What You Want To Be, You Are It Already!

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Q: How does the jnani fare after death?

M: The jnani is dead already. Do you expect him to die again?

Surely, the dissolution of the body is an important event even to a jnani.

There are no important events for a jnani, except when somebody reaches the highest goal.Then only his heart rejoices. All else is of no concern. The entire universe is his body, all life is his life. As in a city of lights, when one bulb burns out, it does not affect the network, so the death of a body does not affect the whole.

The particular may not matter to the whole, but it does matter to the particular. The whole is an abstraction, the particular, the concrete is real.

That is what you say. To me it may be the other way - the whole is real, the part comes and goes. The particular is born and reborn, changing name and shape, the jnani is the Changeless Reality, which makes the changeful possible. But he cannot give you the conviction. It must come with your own experience. With me all is one, all is equal.

Are sin and virtue one and the same?

These are all man-made values! What are they to me? What ends in happiness is virtue, what ends in sorrow is sin. Both are states of mind. Mine is not a state of mind.

We are like the blind people at a loss to understand what does it mean to see.

You can put it as you like.

Is the practice of silence as a sadhana effective?

Anything you do for the sake of enlightenment takes you nearer. Anything you do without remembering enlightenment puts you off. But why complicate? Just know that you are above and beyond all things and thoughts. What you want to be, you are it already. Just keep it in mind.

I hear you saying it but I cannot believe.

I was in the same position myself. But I trusted my Guru and he proved right. Trust me, if you can. Keep in mind what I tell you: desire nothing, for you lack nothing. The very seeking prevents you from finding.