Nisargadatta's I Am That Session 21 - Chapter 10 Witnessing

Listen to Ektaji talk about Nisargadatta Maharaj's book I Am That. Nisargadatta Maharaj was a teacher who did not propound any ideology or religion, but gently unwrapped the mystery of the self. I Am That preserves his dialogs with the followers who came from around the world seeking guidance in destroying false identities.

Transcript

So,

Today's chapter is chapter 10,

Witnessing.

In Marathi,

It is called Sakshatva.

The questions in this chapter are by a complete ignorant person who has no idea about the spiritual path and has just heard a few flowery words here and there.

And he has memorized those words and how he comes and blurts it in front of Maharaj.

Witnessing.

Questioner.

I am full of desires and want them fulfilled.

How am I to get what I want?

Maharaj says,

Do you deserve what you desire?

In some way or other,

You have to work for the fulfillment of your desires.

Put in energy and wait for the results.

Complete Dwaitamansir.

I hope you saw that.

Ignorant person has zero spiritual knowledge.

You cannot start teaching him higher mathematics.

He is not going to get it.

He is just somebody who has learnt A,

B,

C,

D.

So,

A teacher like Maharaj goes down to his level and then talks in his language.

He's only come to Maharaj to improve his body-mind level.

He's not interested yet at the witnessing level.

He has no idea also.

Maybe he's just heard a word here and there.

So,

Maharaj is very clear.

First of all,

You have to deserve what you desire.

And in some way or the other,

You have to put in some work for the fulfillment.

And for that,

You need energy to put in.

So,

The questioner asks,

Where am I to get the energy?

Maharaj says the desire itself is energy.

Then why does not every desire get fulfilled?

Maybe it was not strong enough and lasting.

Yes,

That is my problem.

I want things,

But I am lazy when it comes to action.

Maharaj,

When your desire is not clear nor strong,

It cannot take shape.

Besides,

If your desires are personal for your own enjoyment,

The energy you give them is necessarily limited.

It cannot be more than what you have.

If you keep thinking,

I mine,

I mine,

I mine.

Limited mind.

Very limited mind,

Very limited energy,

Very self-centered,

Greedy.

So,

A lot of negativity is there in a limited mind.

I want this for myself only,

My family,

My money,

My career.

Very limited energy.

Your desire is going to bring that result which is going to be smaller than you.

It's never going to be bigger than you.

Why?

Because you have limited yourself to the body-mind.

Yes.

So,

It cannot be more than what you have.

At the body-mind level,

You are very limited.

So,

Questioner says,

Yet often ordinary persons do attain what they desire.

What they desire.

Maharaj says,

After desiring it very much and for a long time,

Even then their achievements are limited.

They do not get as much as they desire.

It's always very limited.

The Marathi word for achievements there in the book is Karya Siddhi.

The Siddhi,

How much materializes of the Karya,

Out of the effort,

Out of the work that they put in,

Is very limited.

So,

How much ever you may see another person very rich,

Know he wanted to be 10 times richer.

He's 10 times less than what he wanted.

It is always going to be limited.

Yes.

You say,

Okay,

That much is enough for me.

But your limitation is probably 10 times smaller than his limitation.

So,

One-tenth of what he has attained.

So,

Don't go running beyond this,

Is what Maharaj is really telling you.

Personal,

Self-centered,

Greedy mind.

You are a beggar with a bowl all the time.

So,

Maharaj is taking him there very slowly,

In a very soft way.

See,

It's going to be limited.

It's going to be limited.

It's going to be limited.

He's bringing it there,

Bringing him there slowly.

The questioner says,

And what about unselfish desires?

Finally,

He got to the point where Maharaj wanted him to come.

When you desire the common good,

The whole world desires with you.

Make humanity's desire your own and work for it.

There,

You cannot fail.

So,

Go beyond your limited mind of I,

Me,

My family,

My home,

My career.

Go beyond.

It's the tendency of the mind to have a begging bowl in its hand.

You always want to receive more than you want to give.

Have you noticed?

You're a beggar with a bowl.

Harsh,

But true.

You always want to receive.

Receive,

Receive,

Receive.

It doesn't matter whether you have a million dollars in the bank or you just have enough money to bring bread to the table today.

Both of you will go and sit in the same langar line if there is free food.

Langar is the food that is served at the gurdwara as prasad.

Even though you have million dollars in the bank,

Not once it will occur to you,

Maybe I should contribute towards the gurdwara offering this food in the langar.

You will still go and sit with your begging bowl.

You are poor here and you are going to die poor here.

Do you see that?

This is where you are poor.

You will live a poor life,

You will die a poor life.

