Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Translator: Maharaj wants to know if you udnerstand what he is saying to this other person. You.
Q: Yes, he is speaking of consciousness.
M: Have you understood the meaning of consciousness?
Q: Consciousness is everything that appears.
M: Who is saying this?
Q: The feeling is, I am.
M: Who experiences this?
Q: Consciousness experiences itself.
M: Yes. Listen to these dialogues for some time more. Whatever is going on, listen for some time more. Thinking "I have understood everything correctly" - that itself is the first mistake. Space is created and thereby the consciousness, which is really non-personal, has become a person, limited to the body and mind. You feel that the consciousness is limited to the body and mind, but if the consciousness is accepted as non-personal, then there is no trouble. Because the knowledge " I Am" is there, we conduct all activities. In the morning when you wake up you get that first guarantee, that conviction of "I Am." Then, because you are not in a position to sustain or tolerate that "I Amness,", you bestir yourself. You get up and move around here and there and the activity starts. You involve yourself in all the activity because you want to sustain that "I Amness." Later on that "I Amness" forgets itself in deep sleep; only then are you peaceful.
Q: There is peace in meditation?
M: Why are you going to meditate? To tranquilize the "I Amness." With "I Amness" began all misery. You must spontaneously feel the superficiality of "I Amness."
Q: How?
M: That attention, that "I Amness," is always there in the waking state, but we are not on the alery to watch it. There is no other attention to be followed. Be attentive to that attention "I Am."
Q: Is there something that remains in the deep sleep state?
M: Whatever is there in the waking state merges in the deep sleep and is in a dormant condition.
Q:What is right action?
M: Let the actions happen through you. Don't take yourself to be the doer. There will be actions through you; don't say that these actions are good and those are bad. It is not your responsibility. The one who thinks he is the doer is a slave to mind-inclinations, mind-conditions. The jnani witnesses the consciousness acting; he has no involvement in the actions of the consciousness.
Q: It seems to be an addiction of the consciousness to worry about things around.
M: Yes, addiction, and also entertainment. Suppose I spill water. Immediately I take the towel and wipe it up, but I do not feel that I have done something foolish. It has happened. Just as the towel is soaking up the water without thinking that it is doing so.
Q: What a strange love for this "I Amness."
M: Although it is strange, it gets manifested in concrete forms. We all hang on to concepts about saving the world, doing good. With all the great concepts and ideas great people have had, where are the saved and the saviors today? What do you over there want?
Q: I would like everything to be in harmony, non-chaotic.
M: Don't hang on to name and form. Get rid of name and form.
Q: Why is it so difficult to understand that simple thing?
M: Because whatever you have understood, you are clinging to, embracing. Get rid of that. Whatever you have understood from this world, you are hanging onto. Give it up. The way that you understand yourself, give up that also.