Nisargadatta

(TALKS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ)

“COME TO THE CONCLUSION: I AM UNBORN, I WAS UNBORN AND I

SHALL REMAIN UNBORN” –

SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ

Edited by

PRADEEP APTE, PhD

Composed by

Vijayendra Deshpande

12. Nisargadatta

20th December 1979

Maharaj: Nisarga means natural, nature, no birth no death, just there. In this universe, species take birth and return back to nature, they go nowhere.
Sattva, Rajas and Tamas(the three gunas) are the limbs of nature, the five elements and three gunas are inherent in nature. This body (deha) is born in nature and nature only, nothing else and is without identity.

The world is created out of dirt, natural physical emissions turn into beautiful human forms. I am going to sign – NISARGADATTA – nature itself. Any stance has limitations but I am beyond that, nature only, vast nature, no shape or form and no limitations. If you want to be Nisargadatta, do only one thing, be in that state of harmony which is consciousness, being in natural harmony, all the puzzles will be solved.
After one has accepted this state (the knowledge of one’s just being), many kinds of things can happen. Some will have long life; others will have a glimpse of what is generally known as heaven, that state (beingness) will itself create heaven. Beingness is the cause and lord of all manifestations – Vishnu, Ishwara. When this food-body disappears, this beingness will also disappear. In nature – Nisargadatta – there are millions of years and lives, what has happened to them? What are they doing? Reincarnation and the rest are all just concepts to while away time.

There are millions of fish, can you have kundalini for them? Because of identification we have created trouble. Fish have no trouble, since they have no identity; concepts help only to pass time. Everybody wants things when alive, we do this and we do that, after death, when breath is gone,consciousness gone, what is of oneself that remains? Nature knows no end, no beginning, all concepts are only moments in consciousness; one considers oneself as an individual and suffers.

What is the process in meditation? I and the universe are one, this concept is the same as mind and breath, no breath, therefore no mind. Can I then say I want anything? Therefore, tell me what do you do exactly in meditation?

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A Wound

(TALKS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ)

“COME TO THE CONCLUSION: I AM UNBORN, I WAS UNBORN AND I

SHALL REMAIN UNBORN” –

SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ

Edited by

PRADEEP APTE, PhD

Composed by

Vijayendra Deshpande

11. A Wound

19th December 1979

Maharaj: Can you ever complete anything in a lifetime? Various studies, spiritual practices like japa, tapa and so forth? All are of no avail. It was only when I met my Guru who was beyond beingness, the Absolute that did the trick happen in a fraction of a second.

The food-body is the essence of beingness, that gone, beingness goes, you are not the beingness. For the one who is convinced, there is no need or necessity for meditation. So long as beingness is there meditation will go on. In the book ‘I AM THAT’ the method was shown, had Maurice Frydman been alive, I’d expound it. Now the book ‘I AM THAT’ has been transcended, presently I have no form or name.

Hold on to the knowingness, not words, whatever you are, be there effortlessly, absolutely without effort, affirm what you have heard, the listener and the listened matter is ultimately useless. The five elemental essence, activated by three gunas, is beingness. When you know you are not the beingness, let be the beingness, you are not concerned. All talk is because of beingness, the beingness is doing all the talking, not you.

Take the example of the Banana plant, it is planted, it grows, bears fruits and then weakens and dies, although some sprouts of the plant will still be there. After the age of forty to forty-five, strength diminishes, finally there is death. Like the plant, we have birth, strength and then diminishing. But what is now giving the talk? That birth-principle – ‘I am’, the beingness (the child root). Finally, the child consciousness principle also disappears; eat what you like, still that child-consciousness principle weakens, body weakens. A dead body is heavy, that little touch (consciousness) has gone out, with that touch it moved. The root is then reborn, but whose birth?
There are so many births and so many forms, all is the play of beingness, the primary illusion, the mool-maya.

All talk pertains to my death, which I am experiencing. A dead person is cremated, why think of him? After listening to my talk, why think of it again, because we are all ultimately disposed off.

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It’s kept in your Palm!

