Attraction to this place is spontaneous

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

May 9, 1981

Q: If there is a painful illness, does the jnani suffer it like anyone else?

M: In the case of a jnani the mind and intellect do not function. They do not register what is being suffered,  but the suffering is even more intense because in the case of an individual it is the body which suffers. In the case of a jnani it is the consciousness that suffers, so anything that is experienced in consciousness becomes exaggerated many times more. But you need not bother with this stage, because it is a rare case. In the case of a jnani the state is that of total disassociation from the body-mind. 

As an entity, a certain amount of disassociation with the body is a pleasing state - a state to which people look forward and accept. In the case of a jnani, the disassociation is further and total, therefore there is no question of any effect of such a state, pleasing or otherwise. The result is that there is no wants or desires. This is the way in which I experience - I don't know about others.

Q: Can Maharaj give me knowledge?

M: Understand this: a jnani cannot give knowledge to anyone. All he can do is point to that which is your true nature. With such a condition offered here, I don't know why people are attracted to this place. There is nothing that I can give anybody who comes here. The attraction to this place is spontaneous and not understandable intellectually.  

If what I have been saying is clearly understood by anyone the effective result will be that even int he daily working of the individual's life there will not be any specific intention. Things will continue in a sort of ballbearing fashion - without any deliberation intention or deliberate action. In my own case, throughout the day the body carries out its normal functions; things go in a normal way and nothing is resisted. Throughout the whole day there is no interest in understanding what is happening. 

Up until eight o' clock the intellect did not function; now I am aware of a little perception of my intellect. In the life of a jnani, no jnani will expose this secret. Not only will he have no desires or expectations, but neither will he have the attraction "to be". The attraction of the consciousness to be is not there. To have any hopes, expectations, etc., one must have an image, an identity.