The "Forgotten Teachings" of

Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

With the Focus on

the Necessity and Importance of the

1*Living Guru & Devotion

2*Naam Mantra

3*Meditation.

1* "Guru" Quotes

Maya is difficult to grasp. She blocks the path to Self-realization, UNLESS THERE IS DEVOTION TO THE GURU.

By adhering to the Guru's word, you will grow spiritually and be happy in household life as well.

THE FACT 'I AM NOT THE BODY' CANNOT BE UNDERSTOOD WITHOUT THE GRACE OF THE GURU. The Guru's word, 'I am pure consciousness' is as good as a mantra.

DOUBTING THE GURU-WORD IS THE GREATEST SIN.

'Oh Guru, your true nature is my own Self, I see no difference in them, and that is how I have surrendered to you'. THIS SHOULD BE YOUR CONVICTION.

One who holds onto the Guru's word that 'I AM THE SELF-LUMINOUS ATMAN' will find it easy. The highest charity is to offer Self-knowledge.

If you want the Guru's grace, take the word of the Guru as authority.

When you realize yourself, you will understand the world at the same time. You will know what 'you' are. HAVE THE FIRM CONVICTION THAT I AM WHAT THE GURU TOLD ME.

Your conviction should rest in the Guru's word. 'Guru initiated me' means he told me about my true nature. Believing it to be true if one behaves with conviction, then the Truth will be known.

Either you become determined through the Guru's word, or keep on stumbling in vain.

In the body, God is experiencing Himself with the feeling 'I am'. The Guru's word is your beingness; this should be your conviction.

To meditate on the Self is possible only with the grace of the Guru. Such meditation is unique, not commonly found in the world.

The Guru liberates you. He initiates you by saying, 'your true nature is like my own'. He gives you the mantra, not taking you as male or female, but as the consciousness that listens.

The greater the faith in the Guru, the earlier the success. If you take your Guru as a human being, your consciousness will harass you.

With the grace of the Guru, the understanding could come in an instant. Do not impose body-consciousness on the Guru who is without quality and without form.

Devotion to the Guru opens your eyes. That which is seen without the eyes is superior. Before the eyes open, the light has got a dark blue shade. As soon as the eyes open, it becomes colorless. Be loyal to the Sadguru. Do not impose your body-consciousness on Him.

Without faith in the Guru, you will wander about going to various teachers and holy places. If you follow your Guru's word it will not be necessary to go anywhere.

THE RESPECT YOU GIVE TO THE GURU, THE SAME WILL BE CREATED IN YOU.

Faith in the Guru and understanding received through the Guru's word cannot be compared with anything else. IT IS SO PURE.

In summary, worship the word of the Guru, 'I am not the body, I am the formless, pure life force or Brahman that vitalizes the body'.

Keep listening until you have no doubt about your identity as to what you are and how you have come into existence. Faith in the Guru and devotion to the Guru spontaneously brings the understanding.

With faith in the Guru's words, all will be explained. Simple devotees will get liberated sooner than the intellectuals.

The initiation with mantra establishes a special relationship with the Guru. Hence, you must have faith in the Guru. One could die anytime. Then how can he neglect the Guru's words?

When ordinary people preach dharma, it is the dharma of the body. The Guru is an incarnation of God. Due to devotion to the Guru maya, which appears demonic and vast, is reduced to the size of an atom.

Do not ever forget that we are exactly what our Guru has described.

If you cannot appreciate the greatness of the Guru's teaching, all else in vain. It is conveyed to you because of its total worthiness. Such a conviction will remove your ignorance. The firm belief in the Guru's word gives the knowledge of the Self.

The experience of happiness or misery comes because of our consciousness. It becomes happy by the grace of the Guru. The joy of the moment when the vital force leaves the body cannot be expressed in words.

With devotion to the Guru, you will come to know that you are That. Be firm in your determination that you are formless, pure consciousness.

