NamaJapa is Sattva-Tamas

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

Q: I have a Guru and I love him very much. But whether he is my Guru I do not know.

M: Watch yourself. If you see yourself changing, growing, it means you have found the right man. He may be beautiful or ugly, pleasant or unpleasant, flattering you or scolding; nothing matters except the one crucial fact of inward growth. If you don't, well, he may be your friend, but not your Guru.

Q: When I meet a European with some education and talk to him about a Guru and his teachings, his reaction is: ‘the man must be mad to teach such nonsense’. What am I to tell him?

M: Take him to himself. Show him, how little he knows of himself, how he takes the most absurd statements about himself for holy truth. He is told that he is the body, was born, will die, has parents, duties, learns to like what others like and fear what others fear. Totally a creature of heredity and society, he lives by memory and acts by habits. Ignorant of himself and his true interests, he pursues false aims and is always frustrated. His life and death are meaningless and painful, and there seems to be no way out. Then tell him, there is a way out within his easy reach, not a conversion to another set of ideas, but liberation from all ideas and patterns of living. Don't tell him about Gurus and disciples - this way of thinking is not for him. His is an inner path, he is moved by an inner urge and guided by an inner light. Invite him to rebel and he will respond. Do not try to impress on him that so-and-so is a realized man and can be accepted as a Guru. As long as he does not trust himself, he cannot trust another. And confidence will with experience.

Q: How strange! I cannot imagine a life without a Guru.

M: It is a matter of temperament. You too are right. For you, singing the praises of God is enough. You need not desire liberation or take up a sadhana. God's name is all the food you need. Live on it.

Q: This constant repetition of a few words, is it not like a kind of madness?

M: It is madness, but it is deliberate madness. All repetitiveness is tamas, but repeating the name of God is sattva-tamas due to its high purpose. Because of the presence of sattva, the tamas will wear out and will take the shape of complete dispassion, detachment, relinquishment, aloofness, immutability. Tamas becomes the firm foundation on which an integrated life can be lived.

Q: The immutable - does it die?

M: It is changing that dies. The immutable neither lives nor dies; it is the timeless witness of life and death. You cannot call it dead, for it is aware. Nor can you call it alive, for it does not change. It is just like your tape-recorder. It records, it reproduces - all by itself. You only listen. Similarly, I watch all that happens, including my talking to you. It is not me who talks, the words appear in my mind and then I hear them said.

Q: Is it not the case with everybody?

M: Who said no? But you insist that you think, you speak, while to me there is thinking, there is speaking.