Out of the Question, the Answer Comes

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

April 15, 1981

Q: Would realization be possible by hearing the truth from the Guru or is there any other way?

M: No, only with the Grace and guidance of the Guru. The Guru is the one who knows totally what is qualitative Brahman and non-qualitative, what is mundane matter and what is spiritual matter. You are holding onto all these things you have heard here as concepts. You don't try to be that. You like knowledge as a concept. 

Q: Maharaj has said that the inner Guru is more important than the outer Guru.

M: In the initial stages you must have an external Guru. That Guru initiates you with the inner Guru.

Q: What are mantras for?

M: A mantra is indicative of the aim or the object in you.

Q: I am a physician and I sometimes get attached to my patients and involved in their problems. Sometimes I can be detached and not feel involved, but my patients are like warriors with their problems and try to get me involved. Sometimes I feel like running away.

M: This is the knowledge of your concepts. This is not your knowledge. To feel that you are involved is a concept, to feel like running away is a concept. 

Q: If a person is very sincere and wants Self-realization more than anything else in the world, is it easier for him if he goes away by himself and thinks of nothing but that?

M: Not at all. It is not that you are going to acquire something externally, the knowledge that you are is already there, only understand that. This is all the play of concepts. Even to think that I am going to get the knowledge, or I have got the knowledge, is still a concept. Prior to getting the knowledge, whatever Is, That is the truth.

Q: When someone asks Maharaj a very difficult question, where does the answer come from?

M: Out of the question the answer comes; with every question the replies are attached.