YOU MUST HEAR ALL OF THIS FROM THE SADGURU. LIBERATION COMES THROUGH LISTENING. It cannot be known through austerities or japa. When the words of the Sadguru are understood and remembered, perfection follows without effort.

Follow devoutly what the Guru says and you will realize that you are consciousness.

You will worship the faith in yourself, if you have faith in the Guru. When faith is created, proper understanding will take place.

Now we cannot even imagine that our true nature is formless. The remedy for this is the mantra given by the Guru and faith in the Guru.

Beingness means the feeling 'you are'. It will not last. A rare one knows this beingness with the help of the Guru. He becomes timeless. Without the grace of the Guru this consciousness will not be stabilized.

The one who has doubts regarding devotion to the Guru will have trouble. The Guru is your own Self.

Remember the Guru and keep your devotion to him.

When the last moment arrives, have full faith in whatever the Guru has said. Offer your body by saying, 'I am not the body. The activity of the five elements is due to me'. This you will know only through devotion to the Guru.

By taking the Guru-word as authority, one is not bound by the cycle of karma.

One realizes the Self-love by following the Guru-word. It will bring you eternity.

You do not have the courage to teach your mind and intellect. That courage will come when you act according to the Guru-word.

Remember the Guru always and you will drop the mind and be free.

It is possible for the one who holds onto the Guru-word without fail. By reciting the mantra, 'I am pure Brahman', you will become limitless. There must be unshakable faith in the Guru. His words will become one with your breath. It will become the joy of your feeling 'I am'. It will correct the subtle body.

Hold within: 'The Guru-word is my true nature'. The devotee of the Guru-word is the devotee of his own true nature.

The only way to remove body-consciousness is to hold onto the Guru-word.

With devotion of the Guru in your heart, you will never have any sense of duality. The supreme state as described by the Guru is naturally there. No remedy is required.

For bringing worthiness into your consciousness, your faith in the Guru must be absolute.

The Guru has said that you are present everywhere. You must believe this in its totality. Self-realization is liberation. Then there is no need to go to heaven. You are what the Guru has described. Do not bother with anything else.

You will never get Self-knowledge if you impose your body-consciousness on the Guru. When you live with the faith that your consciousness and the Guru are the same, you will get Self-realization.

By the grace of the Guru, the idea that 'time is my great death' goes away.

Truth is not achieved without the grace of the Guru.

When consciousness is pleased, God is pleased. Meditate on consciousness. This is as easy as it is difficult. If your faith in the Guru is unshakable, it is easy.

If one wants to worship God, one must worship the Guru. That means one must surrender to the consciousness that listens to the Guru-word. To follow what you have heard is the ultimate devotion.

If you have faith in the Guru, his word should be taken as authority.

If you follow these words of the Guru: 'The body is not your nature; the priceless consciousness in the body is your true nature', you will become a realized person.

Chanting the mantra, meditation, and bhajans (singing devotional songs) bring worthiness beyond imagination. If a great difficulty arises, worship the Guru with devotional songs and surely it will be warded off. Due to devotion to the Guru, one gets limitless power.

The Guru has given you the nature of Paramatman. Worship him in order to become Paramatman; not to get food, clothing or happiness.

One must have devotion for the Guru. Bhajan and aarti (singing devotional songs are a symbol of your love toward the Guru. In order to get stable, practice meditation; you will naturally get the knowledge of your Self.

Remember you are the offspring of your Guru. Therefore his word is your authority.

Never let go of devotion to the Guru.

How does the Guru offer his grace? When he talks about his experience, know that it is your own. This should be understood with fullest conviction.

With devotion to the Guru, birth and death vanish. It is difficult to get this knowledge, but once you have it everything is possible.

By sticking to the Guru's word, the perverse intellect will stop it's mischief.

The knowledge of the Self cannot be achieved without the grace of the Sadguru.

In ancient times it was difficult for people to avail of the teaching. Therefore they had to have the fullest faith in the Sadguru. Today, people do not have such faith. If anyone does keep such faith, he will be liberated. The Sadguru is of the nature of the Absolute. He is our perfect Self. He is our eternal true nature. A rare one follows this type of devotion (non-dual devotion). The Sadguru and your pure consciousness are one and the same.

