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I can only tell you what I know from my own experience. When I met my Guru, he told me: 'You are not what you take yourself to be. Find out what you are. Watch the sense 'I am', find your real self'. I obeyed him, because I trusted him. I did as he told me. All my spare time I would spend looking at myself in silence. And what a difference it made, and how soon! It took me only three years to realise my true nature. My Guru died soon after I met him, but it made no difference. I remembered what he told me and persevered. The fruit of it is here, with me.
There is rest as a state of mind (chidaram) and there is rest as a state of being (atmaram). The former comes and goes, while the true rest is the very heart of action. Unfortunately, language is a mental tool and works only in opposites.
Beyond the mind there is no such thing as experience. Experience is a dual state. You cannot talk of reality as an experience. Once this is understood, you will no longer look for being and becoming as separate and opposite. In reality they are one and inseparable, like roots and branches of the same tree. Both can exist only in the light of consciousness, which again, arises in the wake of the sense 'I am'. This is the primary fact. If you miss it, you miss all.
The false self must be abandoned before the real self can be found.
Q: What is the place of sex in love?
M: Love is a state of being. Sex is energy. Love is wise, sex is blind. Once the true nature of love and sex is understood there will be no conflict or confusion.
M: Love is a state of being. Sex is energy. Love is wise, sex is blind. Once the true nature of love and sex is understood there will be no conflict or confusion.
Q: What can make me love?
M: You are love itself -- when you are not afraid.
M: You are love itself -- when you are not afraid.
He who knows himself has no doubts about it. Nor does he care whether others recognise his state or not. Rare is the realised man who discloses his realisation and fortunate are those who have met him, for he does it for their abiding welfare.
The very idea of going beyond the dream is illusory. Why go anywhere? Just realise that you are dreaming a dream you call the world, and stop looking for ways out. The dream is not your problem. Your problem is that you like one part of your dream and not another. Love all, or none of it, and stop complaining. When you have seen the dream as a dream, you have done all that needs be done.
When more people come to know their real nature, their influence, however subtle, will prevail and the world's emotional atmosphere will sweeten up. People follow their leaders and when among the leaders appear some, great in heart and mind, and absolutely free from self-seeking, their impact will be enough to make the crudities and crimes of the present age impossible. A new golden age may come and last for a time and succumb to its own perfection. For, ebb begins when the tide is at its highest.
Every situation is a challenge which demands the right response. When the response is right, the challenge is met and the problem ceases. If the response is wrong, the challenge is not met and the problem remains unsolved. Your unsolved problems -- that is what constitutes your karma. Solve them rightly and be free.
The very idea 'I am self-realised' is a mistake. There is no 'I am this'. 'I am that' in the Natural State.
Q: At the back of my mind there is a hum going on all the time. Numerous weak thoughts swarm and buzz and this shapeless cloud is always with me. Is it the same with you? What is at the back of your mind?
M: Where there is no mind, there is no back to it. I am all front, no back! The void speaks, the void remains. No memory of past pleasure or pain is left. Each moment is newly born.
M: Where there is no mind, there is no back to it. I am all front, no back! The void speaks, the void remains. No memory of past pleasure or pain is left. Each moment is newly born.
Q: When I return home I find myself forgetting all l have learnt here, worrying and fretting, unable to remember my real nature even for a moment. What may be the cause?
M: It is your childishness you are returning to. You are not fully grown up; there are levels left undeveloped because unattended. Just give full attention to what in you is crude and primitive, unreasonable and unkind, altogether childish, and you will ripen. It is the maturity of heart and mind that is essential. It comes effortlessly when the main obstacle is removed -- inattention, unawareness. In awareness you grow.
M: It is your childishness you are returning to. You are not fully grown up; there are levels left undeveloped because unattended. Just give full attention to what in you is crude and primitive, unreasonable and unkind, altogether childish, and you will ripen. It is the maturity of heart and mind that is essential. It comes effortlessly when the main obstacle is removed -- inattention, unawareness. In awareness you grow.
Q: People come to you very often with their worldly troubles and ask for help. How do you know what to tell them?
M: I just tell them what comes to my mind at the moment. I have no standardised procedure in dealing with people. Q: You are sure of yourself. But when people come to me for advice, how am I to be sure that my advice is right?
