Consciousness Writes

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It's a long-distance love affair. The Master is in Mumbai, most of his disciples thousands of miles away.

The Teaching deals with Advaita, or non-duality. And as the Teaching gently seeps deeper, doubts and questions sprout; and often, the only way the disciple can seek guidance from the Master is through mail.

The correspondence that flows is truly remarkable since it is both subjective and objective, unique and universal, personal and impersonal.

To the disciple the correspondence may denote letters from one individual to another. For the Master, they are merely words emanating from Consciousness to Consciousness.

Consciousness Writes offers you the fragrance of Advaitic teaching and a rare glimpse into the Master-disciple relationship enveloped in the warmth of intimacy and the sparkle of Ramesh's wit.

A gentleman called L, , came to see me a few days ago by previous appointment. He was an American - slim, gaunt of face, with a shaven head, and deep piercing eyes. He said he had been travelling for more than two years, for the last eight months in India, in search of Truth, that he had heard so much about India but that he was thoroughly disappointed: in India he had seen nothing but poverty and squalor, corruption and greed even in temples, mere parroting of the scriptures in ashrams, most of which were money-making rackets. He was particularly disappointed that he had not met anyone who had impressed him in any way in spite of the robes and the roles some of them had assumed.

L said he had retired as an engineer some years ago and that he had since been a "seeker." At 55 years of age and with no responsibilities or liabilities in life he could travel to his heart's content. He added that he had done a considerable amount of reading of scriptures of many religions, and was most attracted by the non-duality of Vedanta. It was quite obvious that the man was extremely sincere and earnest, but equally obvious that he had been misguided (although, of course, his "journey along the path" was part of the destiny of that body-mind mechanism, part of the process of disidentification that was going on).

He talked to me continuously for perhaps twenty minutes, detailing all that he had done and was presently doing. I asked him when he stopped talking suddenly (perhaps realizing that I had not uttered a word while he talked), "If you know what you are doing, where you are going, and what you are aiming at, what is your problem?" The question stunned him. He replied slowly, "Now that you put it that way, I think the answer is 'I do not know to the question." I asked him a second question, "You have detailed the sadhana and the efforts you have put in, in order to get at the Truth as a 'seeker.' How can you seek something of which you are not aware?" He thought for a while, and again replied "I don't know." I said, "One last question at the present juncture: what is it that made you become a 'seeker' when there surely are plenty of other known to you who are just not interested in the 'search?" Was it any special effort of your own that had started your search, or was it something from 'outside' which turned your mind inwards?" This question visibly startled him.