Nisargadatta: Truth is constant and eternal.

[Guest guest]

..

 

 

 

February 27, 1981

 

 

 

Q: Could Maharaj speak on the relationship between body and spirit?

 

Maharaj: You must get to know your own Self. This body is not your

true nature. The principle by which you know " I Am" is your true nature.

 

Q: What responsibility do I have towards other people?

 

M: You have built your responsibilities around the teachings, which you

have derived from the world, but what is that "you" who is accepting all the

responsibility? You must understand that first. You are identifying your self

as a body; that is not Self-knowledge.

 

Q: I don't always feel that I am the body; when I become still and

concentrate, I realize that there is more than just flesh and blood there. It

is a new realization for me.

 

M: Have you come to the conclusion that there is no difference between

different groups of people?

 

Q: Except that some people are more greedy and ambitious. I like to

visit foreign countries, meet various kinds of people with different customs.

 

M: Don't roam about; don't come here, either. Abide in quietude,

peace, and stability. Here we are not engaged in any buying or selling. That

knowledge "I Am" without concepts is evoked or stimulated by the consciousness

and peace, which emanate from that place.

 

Q: That is why it is valuable to be with Maharaj.

 

M: I am not able to speak much. Don't ask questions. If you want, you

may go elsewhere.

 

Q: I have been with Maharaj before and I have felt a profound effect

from that visit. I understood more.

 

M: Whatever the experiencer feels or thinks is all in the

consciousness, and is not real.

 

Q: It is difficult for me to express.

 

M: There is no individual looking at another individual; the sense of

presence is cognizing. Other than that, there is nothing. This state of

consciousness cognizing what appears in consciousness is being witnessed as a

temporary state. The alternate states of waking, sleeping, and the sense of

presence are all temporary states that have come upon me. I am not the states.

They have all come spontaneously and will so spontaneously. No one has any

control over them. Are any of these states your true nature?

 

Q: The sense of presence is what I feel I am.

 

M: Will that remain permanently? You must understand that truth is not

changeable. Truth is constant and eternal. Where as the combination of these

three states have come upon you and were not there earlier. Whatever is

temporary and time-bound cannot be the truth.

 

It is good, as far as it goes, that you have identified with this sense

of presence, but understand that even that is temporary and not your true

nature.

 

The most important thing for you is the "I Am". Just be that and the

necessary guidance will come.

 

 

 

Consciousness and the Absolute. editor Jean Dunn