Accept the Guru word in order to understand your true nature. Identify with the Guru-word.

With steadfast devotion to the Sadguru, one recognizes that the devotion is to his own Self.

To meet a Sadguru is great fortune. (Three things are most important: the human body, desire for Self-realization, meeting the Sadguru.)

To understand all this, it is of no use just to have a philosopher as a Guru. It is necessary to have a Guru who understands the nature of the Self.

Under guidance of the Guru the devotee realizes that he is not the mind or the body.

When the Guru initiated you and told you, 'you are not the body', at that very moment you left off your human nature. Now, you will have no birth. Everything is known through your consciousness. It is the center of the universe. Without the Guru, consciousness cannot realize itself.

THE GURU IS PARABRAHMAN. AFTER UNDERSTANDING THIS, ONE HOLDS ONTO IT WITHIN HIMSELF AND BECOMES OF THE NATURE OF THE GURU.

One who has kept his attention on the word of the Sadguru will surely get his grace. The Sadguru's nature will become open and clear. You will know that you and the Guru are the same.

Consciousness is busy with many thoughts. With the Guru's guidance, you have to turn it back onto itself. One who understands that there is no difference between his consciousness and the Guru, becomes enlightened.

By the Guru's grace, the birth of the body becomes the birth of Brahman. Then the seeker forgets that he is a particular individual.

You must practice devotion to the Guru (non-dual devotion). Be vigilant. Prepare yourself to see the bliss of the last moment. For others it is a dreadful event.

It might be that one is polluted by many sins. Even then, if one's faith in the Guru is strong and one has been initiated by the Guru, his sins are absolved and reduced to ashes. You must be anxious about contemplation of the Guru.

One who gets the Guru's grace requires nothing else to meditate upon. What is required is faith and trust. With that you become immortal. This will not be understood without devotion.

What is the sign of Self-realization? There is no fear of death. To achieve this, one has to follow the Guru-word: 'I am formless without body and of the nature of pure consciousness'.

They call themselves knowledgeable based upon the strength of the information they have gathered. Without the Guru's grace, the Self cannot be known.

The Sadguru is the Witness of both the manifest and the unmanifest. He is perfect Brahman. He is ever present. You will be perfect Brahman by following his word.

There is no greater devotion than devotion to the Guru (non-dual devotion). It transcends the Vedas. There should be the conviction that the Guru's word itself is 'I'.

With good fortune, one meets a 'Perfect Man' and he clears your vision. With his blessing one may get the experience of immortality. Those who practice devotion to the Guru become immortal.

The whole world has arisen spontaneously. Go to the Source from where it has arisen. To understand this, devotion to the Guru without any duality is necessary.

Where there is ego, there is bondage. Consciousness is pure love. Continue chanting 'Jai Guru, Jai Guru', even if it is done silently. By doing this we awaken ourselves. Guru means consciousness. To remember the Guru is a sign of great fortune. Your consciousness is the all-pervading Guru.

You should be close to the Guru so that you feel that your consciousness and the Guru's manifestation as 'I am' are the same.

The mind must be controlled with right discrimination. When you recognize that you are not even the vital force in the body, you will be deathless. It is possible only when you meet the Sadguru and hold onto his words. The names of Brahman are innumerable. You are Brahman! Just take the word of the Guru.

To hold onto the word of the Guru is great service to the Guru. For this purpose, you have to give full attention to your true nature all the time.

Consciousness is by nature fickle. Its movement causes fear. In order to make consciousness steady, faith in the Guru is necessary. If your devotion to the Guru is firm, you will enjoy liberation while you are alive. What is known creates fear. What transcends fear is everlasting. You do not pay attention to your perfection. That is why you are afraid. Have full faith in the Guru, and then the fear will be completely uprooted.

We have to find out who creates concepts. Give up all loose talk and chant 'Jai Guru, Jai Guru'. There is no knowing what He will grant you.

