The Ultimate Understanding, Paperback

The Ultimate Understanding, is, according to Ramesh himself, "a book containing the full essentials of the philosophy of Advaita, or Non-duality (Unicity). It is perhaps the most explicitly expressed book on this complex subject. What is the ultimate understanding? That there is no one to understand anything." Recognized as one of the foremost contemporary sages, married and father of three, and a banker who retired from the top of his profession, Ramesh could be considered a householder Guru. In his latest book, Ramesh shares openly, poignantly, and with stunning humility, how a sage lives his life. Backed by the total conviction of the final understanding of a true Master, and at the same time presented from the perspective of "life as we know it," this treasure of Advaita is unrivalled in its unique conceptual expression of the highest Truth, delivered with fundamental wisdom, simplicity, and clarity - and with Ramesh's widely-loved gaiety and humor. Ramesh elaborates his own concepts with those of his Guru, Nisargadatta Maharaj, the Buddha, Ramana Maharshi, selected Hindu scriptures, several Taoist Masters and Wei Wu Wei, all serving as pointers to the Truth, to the ultimate understanding. While the book is a compilation of such classic themes as the nature of the phenomenal manifestation including the human being, the concept of space-time, temporality and Intemporality, the Guru, free will and non-volitional living, enlightenment and Self-realization, the Impersonal Energy - the Source, Noumenon or God, and conclusively, 'Consciousness is all there is', Ramesh explicitly summarizes that ultimately what he is talking about is "the most important thing in your life: peace and harmony in your life." A rare gift to anyone and everyone seeking insight into how life happens, The Ultimate Understanding is perhaps the pinnacle of Ramesh's writing. The Ultimate Understanding, heralds the total message he has to convey. What else remains can only be the final understanding, the final Truth, the silence of Unicity.

Ramesh S. Balsekar (1917-2009) is known and loved by seekers from around the world as an eloquent Master of Advaita (Non-duality). After retiring as President of the Bank of India, he translated into English, many of the daily talks given in Marathi by his Guru Nisargadatta Maharaj. He began spreading the teaching in1982 after Maharaj had twice directed him to talk. After this, he wrote over 30 books on Advaita as well. Ramesh is widely regarded as an undeniably unique and uncompromising teacher in his presentation of the concepts, in keeping with an early premonitory remark by Maharaj that as a teacher Ramesh would not be "parroting" the words of his Guru. The basic concept of Ramesh's teaching is that, "All there is, is Consciousness"; all actions are happenings - the functioning of the Primal Energy and not the doing by anyone. He framed his concepts in the context of daily living, from his experience as a bank president and a family man.