M: Watch in what state you are, from what level you talk. If you talk from the mind, you may be wrong. If you talk from full insight into the situation, with your own mental habits in abeyance your advice may be a true response. The main point is to be fully aware that neither you nor the man in front of you are mere bodies; If your awareness is clear and full. a mistake is less probable.
M: I just tell them what comes to my mind at the moment. I have no standardised procedure in dealing with people. Q: You are sure of yourself. But when people come to me for advice, how am I to be sure that my advice is right?
M: Watch in what state you are, from what level you talk. If you talk from the mind, you may be wrong. If you talk from full insight into the situation, with your own mental habits in abeyance your advice may be a true response. The main point is to be fully aware that neither you nor the man in front of you are mere bodies; If your awareness is clear and full. a mistake is less probable.
A short biography of Nisargadatta's Guru
Shri Samartha Siddharameshwar Maharaj, a contemporary of Sri Ramana
Maharshi, is one of the greatest unknown saints of the age. He was born
in the month of August 1888 A.D. in a small village called "Pathri" in
the district Sholapur of India.On the sixth day of his birth,
his grandmother had a dream in which great Saint Siddheshwar appeared
before her and told her that the boy who is born, is his incarnation and
asked her to name him Siddheshwar. He also said that one day the boy
will become a great Saint. And hence his name was kept Siddharamappa.
Later on he was known as "Siddharameshwar Maharaj."Even in his
childhood he was very much sharp, active and had the capacity to imbibe
things very quickly. He did not study much at the school level but he
was very intelligent, clever and smart in all his behaviour. He was
always very straight forward and spoke with a thoughtful idea. He
retorted his answers to every question with full meaning. At the age of
16, even though he was premature to work, he took up a job of an
accountant in a Marwadi firm at Bijapur. He did his work with
earnestness and settled down in Bijapur. Here he met his Master Shri
Bhausaheb Maharaj, who has built a monastery in the small village called
Inchgiri in Karnataka State of India which started in the year 1885.Shri
Bhausaheb Maharaj, understanding the mental capacity and lifestyle of
the people then, started teaching "Meditation" to his disciples at this
monastery. The main aim or goal of teaching meditation was to attain
Final Reality. The meditation method he used was known as Pipilika Marg
or the ant's way, a slow process of attaining Final Reality.Shri
Siddharameshwar Maharaj, after passing away of his Master Bhausaheb
Maharaj in the year 1914, was meditating on the teachings of his Master.
In 1918, he renounced the world and joined his four brother disciples
to popularize his Master's teachings. In the year 1920, when he was on
tour popularizing his Master's teachings, he got the idea that one
should go beyond meditation because meditation is an initial stage to
attain Final Reality. Brother disciples disagreed with Shri
Siddharameshwar Maharaj, saying that their Master Shri Bhausaheb Maharaj
has not told them so. He agreed with them, but reiterated, "Okay! Can
one not go beyond that?"He decided to set out on that arduous
path on his own, left his brother disciples, and returned to his home in
Bijapur. He started his meditation in Bijapur on the raised platform
like a minaret (upli buruj) sitting over an old gun and he meditated for
nine months without a break. Since his Master had taught him only
meditation, there was no alternative for him to find out the way to
attain the Final Reality, that is, Enlightenment, without meditation. He
made the ceaseless efforts to achieve this Final Reality. He said "I
will attain the Final Reality even at the cost of my life." By the grace
of Master Bhausaheb Maharaj he attained the goal of Final Reality.
His efforts were finally rewarded as total and Full Realization
blessed him. He then explained that one can achieve the Final Reality
via Vihangam Marg (the birds' way), that is, by realizing through
thought processes that Ignorance has come by hearing it over and over
for generations. Only by practising and hearing otherwise, the truth,
from the teachings of the Master(s) and thinking over it, just like the
bird flies from one tree to another, one can attain Final Reality very
fast. This is the shortest way to achieve the Final Reality.In
conjunction he taught that the path to Final Reality is reached by
slipping easily through the gate of Laya, which is a clear sign of one's
progress --- the danger being in mistaking it for the final goal of
spiritual practice --- thus being deceived. Ignorance and thoughts are
hand maidens. If the thoughts are absorbed in reality, one can go on to
ultimate reality. See Stages of Mindfulness and Aborsption. He then
started preaching his disciples to attain Final Reality via Vihangam
Marg (the bird's way). First he gave the Knowledge of Final Reality to
his disciples and then asked them to renounce and then told them to
renounce even the act of renunciation. Finally he gave the knowledge of
Vignana -- the Thoughtless Reality.He preached in a very simple,
lucid and sane language, by giving examples from daily life. He was of
the opinion that Parmarth -- understanding of Final Reality should be
taught in a very simple language without using high sounding or
bombastic words, to make the people understand the Ultimate Reality.
