"The very first step in understanding what this is all about is giving up the concept of an active, volitional 'I' as a separate entity and accepting the passive role of perceiving and functioning as a process." - Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

I AM, A Concept

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Q: There is a poem written by Jnaneshwara to that 1400 year old Sage; one line says, "The vision of knowledge becomes weaker and weaker." What is the meaning of that?

M:  The vision of consciousness will also drop off in the ultimate analysis, because knowledge and ignorance are in the realm of consciousness.

Q: I do not want to let go of a single of yours.

M: How long are you going to hang on to words and the meaning of words? How long?

Q: They are useful so long as the I AM is there.

M: This I AM is a concept also, is it not? And you want to hang on to this concept also. This I AMness is not going to remain in your association, and when it goes, everything relating to that I AMness goes. When this is the state of affairs, what is the use of trying to gain or assimilate knowledge?

Words are not exactly applicable; I have seen exactly how I am not. In the absence of I AM, what that state is, I have seen, or am seeing, therefore I don't lose anything. In that state there is no question of seeing or experiencing, but for the sake of communication we have to borrow these words.

These are great men, full of wisdom, profound; but how do I look at them? They are just like me. This one is a legal luminary and a Sanskrit scholar; with the combined effect he is trying to capture Parabrahman in his words. He is very good at it, but what is the gain?

Q: To realize that my state is without concepts, that itself is a gain.

M: You are standing on a concept I AM, and trying to paint that with another concept.

Q: This is a different kind of court, the lawyer is hauled into the dock.

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सर्वभूताधिवासं यद्भूतेषु च वसत्यपि।
सर्वानुग्राहकत्वेन तद्स्म्यहं वासुदेवः॥

That in whom reside all beings and who resides in all beings,
who is the giver of grace to all, the Supreme Soul of the universe, the limitless being:
I AM THAT. -- Amritabindu Upanishad