All From A Single Berry

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

M: So your purpose is served, you are satisfied.

Q: Oh yes, a long time ago, when I left here.

M: After having had many experiences, you have now come to the conclusion that what preceded the experiences is the same. You are not affected by the experiences that take place in the world?

Q: Yes, I have come to that conclusion.

M: All the attractions of the world are just ordinary things to you? You are not affected by them? Have you attained that state? Or are you still craving for the respect of others, are you still craving for more knowledge in arts?

Q: I can no longer hold that, so I am not craving it. I have nothing with which to retain it, but, who knows, if I found something with which to hold it, I might.

M: Craving means that you think that it has some benefits, some opportunities.

Q: It is fruitless, it all cancels out in the end; so it is useless. What is it that prevails in the end?

M: So you have seen everything, understood everything. What is it that prevails in the end?

Q: What prevails is not perceivable.

M: What is there which is primary? What is there at the root?

Q: What is at the root is not an object.

M: You have realized that?

Q: No, I did not realize it, because it is greater than I. How could I see it?

M: When you are going through various experiences, do you realize that there is something which was prevailing right from the beginning of which you were not aware? Do you become aware of something which is much greater than all these experiences? If you have found that, can you stay with it? Or are you still passing through the experiences?

Q: I am not passing through the experiences, and yes, I can stay with it. It's like when you are on a boat: you don't think that the water is moving - you know that the boat is moving - but you are aware that the water is there. You don't have to repeat to yourself, 'Oh yes, I am moving on the water.' What is there moves; underneath is what you move on.

M: When you are passing through all this, do you realize that it is all artificial, that it is not the real? What do you experience?

Q: I experience that I am passing through my own self-created projection.

M: Don't you see that what you realize as the illusion, the projection, is nothing but your own very small modification of your own Self?

Q: Oh yes.

M: When you realize this, don't you get a glimpse of what is the most ancient? The unlimited?

Q: I am not limited by the experience, or by the limitations of the experience.

M: The world is ever-changing, ever new, but it is nothing but the thoughts of the ancient, the trick of the ancient. So where is the question of your not being limited? Are you denying its existence?

Q: No, I am not denying its existence, I am denying its reality.

M: Suppose you have a child and that child goes to Timbuktu and become its king. He will still be your child, don't you see?

Whatever is happening, the witness of that happening must be there to say that it is happening. The ancestor of all action must be there to watch that action so that he can narrate it.

Q: That witness, is it the Absolute or is it in consciousness? There must be someone who witnesses that experience.

M: I am not telling about this witness. I am telling you about the core, that core ancestor of ours.

Out of a berry, out of the very forest of shrubs with berries, all these shrubs have grown. Because of that single berry. 

What is that principle which observes the creation and the state prior to the creation? The Absolute. The no-beingness state, the no-consciousness state alone knows that there is a consciousness. That no- I AMness state.

Many people will tell you about your mind inclinations, the mind flow, the activities in the realm of consciousness. That if you do this, you will get this; but has anyone told you of the state prior to the consciousness?

The lowest state (on the spiritual path) is that of the mumukshu. The mumukshu is one who has made a beginning in the spiritual search and he identifies with the body-mind. He always tried to derive benefits or gains or losses out of the body-mind sense. He meets a Guru and the Guru tells him, "You are not the body-mind, you are the manifest I AMness." "I AM" is the manifest world and that he realizes. He establishes himself there and finds that he is not the body-mind, he is the manifestation: in due course, he also realizes, "I am not that I AMness, I am not that consciousness nor the manifest world, but I am the Absolute." Why are you quiet? Is it because of confusion or because you have no confusion and have attained that quietude?