You're born with a begging bowl,

You will die with one.

Wake up,

Shake up.

I am not this mind.

This is the mind's tendency.

And why is it the mind's tendency?

Because mind is a Lota means a pot which doesn't have a bottom.

A bottomless pot.

Whatever I put into this bottomless pot,

It goes through.

That is the tendency of the mind.

And till the time I identify with the mind,

Till the time I feel I am this body mind,

I am going to be a poor person.

I'm going to be a beggar with a bowl even though there are millions in the bank.

No point.

Do you see what I'm saying?

Stop identifying with the wrong thing.

The identification with the body mind is what makes you poor.

Take that step beyond and be the witness of the body mind.

Then you don't go sit in every langar line.

You're getting it free,

No?

Sit in line.

See how your ego is getting poked with the truth.

Do you notice it?

Notice it.

Recognize it.

If I am getting poked,

I have definitely identified with the body mind.

And I always have this receiving tendency.

I don't think about the greater good.

I don't think about the entire humanity.

Also,

You have this feeling that,

Oh,

I am a simple person.

What am I going to do for the entire humanity?

Don't know about the entire humanity.

Whatever little bit you can contribute.

Simple thing.

You're attending this Zoom.

Did you ever,

Ever think of contributing by volunteering?

Did you ever ask the host,

Do you need some help?

Can I help in hosting?

Can I Can I help in hosting?

Can I help with sending emails?

Can I help with attendance?

No,

You are here to receive because it is free.

What does that make you?

You can have millions in the bank,

But you are poor here.

You see that?

The mind is a beggar with a bowl in its hand.

Stop identifying with that beggar.

You become the rich man.

Take that step beyond.

Be the witness,

Not the poor mind and body.

This is where Maharaj is taking this person.

Taking this person.

So,

See,

He gives an answer just like you would have given and some of you still are there.

He says,

Humanity is God's work,

Not mine.

I am concerned with myself only.

Have I not the right to see my legitimate desires fulfilled?

They will hurt no one.

My desires are legitimate.

They are right desires.

Why don't they come true?

Maharaj says,

Desires are right or wrong according to circumstances.

It depends on how you look at them.

It is only for the individual that a distinction between right and wrong is valid.

What does this mean?

At a certain point of time in your life,

That desire which was valid may be invalid for you at some other point of time in life.

For example,

When you were young,

Maybe in your early 20s,

You were extremely thin.

So,

Eating fatty food was advised for you.

Now you are in your 50s and 60s and overweight.

Eating fatty food is not advisable for you.

For the same person,

Circumstances have changed.

So,

What is the first line?

Desires are right or wrong according to circumstances.

Circumstances have changed.

Now I give you a very simple example,

Something that applies to most of us,

But you look at your own individual desires.

A certain desire was valid at a certain age.

You wanted that beautiful woman to be your wife or that handsome hunk to be your husband.

Now you're 60 years old,

You look like that person's father or mother.

Stop running behind the poor 20 year old thing.

So,

Desires will change with circumstances.

So,

Desires will change with circumstances.

Clear?

It is only for the individual that a distinction between right and wrong is valid.

It is from case by case basis,

Individual basis,

Whether a desire is appropriate or right for you or wrong for you.

Clear?

What are the guidelines for such distinction?

How am I to know which of my desires are right and which are wrong?

Maharaj says,

In your case,

Desires that lead to sorrow are wrong and those which lead to happiness are right.

But you must not forget others.

Their sorrow and happiness also count.

This is the way you look at life,

No?

That which brings me sorrow,

I don't want that.

That which brings me joy,

I want only that.

Yes,

That's how you look at desires.

But Maharaj says that's a limited way of looking at things.

You have to see that you're part of a bigger dream.

It's the same dreamer's dream.

All of us are part of this same dreamer's dream.

It doesn't matter if you're this person or you are this person.

It is a single dream.

And in this dream,

Everybody counts.

So,

If your desire is very individual,

Personal,

You're not going to attain much.

You're not going to achieve much.

In fact,

The running behind the desire is going to create more suffering.

At the end of your life,

If you look back,

You will have a big mountain of suffering and only a pot full of fulfilled desires.

In summary,

Your life will be a suffering.

Why?

Because you only thought about your own limited individual personal desires.

If on the other hand,

You look at everybody's happiness,

Count everybody's happiness and everybody's sorrow,

Then you will not do anything wrong.

You will consider them alone.

It doesn't matter whether it's family or friends or colleagues,

Whoever is there in your personal world,

Wherever two personal worlds intersect,

In that little intersection,

You will not hurt,

You will not harm.

