Either you remain forever hungry and thirsty, longing, searching, grabbing, holding, ever losing and sorrowing, or go out whole-heartedly in search of the state of timeless perfection to which nothing can be added, from which nothing -- taken away. In it all desires and fears are absent, not because they were given up, but because they have lost their meaning.
You are so used to the support of concepts that when your concepts leave you, although it is your true state, you get frightened and try to cling to them again.
Nirupana 47
Sunday, July 30, 1978
From birth to death, all actions are performed in order to pass the time. The greatest good in life is to know who we are. It is impossible to establish order in the world. Meanwhile, those who teach and those who learn, all pass away. Religion is formed by the concepts of its followers, nothing else.
Our consciousness is the base for all worldly dealings. However, there is no base for consciousness. It has come uninvited. It rises and then passes away. There was no memory of ‘I am’ before, and now it is there.
Except for this, what do you possess as your own? One who has realized himself has no concern about his well-being.
Wakefulness, sleep and hunger have no substitute. No law applies to them. Without these, nobody would do anything. Realized men are silent in spite of the knowledge they have. They know the secret of birth and why it has arrived.
How was this consciousness imposed on you and since when?
This must be understood.
To get into samadhi means to let go of the mind with its memory.
Your breathing is proof of the existence of the breathless One. The word comes upon waking up, therefore you are prior to the word. The wordless meaning of our consciousness is the sense ‘I am’. If you remain completely silent, you experience the Self. There is only one Self for all. Prana works also in sleep. It has no meaning then, as it has no knowledge of its vibration. Waking up is to feel ‘I am’ without pronouncing the words.
The three gunas are the names given to three types of behavior. They function in all living beings. We should not judge anyone’s behavior. One who understands gunas will understand this. People with Rajo guna and Tamo guna will meddle with others’ affairs instead of working on themselves. The bodies may be different, but consciousness is the same in all. It is formless. You might say that it has a flavor, a quality, which is love. The knowledge ‘I am’ loves itself and, hence, we can distinguish between good and bad. One who understands its greatness finds it all-pervading. Such a person does not criticize others. All things are being done for the sake of the love of Self. One who has devotion to all beings, as if they are God, cannot hate anyone. He sees clearly that he is not the doer.
Hold onto the fact that you are Brahman. First you know that ‘you are’ and then the words follow.
Whose information is it?
It is the information of the one who feels ‘he is’. Consciousness is knowingness; a sense of being. All the activity of Purusha (supreme Self) and prakriti (creation) is based upon this. One who reaches this stage keeps quiet. He knows that in its absence there is no happiness or sorrow. Can you recede back to this stage?
So as to know who you are, understand consciousness with determination. What is more important than consciousness in the whole world? When you reach that point, you will not utter a single word about others.
Without consciousness, there is no word. Pay attention to consciousness and nothing else. The one who does not recognize this has to suffer many miseries.
The world is a fun-game created out of one’s own existence. No one can stop the process of creation, maintenance and dissolution of the world. This is because there is no creator. With a slight illumination of consciousness, the universe with its infinite space is created. It is the wonder of the subtle consciousness.
What came first, the body of the world or our body? Your true nature is formless, yet it identifies with the body. In the same way, the world looks real through the senses! Who is prior: the world or the one who sees
the world? Your wakefulness is the same as the world.
First comes consciousness, and then the world is seen in it. Consciousness is unstable. It likes to be.
However, when ‘I am-ness’ goes so does the world. You have to see this with a very subtle inner discrimination. This vast panoramic world is the reflection of your consciousness. As such it is nameless; yet
name gives it support and transactions are made possible. All names are concepts. When Parabrahman remains in the unmanifest state, can He have a name?
Krishna says He is all-pervading. Because of the sense of duality people differentiate. They either praise or censure. The concept ‘I am like this’ is the basic reason of misery or happiness. If you stay with the feeling
‘I am’, the basic vibration of ‘I am’, you will digest miseries as easily as happiness. Whatever is visible, whatever appears, has not happened at all!
Do not indulge in flattery or censure, even if it costs you your life, as there is no other. Unless the sense ‘I am like this’ goes, the duality will not go. You must understand the ultimate meaning of your Self, by yourself. Then nothing can harm you. One in a million tries to know it. One who realizes it, his
consciousness merges peacefully within his own Self. Consciousness disappears into the knower. That is called Parabrahman.
You know what you are before you know anything else. Convince yourself that you are pure consciousness.
