Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 144

When that witness itself, which is ‘I am’, subsides, what remains? With the witness gone, all other things have disappeared too. By the same token upon the arising of the ‘I am’, the whole manifestation takes place; these two are not separate, they are one, ‘I am’ is the witness, the entire manifest world is because of this.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj with Mr.Hate in front of Vanmali Building - Photo 143

The ‘sadhana’, the discipline, is only this: The knowledge which is dwelling in this body, the quintessence of these three ‘gunas’ – the knowledge ‘I am’, ‘I am that’ – this is the initial step. You must be one with it; you must abide in that only. You have to think ‘I am not the body but I am that formless, nameless knowledge indwelling in this body’; that (is) ‘I am’. When you abide sufficiently long in this state, whatever doubts you may have, that knowledge ‘I am’ itself will sprout out with life and meaning for you, intended for you only, and everything will become clear. No external knowledge will be necessary.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 142

My statement, and that of my guru, is that childhood is a cheat, it is false. The knowledge ‘I am’ itself is a cheat. When the beingness appears, that love for existence is a result of the primary illusion, that ‘maya’. Once you come to know that you exist, you feel like enduring eternally, you always want to be, to exist, to survive. And so the struggle begins, all because of ‘maya’.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj with Maurice Frydman - Photo 141

Nisargadatta Maharaj with Maurice Frydman (right end)

This conviction can be strengthened by meditation, ‘dhyana’. And ‘dhyana’ means the knowledge must remain in meditation with the knowledge. Now, what is meditation? Meditation is the knowledge ‘I am’ remaining in that knowledge. There is the waking state and the sleep state, and the knowledge that you are, I exist, and I know that I exist. Other than that what capital does anyone have than merely knowledge ‘I am’? ‘Dhyana’ is when this knowledge, this consciousness that I am, meditates on itself and not on something other than itself.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 140

There is that nine-month period in the womb. So what is the content of the womb? It is that knowledge ‘I am’ in dormant condition. This is being developed slowly, so within the birth principle everything is contained. That which is called birth, the birth principle is ‘turiya’; the experience that you exist itself is ‘turiya’. ‘Turiya’ means where the consciousness is. One who knows ‘turiya’ is ‘turiyatita’. That is my state. ‘Turiya’ is within the consciousness, which is the product of the five elements. And one who transcends that, who knows the ‘turiya’, is ‘turiyatita’. In order to stabilize in ‘turiya’, you must know the birth principle. ‘Turiya’ is always described as the witness state that sees through waking, dreaming and sleeping. And ‘turiyatita’ is even beyond that.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 139

So long as the concept ‘I am’ is still there, they (people who contact maharaj) have not gone beyond or prior to it; they have not gone beyond the total manifestation. So now when people come here, I talk with them, from what level am I talking? I am talking from the level that you are consciousness and not the body-mind. In my state whatever comes out is from the total manifestation, not from the point of view of the Absolute. Hang on to that consciousness, which is your only capital, and do ‘dhyana’ and let that unfold whatever knowledge has to be unfolded.

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During the last days... Photo 138

With firm conviction, you abide in this knowledge ‘I am’ only; bereft of body-mind sense, only ‘I am’. If you dwell therein, if you be that only, in due course it will get mature. And it will reveal to you all the knowledge. And you need not go to anybody else.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 137

What equipment you are having is that ‘prana’. ‘Upasana’ means worship, worship of ‘prana’ itself. For doing that what equipment do you possess? It is ‘prana’ itself. Along with ‘prana’ there is that knowledge ‘I am’, or consciousness. These two things are available to you to do anything, nothing more than that.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 136

What is this state before this knowledge ‘I am’ came upon me? When the knowledge ‘I am’ came, the one who is satisfied with that will reach the state where he considers himself God and ‘Brahman’. But he does not go beyond it or prior to it. In the ultimate state lies the prior state; that is, the state before this knowledge ‘I am’ ever dawned on me – the highest state, the best state, the original state.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 135