This he did from year 1925 to 1936. It was sometime during the first
half of those mid-late 1920s a nearly disguised young American traveler
on a spiritual quest toward Enlightenment, that gained fame anonymously
some years later in a novel by the famous British playwright W. Somerset
Maugham titled The Razor's Edge, visited Siddharemeshwar, one of the
first Americans to do so. It has been written that from his stay in
India he gained peace of mind.The Maharaj passed away on 9th
November, 1936, in Bombay, giving full understanding of the Final
Reality to his disciples, especially so to two of the most accomplished
followers Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and Sri Ranjit Maharaj.
Shri Samartha Siddharameshwar Maharaj, a contemporary of Sri Ramana
Maharshi, is one of the greatest unknown saints of the age. He was born
in the month of August 1888 A.D. in a small village called "Pathri" in
the district Sholapur of India.On the sixth day of his birth,
his grandmother had a dream in which great Saint Siddheshwar appeared
before her and told her that the boy who is born, is his incarnation and
asked her to name him Siddheshwar. He also said that one day the boy
will become a great Saint. And hence his name was kept Siddharamappa.
Later on he was known as "Siddharameshwar Maharaj."Even in his
childhood he was very much sharp, active and had the capacity to imbibe
things very quickly. He did not study much at the school level but he
was very intelligent, clever and smart in all his behaviour. He was
always very straight forward and spoke with a thoughtful idea. He
retorted his answers to every question with full meaning. At the age of
16, even though he was premature to work, he took up a job of an
accountant in a Marwadi firm at Bijapur. He did his work with
earnestness and settled down in Bijapur. Here he met his Master Shri
Bhausaheb Maharaj, who has built a monastery in the small village called
Inchgiri in Karnataka State of India which started in the year 1885.Shri
Bhausaheb Maharaj, understanding the mental capacity and lifestyle of
the people then, started teaching "Meditation" to his disciples at this
monastery. The main aim or goal of teaching meditation was to attain
Final Reality. The meditation method he used was known as Pipilika Marg
or the ant's way, a slow process of attaining Final Reality.Shri
Siddharameshwar Maharaj, after passing away of his Master Bhausaheb
Maharaj in the year 1914, was meditating on the teachings of his Master.
In 1918, he renounced the world and joined his four brother disciples
to popularize his Master's teachings. In the year 1920, when he was on
tour popularizing his Master's teachings, he got the idea that one
should go beyond meditation because meditation is an initial stage to
attain Final Reality. Brother disciples disagreed with Shri
Siddharameshwar Maharaj, saying that their Master Shri Bhausaheb Maharaj
has not told them so. He agreed with them, but reiterated, "Okay! Can
one not go beyond that?"He decided to set out on that arduous
path on his own, left his brother disciples, and returned to his home in
Bijapur. He started his meditation in Bijapur on the raised platform
like a minaret (upli buruj) sitting over an old gun and he meditated for
nine months without a break. Since his Master had taught him only
meditation, there was no alternative for him to find out the way to
attain the Final Reality, that is, Enlightenment, without meditation. He
made the ceaseless efforts to achieve this Final Reality. He said "I
will attain the Final Reality even at the cost of my life." By the grace
of Master Bhausaheb Maharaj he attained the goal of Final Reality.
His efforts were finally rewarded as total and Full Realization
blessed him. He then explained that one can achieve the Final Reality
via Vihangam Marg (the birds' way), that is, by realizing through
thought processes that Ignorance has come by hearing it over and over
for generations. Only by practising and hearing otherwise, the truth,
from the teachings of the Master(s) and thinking over it, just like the
bird flies from one tree to another, one can attain Final Reality very
fast. This is the shortest way to achieve the Final Reality.In
conjunction he taught that the path to Final Reality is reached by
slipping easily through the gate of Laya, which is a clear sign of one's
progress --- the danger being in mistaking it for the final goal of
spiritual practice --- thus being deceived. Ignorance and thoughts are
hand maidens. If the thoughts are absorbed in reality, one can go on to
ultimate reality. See Stages of Mindfulness and Aborsption. He then
started preaching his disciples to attain Final Reality via Vihangam
Marg (the bird's way). First he gave the Knowledge of Final Reality to
his disciples and then asked them to renounce and then told them to
renounce even the act of renunciation. Finally he gave the knowledge of
Vignana -- the Thoughtless Reality.He preached in a very simple,
lucid and sane language, by giving examples from daily life. He was of
the opinion that Parmarth -- understanding of Final Reality should be
taught in a very simple language without using high sounding or
bombastic words, to make the people understand the Ultimate Reality.
