Written Messages

            Paris

15 February 2021

 Synopsis of Ramesh S. Balsekar’s excellent book entitled — ‘’Pointers from Nisargadatta Maharaj’’.

The author of this extraordinary book is a commerce graduate of London University and worked in a leading bank in India from 1940 to 1977 holding high and top executive positions. But his natural yearning for deeper dimensions of religious-spiritual life drew him to Maharaj and to his profound utterances and spontaneous teachings, during his meetings with visitors who came to listen to him from far and near. Devotees called him by this special name as they found him always in extremely relaxed and natural state of affection and awareness of ‘what is’, (‘Nisarga’ means Nature) —- never in the manipulations of the mind speculating ‘what should be’. He is as if the Supreme (Maharaj) in the dimension of Division-free Awareness. The devotees respectfully addressed him as Maharaj (M). Marathi (local language of the area) name, given by his parents, had perhaps been forgotten.

His background is humble — living in a congested middle class area of Mumbai (Bombay), having a Beedi shop nearby for livelihood. Beedi is poor man’s smoke, who cannot afford to buy cigarettes. During my job-life in Mumbai, I had attended his spontaneous teachings many times in his congested mezzanine floor residence. Profound English translations were made for the foreign visitors by a University Professor, but I used to enjoy his talks directly as I know Marathi language too, in addition to my mother tongue (Bengali) and Indian National language (Hindi).

‘M’ passed away on Tuesday, 8 September 1981 at 7.32 p.m. His funeral pyre was lit by his son through a simple ceremony.

Core Teachings of ‘M’ are very much in tune with the profound teachings from Divinity Direct (Sri Bhagavan Uvacha) as available in Bhagawat Gita. The great Indian Mystics Jnaneshwara,  Tukaram, their Abhanga Vanis are also very much in tune with spontaneous utterances naturally emanating from ‘M’. Raman Maharishi’s teachings reflect the same energy of understanding as emanated from ‘M’.

‘M’ emphasised : — Reality is existence not experience. The very fact that an experience is happening is enough proof that what you are experiencing is not real — it is just a conditioned reflex.  Your expectations beget experiences and experiences strengthen expectations. All psychological expectations are ego-trips. And all ego-trips are trips in the wrong direction. A strange state of passive - choiceless - holistic attention pervaded in and around ‘M’. His teachings have been published in a book entitled      ‘I am that’.  But I saw him saying emphatically : ‘ There is only ‘That’ — not ‘I am ‘That’’!!

Jai Maharaj Nisargadatta.