Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
March 14, 1981
Q: By the grace of Maharaj I find that now my eyes are able to see and my ears are able to hear.
M: What the eyes see and the ears hear is only the false. Both will disappear. You are That which witnesses.
What is understood and practiced by the common Hindu man as spirituality is that water from the river is carried in a vessel and poured over an image of God. Some of these images have been placed so that one has to climb 500 steps to reach them. This is considered to bring great merit. They collect water in brass vessels in Benares from the Ganges. They carry that water walking all the way to South India to Rameshwara, and pour it over the idol and they will take the sea water from Rameshwara back to Benares and pour it over the head of the idol there. This is their concept of liberation - water is taken from one place and carried to another - what a strenuous concept!
Q: What we hear at the feet of Maharaj is something that is never new.
M: What I am telling you can never be new or old - it is unchanging, everlasting. This consciousness in which concepts arise is itself a concept, and so long as consciousness remains all other concepts will continue to arise. The Absolute unmanifest is what Is. Whatever we think about the Absolute state can only be a concept, until the consciousness ends and we are in the Absolute state. One achieves something and one guards it, but how long can you guard it? Only until you are in deep sleep. You have a fond concept and you hang on to it all day; in deep sleep where is that concept?
Q: How does Maharaj talk to us if he does not accept individuality?
M: The sun does not shine for individuals. The words come out of the consciousness, spontaneously, as part of the total functioning. There are any number of experiences, some of them you like and you keep them in your memory and pamper them - that itself is suffering. All your experiences should be just part of the total functioning, happening spontaneously.
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