When you think about the greater good as much as you can,

Then only will you have a boatload of fulfilled desires and just a pot full of unfulfilled desires.

Only a pot full of suffering.

You choose what you want.

That is the law.

The law is not going to change and the law is not partial to anybody.

When you think about everyone,

You think about the entire dream,

Then what happens?

Everybody is moving in that same direction.

The dreamer's dream moves in that same direction.

So,

Stop taking this begging bowl in your hand.

You see,

Slowly slowly Maharaj is taking the ignorant person towards the higher level of Advaita knowledge.

Questioner says,

Results are in the future.

How can I know what they will be?

Maharaj says,

Use your mind.

Remember,

Observe.

You are not different from others.

You have to not believe this.

He's telling you to see it,

Observe it.

The Marathi word used is nirikshankara.

Actually examine.

You will recognize you are not different from the others.

We are all a part of the same dream.

It is the same consciousness.

They are my reflection,

My projection.

I and they are not separate.

So,

This can be understood experientially only if I do nirikshan,

No?

Only if I really observe.

So,

Observe.

See clearly Maharaj is saying.

You are not different from others.

Most of their experiences are valid for you too because we are part of the same dream world and the same dreamer is dreaming this entire dream world.

Everybody's experience is valid for me as well.

Think clearly and deeply.

Go into the entire structure of your desire and their ramifications.

They are a most important part of your mental and emotional makeup and powerfully affect your actions.

Remember,

You cannot abandon what you do not know.

To go beyond yourself,

You must know yourself.

So,

What is he saying here?

If I want to go beyond,

Take a step beyond,

Be the witness and not the body-mind,

I have to know what I am not.

I don't have to really know what I am.

I am already what I am.

That has just become blurred.

There's only dirt that is blurring my vision of what I am and what do I have to do?

I have to clean up this dirt.

And how can I clean up the dirt without knowing that there is dirt?

Do you see what he's saying?

So,

You have to clean up that dirt.

To clean up the dirt,

You have to know that there is dirt.

And what is the dirt?

He's saying your own desires and their ramifications.

You observe.

I had this desire.

I craved,

I craved,

I craved.

I got feverish.

I got restless.

Did I really get the desire?

Two things happen.

Yes or no.

I got the desire fulfilled.

I got what I wanted.

Was the joy the way my mind story said the joy will be?

Oh,

It wasn't.

It's a bin pen dekha lota.

It went right through.

There was hardly any joy,

Momentary.

I got it,

But I don't care for it anymore.

There,

You have studied what your desire did.

Now,

I'm telling you at a very general level,

You have to see your every specific desire.

Study yourself.

Suppose you did not get it.

It just didn't happen.

Look at how the mind is still lusting behind it and see the suffering that is still there in the mind.

Now,

You're thinking about that desire that was not fulfilled.

You're still feeling the restlessness in you.

This is suffering.

This restlessness is suffering.

This wanting is suffering.

This lusting is suffering.

Whatever emotion is coming up,

Either of wanting it or rejecting that because of which I did not get it,

This push and pull,

This is suffering.

Study it and recognize what am I what am I investing my time into?

This is garbage.

This is only creating more suffering.

Another person is not responsible for the suffering.

I am doing it to myself because I want this come what may.

What is my problem?

I'm forgetting it is the dreamer's dream.

He decides whether I,

The dream character,

Get this or I don't get it.

Why am I breaking my head against the wall?

Stupidity.

Wake up.

Shake up.

Get out of it.

Yeah.

So,

Study your desire.

Study the ramifications of it.

You understood ramifications?

What is happening as a consequence because of me running behind that desire?

Constantly grabbing that desire in my mind.

Very clear?

So,

This is what we do in Gurukul.

That is why only selected people are taken in because it requires courage.

So,

This is what I look for.

I look for courage in you.

I look for openness because you have to be open about it and not everybody has that kind of courage to open up and that sincere thirst.

This is what I want about everything else.

This is exactly what we do in Gurukul and those who have started the spiritual journals,

Now you understand why we put attitude,

Change and the previous attitude?

So,

I can see the difference.

Why we put the behavior change and the previous behavior and what is my obstacle?

What are we studying?

We are studying what I am not.

Yes.

So,

I'll read that again.

Think clearly and deeply.

Go into the entire structure of your desires and their ramifications.

They are most important part of your mental and emotional makeup and powerfully affect your actions.

Very clear?

Whatever I feel,

The suffering that I go through,

The rest of the time,

The suffering that I go through,

The restlessness,

Whatever I fuel,

That is what affects my entire mental and emotional makeup.

