India and take satsang with Ramesh Balsekar.

Ramesh changed Allan’s life. He told Allan that nothing mattered, that it did not matter what he did for every event was the will of God. Ramesh also said that everything was already ordained so there was no point in fighting it. Allan had been searching all his life for someone to tell him it was okay to do whatever he wanted. He was happy! When he returned home he immediately slept with several of his yoga students, not telling his young wife or son were he was going or what he was doing. When his wife none the less suspected what was happening. Allan simply said that Ramesh had shown him that he was free to do whatever he wanted. He continued imbibe alcohol and drugs, saying that Ramesh had shown him nothing mattered - he could do whatever he wanted.

Over the next decade Allan saw Ramesh many more times, and each time was reinforced in his belief that since everything was ordained it did not matter in the least what he did. He asked Ramesh about it - was he really free to do anything?  Yes, said Ramesh, you are free to do whatever you wish. A friend of Allan’s pointed out that perhaps Ramesh himself was not really awake and was himself confused about things (see this site for example). But Allan just laughed saying that Ramesh knew the truth so it did not matter what he (Ramesh) did. Or who was hurt in the process. For it was all a game.

Now gentle reader, lest you draw the rather natural conclusion that Allan had simply misunderstood Ramesh, it should be pointed out that Allan spoke at length with Ramesh about his innermost feelings, his take on what Ramesh had to say, and finally often asked if he had properly understood. Again, Ramesh confirmed Allan's interpretation.

IMHO there are a large number (the majority?) of teachers who sound as if they know what they are talking about. The are expert at parroting the words of real masters, and so sadly fool many who are unhappy (which can often include themselves) into believing they have at last found an answer. IMHO it may be that Ramesh is one of these. A careful reading of his books, for example, reveals I feel something similar to what I find in Ganagji’s or Eckart Tolle’s books - lots of stories, lots of high sounding phrases, but IMHO little else. That spontaneity and purity which is overwhelmingly obvious in those who are truly awake, such as Ramesh's teacher Nisagardatta for example, does not seem to me (just my opinion of course) to be there.

There is a refrain heard frequently from the neo-Advaita, non-dual crowd - it a a variation of “Nothing is real, therefore I am free to do what I want”. This seems to me to be at best avoidance of going deeper, and at worst a form of malignant narcissism. To attempt to take ownership of a piece of reality with the ego, the notion of an ‘I’ who can act as it wishes; is perhaps more confusion than insight? Surely if there is no ‘me’ at the center of creation, then there is also no wish to do or not do, no need to act as one wishes - in the absence of the presence of a ‘me’ wishes are absent as well as the need to act or not act. It seems that true understanding has little to do with intellectually grasping an object of ideation. Rather it is about freedom. Not freedom to do, or be something, not freedom for the persona; but freedom in and of itself.

Or as Nisagardatta once so beautifully said - Just Be.