Nonduality Presents
ASMI
Excerpts from Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj's I AM THAT
compiled and edited by Miguel-Angel Carrasco
Numbers after quotations refer to pages of the edition by Chetana (P) Ltd, Bombay, 1992.
The big cycle: part one
The alternation of manifested
(existence, becoming)
- unmanifested (pure being).
The three states, sleeping, dreaming and waking,
are all in consciousness, the manifested; what you call
unconsciousness will also be manifested - in time; beyond
consciousness altogether lies the unmanifested. And beyond all,
and pervading all, is the heart of being which beats steadily:
manifested-unmanifested, manifested-unmanifested
(saguna-nirguna). (450)
It is the instinct of exploration, the love of the unknown, that
brings me into existence. It is in the nature of being to seek
adventure in becoming, as it is in the nature of becoming to seek
peace in being. This alternation of being and becoming is
inevitable; but my home is beyond. (417)
With being arising in consciousness, the ideas of what you are
arise in your mind as well as what you should be. This brings
forth desire and action and the process of becoming begins.
Becoming has, apparently, no beginning and no end, for it
restarts every moment. With the cessation of imagination and
desire, becoming ceases and the being this or that merges into
pure being, which is not describable, only experienceable. (505)
All that lives, works for protecting, perpetuating and expanding
consciousness. This is the world's sole meaning and purpose. It
is the very essence of Yoga - ever raising the level of
consciousness, discovery of new dimensions, with their
properties, qualities and powers. In that sense, the entire
universe becomes a school of Yoga. (275)
Once you realize that the road is the goal and that you are
always on the road, not to reach a goal, but to enjoy its beauty
and its wisdom, life ceases to be a task and becomes natural and
simple, in itself an ecstasy. (426)
After all, what do you really want? Not perfection; you are
already perfect. What you seek is to express in action what you
are. For this you have a body and a mind. Take them in hand and
make them serve you. (212)
The manifestation of the Absolute.
[The centre of consciousness] cannot be given
name and form, for it is without quality and beyond
consciousness. You may say it is a point in consciousness, which
is beyond consciousness. Like a hole in the paper is both in the
paper and yet not of paper, so is the supreme state in the very
centre of consciousness, and yet beyond consciousness. It is as
an opening in the mind through which the mind is flooded with
light. The opening is not even the light. It is just an opening.
From the mind's point of view, it is but an opening for the light
of awareness to enter the mental space. By itself the light can
only be compared to a solid, dense, rocklike, homogeneous and
changeless mass of pure awareness, free from the mental patterns
of name and shape. The supreme gives existence to the mind. The
mind gives existence to the body. (34)
There can be no experience of the Absolute as it is beyond all
experience. On the other hand, the Self is the experiencing
factor in every experience and thus, in a way, validates the
multiplicity of experiences. The world may be full of things of
great value, but if there is nobody to buy them, they have no
price. The Absolute contains everything experienceable, but
without the experiencer they are as nothing. That which makes the
experience possible is the Absolute. That which makes it actual
is the Self. (334)
In the Supreme the witness appears. The witness creates the
person and thinks itself as separate from it. The witness sees
that the person appears in consciousness, which again appears in
the witness. This realization of the basic unity is the working
of the Supreme. It is the power behind the witness, the source
from which all flows. It cannot be contacted, unless there is
unity and love and mutual help between the person and the
witness, unless doing is in harmony with the being and the
knowing. The Supreme is both the source and the fruit of such
harmony. As I talk to you, I am in the state of detached but
affectionate awareness (turiya) . When this awareness turns upon
itself, you may call it the Supreme State (turiyatita). But the
fundamental reality is beyond awareness, beyond the three states
of becoming, being and not-being. (296)
The body appears in your mind, your mind is the content of your
consciousness; you are the motionless witness of the river of
consciousness which changes eternally without changing you in any
way. Your own changelessness is so obvious that you do not notice
it. The universe is in you and cannot be without you. The world
exists in memory, memory comes into consciousness; consciousness
exists in awareness and awareness is the reflection of the light
on the waters of existence. (199)
Nobody can say "I am the witness". The "I am"
is always witnessed. The state of detached awareness is the
witness-consciousness, the "mirror-mind". It rises and
sets with its object and thus it is not the real. Whatever its
object, it remains the same, hence it is also real. It partakes
of both the real and the unreal, and is therefore a bridge
between the two. (395-6)
Consciousness arising, the world arises. When you consider the
wisdom and the beauty of the world, you call it God. Know the
source of it all, which is in yourself, and you will find all
your questions answered. (266)
The absolute precedes time. Awareness comes first. A bundle of
memories and mental habits attracts attention, awareness gets
focalized and a person suddenly appears. Remove the light of
awareness, go to sleep o swoon away, and the person disappears.
