J.D. Salinger, Advaita, and the New York Public Library

Live from New York, it's Tuesday night...

I’m working remotely from the Big Apple this week, alongside my beloved, on a trip that is part-biz, part-pleasure.

Yesterday we visited one of my favorite places in New York City: The New York Public Library. Honestly, I think I’m drawn to it primarily because of the two lions that guard the entrance. Their names are “Patience” and “Fortitude.” When I lived here in 2003-04, I worked very briefly in an office that overlooked these lions – and boy, did I need those two character traits to survive my time in the Big Apple. I’m super glad that I stuck it out.
 

After picking up a brand, spanking new NYPL library card (a non-NY resident is entitled to a card, which lasts 90 days before it must be renewed) to increase my e-book loaning options, we wandered around to gawk at the gorgeous main reading room and painted ceilings. Like my favorite building in Washington DC, the Library of Congress, this library has incredible scenes painted above that simulate being launched into heavenly realms.

I was thrilled to find out about a free exhibition lasting for just one more week: on J.D. Salinger! The Catcher in the Rye (1951) is one of my favorite books. I also loved Franny and Zooey (1961), which is markedly Zen (I can’t wait to reread it). I love reading books that I missed or underappreciated in high school, as an adult. I get so much more out of them.

Salinger was a genius. I am excited to read more about his life (already reserved his e-book biography with my library card!). I knew he was a total recluse for most of his life, and I think there are so many questions as to why. This exhibit clearly showed me one aspect of the bigger answer.

Salinger’s books, notes, manuscripts, photos were all on display. One thing stood out from the objects, which hummed with a high vibration. Salinger was a staunch Eastern philosophy devotee not primarily of Zen but of Advaita Vedanta. Non-duality. Advaita means “not two.” The premise that all is one. That we, as the appearance of an individual, separate self, are not separate from the Source, from All that Is. That we are, in fact, the Source, and the end of suffering lies in the dissolving of egoic identification.

There was a very sweet, rotating bookshelf on display at the Salinger exhibition. The description next to the case explained that these actual books were the ones that Salinger wanted to have by his side at his very last days. Among the few hundred titles of classics of literature, Eastern and Western philosophy and world religion, as well as natural health and healing, was a plethora of non-dual texts. I was humbled and touched when I saw dozens of books by my own master advaita teacher, Ramesh Balsekar, and Ramesh’s teacher, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, staring right back at me, alongside several by Sri Ramana Maharshi and Sri Ramakrishna. 

I’ve got much to read about Salinger’s spiritual depth and life after literary fame. I’m excited. I feel I’ve met a kindred spirit.

When I lived in India, I would go through spells of reading classic literature with great concentration. I’d take a break from spiritual texts and hunker down and focus on a notable work from Henry James, Mark Twain, Sylvia Plath, Lewis Carroll, Emily Brontë... It is amazing how much overlap there is between a spiritual text and a classic piece of written art. After all, it is what makes it classic: it touches the Truth, brings it into the human element. Whether literature or a gita or a bible or a sutra, it is imbued, illuminated story. It is the finger pointing at the moon, directing our ignited, emotional hearts to the true nature of reality.

My partner and I received darshan (receiving transmission through a person's presence) at the end of our spontaneous Salinger pilgrimage. I had felt something alter in the airwaves as I’d seen the charismatic presence of a very tall, lanky, and strikingly handsome man in his late 50’s entering the hall. As we collected our coats, readying to leave the exhibit, the friendly attendant whispered to us, “That’s his son, Matthew, right there.” 

And there he was – the bloodline of J.D. Salinger himself – his son – gracing us with his presence, in this sacred chapel of the of the revered and awesome New York Public Library.
 

In other news:
If you would like to participate in my online Tarot mentoring group, please sign up soon - the Wednesday night group and the Friday morning group are filling up fast. 

Do you want to partake? More info and registration here. Email me with any questions!

I am excited about my brand new website. Check it out! ErinReese.com

Namaste.

With love, joy, and great appreciation for YOU!

Erin

erin@erinreese.com

www.erinreese.com

Follow me on Instagram! @erin_reese

Notes from India 🇮🇳 follow me on Twitter

Hello beloved friends and clients!
Writing from Mother India with a few images to share..one more day in the north and then heading south. I am traveling sans laptop and thus posting occasionally on Twitter is much easier! If you'd like to follow my travels through images, please follow me on Twitter here:
@erin_reese
Check out Erin Reese (@erin_reese):
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Sending you all so much love from the holy Ganga Maa!
Thank you Maa India 💖
Namaste and Hare Om
Erin 🙏

Rajasthani sweets

Local wedding procession

Travel and Soul writer on the Ganga

Jai Kali Maa

Shiva tandava

Jai Hanuman!

