final truth | Final Truth: A Guide to Ultimate Understanding

Not To Be Missed | Final Truth: A Guide to Ultimate Understanding | Ramesh S. Balsekar

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	• Final Truth: A Guide to Ultimate Understanding Ramesh S. Balsekar Advaita Press, 1989 - 238 pages average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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A "Non-volitional" Review

Of the 30 or so books published by Ramesh Balsekar, I thought this was probably the most amazing of them all.

It's divided into four sections: The Nature of the Phenomenal Manifestation, The Individual in Relation to the Phenomenal Manifestation, The Individual and His Problem, and Ultimate Understanding Is Itself the Solution. The same points are covered again and again but from different angles. For instance, that everything is Consciousness, that there's no such thing as an autonomous individual entity with volition, and that the manifest world is itself an illusion--analogous to a dream or mirage.

Probably a little familiarity with Balsekar's teachings would help before reading this one. His teaching focuses less (if any) on devotional practices and more so on allowing certain understandings and realizations to blossom within one's self. For instance, he frequently references Nisargadatta Maharaj in his quote that "understanding is all", and therefore doesn't prescribe any spiritual practices for the seeker, as he suggests that intentional practices and techniques would only strengthen the sense of a personal self/ego with autonomy of volition and free will. So one of of the main themes then, is 'non-volition' and the absense of personal doership: "...volition is not at all an effective element in phenomenal life because there is no entity as such to have any effective volition", "Everything is the absolute Consciousness and the individual entity is nothing but an illusion."
(...a sigh of relief)

...if you find it relieving to hear that the "you" doesn't have any independent existence then this book is right up your alley!

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final truth

The final truth is that all words are concepts. There are no instruments one can use to measure truths. It is a matter of preception. Ramesh explains and points the way in his book. It is up to the individual to aperceive.

Not To Be Missed

While CONSCIOUSNESS SPEAKS (a wide-ranging collection of graspable spiritual topics) may be Balsekar's most popular work, THE FINAL TRUTH deserves broad readership, as well. Focusing solely on Advaita, it is a treasure-trove of rich and in-depth discussions on the nature of nonduality.

Balsekar correctly tells us that "the understanding [awakening, enlightenment, etc] which is itself Truth, happens only when there is immediate and direct (and therefore `true') perception." He goes on to explain how this "understanding" relates to the world as we know it: "The very essence of the ultimate understanding is that there cannot be any difference between the unmanifest noumenality [awareness] and the manifest phenomenality [our bodies, the world, the universe, etc]."

Balsekar favorite word for this oneness is Unicity. And like the best works on nonduality (e.g., any of John Wheeler's books, such as AWAKENING TO THE NATURAL STATE and SHINNING IN PLAIN VIEW), THE FINAL TRUTH points to our ever-present Freedom from various angles and directions. But it is always within the framework of "all there is, is Consciousness."

The book is divided into four sections, with such compelling chapter-headings as "The Manifest World--Its Nature," "The Concept of Bondage," "The State of Enlightenment," and "The Understanding That is Pure Joy."

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The Final Truth is one of the most complex and rewarding of Ramesh's written works. It may well be the most comprehensive look at Advaita currently in print. It takes us on a rich and vivid journey from the arising of 'I AM' to the final dissolution into identification as pure Consciousness.