This he did from year 1925 to 1936. It was sometime during the first
half of those mid-late 1920s a nearly disguised young American traveler
on a spiritual quest toward Enlightenment, that gained fame anonymously
some years later in a novel by the famous British playwright W. Somerset
Maugham titled The Razor's Edge, visited Siddharemeshwar, one of the
first Americans to do so. It has been written that from his stay in
India he gained peace of mind.The Maharaj passed away on 9th
November, 1936, in Bombay, giving full understanding of the Final
Reality to his disciples, especially so to two of the most accomplished
followers Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj and Sri Ranjit Maharaj.
You base yourself on the body that
you are now, and don’t understand its root. That is why we think we are
this body, and for that you must do meditation. What is meditation?
Meditation is not this body-mind meditating as an individual, but it is
this knowledge ‘I am’, this consciousness, meditating on itself. Then
the consciousness will unfold its own meaning.
you are now, and don’t understand its root. That is why we think we are
this body, and for that you must do meditation. What is meditation?
Meditation is not this body-mind meditating as an individual, but it is
this knowledge ‘I am’, this consciousness, meditating on itself. Then
the consciousness will unfold its own meaning.
You are the knowledge ‘ I am’. So if you want to worship, worship that knowledge ‘I am’. Be devoted to that ‘I amness’ only. When you do that, all other rituals become redundant, useless. Finally when you realize that everything is useless, everything is ‘Brahman’, it means you are at the ‘Parabrahman’ level, the absolute level. When at that level, you will envision everything as useless, including the ‘Brahman’ because the ‘Brahman’ is also reduced to illusion. Therefore all these talks, including my own will be reduced to illusion when you reach the highest.
The ‘I am’ is a useful pointer, it shows where to seek, but not what to seek. Just have a good look at it. Once you are convinced that you cannot say truthfully about yourself anything except ‘I am’, and that nothing can be pointed at, can be your self, the need for the ‘I am’ is over - you are no longer intent on verbalizing what you are. All definitions apply to your body only and to its expressions. Once this obsession with the body goes, you will revert to your natural state. We discover the natural state by being earnest, by searching, enquiring, questioning daily and hourly, by giving one’s life to this discovery
My guru further pointed out to me the fact that the only thing you have and which you can utilize to unravel the mystery of life, is this knowledge ‘I am’. Without that there is absolutely nothing, so I got hold of it, as my guru advised me, and then I wanted to find out how the spiritual aspect of ‘me’ came about without my knowledge. On my pure Absoluteness, which has no place, and no shape or form, this knowledge ‘I am’ came, which also has no shape or form. Therefore, it appears; and it is only an illusion.
Once you subside into the consciousness, the factual state of Reality shall be revealed to you with the knowledge that will emanate out of you intuitively, like spring water. This will enable you to discern not what is real and unreal, but, most importantly, to realize what ‘I am’. And who could be that one? Surely not an individual who is trapped in the mind-shell, but that one is the knowledge ‘I am’ – the consciousness.
At present you wrongly identify yourself as the body. Body is given a certain name; that is ‘you’; you consider it to be like that. But I say that in this body, consciousness is present, or the knowledge ‘I am’ as I call it, is there. You should identify yourself as this knowledge. That is all.
To abide in the knowledge ‘I am’ is one’s true religion – the ‘svadharma’. But instead of following it, you opted to be irreligious by submitting to the dictates of your concepts, which led you to believe that you are a body. This misconception ensured only the fear of death.
You must come to a firm decision. You must forget the thought that you are the body and be only the knowledge ‘I am’, which has no form, no name. Just be. When you stabilize in that beingness it will give all the knowledge and all the secrets to you, and when the secrets are given to you, you transcend the beingness, and you, the Absolute will know that you are also not the consciousness. Having gained all this knowledge, having understood what is what, a kind of quietude prevails, a tranquility. Beingness is transcended, but beingness is available.
