Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
M. Why not turn away from the experience to the experiencer and realize the full import of the only true statement you can make: 'I am'?
Q. How is it done?
M. There is no 'how' here. Just keep in mind the feeling 'I am', merge in it, till your mind and feeling become one. By repeated attempts you will stumble on the right balance of attention and affection and your mind will be firmly established in the thought-feeling 'I am'. Whatever you think, say, or do, this sense of immutable and affectionate being remains as the ever-present background of the mind.
Q. And you call it liberation?
M. I call it normal. What is wrong with being, knowing and acting effortlessly and happily? Why consider it so unusual as to expect the immediate destruction of the body? What is wrong with the body that it should die? Correct your attitude to your body and leave it alone. Don't pamper it, don't torture. Just keep it going, most of the time below the threshold of conscious attention.
Q. The memory of my wonderful experiences haunts me. I want them back.
M. Because you want them back, you cannot have them. The state of craving for anything blocks all deeper experience. Nothing of value can happen to a mind which knows exactly what it wants. For nothing the mind can visualize and want is of much value.
Q. Then what is worth wanting?
M. Want the best. The highest happiness, the greatest freedom. Desirelessness is the highest bliss.
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