I am that truth

I am that I am not messy consciousness . I am silence . 

Don't waste your energy in discussion .jiddu Krishnamurti 

I am that witness

Questioner: On what side is the witness? Is it real or unreal?

Maharaj: Nobody can say: ‘I am the witness’. The ‘I am’ is always witnessed. 

The state of detached awareness is the witness consciousness, the ‘mirror-mind’. It rises and sets with its object and thus it is not quite the real. Whatever its object, it remains the same, hence it is also real. It partakes of both the real and the unreal and is therefore a bridge between the two.

Questioner: If all happens only to the ‘I am’, if the ‘I am’ is the known and the knower and the knowledge itself, what does the witness do?

Of what use is it?

Maharaj: It does nothing and is of no use whatsoever.

Questioner: Then why do we talk of it?

Maharaj: Because it is there. 

The bridge serves one purpose only —

to cross over. You don’t build houses on a bridge. The ‘I am’ looks at things, the witness sees through them. It sees them as they are — unreal and transient. 

To say ‘not me, not mine’ is the task of the witness.

Questioner: Is it the manifested (saguna) by which the unmanifested (nirguna) is represented?

Maharaj: The unmanifested is not represented. Nothing manifested can represent the unmanifested.

Questioner: Then why do you talk of it? 

Maharaj: Because it is my birthplace.

- Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj. Excerpt from the book: I am That. Ch. 78.

Lord shiv power

Q: How does one go beyond the need of help? And can one help another to do so?

M: When you have understood that all existence, in separation and limitation, is painful, and when you are willing and able to live integrally, in oneness with all life, as pure being, you have gone beyond all need of help. You can help another by precept 

and example and, above all, by your being. You cannot give what you do not have and you don’t have what you are not. You 

can only give what you are — and of that you can give limitlessly.

Q: But, is it true that all existence is painful?

M: What else can be the cause of this universal search for pleasure? 

Does a happy man seek happiness? 

How restless people are, how constantly on the move! It is because they are in pain that they seek relief in pleasure. All the happiness they can imagine is in the assurance of repeated pleasure.

Q: If what I am, as I am, the person I take myself to be, cannot be happy, then what am I to do?

M: You can only cease to be — as you seem to be now. There is nothing cruel in what I say. To wake up a man from a nightmare is compassion. You came here because you are in pain, and all I say is: wake up, know yourself, be yourself. The end of pain lies not in pleasure. When you realize that you are beyond both pain and pleasure, aloof and unassailable, then the pursuit of happiness ceases and the resultant sorrow too. For pain aims at pleasure and pleasure ends in pain, relentlessly.

Q: In the ultimate state there can be no happiness?

M: Nor sorrow. Only freedom. Happiness depends on something or other and can be lost; freedom from everything depends on nothing and cannot be lost. Freedom from sorrow has no cause and, therefore, cannot be destroyed. Realize that freedom.

Q: Am I not born to suffer as a result of my past? Is freedom possible at all? Was I born of my own will? Am I not just a creature?

M: What is birth and death but the beginning and the ending of a stream of events in consciousness? Because of the idea of 

separation and limitation they are painful. Momentary relief from pain we call pleasure — and we build castles in the air hoping 

for endless pleasure which we call happiness. It is all misunderstanding and misuse. Wake up, go beyond, live really.

Q: My knowledge is, limited, my power negligible.

M: Being the source of both, the self is beyond both knowledge and power. The observable is in the mind. The nature of the self is pure awareness, pure witnessing, unaffected by the presence or absence of knowledge or liking.

Have your being outside this body of birth and death and all your problems will be solved. They exist because you believe 

yourself born to die. Undeceive yourself and be free. You are not a person.

- Excerpt from: I AM THAT. 

Chapter: MIND IS RESTLESSNESS ITSELF

Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

not this not this what remains self

Q: How does one go beyond the need of help? And can one help another to do so?

M: When you have understood that all existence, in separation and limitation, is painful, and when you are willing and able to live integrally, in oneness with all life, as pure being, you have gone beyond all need of help. You can help another by precept 

and example and, above all, by your being. You cannot give what you do not have and you don’t have what you are not. You 

can only give what you are — and of that you can give limitlessly.

