February 2006
SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENTS
The May 2006 week long residential retreat with Wayne on the North Shore of Maui is now nearly fully booked. After the remaining places are filled a waiting list will be created.
(Details below)
***************************
MESSAGE FROM WAYNE
****************************
Hello my loves,
I have recently returned from Mumbai and my annual winter visit to see Ramesh.
As always, it was a truly joyous and blessed time. To spend time in the presence
of one's guru is life's greatest pleasure.
I am often asked why I continue to visit Ramesh even though there is no longer any "seeking need" to do so. For me, the seeking long ago morphed from a process of acquisition whereby I was hoping to GET something to a state of Acceptance wherein there was not only nothing left to GET but more importantly, no longer an egoic 'me" needing to get IT. What remained was a man named Wayne who loved a little Indian retired banker named Ramesh. For almost twenty years now, that love has flowed unabated. It matters not if we are in the satsang room together or eating a meal together or watching cricket on television together or simply sitting together in comfortable silence, the love that is the very essence of the guru/disciple relationship is there.
Each year when I visit Ramesh I get to watch with amusement, awe and delight how his Teaching evolves and changes its emphasis. Never wavering from the fundamental Understanding, his approach continues to move and dance like a boxer's. This continued movement keeps the more "advanced" and knowledgeable disciples alert and on their toes.
One of the greatest obstacles to a deepening of Understanding is the complacency inherent in knowing something. Once you have an answer there is no longer any movement. Inquiry is dead. What remains is a dull and lifeless repetition of a concept that may have once brought insight and is now mistaken for insight itself. Ramesh's continual changes keeps his disciples engaged and active. His current emphasis on the value of the Teaching in daily living is simply another door opening into the corridor of Truth.
The value of the guru is not in what you can get from him...it is the guru/disciple relationship itself which is its own reward.
With much love,
Wayne
+++++++++++++++++++++++
UPCOMING EVENTS
++++++++++++++++++++++++
EVENTS WITH RAMESH BALSEKAR
Daily Talks in His Home: 9AM Sindhula, N. Gamadia Rd. #10, Bombay, India
(Helpful info for people planning to visit Ramesh can be found in the Ramesh
Balsekar section of the advaita.org website)
Note that Ramesh is planning to take a week off from Talks towards the end of March. The exact dates are not yet known.
_____________________________________________________
EVENTS WITH WAYNE LIQUORMAN
Toronto Talks...April 7-9 Contact: Paul Phone: (416) 587-5812 Email:
panewton@sympatico.ca
New York City Talks..... April 21-23 Contact: Daniel djhnd@nyc.rr.com or Jim # 718-543-4189
Maui, Hawaii Residential Retreat....May 6-13, 2006 Contact Donna fellowship@advaita.org Phone: 310-376-9636
See: http://advaita.org/aftalks.html
Russia Talks...June 9-19, 2006 Talks in Moscow and St. Petersburg Contact: Konstantin & Natalia Email: ganga@df.ru Phone: 7-095-422-8901
Amsterdam Talks...June 23-25, 2006 Contact: Ronald ronald.valk@wanadoo.nl
Further details are available on the advaita.org website, http://advaita.org/aftalks.html
Talks in Wayne's Home
927B Sixth St., Hermosa Beach, CA (check website for times or call 310-376-9636 for a recorded announcement)
These talks are broadcast LIVE over the Internet. Live broadcasts can be accessed free from the advaita.org website thanks to the continuing support of the members.
------------------------------------------------
THE ADVAITA PRESS STORE
------------------------------------------------
++++++++++++++
NEW ON CD
++++++++++++++
Two New CD's from Ramesh's Talks in Mumbai
Ramesh S. Balsekar in Mumbai / October 2005 Audio CD $15.00
Ramesh S. Balsekar in Mumbai / November 2005 Audio CD $15.00
These CD's are part of the ongoing series of recordings made from Ramesh's daily
morning Talks in his flat in Mumbai.
(Approx. running time: 1 hour)
To order click here http://advaita.org/store/index.htm and then Latest
Releases
----------------------------------
NEW BOOKS BY RAMESH!
------------------------------------
Let Life Flow
by Ramesh S. Balsekar
It seems Ramesh just keeps getting better and better. This latest offering is
clear and to the point. It is truly a wonderful little book, filled with concise
insight and inspiration.
Soft cover, 100 pages $12.00
-----------
Click here http://advaita.org/store/index.htm or go to the www.advaita.org website, click on Advaita Press Store and then Latest Releases and you will find this item as well as videos about Ramana Maharshi, books and a video about Nisargadatta Maharaj as well as DVD's of both Wayne and Ramesh.
---------------------------------------
TRANSCRIBERS NEEDED
----------------------------------------
If you are interested in helping to transcribe some of Wayne's Talks please contact Janet jmcabney@lanset.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
BECOME A MEMBER AND HELP SUPPORT THE TEACHING
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have not yet joined the Advaita Fellowship but would like to become a member, click on the link http://216.86.195.102/members/register.asp
or visit the advaita.org website and click on BECOME A MEMBER
Members, via their TAX DEDUCTIBLE monthly donations, help to make the Fellowship financially viable and ensure the continued free presentations of the Teaching via the web site, webcasts, newsletters and free Talks in Wayne's home.
In thanks to the members for their support they receive unlimited access to the Fellowships online archives. These archives contain hundreds of streaming videos of Ramesh and Wayne as well as transcripts of many of Wayne's Talks. New ones are being added constantly.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
A LIVING GEM FROM RAMESH (previously unpublished)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Living In The Present Moment
Living in the NOW, living in the present moment, means living like God:
Doing whatever you feel like doing in any situation - total free will; you have no control what happens thereafter;
What happens thereafter is God's Will/ Cosmic Law; therefore, enjoy the pleasure of the moment and suffer the pain, without blaming anyone: neither yourself nor the other;
Live from moment to moment, without any regrets for the past, without any complaints about the present, and without any expectations in the future.
"Have faith in God, but tether your camel" - an old Arabic saying. (In any situation, do whatever you think you should do.)
====================
POEM
====================
To a "Monster of Love"
(from your hopeless disciple)
How is it that the noisy mind
slowly subsides into a deep gratitude?
How is that waves of purest love
envelope this organism
and
shining rivulets of joyous gratitude
course down the face of one who
at that timeless moment
has no awareness of anything except
THIS......
this indescribable yet palpable feeling of....
WHAT?
How is it that this happens
in your presence?
Who knows?
Who cares?
And yet in this edgeless stillness
IT is all there is.
Jana