Nisargadatta Maharaj on Sadhana, and Trust in the Master
__________________________________________________
Questioner: Sir, I am a humble seeker wandering from Guru to Guru in search of release. My mind is sick, burning with desire... my days flit by... my health is decaying... At this rate, I shall live in sorrow and die in despair. Is there any hope for me?
Maharaj: Nothing is wrong with you, but the ideas that you have of yourself, are altogether wrong. It is not you who desires, fears and suffers, it is the personality built on the foundation of your body by circumstances and influences. You are not that person. This must be clearly established in your mind and never lost sight of. Normally, it needs a prolonged sadhana (spiritual practice) with years of austerities and meditation.
Q: My mind is weak and vacillating. I have neither strength nor the tenacity for sadhana. My case is hopeless.
M: In a way, yours is a most hopeful case. There is an alternative to long sadhana, which is trust. If you cannot have the conviction born from fruitful search, then take advantage of my discovery, which I am so eager to share with you.
I can see with the utmost clarity that you have never been, nor are, nor will be estranged from Reality You are the fullness of perfection here and now and nothing can deprive you of your heritage, of what you are. You are in no way different from me, only you do not know it. You do not know what you are and therefore you imagine yourself to be what you are not (the personality). Hence, desires and fear, overwhelming despair, and meaningless activity in order to escape.
Just trust me and live by trusting me. I shall not mislead you. You are the Supreme Reality (Parabrahman) beyond the world and its creator, beyond Consciousness and its "Witness" beyond all assertions and denials. Remember it, think of it, act on it. Abandon all sense of separation. See yourself in all, and act accordingly.
With action (trust), bliss will come, and with bliss, conviction. After all, you doubt yourself only because you are in sorrow. Happiness, natural, spontaneous, and lasting, cannot be imagined. Either it is there, or it is not. Once you begin to experience the peace, love and happiness, which need no outer causes, all of your doubts will dissolve. Just catch hold of what I have told you and live by it.
__________________________________________________
Questioner: Sir, I am a humble seeker wandering from Guru to Guru in search of release. My mind is sick, burning with desire... my days flit by... my health is decaying... At this rate, I shall live in sorrow and die in despair. Is there any hope for me?
Maharaj: Nothing is wrong with you, but the ideas that you have of yourself, are altogether wrong. It is not you who desires, fears and suffers, it is the personality built on the foundation of your body by circumstances and influences. You are not that person. This must be clearly established in your mind and never lost sight of. Normally, it needs a prolonged sadhana (spiritual practice) with years of austerities and meditation.
Q: My mind is weak and vacillating. I have neither strength nor the tenacity for sadhana. My case is hopeless.
M: In a way, yours is a most hopeful case. There is an alternative to long sadhana, which is trust. If you cannot have the conviction born from fruitful search, then take advantage of my discovery, which I am so eager to share with you.
I can see with the utmost clarity that you have never been, nor are, nor will be estranged from Reality You are the fullness of perfection here and now and nothing can deprive you of your heritage, of what you are. You are in no way different from me, only you do not know it. You do not know what you are and therefore you imagine yourself to be what you are not (the personality). Hence, desires and fear, overwhelming despair, and meaningless activity in order to escape.
Just trust me and live by trusting me. I shall not mislead you. You are the Supreme Reality (Parabrahman) beyond the world and its creator, beyond Consciousness and its "Witness" beyond all assertions and denials. Remember it, think of it, act on it. Abandon all sense of separation. See yourself in all, and act accordingly.
With action (trust), bliss will come, and with bliss, conviction. After all, you doubt yourself only because you are in sorrow. Happiness, natural, spontaneous, and lasting, cannot be imagined. Either it is there, or it is not. Once you begin to experience the peace, love and happiness, which need no outer causes, all of your doubts will dissolve. Just catch hold of what I have told you and live by it.
True awareness (samvid) is a state of pure witnessing, without the least attempt to do anything about the event witnessed. Your thoughts and feelings, words and actions may also be a part of the event; you watch all unconcerned in the full light of clarity and understanding. You understand precisely what is going on, because it does not affect you. It may seem to be an attitude of cold aloofness, but it is not really so. Once you are in it, you will find that you love what you see, whatever may be its nature. This choiceless love is the touchstone of awareness. If it is not there, you are merely interested -- for some personal reasons
The world appears to you so overwhelmingly real, because you think of it all the time.
Beings
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