(TALKS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ)

“COME TO THE CONCLUSION: I AM UNBORN, I WAS UNBORN AND I

SHALL REMAIN UNBORN” –

SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ

Edited by

PRADEEP APTE, PhD

Composed by

Vijayendra Deshpande

10. It’s kept in your Palm!
18th December 1979

Maharaj: You are shouting in wilderness by which you can bring about no
change individually. Observe, be, enjoy, and don’t try to bring about a change in manifestation as it is. The best state is, desirelessly just being.
You are talking as an individual, taking fragments into consideration, hence, the misery. Can you bring about any change in the nature of water and so forth?

As individuals in ignorance, you fear death and get destroyed by it. There is no death if you go to the source from where you emanate. With accumulated knowledge, you want to possess that, so there is misery.
Whatever you have accumulated as knowledge let it flow out and just be.
When you give up everything, people will fall at your feet, just watch. From the moment of beingness, to the starting of everything, including what you are today is all spontaneous.

You have taken this disguise (Ochre robe), in your true nature, you don’t belong to it. When you realize such a state everything will be done, don’t participate, just watch the happenings effortlessly. Rajneesh, Muktananda and the rest are doing nothing, everything is happening effortlessly. I am telling you from the standpoint of my own understanding. It is the logic of spiritualism that gives satisfaction; spiritual discrimination helps you not to be unhappy. As individual, you tend to compare and thus become unhappy. The One who has merged with is Guru is not afraid of any calamities.

Worlds are created and destroyed, how did I survive and observe all this?
Only the One who has transcended everything can employ such discrimination. I have appeared spontaneously without my knowing and everything is happening spontaneously. Having realized this do what you like, even if you sit in a desert, it will become a place of pilgrimage.
My Guru said ‘The source of the entire world is kept on your palm, here it is, you are not that beingness’. Out of sheer providence or good luck someone is inclined to understand all this, in the process his own being gets pleased with him and provides him all the knowledge.

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Worship the ‘I am’

(TALKS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ)

“COME TO THE CONCLUSION: I AM UNBORN, I WAS UNBORN AND I

SHALL REMAIN UNBORN” –

SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ

Edited by

PRADEEP APTE, PhD

Composed by

Vijayendra Deshpande

9. Worship the ‘I am’

17th December 1979

Maharaj: I have separated myself from the food-body.

Flowers come in different colors, but they are made up of the same five elements. Why should I worry about differences?, from the same five elements arise all the forms with different time limits, no one has control over that time limit. Different forms, as per their thinking have different activities.

About you all, you have a liking for truth; it has arisen from your individuality, so you are after it.

Visitor: Maharaj had worshipped Ishwara.

M: What is Ishwara? My Guru told me that the one who is listening is Ishwara itself. The ‘I am’ is Ishwara, there are various names given to that ‘I am’ but that ‘I am’ is not your body. Your knowledge ‘I am’ contains the whole universe, presently it is difficult for you to believe, so for the moment worship it. Beingness contains everything, worship that and all your requirements will be met.

Ultimately the knowledge is yours. (Note: Worshipping for Maharaj was in the ignorant state, now his state is different. At the moment he sees you as himself, he contains everything. There is no individuality anymore, whatever you see is he, and you are also contained in him. He is not an individual with form, he is all pervasive. There is no involvement in him when he does the bhajans, his Guru asked him to do bhajans, so he is chanting them.)

All forms have the five elements and water is there in all forms. The ignorance is yours because you believe that you are an individual, not mine. As for me there is no birth, no death, creation, destruction and suffering will go on.

(Note: Maharaj is all pervasive, he is totality, and that’s his Nisarga nature). The five elements, three gunas, and Purusha and Prakriti go on to make the nature all forms arise and merge in it, Buddha too merged in nature. There is no individual, no manifestation without the elements and Purusha and Prakriti, the male and female aspects. You think in terms of male and female, but for Maharaj, Purusha and Prakriti have no forms.)

Because of your body-mind you cannot understand Purusha and Prakriti. Because of their activity, creation goes on, in reality there is no male and female. There is steel and there are so many products made out of it, it depends on the use as to which we want to put it. Consciousness is the same in all forms, but the behavior of each is different, which is decided at the time of birth, the differences last as long as the form is there.