2*"Naam Mantra" Quotes

A true brahmin is one who knows he is Brahman-pure consciousness. Those who are truly religious get the real reward of Self-knowledge. Prana (vital breath, the life force) does all the dealings; hence, be friends with it. If prana is purified by the Guru-mantra, then it mingles with the universal prana when one dies. Others who do not know take a fall.

Continue your chanting of the mantra, keeping its meaning in mind. Think of who should worship whom and why? If you want the Guru's grace, take the word of the Guru as authority.

The Guru liberates you. He initiates you by saying, 'your true nature is like my own'. He gives you the mantra, not taking you as male or female, but as the consciousness that listens.

Chant your mantra. With faith in the one who has given you the mantra, your consciousness will become stronger. As a result, there will be no weakness in your actions. The greater the faith in the Guru, the earlier the success. If you take your Guru as a human being, your consciousness will harass you. One who follows this faithfully will enjoy liberation in this very body.

When consciousness realizes itself, it is called the grace of the Guru. One must be the proof of the Guru's words. THE INITIATION WITH MANTRA ESTABLISHES A SPECIAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE GURU. Hence, you must have faith in the Guru. One could die anytime. Then how can he neglect the Guru's words?

Silently repeat your mantra. Meditation should be on one's own nature. Slowly the mind will become pure. The formless consciousness will be uncovered and your true nature will be understood.

If you remember what you have heard now, there is nothing in the world that can harm you. Why? It is because you have understood the meaning of the Self. The birthless one is never born. Still, consciousness is created. The impression of the body goes very deep; it is difficult to make it lighter. The remedy for this is the mantra given by the Guru and faith in the Guru.

The meaning of the mantra is your consciousness. You should make it known to you. While reciting the mantra, whatever you feel, let it be felt. It will go away. The import of the mantra is your beingness. In order to realize it, become more and more quiet.

Recitation of the mantra is the remembrance of one's own true nature. It is the meditation on 'I am'. Practice that. It requires no other proof.

When the mind-connection is severed you will see the void. To purify the mind one must remember the mantra all through the waking hours. Then your mind will come under your control. When you pay attention to your true nature the mind will disappear, bringing in the whole.

THE MIND SURRENDERS TO YOU IF YOUR INCANTATION OF THE MANTRA IS CONTINUOUS. IT TELLS YOU WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW.

The mind gets modified and behavior changes with repetition of the mantra. The body serves as the food for this consciousness. The mind flows from prana, the vital force. When you realize all this, at the last moment you will clearly witness that you do not die but prana leaves the body. The enlightened person has no hopes, no desires and no passions.Therefore he has no death.

Chanting the mantra, meditation and bhajans (singing devotional songs) bring worthiness beyond imagination. If a great difficulty arises, worship the Guru with devotional songs and surely it will be warded off. Due to devotion to the Guru, one gets limitless power. The seed sown by the Sadguru has sprouted; it is the vital force, chaitanya incarnate. Remembering the mantra constantly is meditation.

When you ripen with the mantra that has been given to you, spiritual knowledge will start expressing itself. Such is its power. You will do nothing. The realization will talk through you. The power of the mantra will increase and it will be understood that the Guru-state is within you.

Your word is of the nature of God. Your speech will sprout with repetition of the mantra and your word will become God's word. The Guru's word is final. It does not change. This must be your conviction. It should be remembered constantly.

As your word becomes pure, knowledge will flow through it. The words flow out of your mind according to your worthiness. When you chant the mantra, the vital force takes shape according to the meaning of the mantra.

Your beliefs will give you relevant experiences. Keep reciting your mantra. It will enable you to understand your true identity. You will come to know that you are not the body. For Self-realization it is necessary that consciousness and the vital force be united. This happens by reciting the mantra. It has to be done with love and a sense of urgency. In fact it is the vital force that recites the mantra. A persistent commitment is needed. There is no part-time spiritual effort.

