Parabrahman Not a Commodity

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

V: So in Parabrahman, you can know both the world and no-world.

M: Everything depends on the appearance of that consciousness. If that consciousness is there, then also witnessing of the world happens. If there is no consciousness, then there is no world. Why do you know anything right now?

V: Because I am.

M: Because of that 'I-am-ness,' you know the world. A hundred years back, you did not know anything. Then you were the Parabrahman, because the 'I-am-ness' was not yet there.

V: Can't I still be Parabrahman now?

M: This is no joke, but you can become Parabrahman right now. Only, it is not a commodity that you can acquire. You, a hundred years ago, were the Parabrahman. Give me all the information about that state of a hundred years back. Focus your attention only on that consciousness I AM. Don't be led astray by all the so-called spiritual disciplines and rigamaroles.

V: Does this consciousness within the body have anything to do with the universal consciousness?

M: One is the expression of the other. If the pulse were not there, could that which is considered the individual body do anything in the world? The life force, the breath, is the expression of the mind and the consciousness. When you talk of one, the others have to be there. All the three are made one complex. Without one, the others can't work. Now, the difficulty arises because what this consciousness is is at once the universal consciousness - that is, the feeling of Presence, "I am Presence" - not: I am present or you are present or he is present. But unfortunately, the identification is with the body and I am not the Whole but a divisible part of the Whole. And therefore one thinks in terms of acquiring something. But when one sees the situation as it really is, that no individual is involved, that what is present is Presence as a whole and merely the expression of the Absolute, then the moment this is perceived there is liberation. Liberation is nothing else than seeing this with full conviction.