These two entities are available to you, the vital force and the knowledge ‘I am’, the consciousness. They appear without any effort; they are there. Now, in order to be one with ‘Ishwara’, to understand the non-duality you must worship the vital force. Then that knowledge, which is in seed form, slowly grows. And the seeker becomes full of knowledge; in the process he transcends that, and the ultimate state is achieved.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 134

If you are able to establish yourself in the vital breath as you are, you become manifest. The vital breath, when it is conditioned by the body, you call it personality. But as matter the vital breath is spread all over, it is manifest; it is universal. If you establish in the vital breath as ‘I am’, that in itself will get you there. Don’t be dishonest to your vital breath, worship it, and when you do so, it can lead you anywhere, to any heights – this is the quintessence of my talks. In such simplified fashion, nobody has expounded this profound teaching.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 133

When the ‘I amness’ appears spontaneously, like a bolt of lightening, the illusion of Self-love is broken into five basic elements, space, air, earth, fire and water. But this Self-love, the ‘I am’ manifests itself as Sattva Guna to the one who accepts this as a natural process. When it is used for achieving something in the world it is referred to as Rajas Guna. When it is used to take credit for achievements, it is referred to as Tamas Guna.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 132

The child has been given an idea who its parents are, but is just a concept. Similarly the ‘I am’ is just a concept. The child has been given the idea that ‘He is’. First you must investigate ‘Who is’ and what this ‘I amness’ is.You want to know what the support is for the ‘I am’? My parents supported me! When do these two people, the husband and the wife become parents? It’s when a child is born, is that not true? Where are the parents before the birth of the child? And what is the child? The child is the root of parents; the child is also the father of the parents. Because of the child the parents are. This shows how completely hollow our egos are.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 131

Becoming established in the Awareness ‘I am’ is all that is important. Later on you also transcend the ‘I amness’. Just as a storm is a form created by nature, similarly this ‘I am’, this chemical, was also created. Forget about what I have told you, because that is also a mechanical thing, a chemical. Just be Aware, and then it won’t matter if you die a hundred times.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 130

My Guru told me ‘Divinity’ (Paramatman) is what you are’, I heard it and I accepted it, I did not want to gain anything, I just accepted it. I never knew that ‘I’ existed and suddenly I was aware that ‘I am’ this Absolute Truth. I had complete faith in the words of my Guru and then later on everything happened spontaneously.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 129

I have many photographs of my Guru here, because my Guru ‘is’ I know ‘I am’. You presume that your Guru is a body-mind and that is a mistake. I do not look upon my Guru like that. He is merged into Consciousness and I see him as that.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 128

You must become initiated into the understanding of what I am expounding to you. I am telling about the seed of ‘Brahman’. You have to understand that I am planting the ‘Brahma’ seed in you. That ‘Brahma’ seed is your ‘I amness’ (Beingness), which sprouts into manifestation. That ‘Brahman’ (‘I am’) state does not require anything to eat, it has no hunger, because ‘Brahman’ alone embraces everything and all manifestation is ‘Brahman’. I am trying to raise you to that state. Do not think that you can become a realized soul only by listening to a few talks. You have to forget everything and merge with ‘Brahman’.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 127

Take it that you are That. ‘That’ means no shape, no design. Whatever you see pertains only to That, to your ‘I amness’. Spontaneously ‘It is’! You are That principle. Don’t try to unravel it with your intellect. Just observe and accept it as it is.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj - Photo 126

That principle ‘I am’ is your illusion but the Oneness got rid of that illusion. Then one is without body or mind. The principle of Oneness has no shape, therefore male and female have no shape – this is the wedding of the male and female. At that stage the barren women conceived and progeny is delivered! That is the ‘I am’ state and that is the universe. But this Oneness is not a state of illusion.

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Nisargadatta Maharaj with his son Chittaranjan and Grandchildren - Photo 125

Nisargadatta Maharaj with his son Chittaranjan (right end) and Grandchildren

This body is only the food body for the consumption and the sustenance of the ‘I amness’. You have to remain in that Beingness or Consciousness with firm faith while having no identification with the body or the personality, or with name and form. Always identify yourself with Consciousness, it will take a while for this conviction to root, but persist.

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