Forms disintegrate, but there is no difference in my experience. There is no difference between the quality of the born and the unborn child, this is the great news of enlightenment. One is born or unborn, the difference is only of birth or no birth, in reality, there is no difference.

The born vanishes and again becomes identical with the unborn. The difference is temporary, my body is similar to the unborn, and so I am happy. This existence is momentary, why give it importance? We believe it to be a long period, but it is momentary like a dream.

A five minute dream, but a hundred years of life is contained in it. A movie depicts a life story, but it is the writer’s skill, is it real? Life is like that.

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Beingness

(TALKS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ)

“COME TO THE CONCLUSION: I AM UNBORN, I WAS UNBORN AND I

SHALL REMAIN UNBORN” –

SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ

Edited by

PRADEEP APTE, PhD

Composed by

Vijayendra Deshpande

8. Beingness

16th December 1979

Visitor: Is it possible to know how we are with and without body?

Maharaj: For a Jnani, yes, the reality is known to him and he dwells in non-duality. But all that is, is his form only. Even Lord Rama had to take help of the five elements, but he was not an individual. Now in this (Maharaj), you see form because of the limits of the five elemental forms, if you come here (where Maharaj is) you will be finished! You will see the universe as a whole. So long as your beingness is, there is form; there is no individual, only the elements. Whatever originates from earth is itself ignorance, so everything is ignorance.

V: This earth is knowledge or ignorance? Whatever emanates is ignorance?

M: The Jnani transcends knowledge; all forms are from the earth and back to the earth. As to how they (the Jnanis) are without form, only they know.

V: What is Aum? Is Aum Maya?

M: The Aum and beingness are same, whatever occurs, you just give it a name. My inner reality is quiet, fire is flame but quiet. So long as individual personality is there, you have pain and pleasure, no individual and it’s all over. Fire in this napkin is unseen; there is a flame in it but quiet. From your consciousness come space, air and fire, once you know the truth, then it doesn’t matter whether Maya exists or not. The intellectual people will not know me a hundred percent whereas a simple, uncomplicated person will. Even with the slightest intellectuality, it is difficult; however simple, uncomplicated people will easily meditate.

V: Is there knowledge in any word?

M: The One, who is Eternal, is making use of words to talk. Once I know what I am and what I am not, I need not worry about other things. I am the Eternal with no end, no beginning.

V: The simple one has the knowledge to know what he is not, thereafter nothing else is needed.

M: One has to look at oneself as to what one is, it’s not necessary to worry about others. If somebody says, for instance, you are this or that, you investigate, and you find out that you are greater, you are the Eternal principle. All words are just rice and curry!

Ultimately, it’s the Sattva that is born, the same entity, rest are all just names, father, mother and so on, extended existence through beingness. Animals, plants and the rest, all Sattva, consciousness is born. Womb means hidden, ‘Hiranya garbha’ (the golden womb) means hidden like fire in the womb of the towel. The towel is earth, the food sheath is vital and so is the breath. Where are all of you heading for? Nowhere, this is a ditch of concepts. The ‘I am’ is objective, it is the ‘I am’ that investigates and it is the ‘I am’ that disposes itself off and stabilizes in Eternity. The test tube baby has been created out of the juices of human beings, can they create one out of vegetation? Hold a torch and there is a beam of light, how can you run beyond the beam of light it? ‘Near’ and ‘far’ are qualities of what?

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Beyond Concepts

(TALKS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ)

“COME TO THE CONCLUSION: I AM UNBORN, I WAS UNBORN AND I

SHALL REMAIN UNBORN” –

SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ

Edited by

PRADEEP APTE, PhD

Composed by

Vijayendra Deshpande

7. Beyond Concepts

13th December 1979

Maharaj: I belong to the nature of everything and yet nothing. I take my stand not in the movement, but in the original. Whatever you say can only be in the movement, in the consciousness. I take a stand prior to consciousness, the movement. I am not concerned with your reactions, the positive and the negative will depend on your reactions, but I am unconcerned. I have no means of demonstrating my true nature; words come out from the condition in which I am. To accept these words or not is your problem, I talk because you have come.

Visitor: You are the destroyer of body-mind.

M: I am not concerned with reactions.

V: But there are physiological effects.

