Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Q: I am writer by profession. Can you give me some advice, for me specifically?
Writing is both a talent and a skill. Grow in talent and develop in skill. Desire what is worth desiring and desire it well. Just like you pick your way in a crowd, passing between people, so you find your way between events, without missing your general direction. It is easy, if you are earnest.
Q: So many times you mention the need of being earnest. But we are not men of single will. We are congeries of desires and needs, instincts and promptings. They crawl over each other, sometimes one, sometimes another dominating but never for long.
There are no needs, desires only.
Q: To eat, to drink, to shelter one's body, to live?
M: The desire to live is the one fundamental desire. All else depends on it.
Q: We live because we must.
We live because we crave sensory existence.
Q: A thing so universal cannot be wrong.
Not wrong, of course. In its own place and time nothing is wrong. But when you are concerned with truth, with reality, you must question everything, your very life. By asserting the necessity of sensory and intellectual experience you narrow down your enquiry to search for comfort.
Q: I seek happiness, not comfort.
Beyond comfort of mind and body what happiness do you know?
Q: Is there any other?
Find out for yourself. Question every urge, hold no desire legitimate. Empty of possession, physical and mental, free of all self-concern, be open for discovery.
Q: It is a part of Indian spiritual that mere living in the proximity of a saint or sage is conducive to liberation and no other means are needed. Why don't you organize an ashram so that people could live near you?
The moment I create an institution I become its prisoner. As a matter of fact I am available to all. Common roof and food will not make people more welcome. 'Living near' does not mean breathing the same air. It means trusting and obeying, not letting the good intentions of the teacher go to waste. Have your Guru always in your heart and remember his instructions - this is real abidance with the true. Physical proximity is least important. Make your entire life an expression of your faith and love for your teacher - this is real dwelling with the Guru.
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