Niz and his practice.

[Guest guest]

As far as I have read [and seen in

pictures], Niz was quite a religious

and devotional man. In his house in

India, they had regular kirtans

[chanting of names of Hindu Gods and

Goddesses]. He had many pictures of

deities hanging in his room and along

with the pictures of his guru and

Ramana. And, he supposedly worshiped

everyday.

 

In between, he also taught Self

Realization, Enlightenment and many

people found the ideas he taught very

radical and ground breaking! His impact

was huge and his following is still

quite strong.

 

The fact, that he also continued smoking

in spite of poor health, pain and

doctor's warning amid all these talks

of Self Realization and Enlightenment

made it even more mysterious, strange

and *ground breaking*!

 

He expressed many thoughts that I

found Highly effective but, he also

taught things that I found quite

contradictory. Amazingly some of these

are the very things that became greatly

valuable to many people and many still

strongly value/believe/respect/cherish

it.

 

Here are some of his expressions on I

AM and other things:

 

His Practice, Sadhna, Mediation,

Inquiry, Path:

 

from < http://www.nisargadatta.net/>

 

 

The Sense of " I am " (Consciousness)

 

When I met my Guru, he told me: " You

are not what you take yourself

to be. Find out what you are. Watch

the sense 'I am', find your real

Self. " I obeyed him, because I trusted

him. I did as he told me. All

my spare time I would spend looking at

myself in silence. And what a

difference it made, and how soon!

 

My teacher told me to hold on to the

sense 'I am' tenaciously and not

to swerve from it even for a moment. I

did my best to follow his

advice and in a comparatively short

time I realized within myself the

truth of his teaching. All I did was

to remember his teaching, his

face, his words constantly. This

brought an end to the mind; in the

stillness of the mind I saw myself as

I am -- unbound.

 

I simply followed (my teacher's)

instruction which was to focus the

mind on pure being 'I am', and stay in

it. I used to sit for hours

together, with nothing but the 'I am'

in my mind and soon peace and

joy and a deep all-embracing love

became my normal state. In it all

disappeared -- myself, my Guru, the

life I lived, the world around

me. Only peace remained and

unfathomable silence.

 

Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

 

(continued...)

[Guest guest]

From < http://www.realization.org/page/topics/nisargadatta.htm>

 

Sri Nisargadatta's teachings defy summarization, but he frequently

recommended the practice that had led to his own realization in less

than three years:

 

Just keep in mind the feeling " I am, " merge in it, till your mind

and feeling become one. By repeated attempts you will stumble on the

right balance of attention and affection and your mind will be

firmly established in the thought-feeling " I am. "

 

[...]

 

 

> His Practice, Sadhna, Mediation,

> Inquiry, Path:

>

> from < http://www.nisargadatta.net/>

>

>

> The Sense of " I am " (Consciousness)

>

> When I met my Guru, he told me: " You

> are not what you take yourself

> to be. Find out what you are. Watch

> the sense 'I am', find your real

> Self. " I obeyed him, because I trusted

> him. I did as he told me. All

> my spare time I would spend looking at

> myself in silence. And what a

> difference it made, and how soon!

>

> My teacher told me to hold on to the

> sense 'I am' tenaciously and not

> to swerve from it even for a moment. I

> did my best to follow his

> advice and in a comparatively short

> time I realized within myself the

> truth of his teaching. All I did was

> to remember his teaching, his

> face, his words constantly. This

> brought an end to the mind; in the

> stillness of the mind I saw myself as

> I am -- unbound.

>

> I simply followed (my teacher's)

> instruction which was to focus the

> mind on pure being 'I am', and stay in

> it. I used to sit for hours

> together, with nothing but the 'I am'

> in my mind and soon peace and

> joy and a deep all-embracing love

> became my normal state. In it all

> disappeared -- myself, my Guru, the

> life I lived, the world around

> me. Only peace remained and

> unfathomable silence.

>

> Nisargadatta Maharaj

>

[Guest guest]

" 'I am' itself is God. The seeking

itself is God. In seeking you discover

that you are neither the body nor the

mind, and the love of the self in you

is for the self in all. The two are

one. The consciousness in you and the

consciousness in me, apparently two,

really one, seek unity and that is love. "

 

 

....

 

'I am' is first-hand and needs no

proofs. Stay with it.

 

Be content with what you are sure of.

And the only thing you can be sure of

is 'I am'. Stay with it, and reject

everything else. This is Yoga.

 

Go back to that state of pure being,

where the 'I am' is still in its purity

before it got contaminated with 'this I

am' or 'that I am'. Your burden is of

false self-identifications -- abandon

them all.

 

Outside the Self there is nothing. All

is one and all is contained in 'I am'.

 

Give it all up and be ready for the

real to assert itself. This self-

assertion is best expressed in words:

'I am'. Nothing else has being. Of this

you are absolutely certain.

 

'I am' is ever afresh. You do not need

to remember in order to be. ... At

present your being is mixed up with

experiencing. All you need is to

unravel being from the tangle of

experiences. Once you have known pure

being, without being this or that, you

will discern it among experiences and

you will no longer be misled by names

and forms.

 

....the 'I am' in movement creates the

world. The 'I am' at peace becomes the

Absolute.

 

Before the mind -- I am. 'I am' is not

a thought in the mind; the mind happens

to me, I do not happen to the mind. And

since time and space are in the mind, I

am beyond time and space, eternal and

omnipresent.