All worldly dealings will be carried out spontaneously. It is the only way. The notion that you do something is utterly false.
MEDITATIONS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ
Sunday, July 30, 1978
From birth to death, all actions are performed in order to pass the time. The greatest good in life is to know who we are. It is impossible to establish order in the world. Meanwhile, those who teach and those who learn, all pass away. Religion is formed by the concepts of its followers, nothing else.
Our consciousness is the base for all worldly dealings. However, there is no base for consciousness. It has come uninvited. It rises and then passes away. There was no memory of ‘I am’ before, and now it is there.
Except for this, what do you possess as your own? One who has realized himself has no concern about his well-being.
Wakefulness, sleep and hunger have no substitute. No law applies to them. Without these, nobody would do anything. Realized men are silent in spite of the knowledge they have. They know the secret of birth and why it has arrived.
How was this consciousness imposed on you and since when?
This must be understood.
To get into samadhi means to let go of the mind with its memory.
Your breathing is proof of the existence of the breathless One. The word comes upon waking up, therefore you are prior to the word. The wordless meaning of our consciousness is the sense ‘I am’. If you remain completely silent, you experience the Self. There is only one Self for all. Prana works also in sleep. It has no meaning then, as it has no knowledge of its vibration. Waking up is to feel ‘I am’ without pronouncing the words.
The three gunas are the names given to three types of behavior. They function in all living beings. We should not judge anyone’s behavior. One who understands gunas will understand this. People with Rajo guna and Tamo guna will meddle with others’ affairs instead of working on themselves. The bodies may be different, but consciousness is the same in all. It is formless. You might say that it has a flavor, a quality, which is love. The knowledge ‘I am’ loves itself and, hence, we can distinguish between good and bad. One who understands its greatness finds it all-pervading. Such a person does not criticize others. All things are being done for the sake of the love of Self. One who has devotion to all beings, as if they are God, cannot hate anyone. He sees clearly that he is not the doer.
Hold onto the fact that you are Brahman. First you know that ‘you are’ and then the words follow.
Whose information is it?
It is the information of the one who feels ‘he is’. Consciousness is knowingness; a sense of being. All the activity of Purusha (supreme Self) and prakriti (creation) is based upon this. One who reaches this stage keeps quiet. He knows that in its absence there is no happiness or sorrow. Can you recede back to this stage?
So as to know who you are, understand consciousness with determination. What is more important than consciousness in the whole world? When you reach that point, you will not utter a single word about others.
Without consciousness, there is no word. Pay attention to consciousness and nothing else. The one who does not recognize this has to suffer many miseries.
The world is a fun-game created out of one’s own existence. No one can stop the process of creation, maintenance and dissolution of the world. This is because there is no creator. With a slight illumination of consciousness, the universe with its infinite space is created. It is the wonder of the subtle consciousness.
What came first, the body of the world or our body? Your true nature is formless, yet it identifies with the body. In the same way, the world looks real through the senses! Who is prior: the world or the one who sees
the world? Your wakefulness is the same as the world.
First comes consciousness, and then the world is seen in it. Consciousness is unstable. It likes to be.
However, when ‘I am-ness’ goes so does the world. You have to see this with a very subtle inner discrimination. This vast panoramic world is the reflection of your consciousness. As such it is nameless; yet
name gives it support and transactions are made possible. All names are concepts. When Parabrahman remains in the unmanifest state, can He have a name?
Krishna says He is all-pervading. Because of the sense of duality people differentiate. They either praise or censure. The concept ‘I am like this’ is the basic reason of misery or happiness. If you stay with the feeling
‘I am’, the basic vibration of ‘I am’, you will digest miseries as easily as happiness. Whatever is visible, whatever appears, has not happened at all!
Do not indulge in flattery or censure, even if it costs you your life, as there is no other. Unless the sense ‘I am like this’ goes, the duality will not go. You must understand the ultimate meaning of your Self, by yourself. Then nothing can harm you. One in a million tries to know it. One who realizes it, his
consciousness merges peacefully within his own Self. Consciousness disappears into the knower. That is called Parabrahman.
You know what you are before you know anything else. Convince yourself that you are pure consciousness.
All worldly dealings will be carried out spontaneously. It is the only way. The notion that you do something is utterly false.
MEDITATIONS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ
Nirupana 46
Sunday, July 23, 1978
As long as prana and the body are together, there is consciousness. When prana leaves the body, consciousness disappears.