That is why you have obstacles in your spiritual journal and you have you notice these same obstacles are coming up again and again and again and again because I have fueled it.

It is not about my external environment.

I have fueled it that much.

If I have fueled a car,

Full tank,

The car is going to continue running till that entire tank is exhausted.

Right?

And then we've also listed what is the action to take.

Again and again,

I become the witness.

So,

I overcome this obstacle.

Yes.

So,

You know where your spiritual journal came from?

From Maharaj.

Remember,

You cannot abandon what you do not know.

This is the most important point.

Why couldn't I overcome this obstacle before in my life?

Because I did not really plan it down.

I did not see it eye to eye.

I kept pushing it under the carpet.

I didn't want to look at my negative side.

But now that I've started writing everything in the spiritual journal,

It has started opening up.

Yes.

And those who are not writing seriously,

Not opening up the darker secrets,

Now you know you should open up even those.

Aninita has hundreds of journals to read in a day.

She doesn't remember who wrote what.

So,

Don't bother about what Ekta will think about me.

What will people say?

What will people say about the oldest disease?

No people are looking at your spiritual journal.

I am just helping you correct your understanding according to that particular wisdom point.

Yes.

My job is not to be judgmental about you.

My job is to help you get out of this obstacle that is on your part.

Yeah.

So,

Don't worry.

Ekta has left her mind away.

She doesn't think about you.

Become more open and write very clearly in the journal all your obstacles.

Why?

Remember this point.

You cannot abandon what you do not know.

When you write it down,

You see it eye to eye.

You do not brush it under the carpet.

And to go beyond yourself,

You must know yourself.

Your yourself is body-mind because you still consider yourself to be the body-mind.

No?

That's why you're having that obstacle on your path.

Those who have not done the spiritual journals,

Let this be an inspiration for you to get serious about your self-exploration.

I have marked this to read from the Marathi.

I'll just read one line.

You cannot abandon what you do not know.

Very nicely written in Marathi.

The same translation.

To go beyond yourself,

You must know yourself.

But it just becomes clear when you read it in Maharaj's word,

What he means.

Without knowing there is dirt in that corner,

I will not be able to remove that garbage and throw it out.

I have to know that there is garbage there.

Just like that.

There's a lot of garbage in the mind.

And that is what we are doing with the spiritual journals.

Unearthing the garbage and throwing it out.

What does it mean to know myself?

By knowing myself,

What exactly do I come to know?

Maharaj says,

All that you are not.

Highlight this.

What do you come to know?

That which I am not.

I am not the body.

I am not the mind.

I am not the intellect.

I am not the memory.

I am not the ego.

I am not.

It's different intellectually memorizing this and experientially seeing it.

Totally different ballgame.

Totally different ballgame.

When you see it,

You know it.

Aha!

This is what it means.

So that's why it is all that you are not.

That is what you come to know.

And not what I am is asking,

I will not come to know what I am.

The witness,

The consciousness,

I'm not going to come to know that.

He says,

What you are,

You already are.

By knowing what you are not,

You become.

The word should be become.

You become free of it and remain in your own natural state.

It all happens quite spontaneously and effortlessly.

It's simple.

When I know there is garbage,

I remove it.

When I remove it,

I am free of it.

Yes,

I am not that garbage.

That was unwanted.

But if I didn't know about it,

I wouldn't be able to remove it.

You cannot abandon that which you do not know.

That is why the entire process at the last leg of this journey is what?

To remove that which I am not.

I am not.

I am not.

And slowly,

Slowly we are seeing that,

No?

I kept thinking I am the memory.

Yes,

I am that which I believe.

This body-mind complex,

This ekta,

Since childhood to adulthood till old age,

This whole lifetime,

This is who I am.

I held on to this identity.

I held on to this past and now I learn,

No,

It doesn't exist.

It's only a story.

Memory is simply a thought.

Thought comes and it goes.

It's illusory.

This so-called I does not exist.

Understanding what I am not is completely different from memorizing it.

Now I understand.

Now I see it moment to moment to moment.

So,

I have moved one step closer to knowing what I am.

When you know what you are not,

What you are will reveal itself.

And because he said that you will come to,

You just remain in your own natural state and it happens quite spontaneously and effortlessly,

The questioner asks,

And what do I discover?

You discover that there is nothing to discover.

You are what you are and that is what you are.

You are what you are and that is all.

You are the witness.

Ekta doesn't have to manufacture and plant the witness inside you or you don't have to manufacture or create an enlightened version of yourself inside you.

No,

You already are that.

There was nothing to discover from the beginning.

From the beginning.

This is where a lot of people feel,

Oh I wasted my 40 years,

50 years on the spiritual path.

