One more thing if I may Ramji. On the subject of doership. The biggest thing I understood from Swami Dayananda at the time was that Ishvara and the creation are one and therefore, as a jiva, nothing is mine. Later when realising I’ve always been Awareness, It became clear that Awareness does nothing (actionless), yet actions are constantly happening through this body/mind. So something else is producing the actions. As an apparent instrument there is no real volition and as Awareness there isn’t any either.
When I met Ramesh, he was certainly saying Ishwara was the only doer, but he seemed to only emphasise the inability of the bodymind instrument to act independently and not so much the actionless nature of Awareness. That seemed to result in some people’s taking the view that as jivas they don’t act.. but of course they do.. they just don’t act independently of the whole. Because nothing is mine.
Would you say that’s an OK assessment?
Yes, indeed. Ramesh didn’t have a clue about non-duality. In fact I saw a video of a satsng with a friend of mine at the end of his life in which he said he questioned the idea of non-duality altogether. His karma yoga was only half a loaf; he forgot the “You’re blissful existence shining as Awareness” bit, not to mention dharma, karma yoga, bhakti, the qualifications, etc. Like Papaji, the export gurus and the Western Neos he provided a useful service for entry level people but didn’t have a clue about self inquiry.