What does one have to lose (by dying)?
First there is consciousness, and then the
body is sensed. One who knows consciousness is called a jnani. Your consciousness is the seed of the universe.
To be without words is to be in samadhi. You will not meet Parabrahman through intellect. What did you have before you were taught anything? Only wakefulness and sleep. The rest (all concepts) is based upon
what you have heard. Even the pride, ‘I am the seeker of Truth, I shall renounce’, etc., has to go. One who manages worldly activities is of universal nature.
The only purpose of the human body is to realize Brahman. That is the reason why all the idols we worship have a human form. The word and the existence of the word can be sensed only through the human body.
Word means Brahman (the manifest principle), existence means consciousness and, therefore, Brahman is sensed through the human body. But due to body-consciousness a man remains a man. If ‘I’ is taken aside from the body, it contains pure Brahman only. Brahman is consciousness and vice versa. The irony is that the ego that takes the body as itself is trying to know IT. Body-consciousness has to be dismissed. Nothing else has to be done.
Does your body know your consciousness? The body is a material object. Without prana, it is a corpse.
Consciousness in the Brahma-randhra knows pleasure and pain. Who is aware of consciousness? When this is clearly understood, the pleasure and the pain will go and there will be peace. In the body there is nothing else but pure Brahman. The one who knows consciousness, the feeling ‘I am’, is the knower. The knower cannot be described. Consciousness in the body is itself God. It naturally knows Brahman. It has the form of space, water, fire-luster, air, and earth; yet it is consciousness only. It is our consciousness that is acting through the five elements. It has no identification as a man or a woman.
The purpose of the body is to know Brahman. The mistake is that the same Brahman identifies itself with the body. It cannot know itself without the human body. However, it has accepted itself as body-consciousness.
The five characteristics of the body are based upon word (hearing), form (seeing), touch, taste and smell.
The vibration of Brahman in your body senses them. Therefore the human body has great importance. Do not waste a single moment without paying attention to your true nature.
The awakened consciousness is the image of Param-atman. It is easy for the one who recognizes it as God and becomes one with it. Catch hold of that Truth. Continuously remember that consciousness is your true
nature (the manifest Brahman). It has been praised with a million names.
When consciousness sprouted, it took the form of a child. What do you possess except for consciousness? It is the light. Always remember that this is your true nature. One who has this knowledge is Paramatman. It is the evidence that He is. If you understand this there is no need for austerities.
Identification with the body is the cause of turmoil. When there is no experience of a single word, while awake, it is your true nature. Your consciousness is the golden womb through which the world has been
created. Through conception the unmanifest becomes manifest. Your everyday life, wife, children are nothing but entertainment. The various spiritual methods are also entertainment.
Can anyone feel that his body is sacred?
If you do not feel sacred about yourself, then how can others feel it?
When you are convinced that you are pure ‘I am-ness’, people will come to have your holy sight. When you become convinced by the Guru-word that you are pure Brahman, pure consciousness, you will feel that your
body has become sacred. When you get realization, people will naturally want to have your darshan. One who is the ‘soul of death’ itself, how can he die?
The greatest negation of religion, the greatest sin, is to believe that the body is your true nature. Your religion is to remain as the Self. You must have the conviction of your true identity. You must recognize your relationship with your own Self. The mind gets modified and behavior changes with repetition of the mantra. The body serves as the food for this consciousness. The mind flows from prana, the vital force.
When you realize all this, at the last moment you will clearly witness that you do not die but prana leaves the body. The enlightened person has no hopes, no desires and no passions. Therefore he has no death. It is the most indescribable event when the manifest becomes unmanifest (at the time of so-called death). But the ignorant one says, ‘I am dying’, even before prana leaves the body. This is because he has not known his true nature.
The time of death of a sage is very sacred. It is more sacred than sunrise. This is the reason why their death anniversary is celebrated. Decide now who you are going to die as. The thought at the time of dying will decide the future. There should be no other thought except ‘I am perfect bliss’. Your state will be in accordance with what you take yourself to be. This is true now and it will be true then.
MEDITATIONS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ
Sunday, July 23, 1978
As long as prana and the body are together, there is consciousness. When prana leaves the body, consciousness disappears.
What does one have to lose (by dying)?
First there is consciousness, and then the
body is sensed. One who knows consciousness is called a jnani. Your consciousness is the seed of the universe.