I kept running to discover myself and there is nothing to discover.

Yes,

There is nothing to discover.

You wanted to run.

That was your own doing.

So,

You ran.

You wanted to run.

That is why you ran.

There is nowhere to go.

You were running on a treadmill.

Suddenly,

After 30,

40,

50 years of running on the treadmill,

You look down and you notice,

Oh,

I'm at the same place.

That's exactly what the entire spiritual path is.

You discover that there is nothing to discover.

There is nothing to discover.

You are what you are and that is all.

But ultimately,

What am I?

The ultimate denial of all you are not.

I am not this.

I am not this.

I am not this.

I am not this.

I am not this.

Dropping all the conditioning that I have learned since childhood.

I am a girl or I am a boy.

I am a Hindu.

I am a Muslim.

I am a Christian.

I am so and so IT engineer.

I am this.

I am architect.

I am a doctor.

I am this.

I am that.

All these I am's,

You have to unearth,

Unearth,

Unearth.

Come back to that same unconditioned,

Clear mind.

That clear,

Pure state as a baby.

The ultimate denial of all you are not.

I'll read that in Marathi.

I like the Marathi sentence a lot.

The sadhak asks the question.

But ultimately,

What am I?

Maharaj,

The ultimate denial of all you are not.

The ultimate denial of all you are not.

Same translation into English but it hits home in Marathi.

So obviously,

This is a newbie.

He's a new person in spirituality.

He says,

I do not understand.

Maharaj says,

It is your fixed idea that you must be something or other that blinds you.

After this,

There's a question missing in the English.

This is a very important answer.

You have a fixed idea.

I am a man.

I am a father.

Or I am a woman.

I am a mother.

A fixed idea you have.

And you stick to your role as a parent.

And that fixed idea makes you bound.

It is binding you literally.

Fetters are there around you.

Chains are there around you.

And you have to think in that way.

That is how you have conditioned yourself.

So it is the fixed idea that binds you.

Similarly,

You have fixed ideas as a man,

As a woman.

And you have bound yourself to that fixed idea.

You have fixed ideas as a spouse.

And you have bound yourself.

It is not about others here.

I am this.

I am that.

These are all the binding factors.

Is the answer very clear?

Because then you will understand the question which is only in Marathi.

It has been skipped in the English by mistake or I don't know how.

In Marathi,

I'll read that answer.

That it is your fixed idea.

I have to be something or the other.

This is just the lust of the I.

The I wants to bind itself in some or the other way.

I am the head of the family.

I am the bread owner of the family.

I am the caretaker of the family.

I,

I,

I wants to bind itself.

This fixed idea.

That is what makes you blind.

So,

The question that is missing there is,

In English,

You can put an arrow after the line and write the question on the top.

How will I become free of such a fixed idea?

Now,

You have the answer.

It continues there.

Somehow,

They skipped the question and the two answers got merged into one answer.

If you trust me,

I would translate that differently because in Marathi,

It is Vishwas.

It is conviction.

If you have conviction in me,

Then believe when I tell you that you are the pure awareness that illumines consciousness and its infinite content.

He's giving you two options.

Number one,

If you have conviction in me,

In Maharaj,

If you have complete faith in Maharaj now,

If you have complete conviction that this person is here to guide me in the correct direction and he really has attained it,

If you have conviction in Maharaj,

Then you just take it.

Believe him now that each one of you is pure awareness that illumines consciousness and its infinite content.

What is the infinite content?

The entire world of perceptions,

Sight,

Sound,

Smell,

Taste,

Touch.

I illumine everything.

I am pure awareness and everything that I'm aware of is because of me,

Is illumined by me,

Is a reflection of me,

Is projection of me.

Clear?

This is the first option.

If you have conviction or faith in Maharaj.

Second option,

If you don't have faith,

Let's see what he says.

It shouldn't be realize this and live accordingly.

Just have faith,

Believe this and live accordingly is the right translation from Marathi.

Vishwas is the word there.

Vishwas kara and jaga,

Live like that.

But second option,

If you do not believe me,

If you do not have conviction in me,

Do not have faith in me,

Then number one,

Go within and inquire,

What am I or who am I?

And number two,

Focus your mind on I am,

Which is pure and simple being.

Sounds very complicated in English,

But pure and simple being is in Hindi,

Hone ka aisaas.

Just that simple sense of being,

The I am.

You either focus on that or you inquire,

Who am I?

Who is this I?

He gave you two options.

Ramana Maharshi's option of self-inquiry to find who am I?

Of self-inquiry to find who am I?

And Nisargadatta Maharaj's method of just holding on to the sense of I am.

