Nisargadatta Maharaj

[Guest guest]

KKT: From the book "Pointers From Nisargadatta Maharaj"

by Ramesh S. Balsekar, p.31 . Enjoy !

 

KKT

 

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LOVE AND GOD

 

The dialogue, one evening, was started by a young Canadian,

wearing a Lungi and a thin Kurta. He said he was twenty-three,

but looked barely out of his teens. He wore around his neck

an elegant little silver cross on a dainty chain. He said he had

come across the book I AM THAT in a bookshop in Bombay

a couple of days ago. A cursory glance at a few pages impelled

in him a desire to meet Maharaj personally. He had already

gone through the book reading almost continuously, through

the afternoon, evening and night, and had finished both the

volumes only a few hours ago.

 

Maharaj: You are so young. I wonder since what age you

have been interested in the spiritual quest.

Visitor: Sir, even since I remember I have been deeply

interested in Love and God. And I strongly felt that they

are not different. When I sit in meditation, I often .........

 

M: Wait a moment. What exactly do you mean by meditation?

V: I don't really know. All I do is to sit cross-legged, close

my eyes, and remain absolutely quiet. I find my body relaxing,

almost melting away, and my mind, or being or whatever

merging into space, and the thought-process getting gradually

suspended.

 

M: That's good. Plese proceed.

V: Quite often, during meditation, an overwhelming feeling

of ecstatic love arises in my heart together with an effusion

of well-being. I do not know what it is. It is during one such

spell that I felt inspired to visit India -- and here I am.

 

M: How long will you be in Bombay?

V: I really don't know. I rarely make any plans. I have

sufficient money to live frugally for about fifteen days, and

I have my return ticket.

 

M: Now tell me, what is it exactly that you want to know.

Do you have any specific questions?

V: I was a very confused man when I landed in Bombay.

I felt I was almost going out of my mind. I really don't know

what took me to the bookshop because I don't do much

reading. The moment I picked up the first volume of I AM THAT,

I experienced the same overpowering feeling that I get during

my meditation. As I went on reading the book a weight

seemed to lift off from within me, and, as I am sitting here

before you, I feel as if I am talking to myself. And what I

am saying to myself seems like blasphemy. I was convinced

that love is God. But now I think that love is surely a concept

and if love is a concept God also must be a concept.

 

M: So, what is wrong in it?

V: (Laughing) Now, if you put it like that I have no feeling

of guilt in transforming God into a concept.

 

M: Actually, you said love is God. What do you mean by

the word 'love'. Do you mean 'love' as the opposite of 'hate'?

Or, do you mean something else, although, of course, no

word can be adequate to describe 'God'.

V: No. No. By the word 'love' I certainly do not mean the

opposite of 'hate'. What I mean is that love is abstaining

from discrimination as 'me' and the 'other'.

 

M: In other words, unity of being?

V: Yes, indeed. What then is 'God' to whom I am expected

to pray?

 

M: Let us talk about prayer later. Now then, what exactly is

this 'God' you are talking about? Is he not the very consciousness

-- the sense of 'being' that one has -- because of which you are

able to ask questions? 'I AM' ITSELF IS GOD. What is it that

you love most? Is it not this 'I am', the conscious presence

which you want to preserve at any cost? The seeking itself

is God. In seeking you discover that 'you' are apart from this

body-mind complex. If you were not conscious, would the

world exist for you? Would there be any idea of God? And,

the consciousness in you and the consciousness in me --

are they different? Are they not separate only as concepts,

seeking unity unconceived, and is that not love?

V: Now, I understand what is meant by 'God is nearer to me

than I am to myself'.

 

M: Also remember, THERE CAN BE NO PROOF OF REALITY

OTHER THAN BEING IT. Indeed you ARE it, and have always

been. Conciousness leaves with the end of the body (and is

therefore time-bound) and with it leaves the duality which is

the basis of consciousness and manifestation.

V: What then is prayer, and what is its purpose?

 

M: Prayer, as it is generally understood, is nothing but begging

for something. Actually, prayer means communion-uniting-Yoga.

V: Everything is so clear now, as if a great deal of rubbish has

been suddenly thrown out of my system, blown out of existence.

 

M: Do you mean that you now seem to see everything clearly?

V: No. No. Not 'seems'. It IS clear, so clear that I am now

amazed that it was not clear at any time. Various statements

that I had read in the Bible, which seemed important but vague

before, are now crystal clear -- statements like: Before Abraham

was I am; I and my father are one; I am that I am.

 

M: Good. Now that you know what it is all about, what

Sadhana will you do to obtain liberation from your 'bondage'?

V: Ah! Maharaj. Now you are surely making fun of me. Or,

are you testing me? Surely, now I know and have realized

that I AM THAT -- I AM, WHICH I HAVE ALWAYS BEEN AND

WHICH I SHALL ALWAYS BE. What is left to be done?

Or, undone? And who is to do it? And for what purpose?

 

M: Excellent! JUST BE.

V: I shall, indeed.

 

Then, the young Canadian prostrated before Maharaj, his

eyes brimming with tears of gratitude and joy. Maharaj

asked him if he would be coming again, and the lad said:

"Honestly, I don't know." When he left, Maharaj sat for

a while with his eyes closed, the gentlest of smiles on

his lips. He then said very softly: "A rare one"; I could

barely catch the words.

 

I never saw the young Canadian again, and I have often

wondered about him.