To be without words is to be in samadhi. You will not meet Parabrahman through intellect. What did you have before you were taught anything? Only wakefulness and sleep. The rest (all concepts) is based upon
what you have heard. Even the pride, ‘I am the seeker of Truth, I shall renounce’, etc., has to go. One who manages worldly activities is of universal nature.
The only purpose of the human body is to realize Brahman. That is the reason why all the idols we worship have a human form. The word and the existence of the word can be sensed only through the human body.
Word means Brahman (the manifest principle), existence means consciousness and, therefore, Brahman is sensed through the human body. But due to body-consciousness a man remains a man. If ‘I’ is taken aside from the body, it contains pure Brahman only. Brahman is consciousness and vice versa. The irony is that the ego that takes the body as itself is trying to know IT. Body-consciousness has to be dismissed. Nothing else has to be done.
Does your body know your consciousness? The body is a material object. Without prana, it is a corpse.
Consciousness in the Brahma-randhra knows pleasure and pain. Who is aware of consciousness? When this is clearly understood, the pleasure and the pain will go and there will be peace. In the body there is nothing else but pure Brahman. The one who knows consciousness, the feeling ‘I am’, is the knower. The knower cannot be described. Consciousness in the body is itself God. It naturally knows Brahman. It has the form of space, water, fire-luster, air, and earth; yet it is consciousness only. It is our consciousness that is acting through the five elements. It has no identification as a man or a woman.
The purpose of the body is to know Brahman. The mistake is that the same Brahman identifies itself with the body. It cannot know itself without the human body. However, it has accepted itself as body-consciousness.
The five characteristics of the body are based upon word (hearing), form (seeing), touch, taste and smell.
The vibration of Brahman in your body senses them. Therefore the human body has great importance. Do not waste a single moment without paying attention to your true nature.
The awakened consciousness is the image of Param-atman. It is easy for the one who recognizes it as God and becomes one with it. Catch hold of that Truth. Continuously remember that consciousness is your true
nature (the manifest Brahman). It has been praised with a million names.
When consciousness sprouted, it took the form of a child. What do you possess except for consciousness? It is the light. Always remember that this is your true nature. One who has this knowledge is Paramatman. It is the evidence that He is. If you understand this there is no need for austerities.
Identification with the body is the cause of turmoil. When there is no experience of a single word, while awake, it is your true nature. Your consciousness is the golden womb through which the world has been
created. Through conception the unmanifest becomes manifest. Your everyday life, wife, children are nothing but entertainment. The various spiritual methods are also entertainment.
Can anyone feel that his body is sacred?
If you do not feel sacred about yourself, then how can others feel it?
When you are convinced that you are pure ‘I am-ness’, people will come to have your holy sight. When you become convinced by the Guru-word that you are pure Brahman, pure consciousness, you will feel that your
body has become sacred. When you get realization, people will naturally want to have your darshan. One who is the ‘soul of death’ itself, how can he die?
The greatest negation of religion, the greatest sin, is to believe that the body is your true nature. Your religion is to remain as the Self. You must have the conviction of your true identity. You must recognize your relationship with your own Self. The mind gets modified and behavior changes with repetition of the mantra. The body serves as the food for this consciousness. The mind flows from prana, the vital force.
When you realize all this, at the last moment you will clearly witness that you do not die but prana leaves the body. The enlightened person has no hopes, no desires and no passions. Therefore he has no death. It is the most indescribable event when the manifest becomes unmanifest (at the time of so-called death). But the ignorant one says, ‘I am dying’, even before prana leaves the body. This is because he has not known his true nature.
The time of death of a sage is very sacred. It is more sacred than sunrise. This is the reason why their death anniversary is celebrated. Decide now who you are going to die as. The thought at the time of dying will decide the future. There should be no other thought except ‘I am perfect bliss’. Your state will be in accordance with what you take yourself to be. This is true now and it will be true then.
MEDITATIONS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ
It is not the universe that needs improving, but your way of looking.
Some people are in search of knowledge which is acceptable to their mind and intellect, but the sphere of the mind and intellect is of no use to receive this knowledge. All your experiences and visions depend on your knowledge “I Am” and this itself is going to dissolve.
We are complex beings, at war within and without. We contradict ourselves all the time, undoing today the work of yesterday. No wonder we are stuck. A little of integrity would make a lot of difference.
Q: What does it mean to go beyond the mind?
M: You have gone beyond the body, haven’t you?
You do not closely follow your digestion, circulation or elimination. These
have become automatic.
