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| Erin at Royal Bombay Yacht Club |
On this New Moon day in the mutable air sign of Gemini, the Twins
of Duality and Interconnected Opposites, I happen to be halfway around the world back in the arms of my
beloved Mother India.
It is auspicious that this New Moon falls on the 100th
Centenary birthday celebration of my Gemini teacher and advaita master, Ramesh
Balsekar, born on May 25, 1917. It was my great honor to be of service at this
gala event when the team asked me to be the Master of Ceremonies.
Pictures and highlights will soon follow. For now, I’m
recovering from facilitating the full-day ceremony for one of the biggest
experiences of my life! Fellow teachers, students, lovers of our guruji, family
members, and bhakta devotees – all of us joined together at the Royal Bombay
Yacht Club to celebrate this great man, who dropped his body on September 27, 2009. Ramesh's teaching and grace touched us to the
core, transmitting the knowledge and understanding that
surpasses suffering.
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| Erin and Ramesh, 2008 |
Since I was so busy in Gemini fashion (I myself have Gemini
Moon and Gemini Rising – apropos for
the M.C. role!) preparing speeches, invocations, and introductions over the
past days, and since it takes an enormous
amount of psychic and spiritual energy to hold space for such an important
event, I don’t have any photos yet. But they’ll roll in from my Indian friends
soon enough, and I’ll be able to share more with you.
It was a day rich with
eminent speakers, Sufi concerts, video premieres and book launches. All to
celebrate our love for this great Teacher and the understanding that, as Ramesh
used to paraphrase the Buddha, “Events happen. Deeds are done. But there is no
individual doer thereof.”
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| Ramesh S. Balsekar, Advaita Sage |
In the meantime, here are a few snippets from my
opening speech:
So how did I get here as the MC for all of you today? Perhaps a few words from Guruji himself might explain it perfectly:
“Consciousness has written the story, Consciousness has made this production, Consciousness is acting all the roles in this drama and Consciousness is experiencing all the pleasure and the pain through the instruments which are human beings. What is really happening is ever since life began, life has always been the existence at the same time of interconnected opposites. Since the story has already been written – all that happens is that the movie is taking place and all we can do is witness it.”In other words, as Ramesh used to say, THE MOVIE IS IN THE CAN!I don’t usually speak much about the Teaching. Ramesh’s transmission of advaita lives so deep inside of my being, it is as if he is inside of me himself. I wouldn’t be up here today if I wasn’t asked, and perhaps I’m just the only one who was willing. As I said, it is for the deepest love of my Teacher. This love for the teaching is so far beyond the beyond that if I sit in presence with one of you and convey its enormity, I will simply cry and cry and cry, oceans upon oceans upon oceans of gratitude.
We all know our dear Ramesh was a big lover of jokes. And his biggest joke for me was when, about a year after Guruji passed away, I was back in California, literally hanging laundry on the clothesline one morning, and from one moment to the next, I simply realized. . . there was a realization in this body-mind organism that there is NO ONE THERE. So simple, so subtle, it is an event hardly worth mentioning, and at the same time, it is the most incredible, important and relieving thing that could have ever happened. In my own words, I describe it as the realization that there is no single central operating mechanism. As Ramesh would put it, there is the total apperception that there is no doer.
We all have our own way of putting it into words. That’s one of the best parts of our beloved Teacher’s transmissions: no one is parroting anything. Just as Ramesh never parroted his own master, Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Our Guruji had his own style, and as he put it, his own concept of enlightenment, to which I say: worked for me! And so many of us here today…
Blessings to each of you. I'll be returning to the U.S. in just a few days. Sending full-power love and
gratitude from the arms of Mother India!
Namaste,
Erin
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| Mumbai in the hot, hot season - taxi cab |
For
readings and spiritual counseling by Skype, phone or email, contact her
directly at erin@erinreese.com.
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| Mumbai, Indian Ocean - Magic and Mayhem |
