“The first satori is always the strongest because of the contrast between the place that you were in and the place that you fell into. If that’s really a great leap then you feel,‘Oh this is an incredible experience!’Then, as you go on working on yourself, you get nearer and so then the jump into the same sort of space doesn’t feel so enormous as it did the first time.”
Click here to get to an Overview of all of John David’s Interviews with Spiritual Masters
Michael had been known to me as Somendra in Osho’s ashram in Pune in the 1970s. We connected recently through two of his students. While driving through Germany I called him from my car to suggest an interview. He responded with an immediate, ‘Okay, come now.’ After a lovely dialogue and dinner he spontaneously put my team up for the night. Since then we have met several times in a pool of love.
– John David
I have just discovered that Michael is now almost ninety years old. We feel deeply honoured to have him here with us. And since he is English, it is especially lovely for me, because I do not meet many English people anymore.
As a young seeker, I met Michael—then known as “Somendra”—at Osho’s ashram. He had a reputation for doing fascinating energetic work with people, and also for provoking even Osho. Because of his reputation, I looked up to him as an older, wise man.
Twelve years ago, while producing the book and film “Facets of Awakening – European Masters”, I visited him at his home near Freiburg. And now, several years later, we meet again here while I am working on my new project, “Meetings with Remarkable People”.
—John David
Questions and Answers
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.
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?
It appears essential to meet a guru and stay with that guru. Who is the guru? What is the guru’s role? How to recognise a true guru?
What about Destiny? Do you expect things to simply happen or are you expressing your free will and choosing?
What about vasanas, the tendencies of the mind? Must these be removed before Self-realisation can become permanent? Is it enough to achieve a sattvic (calm and peaceful) state of mind and to know one’s vasanas so that they no longer bind? How to remove the vasanas?
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?
Michael Barnett’s teaching is about direct transmission: a quiet, palpable field that settles the mind and opens the heart. Rooted in non-duality, it points beyond personal story to the living presence already here. His meetings are simple and experiential, inviting people to taste stillness rather than talk about it.
He guides seekers to relax the “me” and allow awareness to expand until inside and outside are one seamless space. From there, action becomes natural and unforced—words, movement, and silence arising from the same source. The work is compassionate, playful, and ordinary: eye contact, a touch, shared silence—small doors to a vast shift.
Barnett emphasizes authenticity over achievement. Self-realization is not a project or a peak moment to collect; it is the recognition of the ever-present awareness we are. His short pointers and gatherings offer clear, end-of-the-road guidance: be still, notice what does not come and go, and let life move from that freedom.
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.
Fascinating dialogues and stories of Ramana Maharshi recorded by Sri Gajapathi Aiyyer in the summer 1936, at Ramana Ashram.
Vichara offers a fresh and focused exploration of Bhagavan Sri Ramana Maharshi’s most profound teaching: Self-enquiry.
Sharanagathi explores Bhagavan’s direct and powerful path of dissolving the ego through surrender.
Biography
“Relax the ‘me’; the field
takes care of the rest.”
– Michael Barnett
“An ordinary moment opens an extraordinary door.”
–Michael Barnett