In the same way the mind should work
automatically, without calling for attention.
This will not happen unless the mind works faultlessly. We are, most of our time, mind and body-conscious, because they constantly call for help. Pain and suffering are only the body and the mind screaming for attention. To go beyond the body you must be healthy: to go beyond the mind, you must have your mind in perfect order.
You cannot leave a mess behind and go beyond. — the mess will bog you up.
‘Pick up your rubbish’ seems to be the universal law. And a just law too.
Q: Am I permitted to ask you how did you go beyond the mind?
M: By the grace of my Guru.
Q: What shape his grace took?
M: He told me what is true.
Q: What did he tell you?
M: He told me I am the Supreme Reality.
Q: What did you do about it?
M: I trusted him and remembered it.
Q: Is that all?
M: Yes, I remembered him; I remembered what he said.
Q: You mean to say that this was enough?
M: What more needs be done?
It was quite a lot to remember the Guru and his words. My advice to you is even less difficult than this — just remember yourself. ‘I am’, is enough to heal your mind and take you beyond. Just have some trust.
I don’t mislead you. Why should I? Do I want anything from you? I wish you well — such is my nature. Why should I mislead you?
Commonsense too will tell you that to fulfil a desire you must keep your mind on it. If you want to know your true nature, you must have yourself in mind all the time, until the secret of your being stands revealed.
Q: Why should self-remembrance bring one to self-realization?
M: Because they are but two aspects of the same state. Self-remembrance is in the mind, self-realization is beyond the mind.
The image in the mirror is of the face beyond the mirror.
Q: Right. But do I need a Guru? What you tell me is simple and convincing. I shill remember it. This does not make you my
Guru.
M: It is not the worship of a person that is crucial, but the steadiness and depth of your devotion to the task.
Life itself is the Supreme Guru; be attentive to its lessons and obedient to its commands. Whey you personalize their source, you have an outer Guru; when you take them from life directly, the Guru is
within.
Remember, wonder, ponder, live with it, love it, grow into it, grow with it, make it your own — the word of your Guru, outer of inner.
Put in all and you will get all. I was doing it. All my time I was giving to my Guru and to what he told me.
- Excerpt from: I AM THAT.
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Chapter: LIFE IS THE SUPREME GURU
M: You have gone beyond the body, haven’t you?
You do not closely follow your digestion, circulation or elimination. These
have become automatic.
In the same way the mind should work
automatically, without calling for attention.
This will not happen unless the mind works faultlessly. We are, most of our time, mind and body-conscious, because they constantly call for help. Pain and suffering are only the body and the mind screaming for attention. To go beyond the body you must be healthy: to go beyond the mind, you must have your mind in perfect order.
You cannot leave a mess behind and go beyond. — the mess will bog you up.
‘Pick up your rubbish’ seems to be the universal law. And a just law too.
Q: Am I permitted to ask you how did you go beyond the mind?
M: By the grace of my Guru.
Q: What shape his grace took?
M: He told me what is true.
Q: What did he tell you?
M: He told me I am the Supreme Reality.
Q: What did you do about it?
M: I trusted him and remembered it.
Q: Is that all?
M: Yes, I remembered him; I remembered what he said.
Q: You mean to say that this was enough?
M: What more needs be done?
It was quite a lot to remember the Guru and his words. My advice to you is even less difficult than this — just remember yourself. ‘I am’, is enough to heal your mind and take you beyond. Just have some trust.
I don’t mislead you. Why should I? Do I want anything from you? I wish you well — such is my nature. Why should I mislead you?
Commonsense too will tell you that to fulfil a desire you must keep your mind on it. If you want to know your true nature, you must have yourself in mind all the time, until the secret of your being stands revealed.
Q: Why should self-remembrance bring one to self-realization?
M: Because they are but two aspects of the same state. Self-remembrance is in the mind, self-realization is beyond the mind.
The image in the mirror is of the face beyond the mirror.
Q: Right. But do I need a Guru? What you tell me is simple and convincing. I shill remember it. This does not make you my
Guru.
M: It is not the worship of a person that is crucial, but the steadiness and depth of your devotion to the task.
Life itself is the Supreme Guru; be attentive to its lessons and obedient to its commands. Whey you personalize their source, you have an outer Guru; when you take them from life directly, the Guru is
within.
Remember, wonder, ponder, live with it, love it, grow into it, grow with it, make it your own — the word of your Guru, outer of inner.
