Nisarga Yoga

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The Nisarga Yoga (nisarga: natural state, innate disposition), the 'natural'

Yoga of Maharaj, is disconcertingly simple—the mind, which is all-becoming, must

recognize and penetrate its own being, not as being this or that, here or there,

then or now, but just timeless being.

 

This timeless being is the source

of both life and consciousness.

In terms of time, space and causation it is all-powerful,

being the cause less cause;

all-pervading, eternal, in the sense of being beginningless, endless and

ever-present.

Uncaused, it is free; all-pervading, it knows;

undivided, it is happy. It lives,

it loves, and it has endless

fun, shaping and reshaping the

universe. Every man has it, every

man is it, but not all know themselves as they are, and therefore identify

themselves

with the name and shape of their

bodies and the contents of their

consciousness.

 

To rectify this misunderstanding

of one's reality, the only way

is to take full cognizance of the

ways of one's mind and to turn

it into an instrument of

self-discovery. The mind was originally a tool in the struggle

for biological survival. It had

to learn the laws and ways of nature in order to conquer it.

 

That it did, and is doing, for

mind and nature working hand-in-hand can raise

life to a higher level. But, in

the process the mind acquired the

art of symbolic thinking and communication, the art and skill

of language. Words became

important.

 

Ideas and abstractions acquired

an appearance of reality, the conceptual replaced the real,

with the result that man now lives

in a verbal world, crowded

and dominated by words.

 

Obviously, for dealing with things

and people words are exceedingly useful. But they make us live in

a world totally symbolic and unreal. To break out from this

prison of the verbal mind into reality, one must be able to shift

one's focus from the word to what

it refers to.

 

The most commonly used word and most pregnant with feelings, and

ideas is the word 'I'. Mind tends

to include in it anything and everything, the body as well as

the Absolute. In practice it

stands as a pointer to an experience, which is direct, immediate and immensely

significant. To be, and to know that one is, is most important.

And to be of interest, a thing

must be related to one's

conscious existence, which is

the focal point of every desire

and fear. For, the ultimate aim

of every desire is to enhance

and intensify this sense of

existence, while all fear is, in

its essence, the fear of self-extinction.

 

To delve into the sense of 'I'—so

real and vital—in order to reach

its source is the core of the Nisarga Yoga. Not being

continuous, the sense of 'I'

must have a source from which

it flows and to which it returns.

 

This timeless source of

conscious being is what Maharaj calls the self-nature, self-being,

swarupa.

 

As to methods of realizing one's

supreme identity with the self-being, Maharaj

is peculiarly noncommittal. He

says that each has his own way

to reality. But, for all the gateway to reality, by whatever road one arrives to

it, is the sense of 'I am'. It is through grasping the full import of the

'I am', and going beyond it to

its source, that one can realize

the ultimate, supreme state.

The difference between the beginning and the end lies only

in the mind. When the mind is

dark or turbulent, the source

is not perceived. When it is

clear and luminous, it becomes

a faithful reflection of the source. The source is always

the same-beyond darkness and

light, beyond life and death, beyond the conscious

and the unconscious.

 

This dwelling on the sense 'I am'

is the simple, easy and natural

Yoga, the Nisarga Yoga. There

is no secrecy in it and no dependence; no preparation or

initiation is required. Whoever

is puzzled by his very existence

as a conscious being and earnestly

wants to find his own source,

can grasp the ever-present sense

of 'I am' and dwell on it assiduously and patiently, till

the clouds obscuring the mind dissolve and the heart of being is

seen in all its glory.

 

The Nisarga Yoga, when persevered

in and brought to its fruition,

results in one becoming conscious

and active in what one always

was unconsciously and passively.

 

There is no difference in kind—only

in manner—the difference between

a lump of gold and a glorious ornament shaped out of it. Life goes on, but it

is spontaneous

and free, meaningful and happy.

 

 

~Maurice Frydman on Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

 

 

~~~~~~~~~

love, Era