Karl Renz
It is simply an idea that is coming out of the survival system of ‘me’, who wants to survive. By having the idea that I have to be purified and by knowing that I cannot be pure enough to be that which is the Self means I can stay as I am, as a little ‘me’. It is a trick of this ‘me’ to stay as a ‘me’.
– Karl Renz
Full Interview with Karl Renz by John David
Karl Renz was born in 1953 as the son of a farmer in Germany. At the end of the 1970s, Karl became spontaneously aware when he dreamt that he was dreaming. This resulted in a profound death experience, giving him the realisation of immortality. Later, absolute recognition came as a little insight – the realisation of ‘being that which is’. Since 1980 he has lived as a musician and painter in Berlin, and in the last few years he has turned up to hold discussions and answer questions in many countries. He guarantees to talk and talk and talk wherever his body is invited!
– John David
Questions and Answers
It has been suggested that the mind must be destroyed for liberation to occur, Do you have a mind? Sri Ramana used the term manonasha to describe the state of liberation, meaning destroyed mind. How to destroy the mind?
When Sri Ramana was asked, ‘When will the realisation of the Self be gained?’ he replied, ‘When the world which is what-is-seen has been removed, there will be realisation of the Self which is the seer.” What is the true understanding of the world? How to remove the world?
Sri Ramana said that Self-enquiry is the most direct route to realising the Self. What do you say about Self-enquiry? How to conduct Self-enquiry?
Are there any qualifications for enlightenment? Is sadhana (spiritual practice) necessary? If yes, what form do you advise?
Many Western seekers come to India looking for enlightenment as if it is an experience, What is enlightenment?
Sri Ramana proposed the fundamental question, ‘Who am I?’- Who are you?
You have given us a profound discourse on awakening. When you meet a passion for awakening, what would your short advice be?
Seekers often have curious ideas about the enlightened state. Please describe your typical day and how you perceive the world.
Karl Renz's teachings
Karl Renz points uncompromisingly to the Absolute, rejecting all notions of progress, practice, or personal transformation. For him, there is no path, no seeker, and no awakening—only the ever-present reality that you are That already.
He dismantles the illusion of individuality by showing that the “I” has never existed. The sense of being a person is pure fiction, and any attempt to improve or enlighten this person is absurd. Renz emphasizes the futility of seeking. Even Self-enquiry becomes another game of the mind if it assumes the existence of a seeker.
His teaching is radical and absolute: what you truly are is timeless, unborn, and untouched by anything that happens. The idea of liberation is only relevant to the false one who believes themselves to be bound. Rather than offering spiritual comfort, Renz confronts and exposes identification mercilessly. He sees time, causality, choice, and responsibility as illusions created by the mind.
There is no guru, no teaching, and no transmission—only the raw, immediate recognition of what has always been. His message is sharp, paradoxical, and often humorous, cutting through concepts to reveal the pure being that never began and never ends.
appears in
Blueprints for Awakening – European Masters
European Spiritual Masters
John David has been interviewing fourteen European Spiritual Masters. The result is a compendium of astonishing wisdom about the biggest secret of all times: the Nature of our True Self and how to realise it.
This book answers all questions of the spiritual search and is for everyone who has an inner passion to find out who they are.
Other Ramana Maharshi Books
Aham Sphurana – A Glimpse of Self Realisation [Volume 1]
Fascinating dialogues and stories of Ramana Maharshi recorded by Sri Gajapathi Aiyyer in the summer 1936, at Ramana Ashram.
Vichara – Self Enquiry,
Who am I? [Volume 2]
Vichara offers a fresh and focused exploration of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s most profound teaching: Self-enquiry.
Sharanagathi – Surrender,
Letting go. [Volume 3]
Sharanagathi explores Bhagavan’s direct and powerful path of dissolving the ego through surrender.
Biography
Karl Renz is a German spiritual teacher and author, born in 1953, whose teachings point uncompromisingly to the timeless presence of pure Being. After a spontaneous and radical awakening in the early 1990s, his life shifted from that of a musician and businessman to that of a provocatively clear voice in the non-dual tradition.
Unaffiliated with any formal lineage or tradition, Karl speaks from the immediacy of direct experience, dismantling conceptual frameworks and spiritual pretensions with disarming humor and precision. His meetings—often intense, unscripted dialogues—serve less as instruction and more as an unrelenting exposure of the illusion of the personal self.
Since the mid-1990s, he has been offering talks and dialogues around the world, including Europe, India, the U.S., and Australia. His core message is startling in its simplicity: you are That which never began and never ends—the ever-present, unchanging reality prior to thought, time, and identity.
For the Self there is no necessity for something to be done or found. The Self is the Self, with or without knowing it.
–Karl Renz
“Freedom is the seeing that there is no one to be free.”
–Karl Renz