Put in all and you will get all. I was doing it. All my time I was giving to my Guru and to what he told me.
- Excerpt from: I AM THAT.
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Chapter: LIFE IS THE SUPREME GURU
What is imagined and willed becomes actuality - here lies the danger as well as the way out.
Not through intellect, but through intense meditation you will know it. The meditation will be done by that consciousness itself. To meditate on something is to become that.
He who knows himself has no doubts about it. Nor does he care whether others recognize his state or not. Rare is the realized man who discloses his realization and fortunate are those who have met him, for he does it for their abiding welfare.
Living is life’s only purpose. The self does not identify itself with success or failure — the very idea of becoming this or that is unthinkable. The self understands that success and failure are relative and related, that they are the very warp and weft of life.
He who could not complete his Yoga for some reason is called failed in Yoga. Such failure is only temporary, for there can be no defeat in Yoga. This battle is always won, for it is a battle between the true and the false. The false has no chance.
Q: If you do not mind my asking a personal question...?
M: Yes, go ahead.
Q: I see you sitting on an antelope skin. How does it tally with non-violence?
M: All my working life I was a cigarette-maker, helping people to spoil their health. And in front of my door the municipality has put up a public lavatory, spoiling my health. In this violent world
how can one keep away from violence of some kind or other?
Q: Surely all avoidable violence should be avoided. And yet in India every holy man has his tiger, lion, leopard or antelope skin to sit on.
M: Maybes because no plastics were available in ancient times and a skin was best to keep the damp away. Rheumatism has no charm, even for a saint! Thus the tradition arose that for lengthy meditations a skin is needed. Just like the drum-hide in
a temple, so is the antelope skin of a Yogi. We hardly notice it.
Q: But the animal had to be killed.
M: I have never heard of a Yogi killing a tiger for his hide. The killers are not Yogis and the Yogis are not killers.
Q: Should you not express your disapproval by refusing to sit on a skin?
M: What an idea! I disapprove of the entire universe, why only a skin?
Q: What is wrong with the universe?
M: Forgetting your Self is the greatest injury; all the calamities flow from it.
Take care of the most important, the lesser will take care of itself. You do not tidy up a dark room. You open the windows first. Letting in the light makes everything easy. So, let us wait with improving others until we have seen ourselves as we are — and have changed. There is no need to turn round and round in endless questioning; find yourself and everything will fall into its proper place.
Q: The urge to return to the source is very rare. Is it at all natural?
M: Outgoing is natural in the beginning, ingoing — in the end.
But in reality the two are one, just like breathing in and out are one.
Q: In the same way are not the body and the dweller in the body one?
M: Events in time and space — birth and death, cause and effect — these may be taken as one; but the body and the embodied are not of the same order of reality. The body exists in time and space, transient and limited, while the dweller is timeless and spaceless, eternal and all-pervading. To identify the two is a grievous mistake and the cause of endless suffering.
You can speak of the mind and body as one, but the body-mind is not the underlying reality.
Q: Whoever he may be, the dweller is in control of the body and, therefore, responsible for it.
M: There is a universal power which is in control and is responsible.
Q: And so, I can do as I like and put the blame on some universal power? How easy!
M: Yes, very easy. Just realize the One Mover behind all that moves and leave all to Him. If you do not hesitate, or cheat, this
is the shortest way to reality. Stand without desire and fear, relinquishing all control and all responsibility.
Q: What madness!
M: Yes, divine madness. What is wrong in letting go the illusion of personal control and personal responsibility? Both are in the
mind only. Of course, as long as you imagine yourself to be in control, you should also imagine yourself to be responsible.
One implies the other.
Q: How can the universal be responsible for the particular?
M: All life on earth depends on the sun. Yet you cannot blame the sun for all that happens, though it is the ultimate cause. Light causes the colour of the flower, but it neither controls, nor is responsible for it directly. It makes it possible, that is all.
- Excerpt from: I AM THAT.
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Chapter 35.
M: Yes, go ahead.
Q: I see you sitting on an antelope skin. How does it tally with non-violence?
M: All my working life I was a cigarette-maker, helping people to spoil their health. And in front of my door the municipality has put up a public lavatory, spoiling my health. In this violent world
how can one keep away from violence of some kind or other?
Q: Surely all avoidable violence should be avoided. And yet in India every holy man has his tiger, lion, leopard or antelope skin to sit on.
