Understand the "I", There is Nothing Else

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

One who has understood this, that the consciousness which has been restricted to the body is in reality the limitless, universal consciousness, if he has accepted this with conviction, what more does he need?

Whatever I say is from the point of view that I am without body-mind, and if you want to accept whatever I say from the point of view that you are the body-mind, and expect to get something from it as a similar object, how can it be of use?

I repeat: Whatever I say is from the conviction that I am without the body, that I am "no-body". Therefore, if someone wants to understand that, but remains himself identified with the body, how can he ever hope to grasp what I am trying to convey?

Any questions? Put them, but understand that we are speaking and asking on the basis that we do not have a body. There is a body and the body is suffering. But I know that I am not the body; I am the universal consciousness.

I will not talk about what is being generally talked about elsewhere on the mistaken notion that they are discussing "spiritual knowledge". I will only speak about one's self. I will not fool people because I want them to come here and they come to me as guru.

What is to be understood is that "I", the self, comprises all things; this unity is to be understood thoroughly. Can there be anything else but one?

There have been any number of avatars; they have gone but their bodies have merged into the five elements. Has anything changed? The self continues to be what it was for millions of years. Understand this as the pure mind, and anything else is tomfoolery.

Consciousness within the body gets itself entangled in the various concepts which it has been given and which it has acquired and now considers as part of itself.

In what I am saying now I give a picture of what you think yourselves to be. The jnani knows that this is totally untrue, and he knows the truth.