Ramesh Balsekar 1917 - 2009

Dear Ramesh Balsekar the great advaita teacher died on 27th Sept 2009.

Wayne Liquorman's letter is here

Dear Friends,

It is with the heaviest of hearts I write to tell you of the passing of our beloved Ramesh this morning at 9AM in his home in Bombay. His death was quick and peaceful.

Ramesh was truly an extraordinary being. His life as a successful banker, author and spiritual teacher directly enriched the lives of tens of thousands of people.

Having met Ramesh was one of the defining moments of my life, as I am certain it was for many of you reading this note. His generous spirit, open, loving presence and spiritual Understanding combined to make him one of the truly great Sages of the 20th century. We are truly blessed to have known him...be it "in person" or through his Teaching.

Ramesh lives on. Though his body will this evening return to the elements, his spirit lives on in his books and in the hearts of all of us who have known him and loved him..

Twenty-two years ago Ramesh came into my life. Today his body leaves it. To have been able to walk beside him for all this time and to have been able to bow at his feet has been for me the greatest of life's blessings.I shall miss not being able to sit with Ramesh, to watch a cricket match together or to share some chocolate or to laugh at some silly joke he reads from the newspaper. It is not the greatness of the man I will miss most...his greatness remains undiminished by his death...it is the little things, the human things..

Many of you will share with me the exquisite human pain of the loss of a beloved one. If you take a moment to quietly look at it you may see in the pain the wonder of Life itself. If so, it will truly be the Grace of The Guru.

With much love,

Wayne

Hello my loves,

It has been a month now since the death of Ramesh. For me the sharp pain of loss has been replaced by a dull ache. I have received many very beautiful letters and emails from people expressing their love for Ramesh and talking about the profound impact he had on their lives. He was for so many of us one of lifes most amazing gifts.

Ramesh used to tell the story of a publisher friend of his who had mistakenly considered himself to be enlightened. When this man's wife died he was consumed with grief and that confused him. He had imagined that he was "above" such mundane, human emotions...that since he knew himself and all things to be the Absolute, who would be left to grieve for who? This points to one of the most persistent myths surrounding enlightenment....that it results in a kind of passive indifference in which all is known to be illusory, including the one who would know it. Most organized religions exhalt the renunciant, the wandering sufi or sadhu or penitent or monk who gives up business and family life to focus on the Supreme. The assumption here is that daily life and the Supreme are somehow seperate and exclusive of one another. I prefer the Taoist pointer of the man of understanding as being a perfectly ordinary human. He eats when he is hungry, he works to provide for himself and his family, he takes pleasure in his sexuality and cries when he hurts. He lives in accord with his nature.

One of my favorite rememberances of Ramesh is of him yelling passionately at the television during an episode of Who Wants To Be A Millionaire in which the contestant chose to risk a small fortune to get to the next level..."You bloody fool!!" Ramesh, always the conservative banker, shouted out.

Ramesh was one of the most ordinary of extraordinary men. His life was a testament to this. It was not surprising therefore that he would raise the ire of the modern religious fundamentalists for whom Understanding is synonymous with renunciation and who have very strong ideas about how other people "should" be. Ramesh weathered these often viscious and virulent attacks with typical poise and good humor. "Brickbats and bouquets," he was fond of saying. I admit I didn't know what a brickbat was (it's a club) but I got his point that in this life some people throw you love (bouquets) and others throw you hate (brickbats) and ultimately what they are throwing is more about them than it is about you.

With love,
Wayne


Click here for some of Ramesh's teachings

Click here for some photos of Ramesh