Continue repeating the mantra. Even without repeating, one must know that it is going on within. Ever since the body was born, this incantation has been going on.

You become attached with the known and, hence, you do not notice the knower. He is beyond consciousness. He is revealed by the recitation of the Guru-mantra.

People repeat God's name in various ways, as they are taught. According to my experience if the mantra is recited with proper breathing, the mind becomes silent and samadhi ensues.

The Guru reveals to the disciple his own worthiness. He initiates the one who has surrendered. The meaning of the mantra is 'I am Atman, I am not the body'. This is like the name giving ceremony for the newborn.

The name (mantra) given by the Guru is proof in itself of the Guru's word. The name given by parents is a proof of death.

The more we seek Self-knowledge, the purer the mind will be. One should forget body-consciousness and keep the mind busy with the mantra. Focus attention on your true nature.

Remembering the mantra is necessary to destroy wrong thinking in the mind. After impurity drops off, consciousness will be clear like a jewel in the palm. After dismissing all words, the true nature, which is formless and nameless will become silent. When the mind is purified, consciousness is seen clearly. Consciousness means Sattva guna, which is self-sensing.

3*"Meditation" Quotes

By virtue of meditation, the feeling 'I am so-and-so is lost. To make meditation successful, be faithful to it. Concentrate on the Self with the energy of prana. When the energy is arrested, the consciousness becomes one with it and samadhi ensues. The knowledge received from the books has to be tested with one's own experience.

To meditate on the Self is possible only with the grace of the Guru. Such meditation is unique, not commonly found in the world. The guru liberates you. He initiates you by saying: “Your true nature is like my own”. He gives you the mantra, not taking you as male or female, but as the consciousness that listens.

As it is difficult to meditate on your own consciousness, worship it as the Guru. You can think of the Guru as standing on your back, with light spreading all over. But you cannot imagine that you, yourself are standing behind you. The early stages of mediation require support of dualism. Your identity has no body-form. Everything will become clear when you realize that there exists nothing other than you.

Chanting the mantra, meditation and bhajans (singing devotional songs) bring worthiness beyond the imagination.

REMEMBERING THE MANTRA CONSTANTLY IS MEDITATION.

The world is vast, but you will realize through meditation that it dwells inside your atomic consciousness. It is love. If you want to go back to the Source, stop wandering, and go on meditating.

Meditate in such a way that you even forget that you are meditating. Truth will reveal itself when one forgets oneself. We are not what we know. We are prior to knowing. One who has understood this has no need to sit in meditation.

Meditation means holding onto consciousness. The consciousness that appears in the morning is the holy sight of God. Everything is known through consciousness. When the heart is pure, one says, 'The Guru is the Self, He is everything'.

Meditate on how you were before the body-form. As long as what you see and feel affects you, you have not achieved knowledge of the Supreme Self.

Remembering our consciousness is meditation. It is the same as the feet of the Guru. It leads to Self-realization. That which realizes is the same as the holy feet of the Sadguru. Only through meditation will you realize how exactly you are. When consciousness becomes pure ignorance, it is called samadhi.

(from "Meditations With Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj" pub. 2014)

With thanks to Patrick Pummill for this valuable work.

The Master, Nisargadatta Maharaj, sings.

Nisargadatta Maharaj Bhajans.mp3

SELF KNOWLEDGE AND SELF REALIZATION Original PDF.zip
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The above text is the ORIGINAL unedited translation by Prof. Vasudeo Madhav Kulkarni. Published in English by R.N.Chavhan on the 8th April 1963, on the 66th birthday of Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj, this is the only book written by Nisargadatta Maharaj. See below for the subsequent edition published by Jean Dunn.

Nisargadatta by Jean Dunn - Oct 78 - Mountain Path Magazine (1).pdf
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Nisargadatta Maharaj Magazine from the 70's

"Loving Memories of Nisargadatta Maharaj"

published on 29 March 1972

Shri Nisargadatta Maharaj

by Maurice Frydman (1972)

(Editor of the spiritual classic"I Am That")

The remarkable thing about Nisargadatta Maharaj is his inexhaustible patience and willingness to answer every question, however odd or personal. One rarely has the good fortune of finding a realized man so willing to come down to the level of understanding of his listeners, so eager to make clear. His language is simple, direct, and forceful, the language of a clear minded man accustomed to express himself in action.