Q: But, is it true that all existence is painful?

M: What else can be the cause of this universal search for pleasure? 

Does a happy man seek happiness? 

How restless people are, how constantly on the move! It is because they are in pain that they seek relief in pleasure. All the happiness they can imagine is in the assurance of repeated pleasure.

Q: If what I am, as I am, the person I take myself to be, cannot be happy, then what am I to do?

M: You can only cease to be — as you seem to be now. There is nothing cruel in what I say. To wake up a man from a nightmare is compassion. You came here because you are in pain, and all I say is: wake up, know yourself, be yourself. The end of pain lies not in pleasure. When you realize that you are beyond both pain and pleasure, aloof and unassailable, then the pursuit of happiness ceases and the resultant sorrow too. For pain aims at pleasure and pleasure ends in pain, relentlessly.

Q: In the ultimate state there can be no happiness?

M: Nor sorrow. Only freedom. Happiness depends on something or other and can be lost; freedom from everything depends on nothing and cannot be lost. Freedom from sorrow has no cause and, therefore, cannot be destroyed. Realize that freedom.

Q: Am I not born to suffer as a result of my past? Is freedom possible at all? Was I born of my own will? Am I not just a creature?

M: What is birth and death but the beginning and the ending of a stream of events in consciousness? Because of the idea of 

separation and limitation they are painful. Momentary relief from pain we call pleasure — and we build castles in the air hoping 

for endless pleasure which we call happiness. It is all misunderstanding and misuse. Wake up, go beyond, live really.

Q: My knowledge is, limited, my power negligible.

M: Being the source of both, the self is beyond both knowledge and power. The observable is in the mind. The nature of the self is pure awareness, pure witnessing, unaffected by the presence or absence of knowledge or liking.

Have your being outside this body of birth and death and all your problems will be solved. They exist because you believe 

yourself born to die. Undeceive yourself and be free. You are not a person.

- Excerpt from: I AM THAT. 

Chapter: MIND IS RESTLESSNESS ITSELF

Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

You are not a person

Q: How does one go beyond the need of help? And can one help another to do so?

M: When you have understood that all existence, in separation and limitation, is painful, and when you are willing and able to live integrally, in oneness with all life, as pure being, you have gone beyond all need of help. You can help another by precept 

and example and, above all, by your being. You cannot give what you do not have and you don’t have what you are not. You 

can only give what you are — and of that you can give limitlessly.

Q: But, is it true that all existence is painful?

M: What else can be the cause of this universal search for pleasure? 

Does a happy man seek happiness? 

How restless people are, how constantly on the move! It is because they are in pain that they seek relief in pleasure. All the happiness they can imagine is in the assurance of repeated pleasure.

Q: If what I am, as I am, the person I take myself to be, cannot be happy, then what am I to do?

M: You can only cease to be — as you seem to be now. There is nothing cruel in what I say. To wake up a man from a nightmare is compassion. You came here because you are in pain, and all I say is: wake up, know yourself, be yourself. The end of pain lies not in pleasure. When you realize that you are beyond both pain and pleasure, aloof and unassailable, then the pursuit of happiness ceases and the resultant sorrow too. For pain aims at pleasure and pleasure ends in pain, relentlessly.

Q: In the ultimate state there can be no happiness?

M: Nor sorrow. Only freedom. Happiness depends on something or other and can be lost; freedom from everything depends on nothing and cannot be lost. Freedom from sorrow has no cause and, therefore, cannot be destroyed. Realize that freedom.

Q: Am I not born to suffer as a result of my past? Is freedom possible at all? Was I born of my own will? Am I not just a creature?

M: What is birth and death but the beginning and the ending of a stream of events in consciousness? Because of the idea of 

separation and limitation they are painful. Momentary relief from pain we call pleasure — and we build castles in the air hoping 

for endless pleasure which we call happiness. It is all misunderstanding and misuse. Wake up, go beyond, live really.

Q: My knowledge is, limited, my power negligible.

M: Being the source of both, the self is beyond both knowledge and power. The observable is in the mind. The nature of the self is pure awareness, pure witnessing, unaffected by the presence or absence of knowledge or liking.