These are the two options if you don't have conviction or faith in Maharaj.

On the other hand,

If you have complete faith,

Conviction,

Then just believe Maharaj that I am awareness and live accordingly.

Do not give importance to the body and mind.

Just do not give it any importance.

It works by its own mechanism,

The dehabhuti.

Maharaj said this to me,

I am pure awareness,

That is it.

Now I live accordingly.

Of course,

You can have faith only if you see that Maharaj is not here to please you.

That's what your mind looks for.

So let's see what is this questioner's mind looking for.

The questioner says on what does my faith in you depend?

Maharaj says on your insight into other people's hearts.

If you cannot look into my heart,

Look into your own.

What is faith?

What is conviction?

Forget other people.

Do you have faith in your own spouse,

Your own partner?

This is somebody I really trust.

This person is not going to fool me,

Not going to do wrong to me.

This person I can completely trust.

How do you trust him?

How do you have that faith in him?

Some of you did not shake your heads for your spouses.

Maybe in your own parents,

Do you have that faith that my mother or my father is not going to cheat me,

Is not going to hurt me?

Here there are more nods.

Okay,

That's the way it is for you.

So whoever this person is in your life,

Who you have full faith in that this person is with me,

Come what may,

Good or bad in life,

This person is not going to cheat me,

Is not going to hurt me.

How do I have faith in this guy or this girl?

I can see through.

I know his or her heart.

Correct?

I know this person has good in his heart for me.

Mother,

Father,

Brother,

Sister,

I don't know whoever,

Spouse,

Child,

Son,

Daughter,

Whoever it was.

I have conviction in this person that he will not harm me or she will not harm me because I can see through.

I know his heart.

Or the other way around,

My love for him is unconditional.

I can see in my own heart.

Clear?

There are only two options.

Either I see in his heart and I know that he or she is very transparent,

Very clear and he is not going to harm me.

Either I see that or I love him or her unconditionally.

In my heart,

I am very pure in this relationship.

So,

I have faith.

My faith also comes from my only unconditional love,

Not by his action.

It's either from this side or it is from that side.

So,

Maharaj gives you this option.

Either you see through and see Maharaj,

Have the insight into his heart or you look into yourself and see how your faith or your love towards Maharaj is.

Both of these things are ways to recognize whether the faith path will work for you or not.

Doesn't work for everybody.

That's fine.

He's given you the other option.

Do the who am I self-inquiry or hold on to sense of I am.

But this person's thinking process made him ask this question about faith.

So,

The person says,

I can do neither.

Most of us are in that situation.

I can't see through another person.

I cannot see into your heart and mine.

I am totally blurred.

I cannot see into myself also.

So,

I can do neither.

So,

Then Maharaj says,

Why can you not do neither?

What is the problem?

What could be the problem?

Very blurry vision he has.

Lots of vasanas,

Lots of attachments.

Too much raga,

Dvesha blocking his vision,

His blurry vision.

So,

Purify yourself by a well-ordered and useful life.

Watch over your thoughts,

Feelings,

Words and actions.

This will clear your vision.

Yeah.

So,

If you find that you have blurry vision,

You cannot see through,

Whether it's Maharaj or your partner or your family member,

You cannot see through into their heart and you cannot even look into yourself.

Then you have major blurry vision.

You need to take on some purifying vows.

We have a video of 44 purity vows.

It's a Buddha video.

The volunteers can share it with you later.

Take some vows.

Purify yourself.

It means you are lost in your attachments.

You are lost in vasanas.

The word used in the Marathi book is vasana for attachment in this line.

Must I not renounce everything first and live a homeless life?

Maharaj says,

You cannot renounce.

You may leave your home and give trouble to your family but attachments are in the mind and will not leave you.

Do you get it?

You cannot renounce that which belongs to the mind.

Attachments are in the mind.

Who are you?

The witness.

Yeah.

You are saying I am going to pick up my husband's or wife's laptop and renounce it.

Not yours to renounce.

Exactly the same thing.

The mind is in the mind and will not leave you.

The mind is my husband or wife.

I am the witness.

I cannot renounce because the attachments are in the mind.

I'll read that again now.

You cannot renounce.

You may leave your home and give trouble to your family but attachments are in the mind and will not leave you.

Until you know your mind in and out.

First things first.

Know yourself.

All else will come with it.

Is this very clear?

Yeah.

I cannot abandon that which I do not know.

Very simple.

But you already told me that I am the supreme reality.

Is it not self-knowledge?

Now he's looking for a shortcut.

Who wants to do so much work?

My God!

