Nisargadatta Maharaj says whatever can be lost is not really one's own

[Guest guest]

Questioner: I am a retired chartered accountant and my wife is engaged in social

work for poor women. Our son is leaving for the United States and we came to see

him off. We are Panjabis but we live in Delhi. We have a Guru of the Radha-Soami

faith and we value satsang highly. We feel very fortunate to be brought here. We

have met many holy people and we are glad to meet one

more.

 

Maharaj: You have met many anchorites and ascetics, but a fully realised man

conscious of his divinity (swarupa) is hard to find. The saints and Yogis, by

immense efforts and sacrifices, acquire many miraculous powers and can do much

good in the way of helping people and inspiring faith, yet it does not make them

perfect. It is not a way to reality, but merely an enrichment of the false. All

effort leads to more effort; whatever was built up must be maintained, whatever

was acquired must be protected against decay or loss. Whatever can be lost is

not really one's own; and what is not your own of what use can it be to you? In

my world nothing is pushed about, all happens by itself. All existence is in

space and time, limited and temporary. He who experiences existence is also

limited and temporary. I am not concerned either with 'what exists' or with 'who

exists'. I take my stand beyond, where I am both and neither.

 

The persons who, after much effort and penance, have fulfilled their

ambitions and secured higher levels of experience and action, are usually

acutely conscious of their standing; they grade people into hierarchies, ranging

from the lowest non-achiever to the highest achiever. To me all are equal.

Differences in appearance and expression are there, but they do not matter. Just

as the shape of a gold ornament does not affect the gold, so does man's essence

remain unaffected. Where this sense of equality is lacking it means that reality

had not been touched.

 

Mere knowledge is not enough; the knower must be known. The Pandits and the

Yogis may know many things, but of what use is mere knowledge when the self is

not known? It will be certainly misused. Without the knowledge of the knower

there can be no peace.

 

Q: We were told that of all forms of spiritual practices the practice of the

attitude of a mere witness is the most efficacious. How does it compare with

faith?

 

M: The witness attitude is also faith; it is faith in oneself. You believe that

you are not what you experience and you look at everything as from a distance.

There is no effort in witnessing. You understand that you are the witness only

and the understanding acts. You need nothing more, just remember that you are

the witness only. If in the state of witnessing you ask yourself: 'Who am I?',

the answer comes at once, though it is wordless and silent. Cease to be the

object and become the subject of all that happens; once having turned within,

you will find yourself beyond the subject. When you have found yourself, you

will find that you are also beyond the object, that both the subject and the

object exist in you, but

you are neither.

 

Q: Krishnamurti says that Guru is not needed.

 

M: Somebody must tell you about the Supreme Reality and the way that leads to

it. Krishnamurti is doing nothing else. In a way he is right -- most of the

so-called disciples do not trust their Gurus; they disobey them and finally

abandon them. For such disciples it would have been infinitely better if they

had no Guru at all and just looked within for guidance. to find a living Guru is

a rare opportunity and a great responsibility. One should not treat these

matters lightly. You people are out to buy yourself the heaven and you imagine

that the Guru will supply it for a price. You seek to strike a bargain by

offering little but asking much. You cheat

nobody except yourselves.

 

Q: How can I come to see myself as you see me?

 

M: It is enough if you do not imagine yourself to be the body. It is the

'I-am-the-body' idea that is so calamitous. It blinds you completely to your

real nature. Even for a moment do not think that you are the body. Give yourself

no name, no shape. In the darkness and the silence reality is found.

 

Source: I am That Book By Nisargadatta Maharaj

 

--

Om namo Bhagavate Sri Ramanaya

Prashant Jalasutram