M: I respect them, but I am not concerned with reactions. It is according to your attitude, right or wrong, incomplete or complete, that results would correspond and the reactions would affect you.

Words come to me because you are here, in relation to my words who says what, I am not concerned. I am like space. You come and go, I am immovable, eternal, I am not involved in the actions of the five elements. Nothing touches me; I am immutable, try to understand. The suffering will be yours if you take any sample, as it will relate to the five elements; I am not in that realm. In the manifest state, the five elemental play has shape and design, I have no shape, if at all I embrace the elements, it is because everything is myself, the design is of the elements, not mine. Rajneesh gives various concepts; I cannot be grasped by those concepts. Concepts are yours; I am not involved in the conceptual world. So when you look at me, I am not a person, I am the manifest, not individual. If you want to attribute form to me, it will relate to the five elements and three gunas. The five elements disintegrate but I don’t disappear.

For instance, I am invited to some place to stay.

The room in which I stay becomes my room, but does it belong to me? All belongs to the five elements. The essential contribution of the five elements is the ‘I am’ the five elements disintegrate, the ‘I am’ goes and a person is declared dead. Wherever I go to stay I always know my permanent abode.

Rajneesh expounds knowledge about concepts. They (many) speak on the basis of concepts, not from the stand prior to consciousness. Presently, my true state is different; you are devoted to my form as the five elements, once you understand that all this is an illusion, you too are there where there is no going, no movement. So long as you need yourself you are important, if not, then not. Whatever you observe, you don’t require, that principle through which ‘you are’ is greater. In the waking state ‘you are’ so you have needs, in the absence of ‘I amness’ where are the needs? In spite of being, not having the knowledge of being is non-being, that state is a source of peace.

Complete relaxation is forgetting oneself, then, no suffering. All needs emanate from when ‘you are’; you have wants (for material objects) as long as beingness is there.

The sense of taste comes from the element earth, perception emanates from air and sound from space,

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Unborn Children

(TALKS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ)

“COME TO THE CONCLUSION: I AM UNBORN, I WAS UNBORN AND I

SHALL REMAIN UNBORN” –

SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ

Edited by

PRADEEP APTE, PhD

Composed by

Vijayendra Deshpande

6. Unborn Children

11th December 1979

Maharaj: In sleep consciousness is dormant, when you get up consciousness says, ‘I had a good sleep’.

You can give it any name you like – body, mind but it is an attribute that was dormant in sleep, it is not the senses telling you. The food-body will always have desires; beingness is the fragrance of the same body. Prior to it I did not know myself; it was an experienceless state, suddenly the eight clues (five elements and three gunas) of experience and knowingness were fed lots of information – birth, body and so forth, with all this I started suffering. My Guru initiated me into an inquiry about myself. Did I experience my birth and parents? I hadn’t, so I rejected it. In the process I started investigating my own beingness, it was a temporary state, so I have disposed it off. I am free from fear now as I know this state will go. I have no fear of my beingness

because I will experience the same (the going of beingness). Because of concepts I considered myself a personality and due to this conceptual state my true state suffered.

Just as I admonish you, I listen to my friends, their thoughts talk to me, even visions appear, I tell them to shut up. I admonish thoughts and visions. Will anybody quarrel with his thoughts? When these foreign or alien thoughts are kept aside, the Self starts sprouting and imparting knowledge. Then it is the realized principle that prevails which was never created, but behaves as though created. Who observes or witnesses then? ‘I theAbsolute’ If there are no thoughts the there is no fear, and then the Self sprouts.

In the absence of beingness, what have I been doing? My unborn children, what are they doing? The same that I did prior to the appearance of this beingness. World, mind and all are expansive, how did this calamity occur with the arrival of beingness? So I must investigate the cause of the trouble that is, beingness. Think how you came into this body complex instead of investigating the world.

The body falls down but what happened to me? For that principle for which you get no reply, is perfect, whatever answer you get is wrong. If I think of this world, why should I not inquire about prior to consciousness? If I tackle this question, I must investigate what is this principle of ‘I am’? I would prefer to play with that child not born because eternal Parabramhan and unborn children are alike.

You want to have knowledge. What do you mean by that?

