How I Met Ramesh (The Way Existence Mysteriously Led Spiritual Seekers to Ramesh Balsekar)

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How Consciousness met Consciousness
Spiritual Master Ramesh Balsekar used to speak about a concept called 'Reversing into the future'. We usually believe in a linear time sequence: because 'A' happened so 'B' happened and because 'B' happened 'C' happened and so on. But according to his concept, it worked exactly the other way around. Because 'C' had to happen, 'B' had to happen and because 'B' had to happen 'A' had to happen.

Anybody who happened to meet Ramesh would aver that the proof of this concept lay in the way they were mysteriously led to meet him.. a stranger mentioning his name; chancing upon a flyer nailed to a telegraph pole; reading a book authored by him which was left down by a co-passenger on a flight; a bookshop owner recommending to a random shopper that he should meet this 'Guru from India'; accompanying a friend and staying on to becoming a fan; and so on and so forth. In one particular case, someone actually made a checklist of attribute he was looking for in a Guru – if and when he found him – and he was miraculously led to Ramesh who just happened to tick off every single criterion!

These stories of how spiritual seekers happened to meet Ramesh – no, how Consciousness was led to meet Consciousness – are fascinating not just because they reveal the mysterious ways of Existence but also because they often denote the culmination of a long journey for many of them.

In Hanuman Chalisa, there is a line that so wonderfully encapsulates Hanuman's love and devotion to Ram; 'Prabhu charitra sunibay ko rasiya' – 'Ever eager to her stories about Him'. Yes, the stories themselves are so deeply satiating.

Many years ago during a satsang at Sindhula (the name of my father's home) I saw a pleasant looking middle-aged European woman. Her face was peaceful and smiling. She said she had read every book written by my father, heard every tape and watched every video that was available at the time. She had no questions to ask and had come to India for a few days, only to see him. It was a personal pilgrimage of gratitude. She seemed so genuinely happy and at peace that I never forgot the incident.

For more than twenty years visitors would come to Sindhula to sit with my father in his living room for daily satsangs. Some would come a year, some every week, and some almost every day. Nearly every day someone new would appear. Office goers would drop in for a short time on their way to work.

Several years ago, I saw an attractive brochure from Canada, offering a guided tour in India. It said: 'From the living room of Shri Ramesh to the foot of Arunachala.' The detailed itinerary gave daytes in Mumbai with 'the magical Ramesh'. The brochure set me wondering – what is this magic that is expected to happen? What lay beyond the magic of a gather who had who has card and provided so well for so many of us in the family? Letter from the visitors (published as A Homage TO The Unique Teaching Of Ramesh Balsekar) reveal that the magic lay in his presence and his uncompromising teaching about non-doership and the impersonal functioning of Totality. Father's magic was simplicity, openness and spontaneity itself. Hi teaching in practice often led to acceptance of and gratitude for what Is. We in the family were doubly fortunate to have been given this teaching as well.

All my life I have seen my father's devotion to his family and especially to the youngest children. The most boisterous baby in the joint family (there brothers, their only sister, and their families lived at Sindhula)would remain quietly in my father's lap when sat in his rocking chair in the early morning or after work in the evening. One three-year-old did learn to recite the opening verse of Sri Adi Shankaracharya's Atmabodh there.

In this now famous living room, a phenomenon quite extraordinary helped 'so many of the few' to live their destined lives free from guilt, shame, pride and hate. In his presence many have been freed from anxiety and been blessed with increasing acceptance. This unpretentious space became a haven to hundreds, perhaps thousands of seekers who able to see, that having finally arrived here, letting go was likely to happen.

At satsang one morning I saw a man stunned to learn that his predilection for 'straying' was a result of his nature, and not 'his' doing. And further, that he might not be able to control it unless it was his destiny to do so. The resulting helplessness and the relief caused him to sob uncontrollably. At this, his beloved and long suffering partner of ten years felt much compassion for him and less pain herself.

On the same morning I saw a lady burst into tears as she said that she could not believe that God willed that she be raped at a young age. I had seen her before and she had already heard the teaching several times. When I saw her again few months later she looked happy and physically more fit. Perhaps it was her destiny to accept this pain as an impersonal, inevitable happening. Perhaps she was able to move on without dwelling in the pain of the past and was able to accept her own reactions to the painful memory whenever it arose.

A psychotherapist says this is the best psychotherapy

Another morning father asked a visitor, as usually does, what brought him there. There. The man said it was a tourist guide. The look on father's face was unforgettable. His jaw fell and his head hung to one side in shocked but amused acceptance. Someone quickly attempted to make amends by saying it was a 'spiritual' tourist guide.

Father would say satsang it the best morning entertainment in Mumbai. It could be great meditation as well.

A young woman once told my father that whenever she thought of someone far away, she was able to see something like a blueprint of that person. Yet when she thought of him, she saw nothing. She wondered why this might be so. He said: it could be because, he was sure that only primal energy functioned through his body.

A visitor said to my Father, 'I wish I had your programming.'

Father was astonished. 'You would not like my programming: I just accept it.'

'Are you a conduit of God?' someone asked. Father replied, ;Yes, I am a conduit of God, you are a conduit of God, Osama bin Laden is a conduit of God.'

One morning, as people were taking leave after satsang, some knelt and bowed before my father. He was seated with his eyes closed and his palms joined in humility. I was standing at the window taking in the scene, when a friend still seated inside caught my attention, directing me to look at my Father's face. I looked at him but could not do so long. There was so much energy there, and missing his familiar presence, I was forced to look away. I did not as him about this later, as I was quite sure he would have nothing to say.

True meditation, Father says, is accepting whatever happens as God's Will. At any moment, her says, do whatever you think you should do. The though, the action, the result, and your reaction, all happen with God's energy, because that is all there is.

Thank you very much for the blessings bestowed on my Father and upon his family.

I wish you more and more abidance in the Peace that has always been your true nature.