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    The Relationship Between 'I' and 'Me'
    The Relationship Between 'I' and 'Me'
    The Relationship Between 'I' and 'Me'
    Ebook77 pages1 hour

    The Relationship Between 'I' and 'Me'

    By Ramesh S. Balsekar

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    About this ebook

    You cannot have an 'ego' because you are the ego: Consciousness identified with a name and form as a separate entity. The sage responds to his name being called; therefore, the sage has an ego. The ordinary man also responds to his name being called. What is the difference between the ego of the sage and the ego of the ordinary man? That is the core question. The answer is that in the ego of the sage the sense of personal doership has been totally annihilated: he knows that he is only a psychosomatic apparatus through which the Primal Energy functions and brings about whatever is supposed to happen according to the Cosmic Law. The ego of the ordinary man is impregnated with the sense of personal doership. The ego of the sage is totally free from the burden of pride and arrogance for his good actions and guilt and shame for his bad actions, whereas the ego of the ordinary man carries the burden of guilt and shame for his own actions and a heavier burden of hatred for the others for their actions which have hurt him. In the words of Ramana Maharshi, the ego of the sage is like "the remnants of a burnt rope."

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherRamesh S. Balsekar
    Release dateJan 30, 2015
    ISBN9789384363390
    The Relationship Between 'I' and 'Me'
    Author

    Ramesh S. Balsekar

    Ramesh Balsekar, a teacher of pure Advaita, or non-duality, is an unearthly blend of the utterly human and utterly divine manifesting as a brilliant spiritual Master. His crystal-clear and profound teachings are backed by his complete understanding that “Nobody does anything” coupled with his life experience as a top executive of a major Indian bank, as a huband, father and grandfather – all lived knowing that it is all happening as God’s Will.For much of his full life Ramesh, whose Guru was Nisargadatta Maharaj, has been devoted to Ramana Maharshi, in whose spirit Ramesh welcomes seekers and asks “Who is seeking? Leave the seeking to Him who started the seeking.”

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    • 5/5
      Beautiful overview of how an enlightened sage lives his life. Ramesh Balasekar makes the subject of nonduality and enlightenment clear and simple.

    Book preview

    The Relationship Between 'I' and 'Me' - Ramesh S. Balsekar

    THE

    RELATIONSHIP

    BETWEEN

    ‘I’ AND ‘ME’

    BETWEEN ABSOLUTE SPLENDOUR AND CAPTIVE SPLENDOUR

    RAMESH S. BALSEKAR

    EDITED BY CHAITAN S. BALSEKAR

    A DIVISION OF MAOLI MEDIA PRIVATE LIMITED

    Books by Ramesh S. Balsekar

    •   Pursue ‘Happiness’ And Get Enlightened (2008)

    •   Celebrate the Wit & Wisdom: Relax and Enjoy (2008)

    •   Pointers From Ramana Maharshi (2008)

    •   Koun Parvah Karto?! (Marathi 2008)

    •   Does The Human Being Have Free Will? (2007)

    •   Enlightened Living (2007)

    •   A Buddha’s Babble (2006)

    •   A Personal Religion Of Your Own (2006)

    •   The Essence of The Ashtavakra Gita (2006)

    •   Seeking Enlightenment – Why ? (2005)

    •   Nuggets of Wisdom (2005)

    •   The End of The Seeking (2005)

    •   Spiritual Search Step By Step (2004)

    •   Confusion No More (2003)

    •   Guru Pournima (2003)

    •   Advaita and the Buddha (2000)

    •   It So Happened That… The Unique Teaching of Ramesh S. Balsekar (2000)

    •   Sin and Guilt: Monstrosity of Mind (2000)

    •   Meaningful Trivialities from the Source (2000)

    •   The Infamous Ego (1999)

    •   Who Cares?! (1999)

    •   The Essence of the Bhagavad Gita (1999)

    •   Your Head in the Tiger’s Mouth (1997)

    •   Consciousness Strikes (1996)

    •   Consciousness Writes (1996)

    •   Consciousness Speaks (1995)

    •   The Bhagavad Gita – A Selection (1995)

    •   Ripples (1994)

    Copyright © 2006 Ramesh S. Balsekar

    First Edition: May 2006

    Second Edition: May 2010

    PUBLISHED BY

    ZEN PUBLICATIONS

    A Division of Maoli Media Private Limited

    60, Juhu Supreme Shopping Centre,

    Gulmohar Cross Road No. 9, JVPD Scheme,

    Juhu, Mumbai 400 049. India.

    Tel: +91 22 32408074

    eMail: zenpublications@gmail.com

    Website: www.zenpublications.com

    CREDITS

    Cover & Book Design by Red Sky Designs, Mumbai

    All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system without written permission from the author or his agents, except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

    RAMESH BALSEKAR

    In the early morning meditation,

    I concentrate on that Primal Energy

    – throbbing in the centre of my Heart,

    That Impersonal Awareness – Am –

    Which transcends the three states of

    dreaming-waking-deep sleep,

    That Pure Source – Brahman –

    Which I am in Reality,

    and not this psychosomatic apparatus.

    – Shankaracharya’s Atma-bodha

    Contents

    The Relationship between ‘I’ and ‘Me’

    The Impersonal Consciousness and the Ego

    Editor’s Note

    Appendix One

    Letter to God

    Appendix Two

    The Relationship between

    ‘I’ and ‘Me’

    Who am I?

    Who is this me that lives as a doer of his deeds? This is the basic, the only sadhana, Ramana Maharshi suggested to the seekers.

    Basically, in the daily living, the me can only mean that which is always seeking, in every situation, the correct answer to the question and the right action in the circumstances – both based on his desires and his wants. But he has never had any control over what actually happens in any situation. Therefore, he is constantly buffeted between pleasure and pain.

    The me is the very basis of the mechanism of daily living. In any situation, the me has to decide what he will do in order to get what he wants… total free will.

    Intrinsically, the me can only be the impersonal consciousness identified with the body-mind organism as identified consciousness: a separate entity with autonomy and personal doership, commonly referred to as the ego.

    It is this me, the ego that investigates itself and asks: Who am I?

    All along he was thinking he was a human being, a person or an individual with a name, different and separate from other individuals and objects in the world, a thinker of his thoughts, experiencer of his emotions and feelings, with intellect and free will to take decisions and act on those decisions, with family, friends and others, holding a position in life, having certain assets, and so on.

    Now he is asking himself: Am I really all this or am I something more?

    Am I this name that I have? No, it is something to identify me with, and it can be changed.

    Am I this human being? I think I am a human being because I am identifying myself with this human body. I am that which is aware of this body and not this body itself. Of course, my presence here is because of this body and because of the life in this body. If this body dies, where am I? Where was I before this body was born? However, the fact remains that I am not this human body but that which is aware of this body, and right now, which is limited by this body.

    Am I these thoughts? No. I am that which is aware of these thoughts. They rise and set in me, but I remain.

    Am I these emotions and feelings? No. I am that which is aware of them as they rise and set in me. As an ego I identify myself with them, but I am not them. They rise and set in me but I remain.

    Am I this intellect and free will? As an ego, I think I own them and use them. Really speaking, I am only aware of them as they are being used in

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