RE: Digest Number 1898

[Guest guest]

Hi Sridhar,

 

Only just spotted your message. Some of the quotations that I find the most

appealing are those that are the most provocative - it seems that we need to

be shaken up quite a lot before we start to think straight!

 

Sridhar picked up on the following quotation from Ramesh Balsekar:

 

"Enlightenment If you have the choice between enlightenment and a

million dollars, take the million dollars! Because if you get the

million dollars, there will be somebody there to enjoy the million

dollars; but if you get enlightenment there's no one there to enjoy

the enlightenment. "

 

To my mind, Ramesh is here drawing attention to the paradoxical nature of

the 'seeker'. Someone who is looking to find enlightenment is never going to

do so because it is the ego that is the very obstacle. We have to look

within rather than outside. Accordingly, if 'you' are choosing between

enlightenment or a million dollars, you had better choose the latter! After

enlightenment there is no longer an ego to want anything.

 

Of course, what you then say is correct. From the point of view of 'others',

who are still mired in ignorance, the presence of an enlightened 'person' is

the greatest benefit. And if we could choose to become realised, we would be

doing the rest of humanity the greatest service possible. Sri Parthasarathy

prioritises the value of service to others: the lowest is the gift of

money - we probably give some change from our pocket and a few minutes later

have forgotten all about it; next is the gift of some personal belonging

such as the coat off our back - there is a direct effect on ourselves; then

there is giving of our time - perhaps spending one evening per week helping

a charity. But the greatest service is to sacrifice our own self (ego),

which is what happens upon realisation.

 

Hope this explains to your satisfaction.

 

Best wishes,

 

Dennis

 

P.S. Hope to catch up with the wonderful discussions on Sri Atmananda but it

is only the 3rd Nov and there are 20 pages worth already!!