Accept My Words On Trust

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Q: You are telling me to live by memory?

M: You are living by memory anyhow. I am merely asking you to replace the old memories by the memory of what I told you. As you were acting on your old memories, act on the new one. Don't be afraid. For sometime there is bound to be a conflict between the old and the new, but if you put yourself resolutely on the side of the new, the strife will soon come to an end and you will realize the effortless state of being oneself, of not being deceived by desires and fears born of illusion.

Q: Many Gurus have the habit of giving tokens of their grace - their head cloth, or their sticks, or begging bowl, or robe, thus transmitting or confirming the self-realization of their disciples. I can see no value in such practices. It is not self-realization that is transmitted, but self-importance. Of what earthly use is being told something very flattering, but not true? On one hand you are warning me against the many self-styled Gurus, on the other you want me to trust you. Why do you claim to be an exception?

M: I do not ask you to trust me. Trust my words and remember them, I want your happiness, not mine. Distrust those who put a distance between you and your true being and offer themselves as a go-between. I do nothing of the kind. I do not even make promises. I merely say: if you trust my words and put them to test, you will for yourself discover  how absolutely true they are. If you ask for a proof before you venture, I can only say: I am the proof. I did trust my teacher's words and kept them in my mind and I did find that he was right, that I was, am and shall be the Infinite Reality, embracing all, transcending all. 

As you say, you have neither the time nor the energy for lengthy practices. I offer you an alternative. Accept my words on trust and live anew, or live and die in sorrow.

Q: It seems too good to be true.

M: Don't be misled by the simplicity of the advice. Very few are those who have the courage to trust the innocent and the simple. To know that you are a prisoner of your mind, that you live in an imaginary world of your own creation is the dawn of wisdom. To want nothing of it, to be ready to abandon it entirely, is earnestness. Only such earnestness, born of true despair, will make you trust me.

Q: Have I not suffered enough?

M: Suffering has made you dull, unable to see its enormity. Your first task is to see the sorrow in you and around you; your next is to long intensely for liberation. The very intensity of longing will guide you; you need no other guide.

Q: Suffering has made me dull, indifferent even to itself.

M: Maybe it is not sorrow, but pleasure that made you dull. Investigate.

Q: Whatever may be the cause, I am dull. I have neither the will nor the energy.

M: Oh no. You have enough for the first step. And each step will generate enough energy for the next. Energy comes with confidence and confidence comes with experience.