"I AM" = Love To Be

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Q: The Guru is the greatest power, controlling the outer world as well as the inner. He is more powerful than a king. That's why he is the greatest cheat. He cheats you out of nothing, but you think you lose everything.

M: If that is your experience, it is quite appropriate. He has appropriated everything, including yourself. That means that you are not a different entity than he. There is no more left of you, only the Guru.

Q: Love makes him the greatest cheat.

M: The love is given to each one according to his needs. If there is no need, can there be love?

Q: From that perspective, no; but the Absolute has always been associated with that concept. Why do we describe it as love?

M: He does not know himself. He does not know what he is. He doesn't need anything. He does not need to call himself I AM. The Absolute state is called jnani by ignorant people only. The Absolute doesn't call himself the Absolute or jnani.

Q: Why have those who are ignorant idealized the jnani as love?

M: For the ignorant it is a matter of convenience. So long as he has not reached the jnani state he must have some motive force: to get that, he calls jnani full of love, compassion, kindness etc. There are confirmed or imposed by the ignorant.

Q: Is that a correct viewpoint, from an ignorant standpoint?

M: Yes, for the ignorant. There is an idol of Vithobha; go and pray to him: "Because of your kindness I survive, etc." The ignorance is talking. Why does the ignorant person keep that stone idol? Because he needs to be alive, he wants to perpetuate his I AMness, to continue. That's why he is worshipping that stone: the need to be.

Q: Isn't it also perhaps one of the ways that the Divine leads the ignorant back to the Absolute?

M: Yes, there are a number of ways or paths for the ignorant.

Q: Wouldn't  unconditioned love be faith in form?

M: From my standpoint love is the quality to be. Being-ness is love. Only when this I AMness appears is there love, Can the love prevail if the I AMness is not there? You have the urge to be, to continue your beingness - that is the love.

All this manifestation is the ocean of that being. You may call it the ocean of Brahma or the ocean of Maya.