Each one of us, as a phenomenon, is merely an appearance in the consciousness of those who perceive us, and, therefore, what we appear to be is a phenomenon — temporal, finite and perceptible to the senses; whereas what we are, what we have always been and what we shall always be, without name and form, is the noumenon — timeless, spaceless, imperceptible being.
Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
I do not think that I know this well;
nor do I think that I do not know this.
He among us who knows that –
“Neither do I know, nor do I do not know”
- perceives That well.
Kenopanishad
नाहं मन्ये सुवेदेति नो न वेदेति वेद च ।
यो नस्तद्वेद तद्वेद नो न वेदेति वेद च ॥
Yoga means union, joining. What have you re-united, re-joined? Even to talk of re-uniting the person with the self is not right, because there is no person, only a mental picture given a false reality by conviction. Nothing was divided and there is nothing to unite.
~Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. I am That. Ch.34
All the concepts of religions including traditional vedanta - like karma, reincarnation, progress, do this, don't do this, etc., - are all based on the presupposition of a pseudo-entity which seeks enlightenment. Such an entity does not exist. Anything that prescribes a definite set of dos and don'ts which guarantees your upliftment, is religion, not nonduality. It is as simple as imagining a dragon in your backyard. The only way out is to stop imagining. You will never achieve anything by learning more about how the dragon moves.
Question: I have, as advised by you, retired to a solitary place where I am engaged in investigating the Self. Even so, I have diverse visions and experiences. Thinking that the constant Self-awareness is dimmed by the uncalled-for interference of mental activities, I forcibly repressed my thoughts and remained calm. Darkness superseded, light appeared, sleep supervened and finally unique bliss overpowered me for a little while. Is this the Self, or something different? Please analyse these experiences of mine and tell me, so that I may clearly understand them.
Answer: Listen to me, closely. What you have now done to restrain thoughts with the mind turned inward (vichara) is a good beginning and praised by the worthy as the best way. Without it, no one has ever been successful anywhere. However, it does not produce Self-realisation, for the Self remains realised at all times. If a product, it cannot be the Self. For, how can the Self be got anew? So then, the Self is never gained. Gain is of something which is not already possessed. Is there any moment when the Self is not the Self? Neither is control of mind used to gain it.
I shall give you some examples:
Just as things unseen in darkness are found on its removal by means of a lamp, and are therefore said to be recovered from oblivion. Just as a confused man forgets his purse, but remembers and locates it on keeping his mind unruffled and steady, yet still says that he has gained the lost purse, though the steadying of his mind did not produce it. So also the control of your mind is not the cause of your Self-realisation; though the Self is always there, it is not recognised by you even with a controlled mind because you are not conversant with it. Just as a yokel unacquainted with the system cannot understand the dazzling lights of the royal audience-chamber at night and so ignores its magnificence at first sight, so it is that you miss the Self.
Attend dear! Blank darkness was visible after you controlled your thoughts. In the short interval before its appearance and after the control of mind, there remains a state free from the effort to control and the perception of darkness. Always remember that state as the one of perfect and transcendental happiness. All are deceived in that state because their minds are accustomed to be turned outward. Though people may be learned, skilful and keen, still they search and search, only to be thwarted and they do not abide in that holy state. They grieve day and night, without knowing this state. Mere theoretical knowledge of sculpture can never make a man a sculptor. Though he will be a pandit well-grounded in the theory and the discussion of the philosophy of the Self, he cannot realise the Self because it is not realisable but already realised.
Realisation is not attained by going far, but only by staying still; not by thought, but by cessation of thought. Effort towards Realisation is like the attempt to stamp with one’s foot on the shadow cast by one’s head. Effort will always make it recede. Just as an infant try to take hold of his own reflection being unaware of the mirror, so also common people are taken in by their mental reflections in the mirror of the pure, luminous Self and are not aware of the mirror, because they have no acquaintance with the Self. Although people understand space, they are not aware of it because they are taken up by the objects in space. They understand the universe in space but have no regard for space itself. Similarly, it is with them in regard to the Self.
- The teachings of Sage Dattatreya.
Tripura Rahasya.
Excerpt from the Chapter IX.
