Nisargadatta's I Am That Session 34 Appearances & Reality V

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

Recognize,

Is there something still very attractive for you in this outside world?

Are you still very bahirmukhi?

That is the biggest reason why you're not able to settle into just witnessing during the meditations.

The moment you are in witnessing,

After a few minutes,

The eye drops and there is an absolute no-thingness.

There is no I there.

And that is so delicious,

Just being no-thingness itself.

And if that is not happening to you,

Again and again,

You open your eyes or you're not able to join meditation at all with the others,

Then see I am probably still bahirmukhi.

I'm still very attracted to the outside world.

Thoughts are also outside.

Too lost in thought,

Too lost in emotion is outside.

You are bahirmukhi still.

Attempt to turn inwards and settle in that no-thingness,

Become comfortable with it.

Who does not like the no-thingness?

Who does not like to be no-thing,

Nobody?

The ego.

You recognize it?

So if the ego is still restless,

You're still bahirmukhi.

Maybe a little loose brick in the foundation is there.

Maybe going back to chapter one would be appropriate for you.

For the others who are able to just sit silently,

Just be no-thingness and you do not get pulled out too much.

You do,

But not too much.

Good,

Continue.

You can go ahead.

But those who are really struggling during this one hour before the session,

You must think maybe you should go back to chapter one and come up again.

What is a self-exploration?

A self-exploration is a self-inquiry.

For a self-inquiry,

I have to be alert.

I have to be aware.

I have to be awake.

I cannot get lost in a trance and say,

Oh,

I don't know where I was.

That is not a self-exploration.

You are a failure at self-exploration.

If you say,

Oh,

I don't know where I was.

Oh,

I was lost.

I was gone.

I don't know where I was.

Then you fail the self-exploration.

Self-exploration means I am awake,

Aware,

Alert and I recognize whatever words that I hear,

I recognize that experientially.

Yes,

That is the meaning of a self-exploration.

Yeah,

The purpose of a self-exploration is for me to become 100% sure.

Yes,

I get this experientially and I'm ready to move forward.

If there is even one loose brick in my foundation,

I should be honest.

I should be humble about it and I should again start from the beginning because there is something missing and I don't know what that is.

Yeah,

Don't assume,

Oh,

It'll happen as I go.

It will happen.

No,

It will not happen.

Yeah,

So don't fool yourself.

Everybody's clear?

Yeah,

This is not a trance.

You're not getting lost.

Awake,

Alert,

Aware.

Yeah,

But with eyes closed so that your surroundings don't distract you from the words that you're hearing.

Yeah.

The moment you stop thinking of yourself as this localized body-mind and see yourself immediately as the awareness in which there is this body,

That body,

That thing,

Everything,

Everything is in me the awareness.

The moment I have changed my stand from this local to universal,

The correction has happened.

Yeah,

Then I don't indulge.

I don't indulge so much.

Who's the I?

Is this witness consciousness that forgot and became the body-mind?

We just did a long list of I forgot this,

I forgot this,

I forgot this,

Right?

That's what I forget.

I forget that I'm the consciousness.

I assume I'm this body.

The moment I assume this body-mind,

I think I have to do,

I have to react,

I have to argue,

I have to act,

Blah,

Blah,

Blah,

Blah,

Blah,

And goes on.

The moment I have corrected my stand,

It's the correction at the source.

There's nothing more to do.

Yeah,

Lots of people have intellectual corrections.

Intellectually they remind themselves I am the awareness.

That doesn't work.

Yes,

That is why I gave you the homework last week.

Can you see that this family member is in me?

Can you see if this thing is in me?

Can you see that the entire world is in me?

If that has not happened means your correction is not the real experiential correction at the source.

It is just an intellectual thing that you're telling yourself I am the awareness.

Doesn't work because you've just intellectually told yourself and you become the doer,

You become the actor,

You become whatever,

Whatever that situation is.

You see what I'm saying?

Correction is the correct stand.

It appeared like there is nothing to do.

Like when you are teaching us,

If you are at the right stand,

It's already going to the source.

Superb.

You are at the source.

Very good.

Now don't leave it.

Because of the past conditioning,

The strong,

Remember we did all the strong conditionings from babyhood all the way to adulthood.

There's some attachment that still pulls me.

You don't know which one.

It's different for different people.

For some it is the family member,

For some it is money,

For some it is name fame,

For some it is appreciation,

Etc.

Etc.

Etc.

Something pulls me away from that stand.

Again I have to correct myself.

I get pulled away,

Again I have to correct myself.

The correction has to be constant.

I have a question.

So if I can see myself as awareness and everybody in me,

So even then when I see that projection person inside me suffering,

There is still suffering.

I consider it as suffering.

So what am I doing wrong there?

So how am I seeing that as not suffering?

Then the second point was when I recognize that that person is saying I have the problem but that sound is not coming from them.

That recognition removed the suffering because I recognize that you know they are not actually saying it.

But when I see projections in me suffering,

I still feel the suffering.

Is that something wrong?

Yeah,

That's a story that you are telling yourself.

Do you even have proof that that person exists?

Start from this number one point,

No?

Where is the proof that this person exists?

So the whole thing of he is suffering is my projection.

He exists.

Yeah,

Then number two,

He is suffering.

Then the story whatever you carried on in your head about his suffering.

Yeah,

Start from number one.

Does he exist?

Do I have proof?

Always go back to the basics,

Back to the basics.

Whatever is your attachment will pull you out of the basics.

Again take that stand back as the awareness,

Not intellectually.

Experientially seeing that this is all me,

The awareness,

Me the consciousness.

Then where is the proof that this person that I'm seeing is the sufferer?

Where is the proof that he even exists?

I am only creating my story.

I am only enjoying my story.

I am the writer,

Director,

Producer,

Actor.

All these actors inside this story are also me only.

You know if you could really go into a writer's head,

He has a full play in his head.

Yeah,

And he's given costumes to everybody and he has given dialogues to everybody in his own head.

They don't really exist outside.

First they are all in this writer's head,

Then he puts them down on paper.

That's exactly what the situation is.

Everybody is in the mind.

The mind itself is equal to waking state.

When the mind is still,

There is no waking state.

There is no character out there.

So where is the suffering?

So come to the emptiness,

The stillness,

The no-thingness.

That is the key.

If you're not experientially seeing the emptiness,

The no-thingness,

Then you're missing out on the most essential thing.

The experience part is missing.

The no-thingness,

The emptiness,

The stillness happens only when you change your stand and recognize yourself as the awareness.

Then this is really like a film.

It appears to move,

It doesn't really move.

There is no movement there.

So start seeing this truth and only experientially seeing can take you there.

So a follow-up question.

If I'm seeing all the projections as within me and I see that projection suffering,

That is me suffering.

So is that wrong?

Yeah,

Yeah.

That is you suffering.

You are lost in the story creation of suffering.

It's all your own story.

What did Maharaj say?

What's the last line of the chapter?

Discard all this considering it to be poison.

All stories are poison.

They are wish poison.

Again and again during the day,

Keep reminding yourself this person does not exist.

This thing does not exist.

This sufferer does not exist.

Again and again,

Again and again and recognize that I am this awareness,

Not this localized body-mind.

Reviews

🙏🏼