As a young man working hard to maintain his little family, he met his Guru and felt powerfully attracted. Lacking book knowledge, unburdened by theories and philosophically unprepared, he had no background of fixed ideas to stand between him and his own experience. He met a man who knew more and was willing to guide. The only sane attitude to take was either of total rejection or of total acceptance. Maharaj was wise enough to accept and obey. He began to spend his free time concentrating on the feeling “I-am”, under the watchful eye of his Guru. When the Master felt his death was coming, he called his disciple and told him: “You trust me, don’t you? Now, believe me when I tell you that you are the Supreme Reality here and now. There is nothing you need. Just remember what I told you.” Shortly afterwards the Guru died and Maharaj remained with nothing but his teacher’s assurance. This was enough. He abandoned his meditations, the various trances and visions he used to have ceased and he just lived his craftsman’s life, rather astonished at his Master’s words and uncertain what is to be done about them. Yet some inner clarification was going on in him all the time and all by itself truth dawned on him with overwhelming clarity and power. When asked who was responsible for the enlightenment, Maharaj would say that neither was; the Master saw no need for a change; the disciple saw no way. It were the words themselves that worked, because they were true. Of course, they were trusted. There was no resistance, no doubt, no hesitation. The Guru was trusted, that was all.

The question arose would the Guru’s words be as effective if he were not trusted? Of course, Maharaj would answer. The efficacy of the guru’s words does not depend on the attitude of the disciple. It is their being true that made them true. The disciple, by his disbelief, could only keep the words in abeyance, but they would materialize at the first opportunity. And the opportunity would happen sooner or later - a storm would come and dispel the clouds of ignorance due to inattention.

The word of the guru operates entirely by itself, independently of consciousness. Deep and far-going changes in character and outlook take place without any possibility of interference. When asked by what signs or tokens he could make out that he has realized his true being, Maharaj would answer - “There were no signs. I found myself without desires and without knowledge. There was nothing left but love, the state of witness was left behind; there was only love, all pervading, all-embracing, absolute. There were no crucial experiences, no soul-shattering visions. I just ceased imagining myself to be what I never was and there was nothing to replace the unreal with. There was no need to look for replacements - the nothingness was the fullness of understanding, love and silent peace.

JEAN DUNN

Jean Dunn(1921-1996) disciple of Nisargadatta Maharaj.

Jean Dunn co-ordinated and edited various books on the teachings of Nisargadatta Maharaj, including: "Prior to Consciousness", "Seeds of Consciousness", and "Consciousness and the Absolute", containing later teachings She also produced an abridged edition of 'Self-Knowledge and Self-Realization':

Click here to download this text.

Jean wrote of meeting Nisargadatta Maharaj: "Loved him on sight."

Nisargadatta Maharaj acknowledged Jean as realizing her True Nature and told her she was to carry on his work for him.

1980 Presentation volume with various articles about Nisargadatta Maharaj

Some articles from this volume are below

comprehending the formless Supreme Power. It is easy to concentrate on a form - a picture, an idol, or symbol - and pray to it. Prayer is a discipline which collects together our scattered mental faculties (vrittis) and brings them to a focal point. Prayer is a form of meditation. Shri Maharaj shows ordinary men and women the way to blessedness through prayer, a way already familiar to them.And he participates in puja, just as one of them, to give them courage and hope.

Maurice Frydman in younger years

Frydman at Ramana Ashram 1930- ish

Above PDf from Mountain Path Magazine. Jean Dunn on Nisargadatta Maharaj - 4 pages with some excerpts from I AM THAT

NISARGA YOGA

A Simple Way to Attain Perfect Peace by Maurice Frydman

In the humble abode of Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj, but for the electric lights and the noises of the street traffic, one would not know in which period of human history one dwells. There is an atmosphere of timelessness about his tiny room; the subjects discussed are timeless - valid for all times; the way they are expounded and examined is also timeless; the centuries, millenia and yugas fall off and one deals with matters immensely ancient and eternally new.

