Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
M: Do you have questions? [To a particular visitor] What happened to your question?
Visitor (V): I try to understand that level where there should be no more questions. Why should I come down to this level and put questions in this case?
M: What happened to your question?
V: They are in the beginning. But in the ultimate state, there are no questions. Why should I come down to a low level to ask questions?
M: Who invited you to step down into questions?
Interpreter [I]: If you don't want to ask questions, what is the point of meeting him [Maharaj]?
M: In the morning I clearly told you, I am not addressing you as a person, as an individual. I am addressing you as the expression of the consciousness. In these dialogues, there is no question of I am you. This consciousness is the product of the food body essence and is talking to that expression of the consciousness. You always assume that whatever occurs to you is knowledge, but it is really a concept. True knowledge is beyond concept, prior to concept. The conceptless, wordless, speechless state is knowledge. The trouble is that a foreign concept occurs to you, you like it, then you give it a title, you remember the title and you call it "knowledge" and are satisfied with it. How can you speak or develop any concept unless the primary concept "I AM" is available? This primary concept begets further concepts; that is, all other concepts occur to it. We call it God, Ishvara, and such names; and all that we call "knowledge." This primary concept illuminates all those concepts which later became my knowledge. However, whatever concept occurs to you, including the primary concept " I AM", is not the eternal state.
This primary concept occurred to you, then you called it Brahman, Ishvara. Because you like it, because you like to be, you give it these glorious names as mentioned. But with all that, it is still only a concept. Why is not eternal? Because its very foundation is this food body only. So long as the food body is available in proper balance and proper condition, that "I-am-ness" or any other concept will be sustained.
Now where is your sample available in this? It is not to be found in you as the Absolute. Only the sample of the food essence in the form of " I-am-ness," a touch of "I-am-ness," is available.
I am telling you my story. And while I am narrating my story to you, it means that you are getting to know your own self. If you understand my story, you will also understand your own story. Abide in yourself. Actually Lord Krishna expounded his story; but he gave it the glorious name of Brahma vidya, the knowledge of Brahman. Can anything good or bad happen to the Brahma vidya, knowledge of the Self? Since nothing good or bad can happen to that Brahman, that Parabrahman is known as nishkama, the desireless Parabrahman state. The knowledge of beingness, the knowledge of the self, is like the utility of an unborn child; it has absolutely no use. Similarly, this Brahma vidya in final analysis is of no use.
Most of the so-called jnanis unjustifiably thought that they had the knowledge through certain concepts which they valued very much. They glorified the concepts by giving them various high-falutin names. And they hung on to thse particular concepts as their creed, religion, or profound knowledge. Even this primary concept, "I-am-ness," is dishonest, just because it is still only a concept. Finally, one has to transcend that also and be in the nirvikalpa state, which means the concept-free state. Then you have no concept at all, not even of I AM. In that state one does not know that one is. This state is known as Parabrahman: Brahman transcended. Brahman is manifest; Parabrahman is beyond that, prior to that: the Absolute. Do you understand what I am driving at?
Whatever you caught in your attention, that attention should eventually turn into no-attention. The state that is finally left over is Awareness, Parabrahman.
I am addressing the consciousness. The instrument of consciousness for comprehension is attention. Anything is absorbed in the attention and whatever is really understood goes through that attention, which itself is then dissolved into and as consciousness. So what remains? No concept is left. Thus, attention also turns into no-attention. With the arrival of consciousness, it occurs to you or in your attention. So when the consciousness is not there, attention is also not there. Subsequent to the arrival of consciousness and attention, everything else crept in. Now let us assume that through your attention you are able to embrace the entire manifest universe. When your consciousness is not there, where is that attention which embraced the entire universe? Therefore, the jnani-jnani is that principle where there is no question of a person-transcends this "I-am-ness" state. It is the "no-I-am-ness" state. The jnani dismisses the consciousness. A jnani has no scope at all for any pride, because there are no props left for supporting his pride.
The absolute state is prior to consciousness; it means the unborn state. Since the Parabrahman is the unborn state, prior to consciousness, can it have an iota of knowledge?
An unborn child does not know of his existence. Similarly, the Parabrahman state does not know itself, that it is. My words are only rooted in the Absolute. You must be able to divine any meaning out of them.
The principle that understands relationships and tries to understand, still exists in the realm of consciousness; it is in the realm of attention. But that to which it points has no attention in it.