Do you really see me as I am?

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

All knowledge is like the son of a barren woman. Presently there are only beingness and the functioning. The individuality and personality are thrown overboard. There is no personality, so there is no question of birth, life, or death.

What remains is only the consciousness without names or form. There is no individuality at all. The form needs a name, but when both are not there, then the consciousness remains only so long as the body is there, but without any individuality. The body is of as much use now as it was prior to the birth and after the death. How do you know me? You know me only on the acquisition of body form, name and form. Do you really see me as I am? I doubt it.

Ordinarily, there is some purpose for deriving certain benefits out of an association with another. When you meet someone in friendship, there may be some intention to serve one another. But I have no friends. Even this "I Amness" will not remain as my friend.

I am not able to talk any longer -- the spirit is willing but the flesh is weak. Previously I used to welcome people but now I am not in a position to welcome them. They come, they sit and they go by themselves. I cannot even extend my hospitality.

All my knowledge has gone into liquidation. I am unconcerned.

June 30, 1981.

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When you come here...

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

When you people come here, you feel satisfied and contented. Why? You feel like that because when you are here, you are under the shade of, or you abide in, your own consciousness. That means you are in a state which transcends body-mind and intellect. Since you are in that state, you do not have any form, you do not have any doubts; therefore, you are in that satisfied state. In that state, whatever sentences you hear will be implanted deeply in you and will not be forgotten. There is no way for you to forget those sentences because they lead you to your Self. What you hear, you will not forget when you leave. Abide in this state of shade, in the Self, in the consciousness that you are, even when you go out. Here there is no room for the intellect to play about. Since you do not identify yourself with any form, mind has no avenue for any propagation; the mind subsides in the consciousness. This is space-like, a shade-like state.

June 28, 1981.

What is meditation?

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

To be one with THAT because of which we know that we exist is meditation. There are a number of names which have been given to Gods. All of them represent the same thing - they represent this knowledge that one is, this beingness, consciousness. This knowledge does not refer to an individual, but to the sense of presence as a whole. Instead of accepting this knowledge as a total functioning, one wants to cut up the knowledge into bits and pieces, taking a part for himself, based on some concept. Any knowledge based on a concept is not true knowledge.

When you are dwelling in this consciousness you see that you are not doing anything, it is all happening spontaneously. There is no question of your trying to do anything. You cannot  try to be your Self, because you are your Self.

June 27, 1981.

No doership anywhere

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

When your individuality is dissolved, you will not see individuals anywhere, it is just a functioning in consciousness. If it clicks in you, it is very easy to understand. If it does not, it is most difficult. It is very profound and very simple, if understood right. What I am saying is not the general run of common spiritual knowledge.

When you reach a state when body is transcended, mind is transcended and consciousness is also transcended; from then on all is merely happening out of consciousness, which is the outcome of the body, and there is no authority or doership. When a sound is emanating out of a body, it is not that somebody is talking, it is just words emanating, just happening, not doing. If you understand the basis thoroughly, it will lead you very far, deep into spirituality.

The Absolute alone prevails. There is nothing but the Absolute. The unmanifest manifested itself, that manifest state is Guru and it is universal.

June 23, 1981.

Be like space

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

You should be like space. If you pay attention to things external to you, you will be carried away. If you are the space and not the body, then at that stage the body does not remain as the body because there is nobody to evaluate the body as body. In chidakash you evaluate the world as name and form, but when name and form are dissolved, a dissolution takes place. All forms dissolve in mahakash. You evaluate a form, that it is like this or that. When evaluation is not there, the mind is not there, it is like space.

Chidakash is that raw material by which you evaluate whatever you experience or whatever you observe. In the process of becoming more subtle, the external forms are dissolved into mahakash; no more names and forms. Simultaneously, the process of evaluation and mind functioning stops, dissolves itself into chidakash. When both mahakash and chidakash become still, it is space only and you are space.

Because of the external body, the "I Amness" is felt. However, in the absence of the body, the "I Amness" is still there without feeling "I Am". I am ever-prevailing.

June 22, 1981 P.M

Just be!

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

The consciousness and "I Amness" are due to what? What is the basic material necessary for that to sprout? It is the five elements, three gunas, and prakriti-purusha. All those result in this space "I Am". What do you have except memory?

Presently, the feeling that you are is also a memory. To sustain that memory of "I Am", all these raw materials are necessary. You are not that "I Am". You are, as the Absolute, prior to this "I Am".

Your most essential step is to stand firmly on your identity as the dynamic, manifest consciousness principle. You stabilize only here. This is your first step. There is nothing else but the knowledge that you are, just be that. Nothing more, nothing less.

One cannot see rays of light, as such, they reflect only when they encounter another object. Similarly, "I Amness" is the interruption because of these five elements and three gunas. That is why the feeling "I Am" is felt; but without the feeling of "I Am", still you are. Light itself emanates from the sun. Everything is stored, the five elements are there; therefore, it is reflecting as the sun. Brightness is seen as the sun because something is there; if something were not there, the rays of light would be spread all over and become invisible as a source of light.

