Receptivity Needed To Accept Grace

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

March 26, 1981

M: The only knowledge you will get here is knowledge of the Self; it will not help you make a living in the world. Do you have any idea of what your true nature is? Since you have understood what you are not, you should no longer be concerned with what you are not. Is that clear?

Q: Yes.

M: You still have an idea of what you are but even that image must be totally erased, so that there is no idea of any entity, any identification. Now that you think you have understood what you are, what use will you make of the consciousness? Any use of the consciousness will be for others.

Q: The grace of the Guru is necessary in order to understand.

M: The grace is always there but the receptivity must be there to accept that grace. One must have the firm conviction that what is heard here is the absolute truth.

Instead of becoming impregnated with what I give you, to the extent that you are one with it, you merely accept it, put it in your pocket and keep on using concepts which you have accumulated already. None of you will really understand what I am, have your own concepts of me.

Q: I have understood with the intellect. What can I do to realize it?

M: There is nothing you, as an entity, can do. That which has taken root will by itself flower into intuitive understanding.

Q: This understanding will take some time.

M: Is this not a concept? The very concept is a hazard. When my Guru told me what the position is, I listened and said, "Oh, this is how it is." And that was that - the end of it. 

If there are no more questions I will close the session. I am not here to keep a watch over you. If you really understand what has been said. there is no reason to come again, and again if you can't understand, then what is the use of continuing?

Q: On occasion there is a spontaneous feeling of universal love; is this based on body-mind, or is it something else?

M: Total love is the very nature of consciousness. When this feeling arises there is nothing you can do - how can one embrace the entire ocean?