Nisargadatta's I Am That Session 7-Summary Of Sessions 1 - 6

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

Let's do a quick summary now.

So you all already told me that you could easily get a glimpse of the is-ness,

The changeless background.

Maharaj started with this.

In the first chapter he started with sense of I am is something that you all recognize.

You may be unsure of everything in the world but there is one thing you are sure of and that is I am.

Happy situation,

Sad situation,

I am.

Good people,

Bad people around me,

Doesn't matter,

I am.

Whatever the things are whether I have abundance or I have lack,

I am.

The only sure thing that all of us have in common is the sense of I am.

I exist.

Main hoon.

Nee aahe.

That's it.

I don't know any more languages.

I am.

Mostly we misidentify this I am with this physical body.

As beginners on the path we feel oh I am this body and this is a common misidentification.

Then you come to an advaita class and then you recognize oh I am not the body.

Oh I am not the mind.

I am beyond the mind.

I am something else because that which I perceive is obviously separate from who I am.

The advaita wisdom blossoms like this within you.

You start recognizing this changeless background,

This is-ness.

Oh yeah I can see the thought arise and fall.

That means I'm separate from it.

That's why I can see it.

I can see feelings arise,

Play havoc for some time and fall.

I'm separate from feelings.

Similarly I can see this body,

I can perceive this body separate from I.

Then maybe this I am is really separate and I have only attached it to the body.

I have only attached it to the mind.

That is called Tadatma.

This was the introduction of what the sense of I am is.

Slowly slowly as you progress some of you are already there where you start recognizing all thoughts arise,

Abide and vanish on this background.

All feelings arise,

Abide and vanish on this background.

All physical sensations arise,

Abide and vanish on this background.

All perceptions of sight,

Sound,

Taste,

Touch,

Smell arise,

Abide and vanish on this background.

Just like waves.

They rise,

They fall.

They rise,

They fall.

But I am the one who is witnessing them.

That remains changeless.

Oh I am has been there since childhood.

Oh it was there in my teenage.

It was there in my adulthood and now it is there in my old age.

Oh it has always been there.

So the sense of I am was always there and then the Advaitan starts looking deeper and deeper and resting as the sense of I am or as the witness and recognizes oh no no it is not really continuous.

There are moments when the I is not to be found.

This is when you start recognizing what Maharaj says that with the experienced object the experiencer arises,

It plays for a while and it vanishes.

Again it arises,

Plays for a while and it vanishes.

That's when you recognize oh this I is not always continuous.

If I look for the I.

Right now close your eyes and look for the I.

The one who's thinking that oh I am listening to Ekta right now.

Find that I.

Go deep within.

Can you really pinpoint a locus,

A location where you can find the I?

You cannot find the I.

The I thought is not to be found.

That which said I am listening to Ekta.

So the sound of Ekta's voice was the perception of sound and I am.

Yeah so it was I am listening to Ekta arose and vanished together.

This I am,

When you really go to look for it,

Suddenly it is not there.

Ramana Maharshi described it as the wedding crasher.

Whenever you go to these big weddings,

So many people can just walk in,

Enjoy the meal,

Get a free lunch or dinner whatever and leave.

When you go to look for the wedding crasher he disappears.

I thought is like that when you really sit down and look for the I,

You cannot find it.

So when you cannot find the I and this I is just another label that I have put on,

I realize that there are labels in life that I have added on.

Lots of labels.

I am this body,

I am this woman,

I am the wife,

I am the sister,

I am the daughter,

I am the husband,

I am the father,

I am the son.

Oh I have put so many labels,

I have attached them.

But a point comes when you recognize,

No these are all labels.

Drop,

Drop,

Drop,

Drop.

There is just one changeless background.

Knowingness is a quality of this background.

It knows.

It knows.

It is conscious.

It is not a dead background.

It is conscious.

Conscious to be conscious of,

To know.

Sanskrit word chid.

It is chid.

It is knowingness.

It is consciousness.

When is it conscious of something?

When there's something to be conscious of.

When there is an object,

There the consciousness arises.

It plays for a while and then there is no object,

No thought,

No feeling,

Nothing,

Just quiet silence.

Then this also rests.

At that point it is called sat,

Being,

B-e-i-n-g,

Being.

At that point it is just being.

So being and knowing are two functions of the same changeless background.

Functions is also a word that I'm using right now just for the sake of communication.

It is its nature.

Its nature is sat and chid.

Being and knowing.

When you recognize that,

That that is what I was actually referring to when I was saying I am.

Then the need of even verbalizing I am falls.

Now there is no need to verbalize I am anymore.

It is or isness or amness.

Very clear?

This isness,

Amness,

Awareness,

Knowingness,

Consciousness,

Just different words for the same changeless background.

And how does one get there?

Maharaj says by being honest,

By searching,

Inquiring and how?

Daily and hourly.

This is called Nidhidhyasa.

Nidhidhyasa is more important than Shravana.

Shravana is only listening.

You listen to me once in a week.

But then the whole week you keep resting as that background in silence.

Again and again in silence.

Again and again exploring.

What is required is actual experiment with it.

Actual experimenting.

Then this becomes more clear.

That's why we learn the isness meditation.

It is nothing but neti neti and not the thoughts and not the perceptions and not the sensations and not the feeling.

You drop everything and you come to that absolute quiet void.

That is the isness or amness.

Why isness and amness?

Because you are not seeing I anymore.

The I has dropped.

The need to verbalize it has dropped.

So what did Maharaj advise if some of us have not gotten here?

What do we do?

Number one,

Watch your motives.

Do you remember these words?

Watch your motives and the results of your actions.