Find out why this desire happened,

Why this didn't happen,

Why this is like this,

Why do I have this attachment,

Why do I have that greed,

That compassion,

That hatred,

That love.

Oh my God!

Too much work.

He got scared.

Know myself.

Not fun.

I want to run away.

So,

He's looking for a shortcut.

You already told me I'm pure awareness.

The word is in Marathi.

Is it not Atma Gyan?

Is it not self-knowledge?

Shortcut he's looking for.

Maharaj says of course you are the supreme reality but what of it?

So what?

What of it is so what?

Every grain of sand is God.

To know this is important.

Not it.

This.

To know this is important.

And that is only the beginning.

This is my favorite line of this chapter so I'm going to read it in Marathi.

To recognize that.

See the word Anubhav is used here.

Anubhav is to recognize experientially that every grain of sand is God.

That is called self-realization.

Not just because Maharaj told you you are absolute reality and you believe I am absolute reality.

Done.

Atma Gyan is over.

No.

Experientially recognizing it.

To have that Anubhav.

Have that Anubhav.

Every grain of sand is God.

That's why in Jnana Sangha we give experiential recognition the most,

The highest importance.

And he says that is only the beginning.

So questioner says well you told me that I am the supreme reality.

I believe you.

What next is there for me to do?

Just believing in Maharaj or having faith in Maharaj is not sufficient.

99.

9% of the people from here have come from the faith-based path.

You just had blind faith.

Did it work?

Are you enlightened?

No na?

Your object of faith,

So-called object of faith in the past was enlightened.

No?

Could your object of faith just give you enlightenment,

Bless you with enlightenment?

No.

It's not possible.

Just a mind story.

There is more work to do.

That is just a starting point.

So now Maharaj will tell you what is the work to do.

I told you already.

Discover all you are not.

Body,

Feelings,

Thoughts,

Ideas,

Time,

Space,

Being and not being,

This or that,

Nothing concrete or abstract you can point out to is you.

None of this is you.

Nothing that you can point out to is you.

If you can point out means it is not you.

I am not time.

I am not space.

I am not being.

I am not non-being.

I cannot concretely describe it.

I cannot even abstractly describe it.

Whatever I can describe,

Whatever I can point out to is not me.

Not me.

Know that which is not me.

Neti,

Neti,

Neti.

Again and again,

Come to that no-thingness.

That is why I use the word no-thingness.

Makes more sense when you use the word no-thingness than using the word fullness.

The ego wants to use the word fullness.

It wants to be full of something.

It's better to use the word shunya,

The no-thingness.

I am not this.

I am not this.

Not the body.

Not the mind.

Then you come to that no-thingness and then you just recognize it is this all-pervading awareness.

And it cannot be described.

It's beyond words.

This is the work that you have to do.

Very clear?

You understand the job that is remaining on this path for you?

A mere verbal statement will not do.

You may repeat a formula endlessly without any result whatsoever.

If you keep repeating a mantra in Marathi,

The mantra word in Marathi has been translated as formula in English.

You keep repeating a mantra endlessly,

You will not You keep repeating a mantra endlessly,

You will not get anywhere.

Maharaj has been very very clear about rites and rituals need to be dropped.

Mantra,

Japa,

Chanting,

Breathing,

Pranayam,

All this does not take you there.

He said pull down all those pictures of gods.

Take down all those statues.

Go put them into the rivers.

You don't need any of this.

None of them is going to take you to the ultimate.

They are only going to create more mind stories,

More expectations and you are going to get trapped in that expectation.

Expecting something to change,

Wanting and desiring and grabbing for something to happen.

Rejecting when something unpleasant happens.

Yes,

Why is it happening?

Only because I am holding on to a rite,

A ritual,

A photograph,

A statue,

An old belief.

Drop all of it.

Clear the mantle.

Clean it up.

Place for a beautiful portrait,

A beautiful painting.

It's difficult but that is what will really set you free.

So,

You will not get any result by repeating the same formula again and again.

You must watch yourself continuously,

Particularly your mind,

Moment by moment,

Missing nothing.

This is very important.

Please highlight.

Keep watching your mind moment by moment.

Missing nothing.

This witnessing is essential for the separation of the self from the not-self.

For the people who have come from Atmanirriti,

Self here is Atma and not-self is Anatma.

So,

The Marathi line is To separate the Atma from the non-Atma,

Witnessing is essential.

There is no other way that you will be able to separate Atma and Anatma.

For the other people who are not from Atmanirriti,

Atma is I,

That pure consciousness which does not say the word I,

Which does not have the ego I.

It's pure nothingness.

That is Atma and it is not an individual Atma.

It is a universal field.

It is not personal.

That is Atma.

