Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
V: Can we get some advice for not getting things mixed up? Sometimes I take this as "I am", other times I take that as "I am". Can Maharaj give some advice to ensure we don't mistakenly hold something for "I am"?
M: Don't say I am this, I am that. Just hold on to yourself, you are. Just be "you are". Do you follow?
V: Yes, but sometimes I imagine that I experience "I am". Sometimes, not always.
M: Every moment you are experiencing "I am". Are you not experiencing yourself right now? You are?
V: As a body, yes.
M: You know you are. Aren't you?
V: Yes, as a body, as a mind, I am.
M: Prior to body, and prior to mind, are you not there?
V: I don't know.
M: Are you or are you not?
Who recognizes the mind? You recognize the mind. So you are..
V: Separated.
M: Recognizing the mind, you are apart from the mind, aren't you?
V: Yes.
M: You recognize the body. So you are apart from the body. You exist prior to the body, separate from the body and separate from the mind, do you not? Do you understand?
V: I understand.
V: Is that the same as when you meditate and you keep repeating it (the mantra) in your head?
M: Suppose you meditate, meditate on the atman or something, be there! Recede! Whatever you meditate on, you are not that! Whatever you observe, you are not that. So in this way, reject everything whatever you observe, and finally settle down where no more observation is.
V: I could meditate only very little through fear arising..
M: You are not the fear! You observed the fear, do you not? You acknowledge it because you accept it. Recede from that. You are not that. Get back!
V: But the more I get back, the more fear comes.
M: But still you have to get back. You are the rear-most background principle.
V: It is hard to be convinced of that when you are meditating and the fear comes; it is hard to remember.
M: Let the fear come! It does not matter if you are overwhelmed by fear and you are dead - whatever that is. Caught in the fear, let it be dead. But you are still in the background, let you (the fear) appear to you.
V: Then when it feels to me that I am dying, is that no problem?
M: Then let yourself die. That which is caught by the fear will die, but you won't die. You will be really immortal.
V: I know, I have experienced it many times.
M: You survived, didn't you? So then?
V: The trouble is endless; the fear and the trouble are endless.
M: Everything will go but you will not go, you will not die.
V: I will try again.
V: Can we get some advice for not getting things mixed up? Sometimes I take this as "I am", other times I take that as "I am". Can Maharaj give some advice to ensure we don't mistakenly hold something for "I am"?
M: Don't say I am this, I am that. Just hold on to yourself, you are. Just be "you are". Do you follow?
V: Yes, but sometimes I imagine that I experience "I am". Sometimes, not always.
M: Every moment you are experiencing "I am". Are you not experiencing yourself right now? You are?
V: As a body, yes.
M: You know you are. Aren't you?
V: Yes, as a body, as a mind, I am.
M: Prior to body, and prior to mind, are you not there?
V: I don't know.
M: Are you or are you not?
Who recognizes the mind? You recognize the mind. So you are..
V: Separated.
M: Recognizing the mind, you are apart from the mind, aren't you?
V: Yes.
M: You recognize the body. So you are apart from the body. You exist prior to the body, separate from the body and separate from the mind, do you not? Do you understand?
V: I understand.
V: Is that the same as when you meditate and you keep repeating it (the mantra) in your head?
M: Suppose you meditate, meditate on the atman or something, be there! Recede! Whatever you meditate on, you are not that! Whatever you observe, you are not that. So in this way, reject everything whatever you observe, and finally settle down where no more observation is.
V: I could meditate only very little through fear arising..
M: You are not the fear! You observed the fear, do you not? You acknowledge it because you accept it. Recede from that. You are not that. Get back!
V: But the more I get back, the more fear comes.
M: But still you have to get back. You are the rear-most background principle.
V: It is hard to be convinced of that when you are meditating and the fear comes; it is hard to remember.
M: Let the fear come! It does not matter if you are overwhelmed by fear and you are dead - whatever that is. Caught in the fear, let it be dead. But you are still in the background, let you (the fear) appear to you.
V: Then when it feels to me that I am dying, is that no problem?
M: Then let yourself die. That which is caught by the fear will die, but you won't die. You will be really immortal.
V: I know, I have experienced it many times.
M: You survived, didn't you? So then?
V: The trouble is endless; the fear and the trouble are endless.
M: Everything will go but you will not go, you will not die.
V: I will try again.
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