The Story Is Fiction

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

February 2, 1981

Q: How can I make the surrender to the Guru permanent?

M: Have you not been told that there is nothing permanent in this world? That is the search itself - what am I when this temporary state is gone and before it came?

You have a clock which is made to last for 100 years. At the end of that 100 years the clock stops - it has served its purpose. When the clock of the body stops, the same thing has happened - that body has served the purpose of consciousness.

Q: Total surrender means two, something joining, one surrendering to another.

M: During that temporary state in consciousness, everything is correct. Whatever the plot of the story, it is correct, but the story is fiction. What I am telling you is absolutely open - an open secret. There is nothing that I keep hidden from you. Try and understand. It is merely a question of understanding.

Q: Guru's Grace is always there.

M: Guru is not an individual. You are thinking in terms of a form. The consciousness is all pervading. You find out what is this "you" that is seeking grace. In that body the I AM is ticking - that is the Guru. You worship that I AM principle and surrender to that Guru and that Guru will give you all the grace.

In consciousness there can exist nothing without its interrelated counterpart. The moment you say knowledge, knowledge can only be in ignorance, so this knowledge one has about Guru is also ignorance. When will the knowledge be Guru? When that knowledge and the ignorance both disappear into vijnana. Jnana is knowledge, ajnana is ignorance, both disappear into vijnana.