It is the Brahman.

Brahman and Atma is exactly the same on the path of Advaita.

There is no individual soul that is going to leave this body.

Nice fairy tale for children.

Some of us chose not to grow up but there is no other option but to grow up with Maharaj.

This Maharaj says things like go drop into a well,

Drop into a pothole,

Whatever.

My translation is not good but I love the words.

If you don't get it,

Maharaj is not going to sit and convince you.

He'll show you the door.

Very straightforward person,

Very simple minded like a little child.

Either you get it or you don't get me mama.

You get me,

Great.

I made my point clear.

You don't get me mama,

Bad luck.

I'm going back to my toys.

You know how the kids are simple,

Pure,

Not trying to mollycoddle you,

Not trying to massage your ego.

It is what it is.

That's how Maharaj is.

Straightforward,

Clear.

You get it,

Good.

You don't get it,

Bad luck.

He'll show you the door.

The difference between Atma and Anatma can be attained only if I constantly take that stand as the witness.

So you see,

Maharaj got him all from his selfish,

Self-centered questions about his desires all the way to witness.

This is a true teacher.

All nonsense questions you come with but he takes you finally to the witness.

Whatever your question is,

Question is not important only.

He takes you to the witness.

Clear?

The witnessing,

Is it not my real nature?

Maharaj says,

For witnessing there must be something else to witness.

You are still in duality.

Yeah,

You remember this.

In the first chapter,

In sense of I am,

He has told you very clearly.

Even the knower and the known,

There is a subtle duality.

A point comes where even the sense of I am drops.

That is the final destination.

Do you all remember that?

So he's giving that clue to this person right there and then.

You're still in duality if you're still thinking I am already the witness.

There is still two,

The witness and the witnessed.

Both need to collapse.

Where there is no two,

That is non-duality.

So now the questioner comes up with his flowery words which he has only heard.

He has no clue about.

And Maharaj is very sharp.

He can see through.

When you fake,

The teacher knows.

And now this is just words.

So there he starts his fake story.

What about witnessing the witness?

Awareness of awareness.

He has no clue what he's talking.

He's just picked up words from here and there and he's using them.

So Maharaj said,

Putting words together will not take you far.

Go within and discover what you are not.

Nothing else matters.

That is still kind.

Very kind,

I would say.

Don't start all your flowery language that you just hear from somewhere else and vomit in front of me.

Don't think I'm going to think that you really know.

I can see it.

I know it.

I can see through.

So stop all this massaging the ego and trying to get into the good books.

It doesn't work.

You experientially recognize it.

Maharaj knows it like that.

Yes.

Good chapter,

No?

Either do it because you have faith in Maharaj's words or do it because you can experientially recognize it.

Yes,

Most of us who are on the path of Jnana Sangha and have read so far have experientially tasted the witness.

We have come through the experiential route.

You can continue the same way.

Now just hold on to your own experience as the witness.

What is the meaning of the witness?

What is the meaning of awareness?

There is only one single awareness.

There are not individual four billion awarenesses on this planet or four billion consciousnesses on this planet.

No.

It is one dreamer's dream.

One single dream world.

That dreamer's mind is one single dreamer's mind.

We are projections out of that one single dreamer's mind.

Each of us,

Every individual dream character here is projected by that one single dreamer's mind.

We are all that.

There is no individual consciousness here and individual consciousness here and individual consciousness here.

There is no.

It is one single dreamer's mind that we experience as nothingness when we take a step back from this dream character's body-mind.

That is why we have the same experience,

The same infinite field.

It's empty yet it is full.

It is nothing.

Nothing is there yet.

Thoughts arise in it,

Feelings arise in it,

Sensations arise in it,

Even bodies arise in it and everything goes back to absolute nothingness in the deep sleep state.

So when each of these four billion dream characters are in the deep sleep state,

Where are they?

They are nothing but the dreamer's mind.

That is the nothingness.

That is the awareness.

That is the consciousness.

There is just one consciousness and when you recognize this,

You see God in every grain of sand because every grain of sand is projected from God's mind.

Very clear?

That is the direct message of this chapter.

See the highest truth.

I am the witness.

I am the awareness.

I am God.

Everything is God.

Everyone is God.

It's not up to you.

You cannot wake up the dreamer.

The dreamer is watching or seeing his own dream.

This person is a dream character in the dreamer's mind.

This person cannot tell the dreamer's mind wake up.

The dreamer's mind is not going to wake up because of this character.

So you are where you are.

The only thing you can do is you take a step beyond the body and mind and recognize,

I am not this.

When you know what you are not,

What you are,

The dreamer's mind will reveal itself.

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