Birth of the Individual

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

We are dealing with the physical form which is made up of, and fed by, the five elements. In that form are operating the life force and this consciousness - that is, the knowledge I AM or the sense of being, the sense of existence. The latter is the sentience, which is the gift of the consciousness. This is the total that we can perceive: the body, the vital breath and the consciousness. All forms are made of the same components. So where is the question of an individual? Throughout all this, the individual as such has never come into being. And for this reason there is no need to identify oneself with anything. Yet one does: the consciousness identifies itself with the body, and this way the "individual" comes into being. So long as this is a fact that individual is bound to suffer. And what I am - I am neither the body, which is merely the five elements, nor the life force nor the consciousness which comes into the body. I must identify myself with the consciousness as long as the body is there, because it forms one unity with it. But in actuality, I am none of these three things. While the body exists, I am the consciousness, which merely witnesses whatever is going on. When the body dies, the life force leaves and mingles with the air, and the consciousness mingles with the universal consciousness. I am essentially nothing (identifiable) in this consciousness, being only its witness. And, what I am in the absolute sense, it is not possible to convey in any words. In that ultimate Awareness, nobody has any consciousness of being present. The presence itself is not there in the Absolute.

No person not interested in the subject would want to come here. So one can only assume that those who do attend are vitally interested in the subject and have done their homework - thus, the people who come here are all jnanis. But how many amongst us know the nature and the basis of this consciousness that I am, which exists so long as the body is there. Each of us must say I AM and realize it. There is no 'you' and there is no 'me', as individual entities. 

When there is an imbalance in the body substance, illness comes about. But when that material is in perfect balance, there is no illness. Now how is that?

The question was: Does the universal consciousness depend on the five elements for its existence? The answer to this question is that the universal consciousness and the total manifestation appear simultaneously. The manifestation happens because consciousness is there. Until the  I AM thought was there, there was no manifestation; both came about simultaneously. But because we identify ourselves with the body in which the individual consciousness manifests itself - and the consciousness in order to manifest itself has to have a form - the individual is born and that individual suffers.

Earlier I had explained the question of universal consciousness. The universal consciousness is something like a name given to a city. Now there is Bombay, for example. What do you mean by "Bombay"? Can you produce Bombay? No. The totality of a particular thing is designated - so the universal consciousness is merely a name given to that which is formless.

I use the word "city", not particularly Bombay. I mean any city or place. If I say Bombay, it means that I refer to a limited area.