Enquiry Wakes You Up

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Q. Why do desires arise at all?

Because you imagine that you were born, and that you will die if you do not take care of your body. Desire for embodied existence is the root cause of trouble.

Q. Yet, so many jivas get into bodies. Surely it cannot be some error of judgment. There must be a purpose. What could it be?

To know itself the self must be faced with its opposite - the not-Self. Desire leads to experience. Experience leads to discrimination, detachment, self-knowledge - liberation. And what is liberation after all? To know that you are beyond birth and death. By forgetting who you are and imagining yourself a mortal creature, you created so much trouble for yourself that you have to wake up, like from a bad dream. Enquiry also wakes you up. You need not wait for suffering; enquiry into happiness is better, for the mind is in harmony and peace.

Q. Who exactly is the ultimate experiencer - the Self or the Unknown?

The Self, of course.

Q. Then why introduce the notion of the notion of the Supreme Unknown?

To explain the Self.

Q. But is there anything beyond the Self?

Outside the Self there is nothing. All is one and all is contained in 'I am'. In the waking and dream states it is the person. In deep sleep and turiya it is the Self. Beyond the alert inertness of turiya lies the great, silent peace of the Supreme. But in fact all is one in essence and related in appearance. In ignorance the seer becomes the seen and in wisdom he is the seeing.

But why be concerned with the Supreme? Know the knowers and all will be known.