Then he said study the prison that you have built around yourself.

He said when you know what you are not,

What you are will reveal itself.

So what am I not?

Oh,

I'm not this body.

I'm not this mind.

This is the prison I have built around myself.

And look at my motives.

My motives are always to please this body,

To please this mind.

And what wonderful lesson we learned in the last chapter?

The mind can never be happy.

So this brings up another understanding.

Mind can never be happy.

So I do not have to take action on every thought.

I do not have to take action on every sensation.

I do not have to take action on every single perception.

I do not have to act on every feeling.

Just let them arise and fall,

Arise and fall.

Just be a witness.

Very soon you will come to a higher level of understanding.

If you're this basic understanding is clear.

This is very basic,

The first three chapters.

First your recognition should involve the recognition that I am not this body.

Then the recognition should be I'm not the thoughts,

I'm not the feelings,

I'm not the sensations,

I'm not the perceptions.

Not intellectually,

Experientially recognizing it.

Day to day in your activity,

In silence,

At rest,

Recognizing oh I am not this,

I am not this,

I am not this.

This cannot become clear by discussing with 10 people.

No,

You will still be stuck at the level of the mind.

The mind is discussing.

I am telling you recognize I am not this mind that is discussing.

Take that step beyond and that can only be done in silence.

So zip your lips for the rest of the week.

Absolute silence and only do Nidhidhyasa.

That is why there are these specific words in the Advaita scriptures.

Only Shravana will not help.

Only Manana will not help.

You have to do Nidhidhyasa.

Nidhidhyasa is implementation of the wisdom.

Then Maharaj took us into the deeper wisdom where he said time does not exist.

Time is simply the gap between two thoughts.

Experiment and see oh I am not this thought.

It arose and it went away.

I didn't act on it.

Wow I'm separate from it.

I have power over it.

It does not have power over me.

When you recognize your own power then you will start seeing there is a gap between two thoughts.

Then because the mind does not understand the gap between two thoughts it labels it as time.

Then it becomes very clear.

Aha!

Time is only a mental construct.

And then you apply critical reasoning.

Can I prove that time exists?

Let me see.

Can I step into the past and prove that past exists?

Can I step out of the now and go into the future and prove that future exists?

This is called critical reasoning.

This can only be done as part of Nidhidhyasa.

When listening to Ekta your critical reasoning will never develop.

You can just take a pointer from Ekta and after that the rest of the week just keep implementing it.

Can I prove it to myself that this thing is not right?

By critical reasoning you arrive at no it is right.

I could not prove that time exists.

Nidhi Nidhi.

Work on yourself.

Recognize that now is only now.

Now is only now.

It is an eternal now and I only experience now now now.

I do not experience past or future.

And what gives the now the stamp of reality?

I am.

Because I am can only be in the now.

So once time is very clear in your recognition in your Nidhidhyasa this becomes very clear.

Now move on to space.

Okay.

What is space?

I say distance between two objects.

Really do I have proof that these two objects exist?

Don't the two objects exist in my dream also?

We both exist in my dream also.

How do I know this is not a dream and that is a dream only?

Can I prove it?

Again use critical reasoning.

Critical reasoning try to see that can I prove the existence of an object even by touch and sight.

Even by touch and sight does that prove that the object really exists?

And what is space?

Distance between two objects.

If I cannot prove the existence of an object apart from my awareness then objects really are nothing but perceptions.

Mental perceptions.

Perception of sight,

Perception of sound,

Perception of taste,

Touch,

Smell are all mental phenomena.

The distance between two perceptions mind cannot understand it so it labels it as space.

Start using your critical reasoning to figure this out.

Oh,

Space is just a mental construct.

I do not have proof that space exists out there.

Just like I do not have proof that the other room exists out there.

In my direct experience all I know is the now.

Now remember dvaita is the path of direct experience.

No hypothesis,

No logical reasoning,

No logical deduction.

A is equal to C,

B is equal to C therefore A must be equal to B.

Again this is a deduction.

I do not have direct proof of this.

So like that in my direct experience space is also a mental construct.

Space is simply the gap between two perceptions.

And then he spoke about causality where he said things happen without a cause,

Without a reason.

Now here also you start applying your critical reasoning ability.

Can I say that the soup that I just cooked turned out to be good because I put these ingredients or the soup turned out bad because of these ingredients?

Can I say there is one cause and a straight line going to an effect?

Can I say that?

An effect.

Can I say that?

You experiment.

If you miss this and simply go ahead in all the chapters it's only collecting more theoretical concepts.

You are making knowledge a concept.

You see what I'm saying?

So you have to work on yourself.

Clear?

So that is the meaning of things happen without a cause and reason.

Means causality is also a mental construct.

The only thing in my direct experience is this changeless background.

The sense of I am.

That is something I have proof for has remained changeless.

Changeless through childhood,

Through teenage,

Through adulthood,

Through old age.

And in this changeless background there is no pain.

There is no fear.

There is no anger.

There is no excitement even.

It is a quiet peace.

It's a permanent peace.

It is an expression of love itself.

So if I have recognized something so valuable,

Isn't it stupid of me to even think that I can make this mind happy?

A thought that has arisen is nothing but a craving.

It says I want this.

I want this.

I want this.

Isn't it really stupid of me to think that I will now think that I will now make this thought happy and make that feeling happy and can the mind ever be happy?

Recognize these few truths that Maharaj has told us until now.

Mind cannot be happy.

Even the happy moments that I experience are simply gaps in the stream of pain.

There's a constant pain involved with the functioning of the mind.

So again and again withdraw to that peaceful background.

That is who I am.

This is the summary of the first three chapters.

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