Have your being outside this body of birth and death and all your problems will be solved. They exist because you believe 

yourself born to die. Undeceive yourself and be free. You are not a person.

- Excerpt from: I AM THAT. 

Chapter: MIND IS RESTLESSNESS ITSELF

Talks with Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Nirupan 104 self realization and you

Nirupana 104

Ordinary people cannot get Self-realization,

they see themselves as bodies.

Unless body-consciousness is eradicated,

Self-consciousness cannot arise.

The fact is that impurity of the gross body

cannot affect consciousness in the body.

Yet the same consciousness

is moving about in the form of the body.

Whatever apparent happiness one enjoys

also becomes the source of misery.

The Self identifies with the body

and loses its perfection.

So long as there is a concept of birth,

there is misery.

Consciousness is formless, pure and holy,

but it is laden with the concepts of ego and birth.

One who is disgusted with worldly affairs

becomes detached.

Because of body-identification,

it has got mixed up with the five elements.

The knowledge in the body

is the holy sight of God.

It is He who makes one understand

that the idea of birth is false.

He crushes the sense of individuality.

Consciousness is busy with many thoughts.

With the Guru’s guidance,

you have to turn it back onto itself.

One who understands

that there is no difference

between his consciousness and the Guru,

becomes enlightened.

When one believes that he is not the body,

he gets the grace of the Guru.

Consciousness is infinite and unlimited.

Then how can it have death?

By the Guru’s grace,

the birth of the body becomes the birth of Brahman.

Then the seeker forgets

that he is a particular individual.

Even when the jnani is all-pervading,

he still has one desire:

Knowledge should continue to progress.

He keeps looking out for someone

worthy of receiving the knowledge

and to pass it on.

As such, all are devotees of God.

Devotion to God is devotion to the Self.

Everything is done

to perpetuate the sense ‘I am’.

According to the Guru-word,

if you worship the formless consciousness,

you will be immortal and indestructible.

You will understand

that your true nature is Parabrahman.

Does the Self have needs

such as food and wife and children,

or are they for the devotee?

The Self is mistaken

for the form of the body.

Those who have knowledge of the Self

have pervaded the manifestation

and transcended it.

They are Parabrahman –

beyond form and qualities.

If you have realized the Self,

rituals, religions, black or white magic,

curses or ghosts,

are of no consequence to you.

Instead they turn back

and strike those that direct them upon you.

One who plays with a jnani

brings misery to himself.

If you believe the fortuneteller,

you have not acquired knowledge of the Self.

In the dream, the world was seen.

In the dream there also appeared your own body.

The dream eventually ended

and the world disappeared.

Then what happened to the One

who saw the dream?

Did He see His corpse lying there?

He never came and never left.

Atman is not prana.

Recognize this fact.

It will not be enough

if you just memorize it.

What is there in the body

due to which we know ‘we are’?

You must practice devotion to the Guru

(non-dual devotion).

Be vigilant.

Prepare yourself

to see the bliss of the last moment.

For others it is a dreadful event.

— Shree Nisargadatta Mahārāj 

Sunday, April 1, 1979

experience of self

THE DIRECT EXPERIENCE OF THE SELF (ATMAN) 

(Nitya-Aparoksha Tiran) extract from the book: GURU VACHAKA KOVAI

The Light of Supreme Truth by Sri Muruganar

881 All the benefit to be obtained by inner enquiry is only the destruction of the deceptive ‘I’-sense [the ego]. It would be too much to say that it is to attain Self, which always shines clear and ever-attained.

Sadhu Om: In Maharshi’s Gospel, Book One, chapter six, page 30, Sri Bhagavan says, “To make room, it is enough that the cramping be removed; room is not brought in from elsewhere.” See also Talks p. 199. If the ego is destroyed, that alone will be sufficient, for it will be equivalent to attaining Self.

892 After understanding theoretically [through sravana and manana] that Self is non-dual, and after staggering again and again in one’s efforts to attain [through nididhyasana] the practical experience of the real Self, when, [finally and with great dejection] all one’s mental efforts subside, the knowledge which then shines in the heart is the nature of that reality.

898 The well-established state in which the quiet mind [the mind devoid of thoughts] has the unbroken experience [of pure consciousness] is samadhi. Such a settled mind, which has the attainment of the unlimited supreme Self, is the essence of Godhood.

