Ramana Maharishi's approach, the blue void, the nature of Masters, free will, evolution, war as a catalyst for awakening, and so much more. This tape is filled with profound material. The title "Ramana Maharishi's Approach" only hints at what's actually covered - it's really a comprehensive teaching on the nature of illusion, will, evolution, and awakening.

Ramana's Method - The "Who Am I?" Inquiry: A questioner asked about Ramana Maharishi's famous "Who am I?" approach. Bartholomew explained that this method, done properly, is a state of turning within and waiting - waiting for the Source to reveal itself. The Maharishi taught that if you reverse thinking and go back to where the I-source first came, the Source will reveal itself. He was specific about focusing in the heart area, "only, to the right." This approach is essentially withdrawing energy from the "flickering lights" of thought and personality, and redirecting it to the "blue void" - the Self that has always been there. "That which is not given any energy will die if it is not real."

Why Masters Use the Language of Separateness: When questioned about how Bartholomew and other masters can have "individual" identities if all is One, Bartholomew gave a striking answer: "We play the rules according to the illusion and the game that you have created." All talk of masters, higher ones, and greater ones is itself unreal - but necessary to communicate with beings still trapped in space-time. "If we were to present the way things really are, we would not have any relatedness pattern between us. And therefore, you could not understand me at all." This is why deep meditation matters: only by transcending the space-time continuum can the deeper realities be transmitted directly.

Free Will and Divine Appointment: Bartholomew addressed the perennial question of free will. The small self is "deluded into thinking that it has free will," seeing itself as a dynamic entity moving through meaningful experiences. Most of the ego's movements - going from room to room, place to place - are "totally unimportant movements" with no divine substance. Yet certain moments are "divine appointments" orchestrated by higher will. The more one surrenders, asking each morning "let this day be yours, Lord," the more one's entire life becomes divine will. The great saints lived this way, which is why they were "so filled with bliss, so apparently insane to the world."

Evolution, Adam and Eve, and the Future Body: There was no literal Adam and Eve. When humans decided to come to the earth plane, they found animal-like beings and chose to modify those vehicles for their use. "Mind builds the body form" - as desires changed, bodies adapted. This process isn't finished: humanity will eventually move toward lighter bodies, fed by thought rather than food, with "much more movement and much less illness." The notion that humanity is progressing and "getting better and better" is false: "In many ways, where you are now is far worse than where you have been in certain other periods."

War, Awakening, and What Truly Matters: Bartholomew offered here a provocative teaching: people doing "destructive things" can be awakening faster than those doing "good work" for ego gratification. Many pilots dropping bombs were so devastated by their actions that it "literally forced their consciousness into a state of beginning awakening." World War II, for all its horror, caused millions to say "I cannot participate in this" - and they turned within and began to wake up. "The only thing that matters in this whole drama is which ones are going to wake up and say, I don't want to play anymore. That's all that matters."