Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Q: Has one to be afraid of his own self?
M: Not afraid, for the self means well. But it must be taken seriously. It calls for attention and obedience; when it is not listened to, it turns from persuasion to compulsion, for while it can wait, it shall not be denied. The difficulty lies not with the Guru, inner or outer. The Guru is always available. It is the ripe disciple that is lacking. When a person is not ready, what can be done?
Q: Ready or willing?
M: Both. It comes to the same. In India, we call it adhikari. It means both capable and entitled.
Q: Can the outer Guru grant initiation (deeksha)?
M: He can give all kinds of initiations, but the initiation into the Reality must come from within.
Q: Who gives the ultimate initiation?
M: It is self-given.
Q: I feel we are running in circles. After all, I know one self only, the present, empirical self. The inner or higher self is but an idea conceived to explain and encourage. We talk of it as having independent existence. It hasn't.
M: The outer self and the inner both are imagined. The obsession of being an 'I' needs another obsession with a super-I to get cured, as one needs another thorn to remove a thorn, or another poison to neutralize a poison. All assertion calls for a denial, but this is the first step only. The next is to go beyond both.
Q: I do understand that the outer Guru is needed to call my attention to myself and to the urgent
need of doing something about myself. I also understand how helpless he is when it comes to any deep change in me. But here you bring in the sadguru, the inner Guru, beginningless, changeless, the root of being, the standing promise, the certain goal. Is he a concept or a reality?
M: He is the only reality. All else is shadow, cast by the body mind (deha-buddhi) on the face of time. Of course, even a shadow is related to reality, but by itself it is not real.
Q: I am the only reality I know. The sadguru is there as long as I think of him. What do I gain by shifting reality to him?
M: Your loss is the gain. When the shadow is seen to be a shadow only, you stop following it. You turn around and discover the sun which was there all the time - behind your back.
Q: Does the inner Guru also teach?
M: He grants the conviction that you are the eternal, changeless, reality-consciousness-love, within and beyond all appearances.
Q: A conviction is not enough. There must be certainty.
M: Quite right. But in this case certainty takes the shape of courage. Fear ceases absolutely. This state of fearlessness is so unmistakably new, yet felt deeply as one's own, that it cannot be denied. It is like loving one's own child. Who can doubt it?
Q: We hear of progress in our spiritual endeavors. What kind of progress do you have in mind?
M: When you go beyond progress, you will know what is progress.
Q: What makes us progress?
M: Silence is the main factor. In peace and silence you grow.
Q: The mind is so absolutely restless. For quieting it what is the way?
M: Trust the teacher. Take my own case. My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense I AM and to give attention to nothing else. I just objeyed. I did not follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and remain with the sense of I AM, it may look too simple, even crude. My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked! Obedience is a powerful solvent of all desires and fears.
Just turn away from all that occupies the mind: do whatever work you have to complete but avoid new obligations; keep empty, keep available, resist not what comes uninvited.
In the end you reach a state of non-grasping, of joyful non-attachment, or inner ease and freedom indescribable, yet wonderfully real.
Q: Has one to be afraid of his own self?
M: Not afraid, for the self means well. But it must be taken seriously. It calls for attention and obedience; when it is not listened to, it turns from persuasion to compulsion, for while it can wait, it shall not be denied. The difficulty lies not with the Guru, inner or outer. The Guru is always available. It is the ripe disciple that is lacking. When a person is not ready, what can be done?
Q: Ready or willing?
M: Both. It comes to the same. In India, we call it adhikari. It means both capable and entitled.
Q: Can the outer Guru grant initiation (deeksha)?
M: He can give all kinds of initiations, but the initiation into the Reality must come from within.
Q: Who gives the ultimate initiation?
M: It is self-given.
Q: I feel we are running in circles. After all, I know one self only, the present, empirical self. The inner or higher self is but an idea conceived to explain and encourage. We talk of it as having independent existence. It hasn't.
M: The outer self and the inner both are imagined. The obsession of being an 'I' needs another obsession with a super-I to get cured, as one needs another thorn to remove a thorn, or another poison to neutralize a poison. All assertion calls for a denial, but this is the first step only. The next is to go beyond both.
Q: I do understand that the outer Guru is needed to call my attention to myself and to the urgent
need of doing something about myself. I also understand how helpless he is when it comes to any deep change in me. But here you bring in the sadguru, the inner Guru, beginningless, changeless, the root of being, the standing promise, the certain goal. Is he a concept or a reality?
M: He is the only reality. All else is shadow, cast by the body mind (deha-buddhi) on the face of time. Of course, even a shadow is related to reality, but by itself it is not real.
Q: I am the only reality I know. The sadguru is there as long as I think of him. What do I gain by shifting reality to him?
M: Your loss is the gain. When the shadow is seen to be a shadow only, you stop following it. You turn around and discover the sun which was there all the time - behind your back.
Q: Does the inner Guru also teach?
M: He grants the conviction that you are the eternal, changeless, reality-consciousness-love, within and beyond all appearances.
Q: A conviction is not enough. There must be certainty.
M: Quite right. But in this case certainty takes the shape of courage. Fear ceases absolutely. This state of fearlessness is so unmistakably new, yet felt deeply as one's own, that it cannot be denied. It is like loving one's own child. Who can doubt it?
Q: We hear of progress in our spiritual endeavors. What kind of progress do you have in mind?
M: When you go beyond progress, you will know what is progress.
Q: What makes us progress?
M: Silence is the main factor. In peace and silence you grow.
Q: The mind is so absolutely restless. For quieting it what is the way?
M: Trust the teacher. Take my own case. My Guru ordered me to attend to the sense I AM and to give attention to nothing else. I just objeyed. I did not follow any particular course of breathing, or meditation, or study of scriptures. Whatever happened, I would turn away my attention from it and remain with the sense of I AM, it may look too simple, even crude. My only reason for doing it was that my Guru told me so. Yet it worked! Obedience is a powerful solvent of all desires and fears.
Just turn away from all that occupies the mind: do whatever work you have to complete but avoid new obligations; keep empty, keep available, resist not what comes uninvited.
In the end you reach a state of non-grasping, of joyful non-attachment, or inner ease and freedom indescribable, yet wonderfully real.
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