The person (vyakti) flickers, awareness (vyakta) contains all
space and time, the absolute (avyakta) is. (255)
Awareness is not of time. Time exists in consciousness only.
Beyond consciousness, where are time and space? (31)
Mahadakash is nature, the ocean of existence, the physical space
with all that can be contacted through the senses. Chidakash is
the expanse of awareness, the mental space of time, perception
and cognition. Paramakash is the timeless and spaceless reality,
mindless, undifferenciated, the infinite potentiality, the source
and origin, the substance and the essence, both matter and
consciousness, yet beyond both. It cannot be perceived, but can
be experienced as ever witnessing the witness, perceiving the
perceiver, the origin and the end of all manifestation, the root
of time and space, the prime cause in every chain of causation.
(251)
Just like in a cinema all is light, so does consciousness become
the vast world. Look closely and you will see that all names and
forms are but transitory waves on the ocean of consciousness,
that only consciousness can be said to be, not its
transformations. In the immensity of consciousness a light
appears, a tiny point that moves rapidly and traces shapes,
thoughts and feelings, concepts and ideas, like the pen writing
on paper. And the ink that leaves a trace is memory. You are that
tiny point, and by your movement the world is ever re-created.
Stop moving and there will be no world. Look within and you will
find that the point of light is the reflection of the immensity
of light in the body, as the sense "I am". There is
only light, all else appears. To the mind, it [that light]
appears as darkness. It can be known only through its
reflections. All is seen in daylight - except daylight. To be the
point of light tracing the world is turiya. To be the light
itself is turiyatita. But of what use are names when reality is
so near? (392-3)
Don't say "everybody is conscious". Say "there is
consciousness", in which everything appears and disappears.
Our minds are just waves on the ocean of consciousness. As waves
they come and go. As ocean they are infinite and eternal. Know
yourselves as the ocean of being, the womb of all existence.
These are all metaphors of course; the reality is beyond
description. You can know it only by being it. (221)
Neither comes first [matter or mind], for neither appears alone.
Matter is the shape, mind is the name. Together they make the
world. Pervading and transcending is Reality, pure
being-awareness-bliss, your very essence. (405)
When the self-identification with the body is no more, all space
and time are in your mind, which is a mere ripple in
consciousness, which is awareness reflected in nature. Awareness
and matter are the active and passive aspects of being, which is
in both and beyond both. (483)
Consciousness is always of movement, of change. There can be no
such thing a changeless consciousness. Changelessness wipes out
consciousness immediately. A man deprived of outer or inner
sensations blanks out, or goes into the birthless and deathless
state. Only when spirit and matter come together, consciousness
is born. (479)
In reality you were never born and never shall die. But now you
imagine that you are, or have, a body and you ask what has
brought about this state. Within the limits of illusion the
answer is: desire born from memory attracts you to a body and
makes you think as one with it. But this is true only from the
relative point of view. In fact, there is no body, nor a world to
contain it; there is only a mental condition, a dream-like state,
easy to dispel by questioning its reality. (427)