M: Maybes because no plastics were available in ancient times and a skin was best to keep the damp away. Rheumatism has no charm, even for a saint! Thus the tradition arose that for lengthy meditations a skin is needed. Just like the drum-hide in
a temple, so is the antelope skin of a Yogi. We hardly notice it.
Q: But the animal had to be killed.
M: I have never heard of a Yogi killing a tiger for his hide. The killers are not Yogis and the Yogis are not killers.
Q: Should you not express your disapproval by refusing to sit on a skin?
M: What an idea! I disapprove of the entire universe, why only a skin?
Q: What is wrong with the universe?
M: Forgetting your Self is the greatest injury; all the calamities flow from it.
Take care of the most important, the lesser will take care of itself. You do not tidy up a dark room. You open the windows first. Letting in the light makes everything easy. So, let us wait with improving others until we have seen ourselves as we are — and have changed. There is no need to turn round and round in endless questioning; find yourself and everything will fall into its proper place.
Q: The urge to return to the source is very rare. Is it at all natural?
M: Outgoing is natural in the beginning, ingoing — in the end.
But in reality the two are one, just like breathing in and out are one.
Q: In the same way are not the body and the dweller in the body one?
M: Events in time and space — birth and death, cause and effect — these may be taken as one; but the body and the embodied are not of the same order of reality. The body exists in time and space, transient and limited, while the dweller is timeless and spaceless, eternal and all-pervading. To identify the two is a grievous mistake and the cause of endless suffering.
You can speak of the mind and body as one, but the body-mind is not the underlying reality.
Q: Whoever he may be, the dweller is in control of the body and, therefore, responsible for it.
M: There is a universal power which is in control and is responsible.
Q: And so, I can do as I like and put the blame on some universal power? How easy!
M: Yes, very easy. Just realize the One Mover behind all that moves and leave all to Him. If you do not hesitate, or cheat, this
is the shortest way to reality. Stand without desire and fear, relinquishing all control and all responsibility.
Q: What madness!
M: Yes, divine madness. What is wrong in letting go the illusion of personal control and personal responsibility? Both are in the
mind only. Of course, as long as you imagine yourself to be in control, you should also imagine yourself to be responsible.
One implies the other.
Q: How can the universal be responsible for the particular?
M: All life on earth depends on the sun. Yet you cannot blame the sun for all that happens, though it is the ultimate cause. Light causes the colour of the flower, but it neither controls, nor is responsible for it directly. It makes it possible, that is all.
- Excerpt from: I AM THAT.
Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.
Chapter 35.
By all means be selfish — the right way. Wish yourself well, labour at what is good for you. Destroy all that stands between you and happiness. Be all — love all — be happy — make happy. No happiness is greater.
As long as you are a beginner certain formalised meditations, or prayers may be good for you.
But for a seeker for reality there is only one meditation - the rigorous refusal to harbour thoughts. To be free from thoughts is itself meditation.
You begin by letting thoughts flow and watching them. The very observation slows down the mind till it stops altogether.
Once the mind is quiet, keep it quiet. Don't get bored with peace, be in it, go deeper into it.
But for a seeker for reality there is only one meditation - the rigorous refusal to harbour thoughts. To be free from thoughts is itself meditation.
You begin by letting thoughts flow and watching them. The very observation slows down the mind till it stops altogether.
Once the mind is quiet, keep it quiet. Don't get bored with peace, be in it, go deeper into it.
NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ:
Visitor: In the process of meditation when one reaches the silence and asks ' Who am I?' there comes a profound silence where the notion ' I' does not arise. Is this the state, and if so, can one have flashes of it prior to Self-realisation?
Maharaj:" These experiences are in the realm of your birth-state."
V: The state that I am referring to is the state where birth is forgotten, as are the name and form.
M:" What you have described of samadhi, or meditation, is correct, but it is still the product of the body-mind imagination. Whatever experiences you have in meditation, of that silence also, is confined to the realm of Consciousness. Consciousness is born and it will go. You are prior to it."
V: It is also said that the Self is Self-effulgent, that it is light, and that the Consciousness appears by a reflection of that light. If one were to pursue the light, could one find the state to which Maharaj is referring?
M:" Whatever is manifest before you has come out of that Consciousness."
V: I was talking about a Self-indulgent light that equates itself with the Self. If one is a seeker of Truth, by finding that light would one find the Truth?
