There is No Perceiver, Only Perceiving

[Guest guest]

There is No Perceiver, Only Perceiving

Pointers from Nisargadatta Maharaj

Chapter 33

One morning, when a visitor began his question with the usual: "I

want know . . .," Maharaj began to laugh and without waiting for the

Marathi translation interrupted with a counter-question in English:

"I -- who"? Then, having enjoyed the joke hugely, he went back to

his native Marathi and said: It is really so very simple, this that

I am trying to convey to you. You too would find it so, if only you

could keep the 'me' aside, when you listen! If you would only

remember that so long as there is a supposedly autonomous entity,

volitionally trying to understand what I am saying, true

understanding is out of the question. Apprehension of metaphysical

revelation presupposes an enquiring, open 'vacant' mind in which such

apprehension could enter. Any 'independent' entity indicates a

conditioned mind, full of concepts, resisting the entry of anything

that I want to impart. Do I make myself clear, I wonder!

Even though I use words, and you hear them, the imparting will be

possible only if the subject and the object merge in the hearing of

it. Begin at the beginning and examine whether there exists any

'one' either to talk or to listen, or there is merely 'functioning'

-- talking, listening, apprehending, experiencing.

When you think of something 'existing', you think only in terms of

something which is objective, with a form. You are concerned only

with objective phenomena, whereas I see all objects, including you,

as nothing more or less than appearances in consciousness, and

therefore as not existing.

And, subjectivity as such, without any objective quality, obviously

cannot exist. So then, what exist? There cannot be such a thing as

existence or non-existence!

Let us come back to the visitor who wanted to ask some question a

little while ago. He has come here, perhaps with some inconvenience

and at not inconsiderable expense, to seek that kind of knowledge

which would enable him to turn himself into 'a better individual' --

a sage, a Jnani. Now do you understand why I could not help laughing

-- no at him, please, but at the tricks Maya plays through her

illusions.

Think for a moment: who is thinking in terms of transformation,

changing from one state to another; in terms of self-improvement?

Surely, it is nothing other than an appearance in consciousness, a

character in a movie, an individual in a dream -- a dreamed

pseudo-entity considering itself subject to the workings of Karma.

How could such a dreamed character 'perfect' itself into anything

other than its dreamed self? How could a shadow perfect itself into

its substance? How could there be any 'awakening' from the dream,

except for the dreamer to re-solve the true identity of the source of

the dream, the manifestation?

And 'awakening' consists in apprehending that there is no individual

perceiver of the phenomenal world, but that the essential nature and

purpose of all phenomena is merely the perceiving of phenomena, that

is, functioning in this-here-now; apprehending that every sentient

being -- I -- as the potential source of all experience, experiences

the apparent universe objectively through a psychosomatic apparatus.

The very first step in understanding what this is all about is giving

up the concept of an active volitional 'I' as a separate entity, and

accepting the passive role of perceiving and functioning as a

process.

Let me gladden your hearts by giving you a couple of 'tips'. In spite

of whatever I say, I know you will continue on your 'self-improvement'

course and keep looking for 'tips'. So open you note books an write

them down:

(a) Make it a habit to think and speak in the passive tense. Instead

of 'I' see something' or 'I' hear something', why not think the

passive way: 'something is seen or 'something is heard.'? The

perception will then be not on the basis of an action by the

phenomenal entity, but on the basis of an event or occurrence. In

due course, the pseudo-entity 'I' will recede into the background.

(b) Before going to sleep at night, spend about ten minutes sitting

relaxed both in body and mind, taking your stand that 'you' are not

the body-mind construct but the animating consciousness, so that this

idea will impregnate your being throughout the period of your sleep.

Subscribe: ANetofJewels-

URL to this page: ANetofJewels