Ramesh’s Grace: A Simple Story of Waking Up

“You are not the doer!”

~ Ramesh Balsekar

www.amazon.com/dp/B00AGJ24TU

NEWS FLASH: December 1, 2012

Erin Reese releases “Ramesh’s Grace: A Simple Story of Waking Up” today on Amazon Kindle.

Dear friends:

I am releasing my first spiritual ‘single,’ a short story on Amazon Kindle, just in time for the holidays, the Solstice, and the big 2012 To-Do. The single, “Ramesh’s Grace: A Simple Story of Waking Up,” was written in honor of my beloved Teacher Ramesh Balsekar.

Erin Reese is a spiritual travel writer and the author of the #1-rated book, The Adventures of Bindi Girl: Diving Deep Into the Heart of India. In this short six-page piece, Reese shares a tale of awakening based on the grace of her guru, the late advaita sage Ramesh Balsekar (1917-2009). She sat with Ramesh in Mumbai, India during the last two years of his life, receiving transmission and non-dual teachings on the nature of reality.

Awakening Is Timeless

Awakening is an appearance in time and space. It happens, or rather, it appears only in the Now. Perhaps this is one reason why I could not even name the date in which I realized that there was no separate self. It was sometime in mid-February 2011. I woke up and simultaneously ceased to exist, knowing there was no separate ‘me’ operating, no central Erin as a locus in time and space. This realization made me giggle with glee to the tips of my toes – and still does!

With gratitude

To all the teachers

Who helped me see

There is no me. 

You can read more about this in the short story, Ramesh’s Grace, available now on Amazon Kindle.

I hope you enjoy it.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AGJ24TU

In honor of the magical city of Mumbai where I met my guru on Thanksgiving Day, 11-22-2007, I’ve reposted my “Love Letter to Bombay” as a fun trailer, which you can watch here:

With love and grace,
Erin

P.S. For those readers wanting to deepen their understanding of awakening and being in the Now, I recommend listening to Eckhart Tolle's "Uncourse" free video series. In my opinion, Tolle is one of the best modern spiritual teachers - clear, funny, and precise. Here is the link:

 http://www.soundstrue.com/tolleuncourse/

It takes no time at all to wake up.

~ Eckhart Tolle

Got Stars In His Eyes

India, August 2009

Written about a month before my guru's mahasamadhi...

My beloved Guruji is in the hospital ICU, preparing for hip surgery. I visited him today and he looked so beautiful, lying there peacefully resting. His color was good – browner and healthy – and he was sleeping peacefully.

I felt so nervous entering his most personal of spaces – the Intensive Care Unit. The primary reason for my visit was to pay my last respects, express my love and gratitude, and if I were lucky – if it were my destiny – I’d have five minutes to sit in The Teacher’s presence and receive his DARSHAN.

His darshan was so strong.

The field emanated from his small, thin but strong, body lying on the elevated hospital bed.

I looked around. I was pleased and impressed with the cleanliness, tidiness and organization of the hospital. Then I settled in to be by his side.

Guruji awoke. “Hello there.” He looked over at me. I immediately rushed to his side and told him I had come up to Bombay from South India to tell him that I loved him and he looked beautiful. He said, “That wasn’t necessary.” His tousled white hair looked like a white duckling down. And then… he really opened his eyes and we looked at each other for several moments.

THE STARS IN HIS EYES WERE SO BRIGHT.

I could barely look into them. They were beautiful and fascinating – a gray-blue twinkling and sheer solar radiance emanating. They were two SUNS blazing.

I sat down when he closed his eyes again, but a force pulled me up out of my chair again to his bedside, “Guruji! You have stars in your eyes!!”

“What?” he asked, waking up all over again.

“Your eyes – they’re so bright, they’re like stars!”

“Thank you,” he replied, and gazed at me a bit longer. He blinked a few times while looking at me. Bling bling bling his eyes sparked in my direction.

Sitting back down to take it in, I immediately thought of a line:

“My guru’s eyes are the stars.”

Never knowing if it would be the last time, I kissed him on the cheek goodbye.

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,