9.
Responses of Memory
Questioner:
Some say the universe was created. Others say that it always
existed and is for ever
undergoing
transformation. Some say it is subject to eternal laws. Others
deny even causality.
Some
say the world is real. Others -- that it has no being
whatsoever.
Nisargadatta:
Which world are you enquiring about?
Questioner:
The world of my perceptions, of course.
Nisargadatta:
The world you can perceive is a very small world indeed. And it
is entirely private. Take it to be
a
dream and be done with it.
Questioner:
How can I take it to be a dream? A dream does not last.
Nisargadatta:
How long will your own world last?
Questioner:
After all, my little world is but a part of the total.
Nisargadatta:
Is not the idea of a total world a part of your personal world?
The universe does not come to tell
you
that you are a part of it. It is you who have invented a
totality to contain you as a part. In fact all
you
know is your own private world, however well you have furnished
it with your imaginations and
expectations.
Questioner:
Surely, perception is not imagination!
Nisargadatta:
What else? Perception is recognition, is it not? Something
entirely unfamiliar can be sensed, but
cannot
be perceived. Perception involves memory.
Questioner:
Granted, but memory does not make it illusion.
Nisargadatta:
Perception, imagination, expectation, anticipation, illusion --
all are based on memory. There are
hardly
any border lines between them. They just merge into each other.
All are responses of memory.
Questioner:
Still, memory is there to prove the reality of my world.
Nisargadatta:
How much do you remember? Try to write down from memory what you
were thinking, saying
and doing on the 30thof the last month.
Questioner:
Yes, there is a blank.
Nisargadatta:
It is not so bad. You do remember a lot -- unconscious memory
makes the world in which you
live
so familiar.
Questioner:
Admitted that the world in which I live is subjective and
partial. What about you? In what kind of
world
do you live?
Nisargadatta:
My world is just like yours. I see, I hear, I feel, I think, I
speak and act in a world I perceive, just
like
you. But with you it is all, with me it is nothing. Knowing the
world to be a part of myself, I pay it
no
more attention than you pay to the food you have eaten. While
being prepared and eaten, the
food
is separate from you and your mind is on it; once swallowed, you
become totally unconscious
of
it. I have eaten up the world and I need not think of it any
more.
Questioner:
Don’t you become completely irresponsible?
Nisargadatta:
How could I? How can I hurt something which is one with me. On
the contrary, without thinking
of
the world, whatever I do will be of benefit to it. Just as the
body sets itself right unconsciously, so
am
I ceaselessly active in setting the world right.
Questioner:
Nevertheless, you are aware of the immense suffering of the
world?
Nisargadatta:
Of course I am, much more than you are.
Questioner:
Then what do you do?
Nisargadatta:
I look at it through the eyes of God and find that all is well.
Questioner:
How can you say that all is well? Look at the wars, the
exploitation, the cruel strife between the
citizen
and the state.
Nisargadatta:
All these sufferings are man-made and it is within man's power
to put an end to them. God
helps
by facing man with the results of his actions and demanding that
the balance should be
restored.
Karma is the law that works for righteousness; it is the healing
hand of God.