Hold on to that principle which understands, recognizes thoughts and be quiet. For your sake, what are you? Investigate that. Forget who is torturing whom; stabilize in your most confidential being as ‘you are’. What are you? Investigate the problems of manifest world can be solved later. There is no right answer to ‘who are you?’

no answer is the most correct one; any reply you get is not eternal. That eternal, unborn principle is now talking which has been accused of birth. ‘I feel I am guilty’. Whatever guilt you accept you have to suffer. In a country not visited a robbery occurs, the Police arrest you here. If you accept you suffer, maybe a lifeterm. I don’t accept the charge; I have not visited that place. I am not a robber. I plead that – ‘my only guilt is that I accept that I am born’.

Give it up! I was not born on my own with my knowledge; I had no knowledge of my beingness. The Absolute has no scope, it’s unborn. Prior to my appearance (beingness) it never occurred to me that I was, so where is the scope for feeling guilty either? If you had wisdom, you would reject beingness. No body means no knowingness, no consciousness, in the original state the five elements and the three gunas are not there.

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A Kohinoor Diamond

(TALKS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ)

“COME TO THE CONCLUSION: I AM UNBORN, I WAS UNBORN AND I

SHALL REMAIN UNBORN” –

SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ

Edited by

PRADEEP APTE, PhD

Composed by

Vijayendra Deshpande

5. A Kohinoor Diamond

7th December 1979

Maharaj: As a seeker, you are told that you are not the body-mind, though you are in the body but you are knowledge. So we see this all-pervasive knowledge in everything. Body – man or woman – has form but consciousness has no form. One who considers himself to be a man or woman is not a seeker; seeker is the one who seeks knowledge.

Prior to the appearance of form in the womb, food stuffs take the form ‘I am’ and that appears in nine months. With birth the bodily functions begin, the child does not know that it is. As the child begins to identify, the sense of ‘I amness’ takes shape, only then the mother can teach the misleading headings like body name and so forth.

Prior to the waking or sleep state is the Parabrahman. The state which gives you knowledge is Brahman.

Visitor: The need for self-knowledge differs from man to man; intellectuals have no time for all this.

M: People who got knowledge were simple people.

V: Is it decided at birth?

M: Knowledge being ignorance is also (ultimately) not required.

Your womb being not clean, you entertain fear, when in the womb for nine months, only the knowledge that ‘you are’ is there – nothing beyond it. In the womb knowledge is there but it is dormant. In this lighter (Maharaj holds up the lighter), the flame is dormant, does the lighter know the flame? What do you consider yourself to be? If you take yourself to be the body you are involved.

If you take yourself to be knowledge there is no involvement. Somebody provoked the Guru in you, it is that Guru that receives knowledge and is the one that speaks.

V: Isn’t it possible to pretend that one is the Absolute?

M: More important is to get rid of the body-mind sense instead of trying to be the Absolute, the rest will happen. After the realization of Self, everything happens. Then there is no question of getting involved or not.

V: But can one experience qualitative changes before and after?

M: Whatever you presume to be will be buried, whatever I am talking too will abandon the body and  disappear. To start with you are that principle which abandons the body and runs away. Second step, identify with that principle which quits the body. Third step, Jnana, recognizes this Godly state and transcend. I Repeat, the principle abandoning the body is Godly, full  of knowledge, highest is the one who recognizes this Godly principle and transcends it. This principle, which quits the body, because of

involvement with the body presumes that it is going to die. Actually, the body also has no death; it has life in association with beingness without beingness it is a dead rat. You are that principle which abandons the body, thereafter who are you? The body or that principle? So where is the question of nursing that principle?

Is the manifest world real? You make a mountain of a molehill, is it real? Hereis the world and you are told to behave accordingly and time passes by. Get to know your true identity and everything will be clear. All the scriptures are addressed to the mind, while I am talking of finding out what you truly are.

The root of the world is absolute ignorance, only ignorance. Nevertheless, you follow codes to happily pass your time, miseries come with attachment, become entire, total, and then there is no misery.

Inquiring about the illusion is to go in search of a child born of a barren woman. So your whole life will not be enough to find it. People go to the moon; they search for the end of the cosmos. Life of Brahman too is an illusion; there is the end of the cosmos. This illusion (Maya) sends you to find the cosmic boundary, see its mischief; it does not send you to the center!