The discussions held and teachings given would have been the same ten thousand years ago and will be the same ten thousand years hence. There will be always conscious beings wondering about the fact of their being conscious and enquiring into its cause and aim. Whence am I? What am I? Whither am I? Such questions have no beginning and will never end. And it is crucial to know the answers, for without the full understanding of oneself, both in time and in timelessness, life is but a dream, imposed on us by powers we do not know, for purposes we cannot grasp. Every child born will ask such questions and must not be denied a way to its answers, not to answers given by another, but t such as are born from its own direct experience.

Sri Maharaj is not a learned man. There is no erudition behind his homely Marathi; authorities he does not quote, scriptures are rarely mentioned; the astonishingly rich spiritual heritage of India is implicit in him rather than explicit. No rich Ashram was ever built round him and most of his followers are humble working people cherishing the opportunity of spending an hour with him from time to time.

Simplicity and humility are the keynotes of his life and teachings; physically and inwardly he never takes the higher seat; the essence of being on which he talks, he sees in others as clearly as he sees it in himself. He admits that while he is aware of it, others are not yet, but this difference is temporary and of little importance, except to the mind and its ever-changing content.

When asked about his yoga, he says he has none to offer, no system to propound, no theology, cosmogony, psychology or philosophy. He knows the real nature - his own and his listeners' and he points it out. The listener cannot see it because he cannot see the obvious, simply and directly. All he knows, he knows with his mind, stimulated by the senses; that the mind is a sense in itself, he does not even suspect.

The Nisarga Yoga, the 'natural' yoga of Sri 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, which Sri Maharaj calls swarupa, self-being, and which is the source of both life and consciousness is, by definition, the timeless source. In terms of time, space and causation it is all-powerful, being the causeless cause; all-pervading, being everywhere; eternal, in the sense of being beginingless, 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 re-shaping 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. For that it had to learn the laws and ways of Nature in order to conquer it through obedience. That it was, and is doing - and there is no harm in it, - 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 with words 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 therefore unreal. To break out from the 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 thing itself.

The most commonly used word and most pregnant with feelings, and ideas is the word 'I'. The 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 most important; 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 essence of the Nisarga Yoga of Sri Maharaj. Not being a continuous experience, 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 Sri Maharaj calls the Self-nature, Self-being, swarupa.

As to the methods of realizing one's supreme identity with the Self-being, Sri Maharaj is peculiarly non-comittal. He says that each has his own way to Reality, and that there can be no general rule. 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 the supreme state is realized which is also the primordial and the ultimate. 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 is required and no initiation. 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.

When asked about the need for a Guru, Sri Maharaj's answer is: the Supreme Guru, the sadguru, is ever within; there are many outside Gurus and it is best to learn from them all. Whoever has a lesson to impart becomes a Guru; but the true light and power come from within. 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. Life goes on, but it is spontaneous and free, meaningful and happy.

Sri Maharaj most willingly describes the natural, spontaneous state, but as the man born blind cannot visualize light and colours, so is the unenlightened mind unable to give meaning to such descriptions. Words like dispassionate happiness, affectionate detachment, actionless creation, identity of perceived and perceiver, timelessness and causelessness of things and beings - they all sound strange and cause no response. Intuitively we feel they have deep meaning, and create in us a strange longing for the ineffable, a forerunner of things to come, but that is all. As Sri Maharaj puts it: words are pointers, they show the direction, but they will not come along with us. Truth is the fruit of earnest action, words merely point the way.

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How to realize God?

God can be realized only when you have emptied yourself of all else.

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The article above was written by Maurice Frydman in May 1970,

when he had started translating Sri Maharaj's talks published in

" I AM THAT"

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