Consciousness Speaks - by Sri Ramesh Balsekar

[Srikrishna Ghadiyaram]

Hari Om !!

--- Ramakrishnan Balasubramanian <balasr at YAHOO.COM>
wrote:
> --- Srikrishna Ghadiyaram
> <srikrishna_ghadiyaram at YAHOO.COM> wrote:
>
> > Recently, I read the book, “Consciousness Speaks”,
> > edited talks of Sri
> > Ramesh Balsekar. As it is acknowledged, Sri Ramesh
> > is Self-Realised J~nani.
> > The book made a good reading. A few salient
> points,
> > I learnt are as follws:
>
> No offense intended to anyone, but who has
> "acknowledged" his "Jnani-hood"? Even if "they" did
> so, does it matter?
>

I am not here to certify anyone as J~nani or
otherwise. It is not my business. I remind myself  of
my goal when such doubts arise. But, at the same time
it is not very difficult to know an evolved soul or a
J~nani, if we evealuate our own position against them.
I know because I have some incling of where I want to
go. These greater souls communicate this message, so I
can align myself accordingly.

> The shAstras are clear that it is not possible to
> recognize a GYAni. A teacher belonging to a valid
> tradition, namely sha.nkaras tradition, is the safe
> bet. Once in a while, a Ramana Maharshi may appear,
> but not very often. Sha.nkara makes it very clear
> that
> the authoritative tradition is very important in
> chosing the teacher. We strive to follow sha.nkara.
> So
> we shouldd never forget this important point.
>

Well, whether it be Ramana Maharshi or Ramesh Balsekar
or Mata Amritanandamayi or some others, all of them
speak of Advaita and acknowledge Sankara's views.
Atleast none of them endorse Ramanuja or Madhva. To
that extent they are in line with Sankara's
traditional teaching. Yes, because of the brevity of
teaching, they do not expound the Advaitic teaching,
and their message becomes mystical.

I have listened to a few teachers who claim to be the
conventional "Traditional" teachers in the Sankara
Advaita tradition, but do not come close to the
precision of how ALL is Brahman. They accept and
advocate EGO, JIVA, etc. as separate entities and
build theories around it. In the garb of Advaita, they
propound Dwaitam or Visishtadwaitam, unknowingly. The
only teacher who I have come across who spoke
uncompromising Advaita through clear expounding of
Advaita texts is Swami Dayananda of Arsha vidya, even
if it were at the expense of criticising some of the
contents in the texts such as Atma Bodha, viveka
chudamani etc. Authentic Sankara Advaita teachers are
in short supply; many are busy teaching stress
management courses etc.

Om Namo Narayanaya !!

Srikrishna


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