In deep sleep, you awaken and cry out, who creates the illusion?

Its consciousness, ‘I woke up’ you are the basic illusion, you are married to beingness. Whatever the outcome, you will know that beingness itself is an illusion. Honestly, the knowledge ‘you are’ is the most dishonest principle, you are married to Brahman. I plant you in the beingness that ‘you are’, then you may go. Understand yourself and all the riddles will be solved. I am giving you a capital, invest it, investigate and find the truth, investigate the Self.

Is the dreamworld real or unreal? The incident ‘I awoke’ is itself unreal. Similarly, is your beingness real or unreal? Even when you think ‘ you are’, is that too not a concept?

All along I was telling Joseph to go but now I say, wait and record. After my departure, publish a book, they (people) will ask, did you come across such a man? A Kohinoor diamond!

SOURCE:

This ‘I am’ business

(TALKS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ)

“COME TO THE CONCLUSION: I AM UNBORN, I WAS UNBORN AND I

SHALL REMAIN UNBORN” –

SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ

Edited by

PRADEEP APTE, PhD

Composed by

Vijayendra Deshpande

4. This ‘I am’ business

5th December 1979

Maharaj: There is a customer for everything, but what is the cause of your beingness being the customer? The primary concept is the ‘I am’, out of it are created all other concepts. You have come from the primary concept, so long as you have the need to be, you have this prolific wonderful world and all the Gods are available. The distinction between the world and Brahman has come because you want to sustain your beingness, the ‘I am’, the manifest world is made important by you because you want to be. But when the need for beingness is not felt, like in sleep or in short, when consciousness is not conscious, there is no need. When consciousness is there, it will always need consciousness when consciousness is not there, where is the need for anything at all? Of what use is the availability of the world? The world and its lord are only a nuisance in my state. The need to be is bondage, no needs no bondage. I will not be stupid and ask how I am in the absence of consciousness. There can be no talk about the state prior to consciousness. In the realm of consciousness are the experiences and all the talk. The one, who has recognized, understood and transcended oneself can talk, otherwise, one is caught in the pincer movement of Maya; you are caught by your own tentacles (identification with body-pincer). Because of your own deception, you ask questions, you are caught and enmeshed in more and more concepts.

Information about myself in the absence of consciousness, nobody can tell me. I also don’t need it, since that is so; you are non-plussed by me. I have full knowledge prior to beingness, which is eternal.

In the waking state there is struggle and fatigue, in deep sleep there is relaxation, it is a cycle. What isthe purpose?

Visitor: To maintain consciousness. What is beyond it?

M: Whatever without it (consciousness) is perfect. Only that is, nothing else. My body is universal, not individualistic. What is this ‘I am’ business? Understand it and be apart from it, transcend it. Just be.

V: Where has Maharaj’s ego gone?

M: It is not individualistic, it is manifestable, but when it is manifest, it is no more an individual suffering.

V: what is the use of self-realization?

M: Nishkam (stable) Parabramhan .When you are hit by pain, the doctor gives you an ointment. Who is the customer? Pain is the customer, not you.

V: does the pain go?

M: It is just an event happening, understand it and go through it. The ‘I’ consciousness is pain as well as happiness. You wake up happy in the morning, as the day goes by there is unhappiness. Without ‘I’ consciousness can you understand anything? The ‘I’ consciousness is unhappiness therefore you seek happiness. That which you do with effort is unhappiness. Even now, I am speaking from deep sleep, so it is coming from sleep. I have enjoyed it, so I speak. Sleep is darkness, complete – that is ignorance. In darkness, ignorance I speak. Knowledge from ignorance is ignorance.

This knowledge is an illusion. A child born of ignorance says I am Brahman.

V: Who is doing this?

M: That is the trap of your mind.

If you do not experience your mind, you are liberated. Why do you call anything logical? Waking and sleep states are your experience. You don’t accept what I say, because in doing so you are nothing. In reality nothing can be given and taken, call it logic, experience.