● Are the buildings, land, and the trees - Bombay?
● Bombay is a concept superimposed on the totality of things viewed collectively.
● If some of them or all of them are reproduced somewhere, will that be Bombay? No.
● Can such a concept called Bombay have karma or rebirth? No.
● Your present identity is also the same. It is a concept superimposed on the tendencies, emotions and thoughts viewed collectively.
● It cannot have any karma or rebirth.
● Karma and rebirth are religious superstitions.
Maharaj rejects the idea of re-birth or re-incarnation out of hand, and the basis for such rejection is so simple that it humbles us: the entity which is supposed to be re-born does not exist, except as a mere concept! How can a concept be re-born?
Maharaj in all innocence asks the protagonist of re-birth: "Please, I want to know, who is it that would be re-born?" The body 'dies' and, after death, is demolished — buried or cremated—as quickly as possible. The body, in other words, has been irreparably, irretrievably, irrevocably destroyed. That body, therefore, which was an objective thing cannot be re-born. How then can anything non-objective like the life-force (the breath), which, on the death of the body, merged with the air outside, or the consciousness which merged with the Impersonal Consciousness, be re-born either?
Perhaps, says Maharaj, you will say that the entity concerned will be re-born. But that would be utterly ridiculous. You do know that the 'entity' is nothing but a concept, a hallucination which arises when consciousness mistakenly identifies itself with the particular form.
How did the idea of re-birth arise at all? It was perhaps conceived as some sort of an acceptable working theory to satisfy the simpler people who were not intelligent enough to think beyond the parameters of the manifested world.
~Pointers from Nisargadatta Maharaj
• Your body contains about 7x1027 atoms.
• All of them are billions of years old – as old as this universe.
• You don’t own any of them.
• They were once part of other people, animals, birds, trees – all the good and bad things.
• Where do you figure in these atoms?
What you believe to be yourself is a conceptual entity superimposed. All qualities of that identity are derived from this body and its environment. It exists only in the minds that perceive it.
Such a conceptual entity cannot be reborn. Such a conceptual entity cannot carry any ‘karma’. Those are religious superstitions.
Sri Nisargadatta Sadhana (श्रीनिसर्गदत्तसाधना श्रीनिसर्गदत्त महाराज)
English Edited and Compiled by : Dr.Pradip Apte
Marathi Book Name : Sri Nisargadatta Sadhana श्रीनिसर्गदत्तसाधना
Marathi Translation by : Shri Sachin Kshirsagar & Dr.Milind Patwardhan
Pages : 87
Quotes for Meditation Theory & Technique from Sri Maharaj ten main English books.
Spirituality in wonderland:
Just to understand that 'Alice' is a fictional character in 'wonderland' is not enough. There's more to it.
Even if she understood it thoroughly, she must have a 'Guru' in 'wonderland'.
The Guru should give her a wonderland-mantra to repeat.
Does she have the authority to know all these?
Has she been initiated into the lineage of knowing 'Alice'?
For years, she needs to study thoroughly about the features of 'wonderland' and behaviour of 'Alice'.
She should rigorously twist her body to do 'wonderland-yoga'.
Do you know how many sisters 'Alice' had? If not what use is your spirituality?
You have to worship God-of-wonderland first.
Wait, what is 'Alice' eating? Is it vegetarian?
This book describes about the previous births of 'Alice'. Learn that first.
'Alice' went through bad experiences due to her bad 'karma'.
Even if 'Alice' fails to get liberated now, it will be done in her next birth in 'wonderland'.
• It is enough to know what you are not.
• It is enough to know both 'Alice' and 'wonderland' are fictional.
• There cannot be liberation for 'Alice' from 'wonderland', whatever she may do.
• Same is the case with 'you' too.
• Consciousness is a reflection of the Absolute against the surface of matter, bringing about a sense of duality.
• Awareness becomes consciousness only when it has an object to reflect against.
• Reflection of the sun in a drop of dew is not the sun!
- Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj
Where is "liberation" for the reflection?
Where is "karma" and "rebirth" for the reflection?
• You think you were born, but what was born was duration in which you as an object have become perceptible.
• What you think you are, is duration, time; what you subjectively are, is timeless.
