The Guru Question

If a guru is necessary, a guru will happen.

I don’t know if it’s necessary for you. I can say that for some people, it is necessary, because existence brings it about - it happens. Who are we to judge whether it’s some sort of ‘weakness’ or ‘projection’ (or the opposite - a requirement) to have a guru?

The appearance of a guru in human form may or may not happen in a spiritual seeker’s lifetime of experience.

I don’t know why it happened in my case - destiny, I suppose. I do know that one month before events conspired to bring me to Mumbai to meet my teacher, I had prayed fervently: "God, if there is a teacher out there for me, please, I pray with all my heart, let me meet him or her."

You see, I was done. D-O-N-E with the seeking. I was tired of chasing tails. And I had lost hope that there could be a teacher out there for me - a sage so perfectly transparent and trustworthy that I could surrender in my heart and mind. It is said that is what it often takes before a person is ready to surrender. I thought it could never happen for me. (Heck, there's even a chapter in my Bindi Girl book about my guru allergy!)

It was Thanksgiving Day when I first entered the home of Ramesh Balsekar (1917-2009). In the three years I spent with him, I found him flawless, perfect in his understanding of advaita vedanta, and he was a master teacher. I never heard him miss a beat.

They say when we meet our guru, it is perfection. That was my experience. My guru was perfect for me in every way. And therefore, it must also be perfect that Ramesh is no longer here in physical form, having left the body in September 2009. Though I miss him with all my heart, I trust that there are reasons as to why I only got to be with my teacher for a short period. Perhaps it's because I need to be back in the West, and not tied to India. Perhaps three years were all I needed to be at the guru's feet. Perhaps the transmission, and our time together, were simply complete.

In one of our final private discussions a few months before Ramesh left the body, he asked me if I'd written yet about the teaching, the "downloaded" understanding of advaita (non-duality). I said no, that it hadn't happened yet. Perhaps it is now arising... words to express the ineffable.

This is the first time in four years I haven't been able to be in Mumbai to celebrate the birthday (jayanti) of my beloved guru, born May 25, 1917. To express my infinite gratitude and celebration, I am posting a short series of unpublished writings about my connection to Ramesh.

Thank you Ramesh-Guruji!

And thank you to grand-guru, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

I'm so happy to be a part of this lineage.

With love,