Take it as you like, here acceptance and rejection are transcended. Parents have given you a name; apart from that can you give me your name or identification? The Atman is formless, names and forms are of the body. Consciousness is also an illusion, non-personal, non-verbal. The moment you do not recognize mind and body you feel no pinch, can you say the sky is diseased?

Food contains both the useful and the waste, so what is good or what is bad is relative. Flowers are eventually dirt but while buying they cost fifty rupees. I don’t discuss Brahman or Maya; I tell you my story which is your story as well. With Atmajnana (Self-knowledge) the ‘I’ consciousness is not there.

Then I don’t worry about God or illusion. The ‘I am’ is the starting point of both misery and happiness.

SOURCE:

The Brahma Aperture

(TALKS WITH SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ)

“COME TO THE CONCLUSION: I AM UNBORN, I WAS UNBORN AND I

SHALL REMAIN UNBORN” –

SRI NISARGADATTA MAHARAJ

Edited by

PRADEEP APTE, PhD

Composed by

Vijayendra Deshpande

3. The Brahma Aperture

4th December 1979

Maharaj: In deep sleep, nothing is. Try to catch that in the waking state. My thinking now is towards five elements. Whichever way I think, I conclude all forms are creations of five elements. Forms, with three gunas act in different ways. The basic guna is Sattva. Prakriti and Purusha are starting points- the creator of five elements. There is awareness in the Brahma aperture which is talking. The shuddha (pure) Sattva – like a drop of ghee (clarified butter) – is the Brahma aperture. That small drop contains the picture of the whole universe.

Each one’s intellect is different, so the power of intellect differs, understanding differs. The primary nature of consciousness is not to remain constant. Objects keep on changing, when the mind stops, there is no-mind. The very nature of consciousness is to change, but you think one thing, then the very next second, something different, if consciousness becomes steady it will be awareness.

The words, including nama-roopa (name and form) cannot have, by their very nature, any steadiness.

Even ideas about yourselves are bound to change. Give me an idea of what you consider as yourself, you cannot, it changes. Mind does not speak to personality, it is its creation, mind speaks to mind, boy friend, girl friend and so on, all are movements in consciousness. At that point of consciousness where one’s mind realizes the ‘I Am’ (I amness), the word, breath and mind is one.

I go to some place, sit and think and form opinions, all is mind, its movements. The Brahma aperture is Sattva, harmony, and the mind is its result. Sattva created the world. The mind is also its product, when the Sattva movement stops, mind disappears and the people say ‘he is dead’.But the knower says, I am not consciousness, mind or Sattva, I am apart from the elements and their products. All that is seen is of five elements, however high an entity may be he is the end product of five elements. Where are the individuals or Avatars after death? The mind, the word, name and form have no independent existence apart from the five elements.

For me there is no death and birth, for the mixture of five elements, their essence, their products – the forms – the starting point is Purusha and Prakriti. Purusha and Prakriti have no forms so how can they be destroyed? In fact it is ‘moolmaya’, the root cause of the illusion. When Consciousness begins to stir the forms and the Universe arise and these are my own body. From a tiny drop of Sattva, arises the entire Universe. Is my own body and world in that Sattva? I refuse to accept, how can it be? It’s a lie.

There is the body so I suffer, you say: there is the world, how can it all be an illusion? But the mind is a concept all worlds are movements in consciousness, hence, false. When you see the false as false, the mind settles down and disappears.

There are different human races and creeds each praises and denigrates the others. All these are movements in Consciousness, emanating from nonbeingness. My beingness sees false as false therefore, I do not comment on them. Anything that you acquire, even knowledge, is false, zero, try to transcend the knowledge. Only sometimes, a rare one at the time of death, will realize that he is not the body, the body disintegrates in the fire and mingles with the five elements.

Brahman is a concept because it is not going to be in my association for long. Just for a short period as long as there is the beingness there is the world. For the one who realizes the departure of beingness there is bliss. The ignorant get involved with beingness, hence there is traumatic suffering for them. All is suffering – the waking, deep sleep and dream states, the five elements and three gunas, realize this and get rid of suffering.
The ignorant one dies while the one who understands is liberated. The mind must sing the ‘I am’ without words. Be liberated, if you think you have acquired knowledge and that is your achievement, then you are still far from Self-knowledge.

 

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