Sadhu Om: A wave is a wave so long as it moves; when that same wave settles down without moving, it is the ocean. Similarly, the mind is the mind so long as it moves and is limited; when the mind becomes still and unlimited, it is God or Brahman. The Tamil word ‘Kadavul’ [God] literally means ‘kadandu-ullavar’ [He who exists transcending]; hence our own real state, Self, which transcends all adjuncts such as ‘this’ or ‘that’, is God [Kadavul].

900 Firmly abiding as ‘I am I’, without any movement of the mind, is the attainment of Godhood [Sivatva-siddhi]. [Because] the shining of the truly well-established state of knowledge [Self-knowledge] where nothing exists other than that [knowledge] is pure Siva, is it not?

901 The radiance of consciousness-bliss in the form of one awareness shining equally within and without is the supreme and blissful primal reality whose form is Silence and which is declared by Jnanis to be the final and unobstructable state of true knowledge.

902 Who can and how to think of the whole primal reality, whose finality is Silence, as ‘I am That’, and why to suffer thereby? Attaining the [thought-free] Silence is Self-abidance [nishtha]; it is [attained by] the destruction of [the first thought] ‘I’. When ‘I’ is thus destroyed, where is the room to think?

Sadhu Om: When the reality is in truth nothing but the whole and perfect Silence which exists beyond the range of thought, why should anyone suffer by trying in vain to attain it by thinking ‘I am That’? Meditating ‘I am Brahman’, ‘I am He’ or ‘I am Siva’ is futile and is not at all a proper jnana-sadhana. According to Sri Bhagavan, the only true jnana-sadhana is to lose ‘I’, the ego, through the enquiry ‘Who am I?’

911 Unless one realizes oneself to be the unattached Self, which is like the space that remains not even in the least attached to anything, though it exists inside, outside and pervading everything, one cannot remain undeluded.

Sadhu Om: Without Self-knowledge, no one can live in this world unattached.

915 To root out the weed-like three desires [the desires for women, wealth and fame] even before they sprout out, and to make the mind subside and remain still like an ocean without wind-created waves, is Jnana.

916 When the mind does not wander in the least through any of the senses, which are the cause that throws one into misery, and when the mind remains subsided like a stormy ocean which has completely subsided and become calm, that is Jnana.

917 Just as the sun cannot be seen in a densely clouded sky, so one’s own Self cannot be seen in a mind-sky which is darkened by a dense cloud of thoughts.

918 One who has destroyed the mind is the emperor who rides on the neck of the elephant of supreme Jnana. Know for certain that the turmoil of the mind is the sole cause of the miserable bondage of the cruel and fierce birth [and death].

Sri Muruganar: Since the turmoil of the mind [chitta-chalana] is the root of the miseries of birth, thoughts alone are here said to be bondage. Since one’s own nature [Self] shines forth as soon as thoughts are destroyed, the one whose mind is thus destroyed is glorified in a figurative manner as an emperor riding on the elephant of Jnana.

919 The tranquil clarity devoid of mental turmoil is the samadhi which is essential for Liberation. [Therefore] try earnestly to experience the peaceful consciousness, the clarity of heart, by destroying the deceptive turmoil [of mind].

920 Without Self-realization [atma-darsanam], the ego will not die. Likewise, without the glorious death of the mind [or ego], this miserable dream world-scene will not disappear. Know thus.

Sadhu Om: If all the miseries of life are to come to an end, the mind must die. If the mind is to die, Self realization must be attained. Therefore only Self-realization will remove all miseries.

937 In Jnanis, who have destroyed the ego, the three states [waking, dream and sleep], which were seen previously, will disappear, and the noble state of TURIYA [the ‘fourth’] will itself shine gloriously in them as turiyatita [the state transcending the ‘fourth’].

Source: Extract from the book: GURU VACHAKA KOVAI

The Light of Supreme Truth or the collection of Guru's sayings

by Sri Muruganar, translated from the Original Tamil

by Sadhu Om and Michael James

Śrī Rāmanārpaṇam Astu” (श्री रामनार्पणम् अस्तु)💗