M:" There is the true Awareness, from which comes Consciousness, which is your feeling ' I Am'; be one with your Consciousness and that is all you can do, the Ultimate state must come to you. You can only watch whatever happens- there is nothing you can do to get it."
V: Many of the religious texts of Advaita Vedanta express the notion that as one becomes Self-aware there is a light that permeates, and that the light which the world, or Maya, has is a reflection of that primordial light. Is that not literal?
M:" Maya is the expression of that One which cannot be described. Consciousness is manifesting itself through all this, and you are before Consciousness. Consciousness is the soul of this manifest world, and you, the Absolute, are the soul of Consciousness.
Whatever you have read is only the concepts of the writers. Does it tally with your personal knowledge?"
V: No, these are the guidelines toward achieving the sense of ' I Am'. They also say that all Gurus are one.
M:" Guru is the same all-pervading Consciousness ' I Am'. The Sat-Guru has gone beyond all these concepts, including the primary concept ' I Am'."
Visitor: In the process of meditation when one reaches the silence and asks ' Who am I?' there comes a profound silence where the notion ' I' does not arise. Is this the state, and if so, can one have flashes of it prior to Self-realisation?
Maharaj:" These experiences are in the realm of your birth-state."
V: The state that I am referring to is the state where birth is forgotten, as are the name and form.
M:" What you have described of samadhi, or meditation, is correct, but it is still the product of the body-mind imagination. Whatever experiences you have in meditation, of that silence also, is confined to the realm of Consciousness. Consciousness is born and it will go. You are prior to it."
V: It is also said that the Self is Self-effulgent, that it is light, and that the Consciousness appears by a reflection of that light. If one were to pursue the light, could one find the state to which Maharaj is referring?
M:" Whatever is manifest before you has come out of that Consciousness."
V: I was talking about a Self-indulgent light that equates itself with the Self. If one is a seeker of Truth, by finding that light would one find the Truth?
M:" There is the true Awareness, from which comes Consciousness, which is your feeling ' I Am'; be one with your Consciousness and that is all you can do, the Ultimate state must come to you. You can only watch whatever happens- there is nothing you can do to get it."
V: Many of the religious texts of Advaita Vedanta express the notion that as one becomes Self-aware there is a light that permeates, and that the light which the world, or Maya, has is a reflection of that primordial light. Is that not literal?
M:" Maya is the ex
Whatever you have read is only the concepts of the writers. Does it tally with your personal knowledge?"
V: No, these are the guidelines toward achieving the sense of ' I Am'. They also say that all Gurus are one.
M:" Guru is the same all-pervading Consciousness ' I Am'. The Sat-Guru has gone beyond all these concepts, including the primary concept ' I Am'."
In my world love is the law.
I do not ask for love, I give it.
I do not ask for love, I give it.
Some say there are three aspects of reality — Truth-Wisdom-Bliss. He who seeks Truth becomes a Yogi, he who seeks wisdom becomes a gnani; he who seeks happiness becomes the man of action.
The idea of enlightenment is of utmost importance. Just to know that there is such possibility, changes one’s entire outlook. It acts like a burning match in a heap of saw dust. All the great teachers did nothing else. A spark of truth can burn up a mountain of lies.
The 'I am' is a thought, while awareness is not a thought;
there is no 'I am aware' in awareness.
Consciousness is an attribute while awareness is not, one can be aware of being conscious, but not conscious of awareness.
God is the totality of consciousness, but awareness is beyond all - being as well as non-being.
there is no 'I am aware' in awareness.
Consciousness is an attribute while awareness is not, one can be aware of being conscious, but not conscious of awareness.
God is the totality of consciousness, but awareness is beyond all - being as well as non-being.
Q. Do we come from the Parabrahman state and go back after beingness goes?
M: Coming down into this world from the Absolute is something like the appearance of a dream. In a dream are you going somewhere?
M: Coming down into this world from the Absolute is something like the appearance of a dream. In a dream are you going somewhere?
I have stabilized prior to this beingness and the world. Whatever happens to the world, nothing happens to me. The mind which was accepting that I was born is dead now. I cannot be measured by birth or mind.
Can you control the consciousness? Can you keep it with you always? No, it can go at any time, and you have no authority that you can say this is my consciousness and I will hold on to it for such and such a time.
The source of consciousness cannot be an object in consciousness. To know the source is to be the source.
When you realize that you are not the person, but the pure and calm witness, and that fearless awareness is your very being, you are the being. It is the source, the Inexhaustible Possibility.
Beings
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