Mahakash is the infinite space. The infinite space is dark. It is dark when you close your eyes. In that physical space all the universe arises and sets and is destroyed.

Finally, what is the result of all the experiences that are going on in the play of consciousness? They are just gone, ending up in pure space.

The whole world is in an ever-changing state. No form will remain permanently. Finally all the forms will vanish in space and become formless.

June 22, 1981.

How to stay stable in awareness?

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

You know you are. That itself is awareness. If you think that you have to be aware, then it becomes an experiential state. You want to experience something. Don't recognize your body as yourself. That is all right for your daily world affairs, identifying with the body, but when you have to understand yourself, don't understand that you are the body. You have the knowledge "I Am". That itself means you are.

Awareness is that state in which the consciousness subsides into itself.

This body is the expression of the product of the food consumed. Material is consumed in the form of food and this is the result. When the food becomes less and less, the body is bound to become emaciated, become thin. This is not your identity. This is not your image.

The food body you are not. The waking state you are not. The deep sleep state you are not. You know the waking state. Since you know the waking state you are not the waking state. You know the deep sleep state; therefore, you are not the deep sleep state.

Visitor: I am lost.

You are .. even when nothing is!

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

When you are stabilized in your own Self, then there is no otherness, you are everything. If you abide in your Self you are like space and there is no duality left. You are as expansive and as subtle as the space, and that is liberation. You are not conditioned by any name or form.If you are like space, what is the point of going elsewhere? The space which is here is also everywhere else. Spirituality is not a child's play. My sentences will tear to pieces the doubts of anyone who listens to them.

First of all, you abide in your own Self and transcend it, and in transcending, you will realize your Ultimate. The words emanating here are not borrowed knowledge, which is available in scriptures and other books; this is from direct experience. You must thoroughly understand what you are, or what you could be when nothing is. When nothing is, you still are. What is that you?

It is all one, and when everything is, still you are; that is understandable, but when nothing is, how can I be?

June 19, 1981.

Consciousness: The Only Capital

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

I do not speak about the body-mind and what goes on in the world. I talk only about your true nature and your true nature is the sense of presence you have, this consciousness.

This sense of presence, this consciousness, is it not prior to anything else? Even thinking about anything for which you have to use your mind, if you are not conscious, can any thought come? Therefore, this sense of presence, this consciousness, is it not the primary thing without which nothing else can happen? Nothing -- no thoughts, no concepts -- can arise by themselves. No activity can arise if the sense of presence is not there. The sense of presence does not need any activity of the mind to know that you are present. You do not have to ask yourself, "Am I present, am I conscious?" There is that intuitive sense of presence, you know you are present.

Falling asleep in meditation

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Q: When I meditate I fall asleep. What can I do to overcome that?

Do not raise this problem at all with me. You are in the three states, the waking state, deep sleep state and the knowledge you are, so why are you dealing with the state which you are not? Why are you interested? It is spontaneously happening. You have to understand that when you are being stabilized in a state prior to waking state, deep sleep, prior to words and even prior to consciousness, something happens in your body state without your doing it. Leave it alone. You are on this side and if something is happening, why are you worried about it? Be yourself. If you are yourself, you need not worry about what is happening at the other end. You are interested in your experiential state. There are so many experiences; such as, I saw blue light, I went up etc., don't tell me all those things. Be yourself and not the experiences. This is also a temporary phase and you are giving it undue importance by saying, "Oh it is something!" It happens naturally.

If you fall into sleep reciting japa, and at midnight you wake up, you will find that japa continuing. If you are alert, be aware of yourself and you will see light in the deepest recesses of your core.

June 10, 1981.

What about reincarnation?

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Even this birth is false. The quality of "I Amness" is because of the body. You don't know whether you exist or not in deep sleep; you don't know you are, that is all. You were not born at all; only the announcement of your existence is there. You existed even prior to your birth; your existence is eternal, but the knowledge that you existed came about when you were a few years old.

Just worry about this birth. Why worry about reincarnation? Think whether this birth is correct.

June 5, 1981.

Get rid of concepts

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Stick to your own consciousness, remain in that. All the burden of your concepts you should fuse into your consciousness, but do not use your consciousness to build edifices of concepts.

The habit of considering Self as the body has influenced everybody too much. The knowledge "I Am" is your Guru, be in it.

Who is the one who sings the bhajan? It is the intellect of that Guru - who are you, an intruder? Of course, the action of the whole world depends on this intellect, but when this intellect reaches its apex, it gets merged into Parabrahman.

You all go on writing a diary of your own concepts - I tell you, finally, it is utterly useless. It will only serve as an instrument of bondage.

April 22, 1981.

Faith will stabilize in you!

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

There is only the slightest touch of "I Amness" left. Henceforth, people will be able to have only darshan, there is not much chance of talking. Whatever faith you entertain about me, that will stabilize in you. It is not the darshan, but your faith in the darshan.

Unusual, rare, strange, astonishing, non-phenomenal; this is the kind of benefit you will receive. The ultimate faith in the Self. Total faith. Whatever you see, don't see it as a mere body. These are truly the limbs of the highest, imperceptible principle that is expressing itself. These limbs have reached the highest.

