Seeking Enlightenment - Why?

by Ramesh S. Balsekar

from amazon.com

Ramesh S. Balsekar has authored more than 45 well-known books over two decades.

He has always had a uniquely individualistic approach to spiritual seeking and, in the course of his teaching, he has developed several unique concepts. For instance, what is the ego? He has clarified that ‘you’ cannot have an ego, from which you seek freedom. You are the ego, the separate entity, the seeker who seeks the freedom of enlightenment, and finally arrives at the successful conclusion that what he is actually seeking is freedom from his own sense of personal doership.

Similarly, his concepts like the ‘working mind’ and the ‘thinking mind’, free will and predetermination being not opposites but complementaries, the difference between witnessing, observing and non-witnessing, biological reaction and egoic reaction among others have been found most useful by seekers and teachers alike, all over the world.

132 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 11, 2013

About the author

Ramesh S. Balsekar was a disciple of the late Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, a renowned Advaita master. From early childhood, Balsekar was drawn to Advaita, a nondual teaching, particularly the teachings of Ramana Maharshi and Wei Wu Wei. He wrote more than 20 books, was president of the Bank of India, and received guests daily in his home in Mumbai until shortly before his death.

Balsekar taught from the tradition of Advaita Vedanta nondualism. His teaching begins with the idea of an ultimate Source, Brahman, from which creation arises. Once creation has arisen, the world and life operate mechanistically according to both Divine and natural laws. While people believe that they are actually doing things and making choices, free will is in fact an illusion. All that happens is caused by this one source, and the actual identity of this source is pure Consciousness, which is incapable of choosing or doing.