V: I am convinced.

Now that conviction is so strong for you that it can never be broken. It is total, complete, imperishable.

April 10, 1981.

All this is just an appearance in consciousness

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

If you sit here quietly, being one with the knowledge "I Am", they you are not concerned with the world or what goes on in the world. It is only when the consciousness starts operating and there are various movements in the consciousness that the behaviour in the world takes place. When I am not conscious of the existence of the body, experiences are not registered.

Just as the universe is contained in consciousness, so too this physical body is merely an appearance in consciousness, perceived and cognized by consciousness. No amount of effort can make you understand this; only the deepest apperception of this in consciousness will make that experience happen by itself.

Anyone in that condition, where the consciousness is present but the registration of the existence of the body is not, even in that state the conditions in the body change constantly. All of this is an appearance in consciousness; therefore, consciousness has to suffer all of the changing conditions.

In that state any number of events happen, but all that is really happening is a total functioning against the background of this void which, in reality, is really consciousness. There is no separate identity; what IS is the consciousness, apart from that no one can exist.

When you are very quiet, you have arrived at the basis of everything. That is the deep, dark blue state in which there are millions of stars and planets. When you are in that state, you have no awareness of your existence.

March 24, 1981.

The dream-like state

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

In this process of functioning that becomes manifest, if you accept something as an individual event then it affects you as an individual. If you do not take delivery as an individual but as total functioning, then you are free of whatever is happening. The knowledge of the Self is this dream-like feeling of "I Amness". By assuming a separate identity one taints that which is taint-less; that is the original sin.

Consciousness is the cause

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

When you came, was it not on account of your body-mind? Not only is the body-mind unreal, but this manifest consciousness, this universe, is also unreal. The "I Amness" is dream-like, ephemeral.

Even the feeling of having understood is likely to lead one into a sense of illusion, because the individual thinks he has found something to impart to others, but there is no individual.

It is so easy to get totally lost when juggling words, by attaching too much importance to them. Just remember that the total functioning of the manifest happens through the friction of the five elements and the talking which takes place is a part of the total functioning. There is no question of anyone seeking a particular benefit for himself as an individual teacher.

Man identifies himself with the gross form, he neither recognizes nor identifies with the manifest consciousness. All the activities go on because of the consciousness, but no one really understands it.

When people come here they have many questions and they think, after a while, they know something, but when they finally know there will be no questions to ask.

March 12, 1981.

Only the Absolute Prevails - Always!

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Nothing in the world is of any use to me. That very identity with which you try to understand everything is unreal. Daily you have to convince yourself about yourself. You have to carry out your life, first of all assuring yourself that you are. Nothing has happened except the knowingness, only a pin-prick of knowingness against the background of your innate nature of no-knowingness, and this is of no help at all.

I don't have any identity arising out of consciousness. Presently this body is undergoing a lot of agony: dizziness, pain; all these things are happening at the physical level. In spite of this state, the talk comes out inspiringly. What permits that? It is a guna, the beingness. That beingness not only experiences your visits here, but it also experiences various changes and transformations in this body and in the world.

Prior to words, you are!

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

So long as you identify yourself with the body, you will not have satisfaction. This is the space, I am not the space. You must have the firm conviction about your own Self. You must have that deep urge to know yourself. Grace is always there. Your first conviction, that "you are", which is prior to words, to that you have given the form of a body. Give up this bodily identity. Prior to words you are, just be that.

V: How can I be that?

Whatever you are, don't give it any shape or design, that is all. If you are, then everything else is. Worshiping books and being devoted to books will lead you nowhere. Be your Self. Be devoted to your Self, worship only that. Worship the knowledge "I Am" as a God, as your Guru.

June 11, 1981.

How did we lose the pure state?

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

M: Every being experiences the Isvara state, either directly or potentially, but he is so wrapped up in this objective world that he loses his identity. You must know what this "I Am" principle is. It appears spontaneously and with its appearance begins the riddle of conceptual life.

Q: How do I start this search for my Self?

M: Start from the beginning. In this gross world I began with my parents, because I knew full well that my principle was already dwelling there in the collection of their bodily elements out of which I emanated. But I came to the conclusion that I could not be that principle which came from the mother's body. There is nobody here who is 100 years old. Does that mean that 100 years ago you did not exist?

You are what you seek!

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Those who come here with the idea of getting knowledge, even spiritual knowledge, come here as individuals aspiring to get something; that is the real difficulty. The seeker must disappear.

When you know your real nature the knowledge "I Am" remains, but that knowledge is unlimited. It is not possible for you to acquire knowledge, you are knowledge. You are what you are seeking.

Your true being exists prior to the arising of any concept. Can you, as an object, understand something that existed prior to the arising of any concept? In the absence of consciousness is there any proof of the existence of anything? Consciousness itself is mind, is thought, is all phenomena, all manifestation. Apprehending this is being dead to "I am the body" while alive. This kind of knowledge comes only in a rare case, and is a very elusive kind of knowledge where no effort is necessary; in fact, effort itself is a hindrance. It is intuitive understanding.
 

November 18, 1980